A Bit of Tennessee History from 1861

[danielj72]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Daniel, did you even read my link? Did you know about the NYC riots? In the gentlest way I want to tell you that it sounds like you are mouthing a party line. Nothing is as black and white as you make it out to be. As you know, I'm a Yankee and I wasn't taught a glossed-over version of anything.

Yes I did read your link about the draft riots, and yes I knew about them and the causes of those riots. I agreed with you about the poor doing the fighting for the rich. That issue along with the anti black racism in New York at that time is largely responsible for those riots. Now as far as mouthing the party line, again I admitted that my view of the civil war and my politics are linked. I don't deny that. In fact I think ones view of the civil war is revealing about their modern political views. I have no way to back this up, but just from talking to people over the year it seems that those who strongly believe the northern cause to be right tend toward the liberal progressive worldview, and those who sympathize with the confederate cause tend to be more conservative/traditional values or libertarian. I don't think this would surprise anyone. Maybe this sounds like Im simplifying the war too much, but you can generalize even the most complicated issue for the purpose of discussion. I know the causes of the war are very complicated and many as are the reasons individuals decided to fight. We would need a lot more than this thread to discuss them all. I also was raised north of mason Dixon, but I was not from the northeast like you were but in the upper Midwest. I was taught a version of the war that placed the blame for it on the south, and blamed the south for American slavery. I also know that how American history is taught is a common debate in this nation, and many people believe revisionist history and the glossing over of key events in our past for the purpose of promoting political correctness and diversity to be a problem. Again how one feels about this is tied to their political views.

[hiknapster]

Originally Posted by danielj72

Yes I did read your link about the draft riots, and yes I knew about them and the causes of those riots. I agreed with you about the poor doing the fighting for the rich. That issue along with the anti black racism in New York at that time is largely responsible for those riots. Now as far as mouthing the party line, again I admitted that my view of the civil war and my politics are linked. I don't deny that. In fact I think ones view of the civil war is revealing about their modern political views. I have no way to back this up, but just from talking to people over the year it seems that those who strongly believe the northern cause to be right tend toward the liberal progressive worldview, and those who sympathize with the confederate cause tend to be more conservative/traditional values or libertarian. I don't think this would surprise anyone. Maybe this sounds like Im simplifying the war too much, but you can generalize even the most complicated issue for the purpose of discussion. I know the causes of the war are very complicated and many as are the reasons individuals decided to fight. We would need a lot more than this thread to discuss them all. I also was raised north of mason Dixon, but I was not from the northeast like you were but in the upper Midwest. I was taught a version of the war that placed the blame for it on the south, and blamed the south for American slavery. I also know that how American history is taught is a common debate in this nation, and many people believe revisionist history and the glossing over of key events in our past for the purpose of promoting political correctness and diversity to be a problem. Again how one feels about this is tied to their political views.

I think you hold such a black/white simplification of The Civil War. I was never brought up or taught that the North was "right" or the South was "wrong." I don't know how old you are but I'm going on 52 and we were taught that there were many issues that caused the Civil War. Most people I know think that the Civil War caused a horrific loss of life and was a very dark time in our history, not a matter of right or wrong.

And yes, the reason I showed you the link is to demonstrate that there are so many shades of gray. I realize that not only were the people outraged that some could pay $300 to hire someone else to go in their place (and they couldn't), but there were several other enormous issues. It is precisely why I showed you the link.

New York was lousy with southern sympathizers, especially since a lot of their business interests were there. There was also enormous racial tensions. The rioters were poor and had been competing with blacks for jobs. They despised the Emancipation Proclamation because it could mean less jobs for poor whites. The age-old rich man pitting poor folks against each other has a long history, longer than this country has been around. Clearly it is still in force today in some factions. That's another can of worms that I won't pursue but there is a laundry list of poor and working class complaints about others that they think are affecting their wallets.

Daniel, I stay off of websites that spout party lines and do my own research, that way every thought that I have is not clouded by vitriol and propaganda. I'll leave it at that. This has become far too political to be on this forum so I will no longer post in this thread.

[danielj72]

I am not a mouthpiece for southerners, or for people who used to live in the Midwest or for anyone else. I speak for myself and have formed my opinions over years of gaining knowledge on the war. Did I use biased sources??? Im sure I did, but so has everyone else. All studies, writings, TV news, documentaries, books etc. are biased by their creators. There is no such thing as an unbiased source unless its a primary source. Its our job as consumers of information to consider the bias in these sources of when forming our opinions. My opinion on this matter is obviously not popular in here, and those who hold these viewpoints are commonly blasted on CD in general. However CD is not the real world and I know plenty of folks who hold similar views of the war. My views are not isolated in this area either. Go to a civil war re-enactment and talk with folks there, you'd be shocked to find how many would have a similar opinion to the one I stated. Also to respond to the statement that parts of the south including Memphis cant grow because they still have hangups about the war, about 7-8 months ago the public parks in that city named after confederate generals were re-named because of local groups pushing political correctness. I would say that they are now embracing the modern view by removing the names so no one can claim to be offended. No event in US history defines the country as it exists today like the civil war does. Modern America is what it is today because of the events of and the result of that war. I will also cease to post on this, im not looking to anger anyone, but just to explain my point of view which I have done.

[Tenn82]

Tennessee leading up to the Civil War and the secession debate.

Video: Secession | Watch Tennessee Civil War 150 Online | Nashville Public Television Video