Living in parts of the South, I have never been *of* the South and have always seen the Civil War for what it was; treason in the cause of slavery. Would be apologists say the cause was "state’s rights" or other such nonsense. Yes, it was a State’s Rights effort to hold human chattel. Reading the records and memoirs of those who lived in that period leave no such questions. The public record itself is quite explicit. The various articles of secession by the several "Confederate" states. The newspapers, the diaries, statements by "Confederate" govt officials. Even foreigners saw it. The British consul to Charleston, SC during the 1850s-60s heard the public sentiment and reported such to London. His reporting stated that reviving the Slave trade (that was being suppressed by British and US warships in the Atlantic) was a goal of commercial interests throughout the South. That expanding Slave States to the West Coast would create a market for those new transported Slaves.
Of course, after the defeat, an effort was made to ennoble the sacrifices of the thousands and thousands of families. To say, "they died for Slavery" (while accurate) would not sit well over dinner. So another cause was needed. State’s Rights, a golden chivalrous age, a fight against crass commercialism of the North….take your pick. One element in this deceptive illusion was Confederate Monuments througout the South. Some are simple soldier statues or obelisks in from of courthouses to expensive and elaborate cast monuments and equestrian statues to military and political leaders of the rebellion.
They have been there so long as to become part of the landscape for many, but a reminder to others of a despicable past of bondage. I think since the shooting in the Charleston, SC church, the public sentiment shifted and the toleration for such things is falling.
New Orleans has begun the effort to remove those monuments. The Mayor of New Orleans, Mitch Landrieu , has given a speech about that effort and it is well worth the time to read. It lays out the cause for the monuments and their effect on that city’s citizens. He also lays out the root of the problem about the "Lost Cause".
Truth telling on a subject often lied about.
Ridge
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http://pulsegulfcoast.com/2017/05/transcript-of-new-orleans-mayor-landrieus-address-on-confederate-monuments
So, let’s start with the facts.
The historic record is clear: the Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, and P.G.T. Beauregard statues were not erected just to honor these men, but as part of the movement which became known as The Cult of the Lost Cause. This `cult’ had one goal — through monuments and through other means — to rewrite history to hide the truth, which is that the Confederacy was on the wrong side of humanity.
First erected over 166 years after the founding of our city and 19 years after the end of the Civil War, the monuments that we took down were meant to rebrand the history of our city and the ideals of a defeated Confederacy.
It is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America, They fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this cause they were not patriots.
These statues are not just stone and metal. They are not just innocent remembrances of a benign history. These monuments purposefully celebrate a fictional, sanitized Confederacy; ignoring the death, ignoring the enslavement, and the terror that it actually stood for.
After the Civil War, these statues were a part of that terrorism as much as a burning cross on someone’s lawn; they were erected purposefully to send a strong message to all who walked in their shadows about who was still in charge in this city.
Should you have further doubt about the true goals of the Confederacy, in the very weeks before the war broke out, the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, made it clear that the Confederate cause was about maintaining slavery and white supremacy.
He said in his now famous `Cornerstone speech’ that the Confederacy’s "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 normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."
Now, with these shocking words still ringing in your ears, I want to try to gently peel from your hands the grip on a false narrative of our history that I think weakens us and make straight a wrong turn we made many years ago so we can more closely connect with integrity to the founding principles of our nation and forge a clearer and straighter path toward a better city and more perfect union…….