Our Country's Grave Error
When the Civil War ended this nation had a chance to right itself. It had a chance to unmake that which had been made by the traitors of the Confederate States Of America. But we did not. Lincoln, with his great heart, said, "We are now contrymen again."
But he was wrong. He did not live to see how wrong, but wrong he was.
It is my opinion that those who made up the Confederate government, and all those in its armies beyond the rank of lieutenant, should have been given two choices: Exile or execution. If such a thing had been done, then the South would never have been the scourge it became and remained for 120 years. And it would not be the social, political and cultural backwater that it for the most part remains.
I cannot imagine any reason that justified allowing Nathan Bedford Forrest to run around the South, raising hell and helping to found the Ku Klux Klan. Better that he had been in irons, on his way to some foreign place where he could act out his savagery away from our beloved country.
We would all now be better off if such things had happened. And to those who would claim that "the South" would have just fought a "guerilla war", I submit the following: The Army of the Potomac, The Army of the James and, last but not least, Sherman's Army of Georgia.
In other words, they would have lost again.
But he was wrong. He did not live to see how wrong, but wrong he was.
It is my opinion that those who made up the Confederate government, and all those in its armies beyond the rank of lieutenant, should have been given two choices: Exile or execution. If such a thing had been done, then the South would never have been the scourge it became and remained for 120 years. And it would not be the social, political and cultural backwater that it for the most part remains.
I cannot imagine any reason that justified allowing Nathan Bedford Forrest to run around the South, raising hell and helping to found the Ku Klux Klan. Better that he had been in irons, on his way to some foreign place where he could act out his savagery away from our beloved country.
We would all now be better off if such things had happened. And to those who would claim that "the South" would have just fought a "guerilla war", I submit the following: The Army of the Potomac, The Army of the James and, last but not least, Sherman's Army of Georgia.
In other words, they would have lost again.
posted by Unknown | 5:35 PM
2 Comments:
Although not a great historian, I always thought Lincoln just wanted to end the war quickly, not out of any great love of unity or out of kindness to the South, but because the North was fully and completely exhausted. There may have been a lot of people who wanted to "punish" the South for the war, but the nation didn't have the energy.
Besides, I don't think the ultimate result would have done much to end racism. It's too pervasive.
The reason this didn't happen is because Lincoln and his supporters in industry needed the South around to exploit for cheap labor, textiles, agriculture etc.
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