Liberals Work Remove Statue of Jefferson Davis from Capitol Building

Legislative Research Commission ^ | 2/8/04 | Mountain Patriot

[MountainPatriot]

A JOINT RESOLUTION directing the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from the Capitol Rotunda and move it to the Kentucky History Center where it can be displayed for its historical value and context in history.

WHEREAS, we recognize that Jefferson Davis has a significant role in history as a well accomplished veteran, politician, and statesman; and

WHEREAS, there is no question of his status as a historical figure serving as Secretary of War, representing Mississippi as senator, and leading the Confederacy as President; however, his belief in the rights expounded by the Confederacy to own slaves as property and in the inequality of races is in direct contrast to the views held by Kentuckians of today; and

WHEREAS, the basis for the formation of the Confederacy was exactly the opposite of those set forth as the principles entertained by many statesmen at the time the Constitution was written, that slavery was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically; and

WHEREAS, Jefferson Davis, even sixteen (16) years after the Civil War ended still expounded his separatist beliefs while addressing the Mississippi legislature saying, "The contest is not over, the strife is not ended. It has only entered upon a new and enlarged arena"; and

WHEREAS, the Confederacy and all icons associated with it including Jefferson Davis continue to be culturally polemic issues among many segments of the American population; and

WHEREAS, Abraham Lincoln as President of the U.S. and known as the "Great Emancipator," Henry Clay as a Kentucky Senator and engineer of the Missouri Compromise which postponed the Civil War, Dr. Ephraim McDowell as a renowned surgeon and "Father of the Ovariotomy," and Alben Barkley as the Vice President of the U.S. from Kentucky who took a traditionally obscure office and brought it to the forefront during his tenure, were great and accomplished Kentuckians who represent all Kentuckians and for whom all Kentuckians can be proud; and

WHEREAS, Kentucky has a proud and distinguished heritage with many distinguished Kentuckians to memorialize; and

WHEREAS, at a time when the Commonwealth, the United States, and all Americans should embrace unity in the face of terrorist attacks, attacks on democracy, and attacks on freedom, the statue of Jefferson Davis symbolizes to many Americans a divisive time in U.S. history;

NOW, THEREFORE, Be it resolved by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

Section 1. Recognizing that the statue of Jefferson Davis is of great historical value to the Commonwealth and that the mission of the Kentucky History Center is to preserve and protect the past for future generations, the state Historic Properties Advisory Commission shall relocate the statue of Jefferson Davis to the Kentucky History Center where it can be displayed for its historical value and context in history.

Section 2. The Legislative Research Commission is directed to send a copy of this Resolution to the Historic Properties Advisory Commission, Division of Historic Properties, Department for Facilities Management, Finance and Administration Cabinet, 700 Louisville Road, Berry Hill Mansion, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, and the Kentucky Historical Society, 100 West Broadway, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601.

[MountainPatriot]

This is HJR 119. It's currently in Kentucky House State Government Committee. It's overview is:

HJR 119 (BR 1484) - P. Bather

Direct the Historic Properties Advisory Commission to relocate the statue of Jefferson Davis to the Kentucky History Center where it can be displayed for its historical value and context in history.

Feb 4-introduced in House Feb 5-to State Government (H)

------------------------ The following are members of the committee and need to be contacted by going to the following sight and accessing their email accounts:

http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/house/hseadd.htm

Rep. Charles Geveden (D), Chair Rep. Eddie Ballard (D), Vice Chair Rep. James Bruce (D), Vice Chair Rep. Buddy Buckingham (D), Vice Chair Rep. Derrick Graham (D), Vice Chair Rep. Paul Marcotte (R), Vice Chair Rep. Lonnie Napier (R), Vice Chair Rep. John Adams (D) Rep. Joe Barrows (D) Rep. Carolyn Belcher (D) Rep. Dwight Butler (R) Rep. Jim Callahan (D) Rep. Larry Clark (D) Rep. Tim Couch (R) Rep. Brian Crall (R) Rep. Tim Feeley (R) Rep. Jimmie Lee (D) Rep. Steve Nunn (R) Rep. Tanya Pullin (D) Rep. Jon David Reinhardt (R) Rep. Tom Riner (D) Rep. John Will Stacy (D) Rep. Tommy Thompson (D)) Rep. Jim Wayne (D)

Time is of the essence...

[MountainPatriot]

Ping

[Ron in Acreage]

Here in Palm Beach county the schoolboard is going to change the name of Jefferson Davis Middle School. It'll never end.

[BillyBoy]

Last time I checked, Kentucky supported the union during the civil war. Oh well, keep a statue of Jeff Davis there anyway!

In other news, evil "liberals" are plotting to the remove the state of George III in Pennsyvania! What about all the people who supported England?

[RonPaulLives]

Last time I checked, Kentucky supported the union during the civil war. Oh well, keep a statue of Jeff Davis there anyway! In other news, evil "liberals" are plotting to the remove the state of George III in Pennsyvania! What about all the people who supported England?

Try again, Illi-noise Boy. Kentucky was split down the middle.

[Paleo Conservative]

Last time I checked, Kentucky supported the union during the civil war

Mainly because President Lincoln sent in the US Army to occupy Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri before they had the opportuninty to secede. Without federal interference, its likely all three states would have joined the Confederacy.

[cripplecreek]

Not exactly, KY was only one state that was divided.

[MountainPatriot]

Davis was from Kentucky. There is a monument in Western Kentucky modeled after the Washington Monument, but much larger. It's about history and heritage.

[Arkinsaw]

Sure why not, its very conservative to support purges of history and promote political correctness. Be sure and take all references to those terrible slaveholders Thomas Jefferson and George Washington. It is after all the same crowd supporting all of those and if you are going to be on their side for one you might as well support the whole program. Down the memory hole with it I say.

[Oztrich Boy]

Is this Jefferson Davis person of significance, historically speaking?

[MountainPatriot]

I would say he is of historical significance, from a Kentucky perspective. Being born here, raised here, attending Transylvania University, etc., etc., etc.

[Paleo Conservative]

He was the President of the Confederate States during the Civil War. The attack is political correctness gone wild to try to purge all mention of Southern heritage in public places.

[cripplecreek]

He's of historical significance to america period.

[Arkinsaw]

Whats wrong with these guys who don't support throwing historical items down the memory hole?

RESOLUTION OF SUPPORT
DISPLAY OF BATTLE FLAGS OF THE CONFEDERACY
119TH NATIONAL ENCAMPMENT OF THE
SONS OF UNION VETERANS OF THE CIVIL WAR
LANSING, MICHIGAN AUGUST 19, 2000

A resolution in support of the display of the Confederate Battle Flag.

WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, condemn the use of the confederate battle flag, as well as the flag of the United States, by any and all hate groups, and

WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War support the flying of the confederate battle flag as a historical piece of this nation's history, and

WHEREAS, we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War oppose the removal of any Confederate monuments or markers to those gallant soldiers in the former Confederate States, and strongly oppose the removal of ANY reminders of this nation's bloodiest war on the grounds of it being "politically correct," and

WHEREAS, we, as the descendants of Union soldiers and sailors who, as members of the Grand Army of the Republic, met in joint reunions with the confederate veterans under both flags in those bonds of Fraternal Friendship, pledge our support and admiration for those gallant soldiers and of their respective flags;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we the members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War in 119th Annual National Encampment hereby adopt this resolution. Dated in Lansing, Michigan, on this nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord Two thousand.
By Order of:
Danny L. Wheeler
Commander-in-Chief


Attest:
Todd A. Shillington
National Secretary

[Sacajaweau]

Why don't these folks spend some time doing something good instead of trying to alter history.

[MountainPatriot]

That's why I think we need to flood the capitol with telephone calls, emails, faxes, etc. to this committee and tell them to kill this resolution.

[Arkinsaw]

As usual, when I post the honorable sentiments of the SUVCW I would encourage my fellow Southerners to recognize that the SUVCW would have had a much easier time if they had joined the political correctness bandwagon. But they did not and took the harder historically correct (and honorable) stance. I send a note of thanks each year to them.

To Northerners with Civil War ancestors, consider joining them because they have a problem with apathy just as we have a problem with political correctness.

[Arkinsaw]

Why don't these folks spend some time doing something good instead of trying to alter history.

I don't know. Its not just Jefferson Davis or the Confederate flag, its Thomas Jefferson and George Washington also. But on our side we have to be careful not to become our opponent. There are lots of efforts to remove Lincoln statues and such. Regardless of what one thinks of Lincoln, removing these things makes us like our opponents only with a different variety of political correctness.

[MountainPatriot]

Here is the politically correct champion from Louisville:

Representative Paul Bather (D)

House District 43

Jefferson Address

4706 Varble Ave.

Louisville, KY 40211

(Office) - 502-775-6982

(Home) - 502-775-6982

(FAX) - 502-778-8883

Frankfort Office - Capitol Annex, Room 432A, Frankfort, KY 40601

Frankfort Phone - 502-564-8100, ext. 707

E-Mail - click here

Service - House 2000 - Present

Born June 30, 1947. Mortgage banker, Guardian Mortgage. President/CEO, Bather Group. Baptist. Univ of Louisville, MBA; CUNY, MSW; Fairfield Univ, Liberal Arts. Lena Coleman Award, G. K. Offult/C. Eubank Tucker Award, NAACP Freedom Award, Stand UP Award, NAACP Community Service Award. Louisville Board of Aldermen, 1986 - 2000.

NOTE: Won a special election January, 18, 2000, to fill the unexpired term of Rep. Porter Hatcher, who resigned.

[stevem]

My disclaimer is that I find the Civil War to be as interesting and as compelling as any era in US history. I have always found that combatants and political foes on both sides were both passionate and honorable.

If you carry the liberals' ideas to their logical conclusion, you purge any and everything Confederate from the collective memory of the United States. Let the liberals have their way and that most important watershed in our history (poof!) never happened.

[cripplecreek]

I think it has more to do with thier wish to get rid of states rights alltogether. after states rights go the states themselves and along with it, our republic itself.

[Verginius Rufus]

The Jefferson Davis Monument at his birthplace is 351 ft high, not as high as the Washington Monument.

Kentucky may have remained in the Union, but there seems to have been a good deal of pro-Confederate sentiment among the population, or at least dislike of the federal government's efforts to coerce the 11 states which had seceded back into the Union. The Confederate government recognized Kentucky and Missouri as Confederate states despite never having full control over either one, and after a while not effectively controlling any part of either state. (That's why there are 13 stars in the Confederate battle flag.)

[varina davis]

Obviously, some of "those people" have never heard of the Orphan Brigade, valiant Kentucky Confederate troops.

[MountainPatriot]

http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/parks/jefdav2.htm

Jefferson Davis State Historic Site is a memorial to the famous Kentuckian born on this site, June 3, 1808. Ironically, just eight months later, and not more than 100 miles away, another great Kentucky statesman was born, Abraham Lincoln. Both men were destined to become Civil War adversaries; Union president, Abraham Lincoln, and Confederate president, Jefferson Davis.

Although Davis is known to most people because of his service as President of the Confederate States of America during the Civil War, he was a reluctant seccessionist. Jefferson Davis distinguished himself in politics not only when serving as President of the Confederate States of America, but also as a West Point graduate, Mexican War hero, Mississippi congressman and senator, and Secretary of War during the administration of Franklin Pierce.

Davis left his imprint on the nation in areas other than politics. His credits include: suggesting that a transcontinental railroad connect the Atlantic with the Pacific Oceans; founding the Army Medical Corps; ordering that the frontier be surveyed; suggesting the purchase of the Panama Canal Zone; directing that the West be explored for scientific and geographic purposes; and writing "The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government."

[Morgan's Raider]

Actually the Davis Monument is 351 feet high, coming in considerably shorter that the Washington Monument at 555 ft. It is built of concrete rather that stone. There is an interesting little museum located on the grounds, and the area around the monument is a state park. Another point of interest: it is located in Todd County, KY, ancesteral home of the familly of one Mary Todd, wife of Abraham Lincoln.

Kentucky's loyalties were fairly evenly split during The Recent Unpleasantness, and it would dishonor one of her most prominent native sons (West Point graduate, soldier, son-in-law to General Zachary Taylor, United States Senator, Secretary of War, and President of the Confederate States of America) and the other sons of Kentucky who fought for the Confederacy to remove this statue from the state house.

Just another example of political corectness run amuck.

[cripplecreek]

"The Recent Unpleasantness"

I love that term, it shows a great deal of respect from both sides and an attempt of a nation to heal itself.

[Draakan]

We fought a Civil War over 10th Amendment issues, so the Federal Government could not tell us what to do. Now its the Thought Police! Jeez! As President Reagan would say, "Here we go again!"

[Morgan's Raider]

Obviously, some of "those people" have never heard of the Orphan Brigade, valiant Kentucky Confederate troops.

Or of their commanding general during much of the War of Northern Agression, John C. Breckinridge, another Kentuckian and a former Vice President of the United States.

[kuma]

Gee, why does this remind me of what the Communists did when they took over Russia and China?

[Reactionary]

Stalinists always erase history in favor of their own particular egalitarian fantasies.

Just ask a liberal.

[RonPaulLives]

Here is the politically correct champion from Louisville: Representative Paul Bather (D)

This guy is one of the biggest jokes in our city's political history (and that's saying something). Thankfully, he didn't file for re-election this year. And, why is that, you ask? Because his job as state representative in Kentucky is taking away from his work in Washington, D.C., where he actualy lives, and has for some time. The word has been that he hasn't actually resided in Louisville for a number of years. But, despite these "small details," Bather has served in some government capacity or another in Louisville for 24 years consecutively, while making money hand over fist in D.C. and Maryland. Think Dick Gephardt in reverse.

[Alouette]

How about an "update" like in the novel Southern Cross: keep the statue, just paint his face black and dress him in a basketball tank top.

[x]

Without federal interference, its likely all three states would have joined the Confederacy.

If I remember right, Kentucky had substantial unionist sentiment (though many Kentuckians would forget this after the war). A majority of unionists was elected to the legislature in 1861, though the governor wanted to remain neutral. Davis's interference -- sending Leonidas Polk to conquer the state -- did a lot to turn Kentuckians who were wavering against the rebellion. It wasn't just Lincoln who interfered with the state's wishes.