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Yep. More people need to know these things. Here is another one: "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its c

Yep. More people need to know these things. Here is another one: "Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens Savannah, Georgia March 21, 1861 http://web.archive.org/web/20130822142313/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerstone-speech/ http://web.archive.org/web/20130822142313/http://teachingame...

melling 11y ago
Jefferson owned slaves. While we're cleaning up our history, maybe it's time to tear down the Jefferson Memorial? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-thomas-jefferson-confederate-statues-20150624-story.html http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-t... --- CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield this week questioned whether the Jefferson Memorial should be taken down because Jefferson owned slaves. "There is a monument to him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asks for that to come down," Banfield said. Fellow anchor Don Lemon responded by saying Jefferson represented "the entire United States, not just the South." But he added: "There may come a day when we want to rethink Jefferson. I don't know if we should do that." ---
- pdabbadabba 11y ago
  It's an interesting and provocative idea, which I appreciate. But I think a little perspective is in order. Jefferson owned slaves. The confederacy was a nation (or collection of rebel U.S. states, or both, depending on who you ask) founded explicitly on the belief that people of African descent are inferior, that it is their natural and proper condition to be owned by people of European descent, and the (literally) militant defense of the institution of slavery which lead to the deaths of 600,000 people (to say nothing of other ongoing social ills). Both are abhorrent. But the latter is much worse. Jefferson, unlike most confederate figures and institutions, also made important philosophical contributions to the founding ideology of our nation (besides slavery). So, while I'm all for remembering Jefferson's flaws, I think his legacy is, at worse, far more complicated (and better) than that of the Confederacy, confederate symbols, and confederate leaders.
  - shaftoe 11y ago
    No issue is, ahem, just black and white. Actually living in the south, there is still a generational memory of being invaded and occupied. There are still cemeteries where the graves are unknown as the bodies and headstones were thrown aside when union troops dug up corpses to rob jewelry. There are still ruins, largely in remote areas and parks, where people's homes and businesses were put to the torch as part of an inhuman scorched earth policy. These events are older than anyone alive's grandparent's memory, but emotions surrounding the confederacy are tied up into a lot more than slavery. That an elected Republic was overthrown by an invasion, much like if the American Revolution had been quashed by the British. It's rare to find someone who truly wants to resurrect these issues, but self-righteous attitudes rub people the wrong way.

melling 11y ago

Jefferson owned slaves. While we're cleaning up our history, maybe it's time to tear down the Jefferson Memorial? http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-thomas-jefferson-confederate-statues-20150624-story.html http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/culture/la-et-cm-t... --- CNN anchor Ashleigh Banfield this week questioned whether the Jefferson Memorial should be taken down because Jefferson owned slaves. "There is a monument to him in the capital city of the United States. No one ever asks for that to come down," Banfield said. Fellow anchor Don Lemon responded by saying Jefferson represented "the entire United States, not just the South." But he added: "There may come a day when we want to rethink Jefferson. I don't know if we should do that." ---

pdabbadabba 11y ago
It's an interesting and provocative idea, which I appreciate. But I think a little perspective is in order. Jefferson owned slaves. The confederacy was a nation (or collection of rebel U.S. states, or both, depending on who you ask) founded explicitly on the belief that people of African descent are inferior, that it is their natural and proper condition to be owned by people of European descent, and the (literally) militant defense of the institution of slavery which lead to the deaths of 600,000 people (to say nothing of other ongoing social ills). Both are abhorrent. But the latter is much worse. Jefferson, unlike most confederate figures and institutions, also made important philosophical contributions to the founding ideology of our nation (besides slavery). So, while I'm all for remembering Jefferson's flaws, I think his legacy is, at worse, far more complicated (and better) than that of the Confederacy, confederate symbols, and confederate leaders.
- shaftoe 11y ago
  No issue is, ahem, just black and white. Actually living in the south, there is still a generational memory of being invaded and occupied. There are still cemeteries where the graves are unknown as the bodies and headstones were thrown aside when union troops dug up corpses to rob jewelry. There are still ruins, largely in remote areas and parks, where people's homes and businesses were put to the torch as part of an inhuman scorched earth policy. These events are older than anyone alive's grandparent's memory, but emotions surrounding the confederacy are tied up into a lot more than slavery. That an elected Republic was overthrown by an invasion, much like if the American Revolution had been quashed by the British. It's rare to find someone who truly wants to resurrect these issues, but self-righteous attitudes rub people the wrong way.