So, I found the section below in a news article today.  I think it very appropriately states the problem.  I wish everyone had such a good understanding of historic events surrounding the civil war.  Unfortunately, the article also goes on to lump everyone in “the South” into one big group that borders on racist, backwards supremacists.  So, it’s not perfect, but these points (buried in the middle, mind you), were excellent.  

It’s enough to make me acknowledge that maybe there are some rare exceptions to the fact that people are stupid.

“Why did 2% of our population suffer death or maiming? Over the issue of state sovereignty and the interpretation of the Tenth Amendment (ratified in 1791). The text is simple enough: “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” But we also have the Supremacy Clause of Article VI of the Constitution, which say, “This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

Simply put, 11 southern states seceded from the Union in protest against federal legislation that limited the expansion of slavery claiming that such legislation violated the tenth amendment, which they argued trumped the Supremacy Clause. The war was indeed about protecting the institution of slavery, but only as a specific case of a state’s right to declare a federal law null and void.”

Sir,

I was deeply disappointed to read the language added to your statement about the Civil War that read “the institution of slavery led to this war.”  It is precisely that sort of revisionist history that will lead to our children not understanding the full reasons why such a terrible conflict occurred.

I have visited museums across the US, and the constant themes I have found is a battle cry of “preserve the union” in the north, and “states’ rights” in the south.  I have never seen one piece of history that shows slavery as the primary reason that conflict occurred. 

There is strong evidence to the contrary, actually.  Let me ask these questions:  1) Why, if slavery was the point, did over 90,000 FREE black men fight FOR the confederacy?  2) Why, if eliminating slavery was his motivation, did the Union general allow his wife and family to own slaves?  I could continue, but hopefully have made a point.

Believe me when I say that I am not some redneck southerner who believes the South will rise again.  I am an educated professional who happens to believe that revisionist history is one of the worst things we can let happen.  It is an insult to the memory of our combined culture and history and the people who lived it to say that man never walked on the moon, or the holocaust never happened.  Yet, these ideas exist today. 

It would equally be grave insult to the men and women who died in our country’s history to say that they gave their life fighting for/against slavery when in reality, the issues of the day were incredibly complex, very heated, and very similar to the problems that caused us to break away from England and form this great country to begin with. 

Similarly, saying the Civil War was fought over slavery is like saying the American Revolution was fought over tea.

I’m sure all my comments have no bearing on, well, anything.  But at least they’ve been said.

Sincerely,
me

I have had to delete more spam comments from wordpress in the past two months than I had to in the previous nine years I was on blogger.  Makes me think wordpress has some sort of spam notification system.  Hey, everybody, here’s a new blog.  Go spam it!  

I’m still getting the email set up on here.  Almost all my posts from my other blog were by email, which was usually pretty easy.   It’s a bit more of a hassle to open up this page from a browser and type up something.  Not quite as subtle as just writing another email.   Point is, posts may be limited until I get that set up.  

Then again, that’s like saying water may be sparse in the desert.  I wasn’t exactly being very prolific with these posts before hand. 

Not much else to comment on.  I could rant about politics and health care and how stupid people are, but what’s the point?  Our “democracy” doesn’t listen to the voice of the people anymore anyway, so I’m just inclined to be quiet.  

Instead, I’ll give you my new favorite phrase in latin:  “Te audire non possum. Musa sapientum fixa est in aure.” 

Translated:  “I can’t hear you. I have a banana in my ear.”

Although, this was also a very good one:   “Catapultam habeo. Nisi pecuniam omnem mihi dabis, ad caput tuum saxum immane mittam. – I have a catapult. Give me all your money, or I will fling an enormous rock at your head.”

Ok, back to work.  Hopefully I won’t fall asleep.

I’m going to try to move the site. If it works, you can find it at http://blog.tmberwolff.com/

We’ll see if it works or not.

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