Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Don't spin the Civil War
Washington Post ^ | 12.27.10 | E.J. DIONNE jR.

Posted on 12/27/2010 10:31:54 AM PST by trumandogz

The Civil War is about to loom very large in the popular memory. We would do well to be candid about its causes and not allow the distortions of contemporary politics or long-standing myths to cloud our understanding of why the nation fell apart.

The coming year will mark the 150th anniversary of the onset of the conflict, which is usually dated to April 12, 1861, when Confederate batteries opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day, after 34 hours of shelling.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: 150; anniversary; antiamerican; butthurtrebels; civil; civilwar; confederacy; dixie; imtougherthanyou; itsaboutslaverydummy; keyboardwarriors; kukluxklan; partyofsecession; partyofslavery; proslaveryfreepers; punkrrliberal; rebelfiction; secession; southcarolina; statesrights; treason; wannabethread; war; warnorthernaggressn; whitehoodscaucus; whitesupremacists; yankeerevisionism; yankspammingkeywords
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 1,381-1,389 next last
To: MBB1984

“...If (the federal government) never recognized secession what was the purpose for readmission (of the states that had seceded) to the union?...”
-
Good Question.


101 posted on 12/27/2010 12:34:16 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 85 | View Replies]

To: RegulatorCountry

No sarc. Keep it up. It’s always refreshing to read about the CW in the most anti-pc way.


102 posted on 12/27/2010 12:34:25 PM PST by max americana
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: RegulatorCountry; x; Ditto; rustbucket
The African slave trade was almost entirely a creature of New England shipping interests, with a majority of so-called “slave ports” being decidedly north of the Mason-Dixon.

I disagree that the ports in the North were entrepots of the slave trade, however Yankee the hulls and masters may have been. (One of Carolina secession advocate Robert Rhett's serial beeves was that the Carolina shipbuilding trade had all but vanished by the end of the 18th century, the trade monopolized by Yankee yards. Which, if it happened, warrants academic investigation. It might have been an example of "comparative advantage" .... or it might have been an example of Yankees being yankeefied. Every contemporary group that dealt with them extensively had a low opinion of New England Yankees except the Yankees themselves ..... that alone is worth a scholarly book.)

But you've put your finger on something that has engaged my curiosity for ten years now.

What was the degree of merchant and banking/banker/"bankster" motivation in the development of the political issues and parties -- Free Soil, Whig, Republican -- that polarized the country regionally and led to the onset of civil war (using the term "civil war" advisedly)?

Someone needs to do a massive investigation of old newspaper morgues, business and leading-family correspondence, and political figures' letter files in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other Yankee "opinion leadership" circles. I think that there they will find the smoking gun that killed a million people and the Framers' noble American Experiment, and supplanted it with a banker's paradise of imperial, centralized, centripetal, gradually totalitarianizing government.

103 posted on 12/27/2010 12:35:32 PM PST by lentulusgracchus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Repeal The 17th
Last week, it was an early Christmas present...

- To: Non-Sequitur

zot 2,147 posted on Tuesday, December 21, 2010 4:29:15 PM by Jim Robinson

- http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2644629/posts?page=2147#2147

Wow!!!! Christmas really did come early... woo hoo !!!!!!

104 posted on 12/27/2010 12:36:30 PM PST by catfish1957 (Hey algore...You'll have to pry the steering wheel of my 317 HP V8 truck from my cold dead hands)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 49 | View Replies]

To: Dr. Sivana
In the depositions of the many chancery court cases I have read (mostly in and about the counties of Hanover, New Kent & Henrico, VA), the war is referred to by those who lived through it as 'the war' or 'the late war.'

I cannot recall anyone referring to it as the 'Civil War,' 'War Between the States,' 'the War of Northern Aggression.' I may have seen it referred to once as the 'great war,' but cannot swear to it.

Anecdotal at best. I am not claiming a universal truth.

105 posted on 12/27/2010 12:38:16 PM PST by Protect the Bill of Rights
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Graybeard58
I predict 500 replies. I'll be the first to get things going.

This particular opinion piece just isn't worth it. EJ is a Liberal f*cktard, writing an article beginning with "Don't spin" that is nothing but.

There are going to be substantive analyses, by reputable and informed writers, coming out over the course of the next few years that will actually BE worth discussing and arguing over. Stuff by EJ isn't worth our time of day, because he's just recycling tripe for his personal amen chorus.
106 posted on 12/27/2010 12:38:16 PM PST by tanknetter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: RC2
I like your thinking. These kids are really, can I say, "stupid", when it comes to our countries past. Remember, John Adams is a beer! (sarc)
107 posted on 12/27/2010 12:41:47 PM PST by cameraeye (A happy kufir!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: trumandogz

108 posted on 12/27/2010 12:42:22 PM PST by matt1234 (0bama's bunker phase: Nov. 2010 - Jan. 2013)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: UCFRoadWarrior; All

“I can see the Black Racists and Bigots coming out and whining and lying about all Civil War.”

...yep, followed by an orgy of trying to lay a guilt trip on ole Whitey...followed by demands for apologies....followed by demands for money...lots of money.

....the WBTS freed blacks from their white owners...unfortunately, it never freed the whites from their former slaves...150 years later and we’re still providing housing and food for their descendants....and constantly being told that we need to do more for them.


109 posted on 12/27/2010 12:44:45 PM PST by STONEWALLS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Protect the Bill of Rights

and I have seen it referred to during the period of reconstruction as “the late unpleasantness”.


110 posted on 12/27/2010 12:45:04 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 105 | View Replies]

To: trumandogz

E.J. Dionne Jr. clearly doesn’t know the first thing about the subject and is, as usual, completely full of CRAP!


111 posted on 12/27/2010 12:54:17 PM PST by Bigun ("It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." Voltaire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: trumandogz
"...when Confederate batteries opened fire at 4:30 a.m. on federal troops occupying Fort Sumter. Union forces surrendered the next day, after 34 hours of shelling."

34 hours? That was a pretty long day.

112 posted on 12/27/2010 12:56:03 PM PST by Flag_This (Real presidents don't bow.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: RegulatorCountry

Excellent post!


113 posted on 12/27/2010 12:58:04 PM PST by Bigun ("It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." Voltaire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: CoastWatcher

But the North was trying to take over the Southern State Governments, hence it was a Civil war.


114 posted on 12/27/2010 12:59:49 PM PST by Waverunner (I'd like to welcome our new overlords, say hello to my little friend)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Repeal The 17th; MBB1984; central_va

I just know that when I go to bed at night, one of the things that I express thanks for is my having been born in the USA. Anyone who wishes not to be a part of this union, where we can express ourselves and effect change in our gov’t, should notice that there are no chains or fences that keep them here.


115 posted on 12/27/2010 1:05:11 PM PST by Little Pharma
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 74 | View Replies]

To: Little Pharma

Your hero, Lincoln, put me in chains.


116 posted on 12/27/2010 1:08:32 PM PST by Repeal The 17th
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 115 | View Replies]

To: central_va

A virtual monarchy. What frightens me is the way that Obama intends to make law without legislative warrant, by officials not approved by the Senate. The Republicans needs to lie down in front of everything he does, and find ways to starve his agents, or keep them occupied by challenging every regulation. The secHHS should be kept in a committee room for the next two years.


117 posted on 12/27/2010 1:16:23 PM PST by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 79 | View Replies]

To: Repeal The 17th

Boo, effing, hoo.

Like I said, don’t let the screen door hit you on the way out.


118 posted on 12/27/2010 1:17:00 PM PST by Little Pharma
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: Repeal The 17th

Lincoln had nothing to do with the 14th, 15th, 16,17th Amendments.


119 posted on 12/27/2010 1:18:27 PM PST by RobbyS (Pray with the suffering souls.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 116 | View Replies]

To: lentulusgracchus
Someone needs to do a massive investigation of old newspaper morgues, business and leading-family correspondence, and political figures' letter files in New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and other Yankee "opinion leadership" circles. I think that there they will find the smoking gun that killed a million people and the Framers' noble American Experiment, and supplanted it with a banker's paradise of imperial, centralized, centripetal, gradually totalitarianizing government.

It all started with a fellow named Hamilton and his British mercantile masters before the Constitution was even written.

120 posted on 12/27/2010 1:22:15 PM PST by Bigun ("It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere." Voltaire)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 103 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 81-100101-120121-140 ... 1,381-1,389 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Smoky Backroom
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson