(no subject)
I'm going to start working on my history final today even though it hasn't been posted online yet. The professor was going to try to have it up for Friday, but is a little behind. He talked about it enough in class, though, to give me an idea of where to start at least, and not having begun is making my anxious.
The first question deals with Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War and before the rise of Jim Crow. While reading through my Eric Foner text from a survey course, I came upon a speech from the vice president of the Confederacy that gave me pause to think.
There's an argument that the argue that the idea of the Confederacy is not inherently racist. I'll agree that in some cases, in the present day, people's conception of the Confederacy may not be explicitly racist. Other people (not necessarily the same ones; I wouldn't hazard a guess at how much overlap there is) also argue that statements from the founding fathers are directly applicable to what our modern-day government ought to do, be, and represent. I disagree with that sentiment. The ideology and intent of government, and concepts stemming from political ideologies, must be mutable in order to remain relevant to modern life. And if that's not the case, and the principles on which a system of government is based must remain fixed and unchanging for all time, then speeches like this one, quoted here in small parts, entangle Southern nationalism and Confederate nostalgia inextricably and explicitly with racist ideologies.
"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas [to those of Jefferson and other founding fathers]; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone 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 moral condition.... It is the first Government ever instituted upon principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence....The substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is the best, not only for the superior but for the inferior race, that it should be so."
-Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, 1861. (Quoted in Eric Foner's "Give Me Liberty: an American History, Volume 1)
This country of mine went through some very, very dark times. We shouldn't forget the nature of that darkness. Nor that we can learn from our mistakes and grow as a community, if we're willing to be critical of ourselves and demand better.
---
On a side note, people are very complex things. Here's more on Alexander H. Stephens from his Wikipedia article:
"After several unhappy years teaching school, he took up legal studies, passed the bar in 1834, and began a successful career as a lawyer in Crawfordville. During his 32 years of practice, he gained a reputation as a capable defender of the wrongfully accused. None of his clients charged with capital crimes were executed. One notable case was that of a slave woman accused of attempted murder. Stephens volunteered to defend her. Despite the circumstantial evidence presented against her, Stephens won an acquittal for the woman."
The first question deals with Reconstruction, the period after the Civil War and before the rise of Jim Crow. While reading through my Eric Foner text from a survey course, I came upon a speech from the vice president of the Confederacy that gave me pause to think.
There's an argument that the argue that the idea of the Confederacy is not inherently racist. I'll agree that in some cases, in the present day, people's conception of the Confederacy may not be explicitly racist. Other people (not necessarily the same ones; I wouldn't hazard a guess at how much overlap there is) also argue that statements from the founding fathers are directly applicable to what our modern-day government ought to do, be, and represent. I disagree with that sentiment. The ideology and intent of government, and concepts stemming from political ideologies, must be mutable in order to remain relevant to modern life. And if that's not the case, and the principles on which a system of government is based must remain fixed and unchanging for all time, then speeches like this one, quoted here in small parts, entangle Southern nationalism and Confederate nostalgia inextricably and explicitly with racist ideologies.
"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas [to those of Jefferson and other founding fathers]; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone 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 moral condition.... It is the first Government ever instituted upon principles in strict conformity to nature, and the ordination of Providence....The substratum of our society is made of the material fitted by nature for it, and by experience we know that it is the best, not only for the superior but for the inferior race, that it should be so."
-Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States of America, 1861. (Quoted in Eric Foner's "Give Me Liberty: an American History, Volume 1)
This country of mine went through some very, very dark times. We shouldn't forget the nature of that darkness. Nor that we can learn from our mistakes and grow as a community, if we're willing to be critical of ourselves and demand better.
---
On a side note, people are very complex things. Here's more on Alexander H. Stephens from his Wikipedia article:
"After several unhappy years teaching school, he took up legal studies, passed the bar in 1834, and began a successful career as a lawyer in Crawfordville. During his 32 years of practice, he gained a reputation as a capable defender of the wrongfully accused. None of his clients charged with capital crimes were executed. One notable case was that of a slave woman accused of attempted murder. Stephens volunteered to defend her. Despite the circumstantial evidence presented against her, Stephens won an acquittal for the woman."