Posted on 10/02/2007 1:10:01 PM PDT by BGHater
AMERICANA, Brazil
Now well past 90, Judith MacKnight Jones is suffering from Alzheimer's disease, the illness that robbed her of all of her memory, her most precious asset.
She has been lying here for the past 11 years, covered by a patchwork blanket, made from pieces her great-grandmother brought from the United States between 1865 and 1885, after the Confederacy lost the Civil War.
Unable to speak or remember now, her book "Soldado Descanso" ("Rest Soldier") is written in Portuguese, but soon will be translated into English, as the publisher thinks Americans should know about the proud history of Confederate immigrants settling in Brazil, finding a new home here but maintaining many of the traditions they brought from Alabama, Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Arkansas, the Carolinas and Georgia.
Her daughter-in-law, Heloisa Jones, said patchwork is only one of the values the Americans have brought.
This blanket is not just any patchwork, she said, "these pieces are very old and reflect a valuable tradition," she said.
"Over a century old and symbolizing our heritage, the flight from our homelands, it is extremely important to keep it that way. I teach my children and grandchildren the American values our ancestors have brought with them. And I expect them to teach their children and grandchildren the same," she said.
Every spring, hundreds of the descendants of the soldiers who lost the war against the North go to the cemetery they call O Campo. They party and meet dressed in traditional costumes, staging shows, singing Southern songs like "When the Saints Come Marching In" or "Oh Susannah," playing banjos and blowing trumpets, the men eventually getting drunk on home-brewed beer.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
There's a crazy amount of what I call "ghost dancing" going on in this forum.
It seems like we run the risk of having a pat and distorted view of history, same as the left does - pure propaganda.
And people really lose their minds over it, too.
Biblically, IIRC, slaves were almost always POWs or the family/descendents thereof, and were all given their freedom each Jubilee year.
I don’t think we did it that way. :)
I wonder how many Americans in the 19th century wished we were still part of the British Empire? :p
Of course it did.
XIII Amendment, U.S. Constitution:
Amendment XIIINo, they made it a government monopoly. An execption to an absolute negates the absolute.Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
No, I was making the point that if the secession of the state of Virginia was unconstitutional and Virginia remained a legal territory of the United States, than so too was the formation of West Virginia from a portion of that state unconstitutional, and, thereby illegal. And, BTW, the fruit of the poisoned tree doctrine would seem to imply that all legislation passed since, with the involvement of unconstitutionally serving [West} Virginia legislators, is also constitutionally corrupt and moot.
As for the presidential oath, until fairly recently I was teaching constitutional law. Despite the constitutional provision of Article II, Section 1, I'm not aware of any president [excepting, possibly, Calvin Coolidge] swearing faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution....
Yes, it's a trick question, based on the precise wording of law and the oath, but mutually inclusive and mutually exclusive linguistic precision is the basis for legal documents- including our Constitution.
Or do you think the Constitution doesn't matter and can be disregarded at Executive whim? If so, President Hillary is going to have herself a grand old time....
The irony is Longstreet was vilified for his stance after the war, as worse than a ‘carpetbagger’ because he joined the Republican Party and worked for Grant’s administration.
That and Jubal Early’s insane ‘Lost Cause’ stuff, designed to blame Longstreet for losing the war, and deifying Robert E Lee.
600,000 thousand dead say otherwise.
They do take such an oath.
Per Article II, Section One:
The President shall, at stated times, receive for his services, a compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that period any other emolument from the United States, or any of them.Now read the preamble of the Constitution [used as part of the basis for the 1869 SCOTUS Texas V. White decision that the states had no right to secede because they had become part of a *perfect union*] in particuilar the LAST EIGHT WORDS....Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."
The creation of West Virginia was completely constitutional and legal.
The former legislature of the US state of Virginia may have abandoned their oath of allegiance to the US Constitution, but the state of VA was still US territory.
The valid legislature of the US state of VA decided to create the state of WV from a portion of VA. Congress approved the act of the legitimate legislature of VA.
Subsequently the Executive enforced it and the Judiciary approved it as constitutional. The competent constitutional authorities have spoken and the matter is closed.
Despite the constitutional provision of Article II, Section 1 I'm not aware of any president [excepting, possibly, Calvin Coolidge] swearing faith and allegiance to the U.S. Constitution....
This is not a trick question, it is a bizarre invention. Every US President has taken the oath of office as required by Article II, Section 1, Clause 8 of the US Constitution.
Or do you think the Constitution doesn't matter and can be disregarded at Executive whim?
It is precisely becasue the Constitution does matter and because it is the supreme law of the land that I reject the specious arguments of the traitors who thought they could disregard the Constitution and shatter the Republic on a whim.
Incorrect.
Slavery was abolished. Involuntary servitude was not, since it is a legitimate punishment for crime.
I am talking not about 1860 but 1960.
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Let me guess...the klan was riding, your great grandfather was cheering and the colored folks in the Jim Crow balcony thought it wise to leave....yep, a piece of family history to be cherished and retold forever.
You say that the Presidents have not taken their oath of office. However, you are wrong. They have taken it.
You imply that the last 8 words of the preamble have some meaning that somehow legitimizes secession.
In reality, the preamble precludes secession, since any attempt to disestablish the Constitution in any part of the Union is not an act of the people of the United States, but an act of an illegitimate party that cannot claim to on behalf of the people of the United States.
Idiot.
How have you been?
I think it makes sense that people would go to where they could continue the way of life they were used to whatever the circumstances. The points you just stated are certainly valid for discussion. That was not my point.
My point was that making a comment using jingoistic and pejorative statements like “great consolation to her defeated ancestors” and “enjoy the precious right to own other people” is a dumb@ss way to engage people in discussion.
But that’s just me.
No, a neo-confederate is obviously uninformed and unrepentant.
The myth? Something like we might think it odd that a newly elected government official would use government men and equipment to kill citizens in order to hold together a republic of sovereign states, some of which dared to declare themselves free of domination. What a myth!
Yes. See my post #136.
"...this Constitution for the United States of America." OK, so?
Perhaps it makes better sense if we consider it to mean they see us as mythological in nature — like Hercules, Jason and the Argonauts, etc.
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