Dixie Heritage News – Friday, Apr 6, 2018
A LOT OF BAD NEWS – MAINLY FROM FLORIDA
In North Carolina, a downtown monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee and the Dixie Highway, at the foot of the Vance Monument, has been literally de-faced.
Lee’s visage, imprinted on a bronze plague attached to a large piece of granite, has been scratched through as has much of the text beneath it.
Neither Asheville Police nor the city’s Parks and Recreation Department could be reached for comment Friday. City employees had the day off in honor of Good Friday.
A group of about 40 demonstrators with BeLoved Asheville stopped at the monument Friday afternoon while marching through downtown, raising attention for those who are “still being crucified today.” That group includes African-Americans, incarcerated people, and those in the LGBTQ community, demonstrators said.
The group reported the damage to authorities, the lame stream media is insisting that the group stopped at an “already vandalized monument,” where, “Many, it seemed, were not distraught by the defacing of Lee’s plague.”
The upper right corner of the plague is still damaged after protesters in August wedged two crowbars between the piece of bronze and its granite housing. The corner is bent and separated from the stone.
Police arrested four Ashevillie residents in connection with the August vandalism. The monument was erected by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in 1926.
CALIFORNIA FLAG BURNING
A man was arrested over the weekend after he set a Grover Beach woman’s Confederate flag on fire.
According to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department:
Deputies responded to the parking lot of a restaurant in the 600 block of Pier Avenue in Oceano at 6:20 p.m. Friday. The victim, a Grover Beach woman, says she was inside the restaurant when it happened. The Confederate Flag was attached to the rear of her pickup truck. Witnesses reported seeing someone light the corner of the Flag on fire. A customer at the restaurant put the fire out with a pitcher of water. The suspect then fled on foot.
Surveillance footage of the incident led authorities to the suspect, 20-year-old Mitchell Joseph Davis, a transient from Seattle, Washington. Davis was arrested Saturday evening for arson, resisting arrest, giving false identification to a peace officer, and a civil rights violation. He was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail.
HOLLYWOOD REMOVING LAST OF CONFEDERATE STREET SIGNS
The Florida city’s commissioners voted in August to remove the names of Robert E. Lee, Nathan Bedford Forrest and John Bell Hood from residential streets. The streets were renamed Freedom, Hope and Liberty.
But only about half of the signs had been replaced. This week, City workers have resumed the task and the Mayor announced that the rest should be replaced by the end of April.
IN NEARBY FT. MYERS
Fiery words were exchanged Monday night at a meeting with City Council over the potential removal of a confederate statue downtown.
The NAACP called for the statue of General Robert E. Lee to be removed. It was originally donated by the United Daughters of the Confederacy in honor of the General.
The overwhelming majority of those in attendance at the meeting Monday night pushed back against the proposal to have the statue removed.
“If his bust offends, surely his name must offend. So let’s just call it what it is-renaming the county,” said one attendee.
“General Lee was a great man. I would kill a butane burning dragon for general Robert E. Lee,” said another.
In an open letter to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, NAACP President James Muwakkil called the monument a painful reminder of slavery.
But resident Steve Fabian disagrees.
“The war was all about one thing…dollars,” Fabian said. “That’s why the South seceded. It had zero to do with the enslavement of blacks.”
He says the Confederacy gets a bad reputation when it comes to slavery.
“I think sometimes the term ‘slavery’ should be replaced by indentured servitude. People with no skills. People with nothing to offer the economy, no way of surviving on their own. How are they going to survive? They see that as a protection sometimes,” Fabian said.
Others, like Gerri Ware, say a statue isn’t something that concerns her.
“I’ve got bigger fish to fry now. That’s what I always say. There are issues I’m concerned about today other than a monument. If we perceive things as hate, that’s what it is,” she said.
The Fort Myers City Council did not vote on whether or not to remove the statue. But NAACP President James Muwakkil says his organization will continue to lobby the council to get the statue torn down.
THEN IN ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA
On Monday, our Friend, H. K. Edgerton, was denied his opportunity to address the City’s meeting of the City Council. So on Tuesday, he and Mr. Henry Russ, dressed in Confederate uniforms and posted colors in the City’s downtown Constitution Plaza. From there they engaged thousands of the City’s residents and visitors as well as several City employees.
ANOTHER FLORIDA LOSS
In Lakeland, Florida the City Commission held a Monday morning meeting allowing about a half-dozen of our subscribers to address the governing board to ask that they reconsider and keep the statue in place in Munn Park.
Commissioner Michael Dunn is in favor of leaving the statue. But Commissioners Phillip Walker and Justin Troller are the only remaining commissioners who voted to move the statue in December. Commissioner Bill Read is the only remaining who voted against moving the statue. The other four commissioners, including Dunn, are new to the board. The city charter states that Walker and Troller, because they were on the winning side of the vote, are the only two commissioners who could bring up the monument issue for a revote within a year and both said they had no plans to do that.
This means that the removal goes forward.
ELECTION LOST
The School Board race we’ve been following in Missouri has finally come to an unsuccessful conclusion. Jeanie Ames, who has called herself a “Confederate” and who regularly retweeted the President’s tweets was defeated in the Parkway School Board race Tuesday.
We found out today that the money used to campaign against her came from a dark-money group with ties to MassResistance Missouri, which has been designated a hate group. Their candidate, Matt Schindler, executive director of St. Louis nonprofit Gateway Greening, and attorney Kevin Seltzer won the race. Schindler had 30 percent and Seltzer got 27 percent of the vote. Ames captured 12 percent.
Five people were in the running for two spots on the board. Jonathan Taylor was in last place. Like Ames, he got 12 percent of the vote. Amy Bonnett, the fifth candidate, had 18 percent.
Ames and Taylor billed themselves as the “conservative” candidates in the race, with Ames referring to herself as a “pro-life” voice for the board.
Schindler and Seltzer, on the other hand, were outspokenly liberal in their positions, voiced strong support for current Parkway leaders and both have said they oppose arming teachers. Their plan to make schools safer twas to promote “student diversity.”
MARYLAND SCHOOL PUNISHES STUDENT
According to the Baltimore Sun, Chesapeake school officials reported that a staff member saw the Confederate Flag flying from the back of the student’s truck and dice with the Confederate emblem hanging from the vehicle’s rear-view window.
A letter was issued to parents about the matter, according to Principal Stephen Gorski, and the school has plans to discipline the student for violating the school’s code of conduct.
IN GOOD NEWS
The Virginia Flaggers have raised a Confederate flag on I-64 near Charlottesville.
The 30-by-50-foot Confederate battle flag was hoisted into the sky on Saturday on property leased on Interstate 64, according to the group’s Facebook page. “The Charlottesville I-64 Spirit of Defiance Memorial Battle Flag was dedicated to the glory of God and will fly in honor and memory of all Confederate soldiers,” a post read.
IN NORTH CAROLINA
A new billboard may turn the heads of folks driving east on Interstate 40 near the junction with I-95 at Benson.
Installed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the ad features an image of the controversial Confederate monument on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill known as Silent Sam.
The ad, next to one for Bojangles’, includes the group’s Confederate Flag logo and the words: “HELP US PROTECT OUR VETERANS’ MONUMENTS!”
“The billboard references the recently increased efforts of Durham-based communists and Governor Roy Cooper to destroy and forcefully remove memorials to our veterans,” Kevin Stone, the group commander, wrote in a statement shared Thursday.
KENTUCKY TOWN PROCLAIMS
Mayor Jack Rose of Murray(seated left) and Calloway County Judge-Executive Larry Elkins (right) declare April as Confederate History and Heritage Month, urging all Murrayans and Calloway County residents to learn more about Confederate history.
They were joined by members of the Calloway County Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and the Fort Heiman Sons of Confederate Veterans.
ON THE VERGE OF A LOBBYING VICTORY
A once-killed bill directed at the illegal removal of Confederate statues in Memphis came back to life Monday in Nashville.
Known as the monument bill, it would make any locally-elected official a felon who could be removed from office if they vote to approve an ordinance that conflicts with the Tennessee Heritage Protection Act.
A couple of weeks ago, the bill was sent to a procedural place that basically meant the bill was dead. But it has been revived Monday on a procedural technicality.
The Democrats couldn’t get enough support to prevent a vote (they tried) so now the Bill is slated for a vote at the next committee meeting.
We encourage all of our readers in Tennessee to call and encourage their representatives to support this Bill.
The tasteless flyer pictured below includes silhouettes of Robert E. Lee and George Washington “kissing” and were found displayed throughout the Washington & Lee campus. Students were invited to “join in the celebration of George and Bob’s wedding”.
This is beyond disgraceful and an insult to the memory of both men… and is what happens when you give your institution of higher learning over to Godless liberals.
Are YOU mad enough yet?
The contact information on the flier is that of Rallie Snowden. She is also active in anti-Confederate activism in Lexington and is a leader of the “CARE” group that fought to displace the SCV on Lee-Jackson Day. She is employed as a COUNSELOR at the university.
If you would like to contact the university to express your outrage and disgust that such disrespect is tolerated and supported:
President Will Dudley –
president@wlu.edu
(540) 458-8700
Office of the President Will Dudley
Washington and Lee University
204 West Washington Street
Lexington, Virginia 24450
ONE OF OUR READERS HAS WRITTEN DR. DUDLEY
President Dudley,
It isn’t enough that you have removed the Confederate Battle Flag from Robert E. Lee’s memorial because of a few students’ complaints, now you have disgraced and dishonored not only Robert E. Lee, but George Washington as well.
You removed flags due to bigoted and historically ignorant complaints of being “offended”, yet you have no qualms in offending millions of Christians and descendants of Revolutionary and Confederate soldiers by holding an “Equality Gala” for the LGBT community at the university. Your flyer for the “Mr. & Mr.” banquet depicts silhouettes of George Washington and Robert E. Lee kissing. This is beyond tasteless and I am frankly at a loss as to what to say about this.
The Father of our country, George Washington, and General Robert E. Lee were both fine Christian men who fought bravely and honorably for the freedom of their respective countries from evil and tyrannical governments. You have them depicted as disgusting homosexuals. Isn’t it ironic how the Marxist left speaks about “tolerance”, yet is completely intolerant of any opposing position or viewpoint. The goal of the Marxists is to rid this country of Christianity, family, morals, history, and the Constitution. There are millions of us who strongly oppose this Satanic agenda and do not intend for it to win out over the principles upon which this country was founded.
First, you fold up like a lawn chair on the flag issue, giving in to a few crybaby students who have no clue about the truth of our history. Now, you openly depict two of the finest men ever to walk on this continent as “fairies”. This is not a true representation of who George Washington and Robert E. Lee were. It is blasphemous and totally disgusting to portray them in such a manner. It is a slap in the face to all the brave dead who served under them, and to their descendants. Only people lacking of good moral character, decency, and respect can initiate such a truly offensive and slanderous event such as the one you are promoting at Washington and Lee University.
The Bible clearly tells us that homosexuality is an abomination to God. The Marxists in this country love to brand those who oppose them with ridiculous labels. There is no such thing as being a “homophobe”. A phobia is an irrational fear of something. We have no fear of homosexuality, just a disgust for it. Personally, I care nothing about what people do in the privacy of their own homes, but the LGBT community is not content with hiding their activities, they want to shove it down everyone’s throats and make us accept it as “normal” behavior. How does such a tiny percentage of people set the course for the country? Because of gutless people in high offices who fear being labeled a “homophobe” if they do the right thing. Just like the gutless people in high offices who fear standing up for our Confederate Flag, statues, and history. They fear being called “racist” and “supporting slavery”. What they, and you, are is gutless. No backbone to stand up for what is right. You should resign your position immediately because you are not worthy to hold the office which has been bestowed upon you. You have shamed and disgraced the university, its heritage, and its alumni. Your reward is coming. If not in this life, the next.
Nauseated,
Jeff Paulk
Tulsa, Oklahoma
NON-HERITAGE NEWS EFFECTING THE SOUTHLAND:
A 27-year-old man has appeared in court charged in connection with the seizure of two firearms in west Dublin last Friday.
William McCarthy, of Spencer Dock in Dublin, was brought before a special sitting of Dublin District Court charged with unlawful possession of two revolvers and ten rounds of ammunition.
Gardaí say two cars were stopped and searched in Monastery Gate Avenue in Clondalkin on Friday afternoon and two loaded guns were seized.
Detective Garda Anthony Kennedy of the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau gave evidence of arrest, charge and caution.
He told the court that he arrested the accused at 8.55pm on Saturday.
The court was told that when the charges were put to him he made no reply.
There was no application for bail and legal aid was granted.
Judge Alan Mitchell remanded the accused in custody to Cloverhill, to appear again on 6 April.
This was in Ireland. Under Florida’s new red-flag law (compliments of the State’s lame duck RINO governor), and under new restrictions being flirted with by President Trump, a similar scenario could soon play out in the good old USA.
INVESTIGATION INTO SPECIAL COUNSEL
Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) and Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), the chairmen of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, issued a statement calling for a special counsel to investigate the special counsel.
After weeks of avoidance, Attorney General Jeff Sessions passed the special counsel buck to Utah prosecutor John Huber, who will rule on whether one is necessary as he probes potential FISA abuses and mishandling of investigations into Hillary Clinton’s Uranium One deal.
“While we continue to believe the appointment of a second special counsel is necessary, this is a step in the right direction,” Gowdy and Goodlatte’s joint statement read, per the Hill. “We expect that U.S. Attorney Huber, given his reputation, will conduct an independent and thorough investigation. Such an investigation is critical to restoring the reputation of both the Bureau and DOJ in the eyes of the American people.”
Gowdy and Goodlatte were responding to Sessions’ letter Thursday, which declined to appoint a special counsel but revealed Huber’s investigations into the matter.
John Wayne Dobson in Georgia writes:
Countless were the ravages of Sherman’s hordes in Georgia. Even the scared graves of the dead were not safe. Mrs. Nora Holt Canning, once the wife of Judge Asa Holt, recalled:
I remember well the distress of one of the negro women. She was sitting on her door steps swaying her body back and forth, in a manner peculiar to the negro, and making a mournful noise, a kind of moaning, a low sorrowful sound occasionally wringing her hands and crying out. As we approached her, she raised her head.
“Marster,” she said, rolling her eyes strangely, “What kind of folks dese here Yankees? Dey won’t even let de dead rest in the grave.”
“What do you mean,” he asked.
“You know my chile what I bury last week? Dey take him and left em on tap of de groun for de hog to root. What you tink of dat, sir?”
Her story was true. We found that the Vandals had gone to the graveyard and, seeing a new made grave, had dug down into it and taken up the little coffin containing a dead baby, no doubt supposing treasure had been buried there. When they discovered their mistake, they left it above ground, as the poor mother expressed, it “for the hog to root.”
In our time we see modern hordes dismantling monuments to brave Americans who stood for what they believed and the very bones of these honored dead in are danger of being unceremoniously exhumed. I, also, must also ask “what kind of people are these?” Only criminals would acts in such a way.
Have we, as a Nation, and as a people regressed to that state of mind and am I no longer an American, entitled to the free expressions and open remembrances of my heritage just like everyone else?
Another Georgia reader submits:
This is a video of about 6 minutes that was extracted from a City Commissioner’s meeting on Tuesday in Griffin, Georgia.
The speaker is former Commissioner Larry Johnson. He is continuously interrupted by Commissioner Rodney McCord.
Somehow, after all of this, the Board of Commissioners still managed to pass a resolution declaring April as Confederate History and Heritage Month.
Is California worthy of the United States?
by Wes Vernon
Wes Vernon is a Washington-based writer and veteran broadcast journalist.
We fought a “Civil War” to force rebellious states to remain in the Union. Has anyone ever contemplated the possibility that at some point there may be movement to eject rebellious states out of the United States, to leave – with or without their agreement to leave?
Some Californians have proposed that the “Golden State” secede from the United States. That pressure increased after Donald Trump had the effrontery to sweep Middle America in 2016. California gave Hillary Clinton a landslide within in its borders, as did much of the industrial Northeast. The “two Americas” (the establishment coasts vs. “flyover country”) have drawn sharper and sharper cultural and philosophic lines in recent decades. Prior to the 2016 election, then U.S. President Barack Obama became America’s first head of state to urge publicly that non-citizens go ahead and break our laws by voting in our elections, even though it was common knowledge that it was (and is) illegal for them to do so. Trump’s election sparked some threats of secession among Californians who apparently felt they no longer wanted to be Americans.
But let’s turn that factor on its head. Is there a possibility that someday the U.S. will want to kick California out? Surely, the state’s all but official declaration of “sanctuary statehood” on the immigration issue (protecting illegal aliens from federal authorities) amounts to nothing short of rank insurrection – arguably reminiscent of the Southern states’ insistence on the right to allow slavery in the 1860s. In fact, one could make the case that California’s drive for separatism is actually stronger than that of the South in Lincoln’s time. After the Civil War was settled and slavery abolished, our states amended the Constitution so that it was finally clear that slavery would no longer be allowed. No such amendment would be necessary if California were to leave. The issues are different, for one thing. The federal responsibility to oversee and enforce our laws on “immigration” is airtight. No new amendment to the Constitution can make that fact any clearer than it already is.
But let’s be clear about our definitions
We need to define our terminology when we discuss “immigrant.” An immigrant, as we have understood the term for years, refers to a foreign person who enters this country legally with the intent of adopting its culture and ambitions, its Constitution, its flag, its National Anthem, and its historic meaning, along with our support for this imperfect but ever-improving nation – and acknowledges that loyalty to the United States of America supersedes loyalty to all other countries. That is an “immigrant,” an honorable term referring to our newer citizens. On the other hand, those who crash our borders and park themselves here uninvited or without utilizing the legal means of becoming citizens are not “immigrants” at all. They are “illegal aliens.” (There are, of course, foreign people who become “legal residents,” living here for business, education, or other legitimate reasons. But they should not be confused with “citizens” who have the exclusive right to vote in our elections.)
Why we brought this up
The fact that California, once the land that gave us the beloved “Reagan legacy,” has been invaded by swarms of illegals is sad, and the talk of secession has shocked many Americans. It is by no means the one and only eruption signal that this once cohesive nation is on the wrong end of a battering, verbal and otherwise, delivered by people who hate this country and wish to see it taken down. We are not talking about legitimate criticism that one hears regularly in the body politic. We are talking about people who wish to see this nation destroyed, or are so blind and lacking in basic character as to have lost all sense of proportion with little sense of right and wrong, and whose inclination is to pose a danger to our citizens.
For example…
This brings us to the outrageous case of Garcia Zarate. Also to the stolen gun in the illegal possession of that 43-yerar-old Mexican citizen. That gun went off in San Francisco and killed 32-year-old Kate Steinle, an innocent American who was walking with her father on a pier. Zarate had already been deported 5 times, and now faces his sixth. Zarate’s responsibility for the killing seemed to be an airtight case at the trial. He changed his story about whether he tossed the gun in the bay because he was scared, aimed it at a sea mammal, or dropped it on the ground and it went off by accident. The gun was retrieved by authorities shortly after the shot. Zarate said he couldn’t have done the killing deliberately because of the defective trigger. The judge in the case denied the jury’s request that it be allowed to test the trigger. Zarate got off on a wrist-slap for the case. He gets off even more easily because his time in jail awaiting trial has already been credited toward the time he has been serving on another charge.
Now, the ultimate outrage…
As an indication of the sheer gall with which California’s invaders apparently feel they can make a mockery of justice, Zarate has pulled an additional insult-to-injury move, possibly so he can enjoy laughing at us. He has now complained to authorities that in the case, he was made a victim of “vindictive prosecution.”That is a classic case of “How dare you hit my fist with your face!”
And what about the innocent victim, Kate Steinle, whose father gave a heart-rending account of how, when the bullet hit his daughter, she said, “Oh, Dad, please help me!”? Well, the public defender in the case allowed as how it’s “unfortunate that these types of terrible accidents happen.” There, don’t you feel better? The defense attorney, who represented Zarate, intoned that cases of this kind are used to “foment hate.” What? You mean the Steinle family did not even send roses of love to those who foment mock trials? Why, the ingratitude of it all.
And oh, by the way, this all happened in the congressional district of Nancy Pelosi, who said—–nothing. Maybe Nancy quietly believes that you have to mete out California “justice” so that you can “learn what’s in it.” Oh, but remember: despite the genuinely good people of that “Golden State,” there are those there whose noses are turned upward at those of “flyover country” who just are not good enough for them. But then, what can you do with those squares who believe in real justice?
Reconstruction: Economic and Political Tyranny
by Mike Scruggs
Mike Scruggs is a retired combat pilot and a Vietnam War veteran. He is also a retired stock broker. Currently he writes as a columnist for the Tribune newspapers.
The high tariff policies that touched off Southern Secession in 1860-61 were instituted and kept in place until 1913. As feared, these high tariffs increased the costs of living and business in the South. This put its chief export, cotton, at a competitive disadvantage with Brazilian, Indian, and Egyptian cotton. Ninety-five percent of U.S. tax revenues came from tariffs, of which over 80 percent was collected in the South, and over 75 percent was used to enrich and subsidize Northern industry and build Northern infrastructure.
One asset the South had left after the war despite all the destruction was five million bales of cotton. Prices were also at an all time high of 50 cents to a dollar per pound. The North confiscated three million bales of this cotton on the grounds of its association with owners who had previously sold cotton to the Confederate government. Cotton raised by slaves was also subjected to a 25 percent tax. It was up to the owners of cotton to prove the absence of any Confederate or slave taint, so U. S. Treasury agents frequently made some arrangements to clear the cotton by some means of bribery. Many Treasury agents were racketeers, using threats of total confiscation, if an appropriate bribe was not forthcoming. They also purchased cotton at low prices using this racketeering scheme. One Texas widow was forced to sell her 400 bales of cotton valued a $200 per bale for $75 per bale or have them confiscated for Confederate taint. Treasury agents took their payment in cotton. They were normally entitled to 25 to 50 percent of confiscated cotton as their fee, but their shameless greed exceeded their authority. They were willing to defraud the U. S. government as well as cotton owners. Some were caught red handed in these schemes, but were released by the Army.
In addition, a three-cent per pound export tax was put on cotton. This was to pay for the war, which according to the Northern party line, Southerners had started. When cotton returned to its normal price range of twelve to eighteen cents per pound, the three cent tax was a 20 percent burden. As usual, Treasury agents often settled for a bribe. A transportation fee of four cents per pound was also charged for the privilege of getting it to market. Cotton planters were forced to survive a gauntlet of numerous Treasury agents, racketeers, and swindlers in getting their cotton to market with any profit at all. Reconstruction governments dominated by opportunistic carpetbaggers with little sympathy for Southerners and with their own fingers deeply into corruption left white Southerners little legal recourse.
Consequently, they began to call on the KKK for justice. Usually a Klan warning was sufficient to drive a Treasury agent away and allow cotton producers to get their cotton to market. The cotton tax was removed in 1868 in response to falling cotton production and increasing embarrassment in Congress. Moreover, two-thirds of the Northern opportunists who bought cotton plantations at distressed prices failed in the cotton business. One Florida failure in the cotton business was famous novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Toms Cabin. Treasury Secretary, Hugh McCulloch, was by conscience finally forced to admit, I am sure I sent some honest agents south; but it sometimes seems very doubtful whether any of them remained honest very long.
The carpetbagger state legislatures were notorious for extravagant personal spending abuses, arranging legislation for personal or partisan profiteering, for bribe-taking, and for costly maladministration. Property taxes were raised to force Southern property owners to sell their land at distressed prices. For the average Southern state, property taxes were four times as high in 1872 as in 1865. In South Carolina, property taxes increased thirty fold. At one time, over 20 percent of the land in Mississippi was for sale under property tax duress. These tax increases were not used to pay down state spending deficits. It took Alabama and South Carolina almost one hundred years to pay off the deficit spending of the Reconstruction era. Again, Southerners had little recourse to law and justice. It was truly a case of taxation without representation. Most white Southerners had been disenfranchised because they served the Confederate cause. In the present era, we are again rapidly reaching the dangerous point where tax consumers can out vote taxpayers.
It is only in recent years that the South has been able to overcome the economic abuse of Reconstruction. In 1860, Louisiana ranked second in the nation in per capita income. South Carolina ranked third; Mississippi was fifth; and Georgia was eighth. In 1880, Louisiana ranked as number 37. South Carolina had fallen to number 45, Mississippi to 46, and Georgia to 40. These figures are only slightly distorted because of the change in status of former slaves from 1860 to 1880. Contrary to popular opinion, according to Nobel Laureate economists R. W. Fogel and S. L. Engerman, both professed liberals, black slaves in the South had a higher living standard in nutrition, housing, leisure time, medical care, and old age security than did Northern factory workers. Their 1974 book, Time on the Cross, was not an apology for slavery, but a realistic look at the actual conditions of slavery, which were far less degraded than what most modern Americans imagine. Despite nominal legal improvements, black economic and lasting political progress was substantially retarded by Reconstruction.
The bottom line is that Reconstruction further devastated the South and retarded its economic recovery by many decades. The primary economic beneficiary was the Northeast. The primary political effect of the War and Reconstruction was that the U.S. evolved from a philosophy of limited government to big, powerful, highly centralized, unlimited government. The degree of corruption and despotism during Reconstruction may seem incredible, but it was the natural result of a collusion of big government and politically connected businesses unchecked by the consent of the governed.
Robert E. Lee had accepted defeat at Appomattox and encouraged his men to go home and be good Americans. But in 1870 after five years of Reconstruction, he privately told Fletcher Stockdale, former Governor of Texas, this:
Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people designed to make use of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox; no, sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in my right hand.
Few nations in the last millennium have been so devastated by loss of life and property as the South in 1865. Perhaps only the Russians, Ukrainians, Poles, Serbians, and in turn the Germans themselves in the Second World War endured such suffering. A Union general bragged that crows flying over then Shenandoah Valley in Virginia would have to pack their own lunches.
The Union conquerors then proceeded with the Reconstruction of the South by laying on heavy taxes, confiscating much of their remaining wealth in cotton and other goods, and forcing the sale of land under tax duress. They gave the right to vote to blacks, but took it away from Confederate veterans. They removed from Confederate veterans and their families all recourse to civil law and justice. They sent in swarms of Northern school teachers to teach their children to be ashamed of their fathers and their Southern heritage. They loosed upon them a reign of terror with a constant threat of depredations and outrages at the hands of the Union League. Political opportunists from the North constantly promised blacks that the properties of whites would be confiscated and given to them, if they voted Republican. Many of them also promised that Republican voting blacks would be given political and racial hegemony over the whites. The Union League regularly promised to hang blacks that did not vote Republican. Many blacks were, in fact, beaten and some murdered for resisting Union League political objectives. These circumstances made forceful underground resistance to Radical Reconstruction inevitable.
CONFEDERATE CELEBRATION IN FLORIDA
April 28 & 29, 2018
Confederate Memorial Day will be observed at Landmark Baptist Church in Archer, Florida.
You are invited to attend all or any of the festivities.
See here for details: http://libcfl.org/invite/
FROM THE EDITOR
Dr. Ed is a pastor, author, public speaker, radio personality, lobbyist, re-enactor, and the Director of Dixie Heritage.
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu’s ongoing daily round of television appearances continued this week. And again he did nothing more than flagrantly denigrate the history of his City, State, and nation.
So I’ve asked Mayor Mitch why he doesn’t use his newfound celebrity as the catalyst to fulfill one of his prior political promises? The relocation of the statues and monuments that he removed. Relocation was the stated promise. Or was it just that, a promise?
Maybe Mitch thinks that by not keeping his promises he ups his chance of being elected to higher office?
Seriously though, is it too much to ask those charged with determining the fate of the now bare Circle to propose a new location – public, obviously and not some out-of-the-way backwater, for the re-location and installation of the monuments where those of us who were angered by their removal might be able to see them once again. It could be a historically accurate but non-offensive to those who cried out for removal from their earlier locations kinda spot.
Just a thought. Assuming that is that Mayor Mitch intends to one day be the president of all citizens?
Until Next Week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed
Dixie Heritage
P.O. Box 618
Lowell, FL 32663
