Posted on 09/22/2006 11:50:10 PM PDT by LouAvul
Edited on 09/23/2006 2:12:09 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
free dixie,sw
Perhaps; perhaps not. The cause of the Texas fires is not as certain as all that, and I'm not sure that we will ever know for sure.
One group of politicians at the time made the argument you and the Handbook of Texas Online make blaming it on matches, while another group of politicians of the time argued that the fires were in fact caused by abolitionists as reported by slaves from various parts of the state. Each of the two political groups stood to gain in the then upcoming elections if the populace believed them rather than the other side.
The following online collection of articles from the Marshall, Texas, newspaper gives the flavor of what was going on at the time. There are dozens and dozens of articles in this paper about fires around the state. [Source]. Here are some excerpts:
[MARSHALL] TEXAS REPUBLICAN, August 4, 1860, p. 2, c. 2
A committee appointed for the purpose at Paris, Texas, has reported that no "thermometer heat will ignite matches." This proves that the late burnings in the northern portion of the State were produced by incendiaries.
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[MARSHALL] TEXAS REPUBLICAN, August 25, 1860, p. 2, c. 2
... what was supposed to be poison in the hands of the negroes in Cherokee county, when subjected to chemical analysis turned out to be a harmless preparation. And yet the negroes stated that it was poison, and that they had been instructed to place it in the wells and in the food of their masters.
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[MARSHALL] TEXAS REPUBLICAN, August 25, 1860, p.2, c. 2
The Galveston News says that even in New Orleans, many of the citizens, merchants and other men of sense seem to think the excitement in Texas has been gotten up for political effect. It would be very strange for men to burn up their towns, stores, mills, and dwellings, and to hang their slaves for such a cause. But it would be much more strange for them to select a season like the present for such wholesale destruction, when there's almost a famine in the land.
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[MARSHALL] TEXAS REPUBLICAN, November 10, 1860, p. 2, c. 2-4
The Abolition Raid in Texas.
Now that the election is over, doubtless the vast majority of our people can regard dispassionately the course pursued by the Opposition party and Governor of Texas, relative to the recent incendiary movements in this State. They have contended through the press, in their public speeches, and by every means through which the public mind could be reached, that the reports of an abolition raid in Texas were without foundation; that there was not a particle of proof to justify such a belief, and that these reports were originated and circulated for no other design than to make political capital for Breckinridge.
... What are the facts? The fires alluded to commenced in July last, and, in the short period of one month, property to the amount of over a million of dollars, was destroyed, including two of the largest and most flourishing towns in Eastern Texas. Eleven fires occurred in Northern Texas in one week, involving a loss of upwards of seven hundred thousand dollars. There was scarcely a county in the State that claimed an immunity from these outrages. Farm houses, gins, mills, and stores were destroyed in almost every county. Every newspaper that reached us during those exciting times, contained from one to a half dozen accounts of these burnings.
... But if the number, frequency, and the accounts given of these fires were insufficient to dispel the idea that they were [illegible line] elicited by committees appointed to examine into the facts, is sufficient to show that that they were caused by incendiaries. We are free to admit that testimony elicited by violence or fright is not to be depended on, but, in this case, it is a noted fact, that negroes, over a hundred miles apart, in a number of counties, all concurred in the general outlines of this abolition movement.
It is perhaps interesting that the slaves independently gave a consistent story, one that is not all that different than one described some six months earlier by Clement Vallandigham.
On December 20, 1859 on the floor of the House, Clement Vallandigham read the contents of an antislavery circular that had been “extensively circulated throughout the northern, western, and southern States of this Union, and which contains the plans of associations to be formed for the purpose of carrying on armed hostilities against a portion of this Confederacy.” Among the circular’s contents [Source]:
Our plan is –
1. To make war (openly or secretly, as circumstances may dictate,) upon the property of the slaveholders and their abettors – not for its destruction, if that can be easily avoided, but to convert it to the use of the slaves. If it cannot be converted, then we advise its destruction. Teach the slaves to burn their master’s buildings, to kill their cattle and horses, to conceal or destroy farming utensils, to abandon labor in seed-time and harvest, and let crops perish. Make slavery unprofitable in this way if it can be done in no other.
since i came "on FR" there has been TWO separate & distinct standards of conduct for the WBTS threads. ONE for the HATERS & a QUITE different set of standards for the southerners here.
free dixie,sw
Even today with modern transportation, computers, and hundreds of thousands of people [employed] by the Census Bureau, [<--------- a clue!] they report ...
Obtuse as always.
You realize that it's going in one ear and right out the other, don't you?
Start in Africa where the Africans who sold their own people into slavery. When they all give $8, I will.
All we ask is to honour those gallant and brave men and women - white and black, slave and free - that fought for the right to self-government, and against being held in a union by force. May God bless those who fought to turn back the invading horde from the North. And may God bless those who struggle for liberty and freedom from oppresive governments. Our ancesters fought for freedom in 1776, and again in 1861.
Dont' be so hard on yourself, you obviously can't help it. But if it makes you feel any better, the GAO also reported on the huge errors - 39% being double counts, another 3.8% ficticious entries.
If you want to do anything right, let the government do it
I'm not being hard on me. I'm trying to be understanding of you. You can't help it, either.
The reported total population of the CSA states was between 30 and 40 times that of free blacks there. Given that ratio of total reported population to reported free black population and assuming the same alleged free black army participation rate in the total reported population, the CSA could have fielded an army of 3 or 4 million.
Had they fielded a 4 million man army, forget mere independence and invade the North, Canada, Mexico, France and England.
A yankee declaration of war. The neocon Lincoln cultists will simply avow that killing millions of innocent Southerners was 'for our own good'.
Makes about as much sense as believing slavery was preferable to voluntary emigration.
Why not? The southron contingent believe slavery was merely a "painful discipline...necessary for their instruction as a race..."
"They're just attempting to get another thread pulled, or another one of us banned. Nolu Chan was banned was QUOTING Abraham Lincoln's racist comments. Yet their posters can post curses, invectives, and racial slurs with impunity.
All we ask is to honour those gallant and brave men and women - white and black, slave and free - that fought for the right to self-government, and against being held in a union by force. May God bless those who fought to turn back the invading horde from the North. And may God bless those who struggle for liberty and freedom from oppresive governments. Our ancesters fought for freedom in 1776, and again in 1861."
Yes. I know exactly what they've got up their sleeve. And I'm sick and tired of the spinelessness of attacking someone who is non-beligerent, while the story-tellers and disgusting name-callers get a free pass. If Free Republic is going to continue that M.O., all the nasty people will flock here like there's no tommorrow. And I will not suffer fools....
Do you agree with Clay and Lee, that slavery had mitigating effects on the slaves, or as Clay stated,
'they will carry back to their native soil the rich fruits of religion, civilization, law and liberty. May it not be one of the great designs of the Ruler of the universe, (whose ways are often inscrutable by short-sighted mortals,) thus to transform an original crime, into a signal blessing to that most unfortunate portion of the globe?'
But Lincoln has read his bible and sees what happens to a nation that holds slaves.
There have been hundreds of nations that have possessed slaves, even today slavery exists. God told His own people to take slaves, is God going to punish Himself for doing so?
Abraham Lincoln was simply a politician pandering to whatever crowd he was in front of, hiding his oft-asserted attempts at colonization/apartheid/ethnic cleansing behind some pretense at being the 4th member of the Holy Trinity given divine instruction to cleanse the land a la David Berkowitz.
Lincoln proselytizes over and over about ridding the continent of blacks, that somehow he was doing them a favour, just as Hillary says that what she does is 'for the children'. Bravo Sierra.
See Henry Clay's view (Lincoln's idol) in my previous post. Perhaps you also believe that OBL slaughtering 2,996 inncocents was for our own good as well? Or perhaps if insane Islamics slaughter your family you'll state that it was for thier own good?
You're disgusting.
I totally agree. One set of rules that apply to EVERYBODY, or NOBODY. And it appears to me that the 2-faced nature of rules apply to other threads, as well. Which means Free Republic has a huge problem of combined neglect and they're doing like big corporations do and attack the little guy because someone is paying them BIG BUCKS to do so. Someone is travelling the wrong road. As in, they ticked the wrong little guy off...
That explains why millions of blacks stood by their masters before, during and after the war. I guess this means that if the President ever asks you and yours to leave the country you'll be happy top oblige?
This was their country, why the heck would any sane person laud Lincoln for advocating racial/ethnic cleansing?
The ratio of whites to blacks was only 2.5:1 in the Southern sates. I have no doubt that numerous slaves were freed before the end of the war - the handwriting was on the wall. As it was, 100K out of 4 million is only 2.5% of the population.
As the war progressed and Southern blacks witnessed the yankees conscription/impressment of their friends and families, as well as their abandonment by union troops, it's no wonder that that they would choose to fight beside their former masters, and refuse to join Union forces even when captured. May God bless them.
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