Confederate States of America
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==Heritage, not hate!== | ==Heritage, not hate!== | ||
Afraid not. To quote Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the CSA: | Afraid not. To quote Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the CSA: | ||
| − | {{cquote|But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African [[slavery]] as it exists amongst us the proper status of the [[African American|negro]] in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. '''Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew."''' | + | {{cquote|1=But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African [[slavery]] as it exists amongst us the proper status of the [[African American|negro]] in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. '''Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew."''' |
| − | '''Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the [[White supremacy|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.''' This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well, that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery fanatics. Their conclusions are right if their premises were. '''They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle, a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of men. The reply I made to him was, that upon his own grounds, we should, ultimately, succeed, and that he and his associates, in this crusade against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as it was in physics and mechanics, I admitted; but told him that it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the [[God|Creator]] had made unequal.4=<ref>[http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=76 Teaching American History:Cornerstone Speech by Alexander H. Stephens, March 21, 1861, Savannah, Georgia]</ref>}} | + | '''Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the [[White supremacy|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.''' This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well, that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery fanatics. Their conclusions are right if their premises were. '''They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle, a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of men. The reply I made to him was, that upon his own grounds, we should, ultimately, succeed, and that he and his associates, in this crusade against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as it was in physics and mechanics, I admitted; but told him that it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the [[God|Creator]] had made unequal.|4=<ref>[http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=76 Teaching American History:Cornerstone Speech by Alexander H. Stephens, March 21, 1861, Savannah, Georgia]</ref>}} |
Fuck you, [[Thomas DiLorenzo|DiLorenzo]]. | Fuck you, [[Thomas DiLorenzo|DiLorenzo]]. | ||
Revision as of 01:35, 21 February 2013
The Confederate States of America (also referred to as The Confederacy) was the name used collectively by the Southern states that decided that armed revolt was preferable to following the orders of a Republican President whose anti-slavery stance, among other things, made them fear for their "lives." They seceded from the United States in 1861, prompting the American Civil War, which ended with the defeat and dissolution of the Confederacy in 1865.
Contents |
The batshit states of the Confederacy
- South Carolina
- Mississippi
- Florida
- Alabama
- Georgia
- Louisiana
- Texas
- Virginia
- Arkansas
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
It should be noted that in both Missouri and Kentucky parts of the legislature broke from the official legislature and set up rival governments. In Kentucky, after a few years of avowed neutrality, the Unionist side won in elections, particularly because the South was the first side to engage in conflict in Kentucky proper. However, many Southern sympathizers formed a separate state government, with Bowling Green as its capital.
Missouri, on the other hand, while calling itself neutral was more pro-Southern, and battle broke out very quickly between Missouri troops and Union troops. The Union won, and removed the governor of Missouri, who also created an alternative, pro-Southern government in contention with the official pro-Union one.
Both states were represented, along with the "official" Confederate states, on the Confederate flag.
Of the states to actually join the Confederacy proper, at least two (Texas and Virginia) ended up with a slight majority of their population voting "no" on the secession referendum, at which point the state governments went ahead and seceded anyway. Additionally, at least one state (Georgia) attempted to secede from the Confederacy near the end of the war.
Politics
While ostensibly a "democratic republic" much like the United States, in practice the Confederacy was repressive[1] and authoritarian,[2] with almost all political power held by the plantation-owning plutocracy and much of the country under strict martial law.
Jefferson Davis was the first and only President of the Confederacy.
Where the United States Constitution danced around the issue of slavery, the Constitution of the Confederate States of America explicitly stated the rights of slaveholders.[3]
Internal affairs
The Confederacy was a dangerously unstable nation — while a slight majority of the population had voted in favor of secession, the emphasis was on "slight," and pro-Union guerrilla bands began forming deep within Confederate territory before the Civil War had even officially started. The state of Virginia actually split in two, with the Appalachian section of the state voting to return to the Union. Fully a quarter of Union troops in the American Civil War were actually from the Confederate states themselves, and Southern Unionists included the governor of Texas, Sam Houston, who was deposed at gunpoint by pro-Confederate politicians and spent the entire war under house arrest. For all intents and purposes, the Confederates were fighting two wars — one against the Union, and one against its own citizens.
Heritage, not hate!
Afraid not. To quote Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the CSA:
“”But not to be tedious in enumerating the numerous changes for the better, allow me to allude to one other though last, not least. The new constitution has put at rest, forever, all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institution African slavery as it exists amongst us the proper status of the negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of the leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old constitution, were that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally, and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with, but the general opinion of the men of that day was that, somehow or other in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away. This idea, though not incorporated in the constitution, was the prevailing idea at that time. The constitution, it is true, secured every essential guarantee to the institution while it should last, and hence no argument can be justly urged against the constitutional guarantees thus secured, because of the common sentiment of the day. Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the "storm came and the wind blew."
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. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well, that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery fanatics. Their conclusions are right if their premises were. They assume that the negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle, a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of men. The reply I made to him was, that upon his own grounds, we should, ultimately, succeed, and that he and his associates, in this crusade against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as it was in physics and mechanics, I admitted; but told him that it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal.
|
| —[4] |
Fuck you, DiLorenzo.
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ Their entire economy was built on chattel slavery, after all.
- ↑ Suspension of Habeas Corpus, Library of Congress, Lincoln's decision to suspend Habeas Corpus was decried by the CSA, though Jefferson Davis resorted to the same measure.
- ↑ Constitution of the Confederate States of America, wikisource.org
- ↑ Teaching American History:Cornerstone Speech by Alexander H. Stephens, March 21, 1861, Savannah, Georgia