Posted on 05/24/2007 6:03:30 AM PDT by Rebeleye
I disagree, Washington was the most beloved PRESIDENT.
If you hate where you're living, then leave. Otherwise shut up about it. And I would offer that same advice to anyone who moves South and discovers that things down there are different than they were 'back home'. They should either accept the change or get their butt back North where they came from.
Hilarious. Bill Clinton was a Southern governor long before he got foisted on the rest of us. Same with Jimmy Carter, another solid son of the South.
You get points off for lack of originality though. This thread hardly needs another "the other side does it too" post.
I thought we were still talking about Davis's book? That's were I was looking for you favorite quotes from.
But it was for the South. That bears repeating as well.
That was the official name for the 50 years following the rebellion. It's also the most accurate name.
And yet all of your Southron cohorts would have us believe that the entire blame for the conflict lies with Lincoln. I give you credit for admitting that the South was looking for an excuse.
At the risk of sounding like I'm stooping to your Nazi analogies, the South has no more reason to complain about Atlanta as the Germans have to complain about Berlin or the Japanese about Tokyo. Once you accept war as your policy you lose the right to complain when it doesn't work out like you had planned.
Did either side really want a war? I honestly don't know. I think that Lincoln was trying to do whatever he could to avoid one while at the same time hanging on to the remaining federal property in the South. But did he really, honestly believe that there could be a peaceful resolution? I don't know for sure. I think that the South was a little more anxious to resort to war believing, as you pointed out, that it would be a short and fairly bloodless one. But once the die had been cast at Charleston there was no more desire on the North to rein in the dogs of war than there was in Richmond.
Nor does it entirely counteract generations of Southron myth.
You are no different from the "southern cohorts" you complain against. No different at all.
Lincoln resupplied Ft. Sumter because he was looking for a fight. Beauregard was happy to oblige.
I don't think it is an accident that you agreed to half my post and not the other half.
I believe you are correct — both sides were looking for a fight (a quick one) that would define the country.
The point of contention throughout this entire thread is the South’s apparent inability to “let it go.”
I like Lincoln. Thought he was a good tough politician. Because I admire his politicial skills, I do not tie myself up in the knots you do trying to justify what he did at Ft. Sumter. You can't have it both ways. He can't be the smart politician he was and be surprised at what happened at Sumter. The two don't mesh. Tey don't have too. We really don't have a dog in this fight so we can be honest about all the players.
He pushed the South, and the South back.
Heck, I think Non-Sequitur gets a text alert everytime a thread goes up because he is on them like white on rice. I would just like to see some more originality in the threads. It does get boring having the same argument all the time.
I could have very easily written: The South pushed him and he pushed back.
Both responses - how American. How American of them...
You push me... I'll push you right back.
That's what I love about this history. It is so American.
It was one of those defining moments in our nation’s history.
However — and speaking as a northerner — I find the continued conflict and bitterness around the Civil War on the part of Southerners a little unsettling.
I’m off to work — not running away.
Take care
If he really wanted that then he went about it in a most unusual manner. Telling the South exactly what his intentions were, allowing them the choice to accept status quo or start a war. Had he wanted war I think he would have been more obvious about it. Move the forces in without prior warning. Intend to reinforce regardless instead of peacefully resupply.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.