Posted on 12/27/2002 6:50:38 AM PST by yankeedame
Friday, December 27, 2002
Lincoln statue won't be embraced by all
The Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. - Abraham Lincoln is returning to the capital of the Confederacy, much to the chagrin of the Sons of Confederate Veterans.
Five days before the Civil War ended in April 1865, the president and his youngest child, Tad, traveled to still-smoldering Richmond soon after Southern forces abandoned the city in flames. On April 5, 2003, the 138th anniversary of that visit, a bronze statue of the pair commissioned by the United States Historical Society will be unveiled at the Civil War Visitor Center of the National Park Service.
"Here is a national hero, a small boy, and a beautiful city by the James River, all united again," said Robert Kline, chairman of the nonprofit group society, which works on behalf of museums and other groups on projects of historic and artistic value. "This time Lincoln's in Richmond for all time."
Richmond, home to towering statues of Confederacy figures including Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart, was abandoned after Union forces led by Gen. Ulysses S. Grant attacked on April 2, 1965.
The Sons of Confederate Veterans view the Lincoln statue as "a slap in the face of a lot of brave men and women who went through four years of unbelievable hell fighting an invasion of Virginia led by President Lincoln," Brag Bowling, the SCV Virginia commander, said Thursday. The group had only recently learned of the statue, and had no immediate plans to protest.
The life-size statue by sculptor David Frech will show Lincoln and his son on a bench against a granite wall. The words "To Bind Up The Nation's Wounds" will be etched into a capstone.
Living in the past. As the Eagles song goes, "Get Over It..."
Maybe he'll remember that comment the next time he wonders why blacks (the descendants of people enslaved by the culture of his ancestors) get upset over Confederate flags and monuments. Maybe he'll remember that comment when blacks act like they don't like the term "states rights" which was used as a defense of legal, forced segregation into the early to mid 1960s. After all, a century of apartheid into generations which are currently middle aged does tend to make a people peevish.
He is the one that inflicted them!
I'd rather see a lifesize statue of Lincoln standing.
Oh well.
Walt
Putting a statue of Lincoln in the middle of Richmond is intended to provoke people. In historical terms it's as relevant as putting a statue of Custer in the middle of a Sioux reservation or a statue of Daniel Webster in Seattle.
The same people who applaud changing the name of George Washington Junior High to Jomo Kenyatta Junior High are the people who support this kind of statue.
Leftists.
But his views were far in advance of most people of his day.
He told Frederick Douglass that there was no man in the country whose opinion he valued more.
"Recognizing me, even before I reached him, he exclaimed, so that all around could hear him, "Here comes my friend Douglass." Taking me by the hand, he said, "I am glad to see you. I saw you in the crowd to-day, listening to my inaugural address; how did you like it?" I said, "Mr. Lincoln, I must not detain you with my poor opinion, when there are thousands waiting to shake hands with you." "No, no," he said, "you must stop a little, Douglass; there is no man in the country whose opinion I value more than yours. I want to know what you think of it?" I replied, "Mr. Lincoln, that was a sacred effort." "I am glad you liked it!" he said; and I passed on, feeling that any man, however distinguished, might well regard himself honored by such expressions, from such a man."
-- "With Malice Towards None", by Stephen Oates
When Douglass went to Lincoln's second inaugural ball, he was an escaped slave.
More Douglass:
"Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical and determined."
Walt
He is the one that inflicted them!
Lincoln constantly held out the hand of conciliation and forgiveness to the rebels.
All through 1862 he would have allowed the slave owners to keep their slaves if they would just acknowledge the authority of the national government. He suggested relocation schemes and compensated emancipation schemes; he was always ready to stop fighting and start talking--always.
As late as February 1865 he suggested that $400,000,000 in bonds be made available to the rebel states if they would acknowledge emancipation and federal supremacy.
It was the south that was bent on conquest and subjugation:
"We have the Executive with us, and the Senate & in all probability the H.R. too. Besides we have repealed the Missouri line & the Supreme Court in a decision of great power, has declared it, & all kindred measures on the part of the Federal Govt. unconstitutional null & void. So, that before our enemies can reach us, they must first break down the Supreme Court - change the Senate & seize the Executive & by an open appeal to Revolution, restore the Missouri line, repeal the Fugitive slave law & change the whole governt. As long as the Govt. is on our side I am for sustaining it, & using its power for our benefit, & placing the screws upon the throats of our opponents".
- Francis W. Pickens, Governor of South Carolina, June,1857
That doesn't sound much like, "with malice towards none, with charity for all," does it?
Walt
And don't think that isn't the intended result. The Clintons and other DimRATs, Jacksons, Sharptons, Farakhans, etc. all make a very good living at race baiting.
You'd think Abraham Lincoln would get more support on a conservative website like FR, wouldn't you?
But most people stay mum, or parrot the crap of the neo-reb liars like the Sons of Confederate Veterans or the League of the South.
Walt
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