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Bravo! I know several UDC ladies that are members of the garden club that I belong to and that are absolutely delightful people who do a lot of good for the community at large. The shrewish, mean descriptions of UDC membership in the first few posts in this thread do not apply to them at all. This is a UDC-heavy area, since Fredericksburg was a major Civil War battlefield, (as well as Chancellorsville) and the war dead of both sides are honored and cherished in many ways.
Will note on this that the UDC also has taken care of Union dead buried in the south and treated them with dignity.
This has been discussed numerous times. Many European nations by 1850 had already outlawed slavery. The Crown had outlawed slavery in Canada. Many northern states were way ahead of the curve on outlawing slavery and their intent was to not expand the slave trade to Western territories. By the mid-1800s, most of the developed world had realized that slavery was wrong. But the South was so stubborn about keeping it - mostly because their economy was so backwards that they had no choice.
So no, even at the time the South was out of step with the changing world. It's no excuse.
The colonies in America were not European nations. The south and its agricultural economy was very isolated from the world. Yes slavery was being abandoned throughout the world by this time that does not mean that for those growing up in this isolated area it was not the world they new, the world they had grown up in.
This has been discussed numerous times. Many European nations by 1850 had already outlawed slavery. The Crown had outlawed slavery in Canada. Many northern states were way ahead of the curve on outlawing slavery and their intent was to not expand the slave trade to Western territories. By the mid-1800s, most of the developed world had realized that slavery was wrong. But the South was so stubborn about keeping it - mostly because their economy was so backwards that they had no choice.
So no, even at the time the South was out of step with the changing world. It's no excuse.
....& by 1863 Riots broke out in New York City and Blacks were attacked throughout the city. Over 100 were killed & at least 5 were lynched. So perhaps NYC also seemed to be "out of step with changing world"....that you have dreamed up.
Fugitive Slave laws existed IN THE NORTH. Northerners saw to it that one would be breaking the law if they knowingly harbored escaped slaves. Slaves were by law required to be returned to the South (if caught). Why do you think the Underground Railroad existed? It wouldn't have been needed if "The North" was this "Way ahead of the Curve" place of Nirvana that you pretend existed. (Yes, there were abolitionists at this time, but they didn't represent the majority in the North.)
This revisionist and simplistic notion of all South = Bad; & all North = Good.....is a grade school mindset. It might work when posting to the historically challenged, but for anyone who's ever attended a college history class, or has picked up a 19th century novel or history book. (Or has taken the time to watch any Civil War or 19th Century Documentary).....it doesn't pass the smell test.
I suppose. The group began post war during a time of great loss and grief. They were not abolitionists nor were they slave owners. Just women living their time who loved their family and life all of which had been taken away. A life that was in that time normal and acceptable and all they had ever known. They are not supporting slavery, they are preserving history and their heritage. The slavery aspect of their heritage is shared with everyone in the colonies, it is the heritage of those living in the northern regions as well.
These women were not slave owners, they held no political office, they had no influence, they did not even have full rights and autonomy.
Why do you hold them responsible and expect those living in the past to be held to the standards of the future and wish to punish them for it?
I have no problem with these daughters putting up statues in memory of the war dead. They paid for them and the statues were accepted at the time.
I imagine how I would feel if my father were left to rot on a battlefield somewhere and I had nowhere to go pay my respects or take flowers on decoration day. I can go to my Dad's grave, place flowers, and talk to him if I need to. They couldn't.
Ehm - the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed as a Federal law on the insistence of the slave states whose property kept walking North.
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Why do you think the Underground Railroad existed?
So slaves could pass into free states.
In the free states in the north, the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act was being undermined by officials at the state level and slaves could achieve a degree of safety in the free states. Naturally, this incensed the slave states. Hence the 1850 act.
Quote:
Yes, there were abolitionists at this time, but they didn't represent the majority in the North.
In the free states, they absolutely did. You may need to do a bit of reading.
Ehm - the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed as a Federal law on the insistence of the slave states whose property kept walking North.
So slaves could pass into free states.
In the free states in the north, the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act was being undermined by officials at the state level and slaves could achieve a degree of safety in the free states. Naturally, this incensed the slave states. Hence the 1850 act.
In the free states, they absolutely did. You may need to do a bit of reading.
On the bold, that cannot be 100% proven.
Many whites in northern states did align themselves with abolitionists. They may have been against slavery from a moral perspective, but a substantial amount of whites in northern states did not want blacks to be immediately freed and especially did not want them to come to those states (hence various "black codes" enacted in those states) and there was intense prejudicial beliefs and racism against black people, especially in states where the UGGR was highly active like Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. They did not work for the cause of abolition.
The more well known abolitionists today, like William Lloyd Garrison would be considered to be on the "fringe" left of that era as he and other white abolitionists like John Brown took a very hard stance against slavery and abolitionism for immediate emancipation. But most whites back then did not agree with them in northern states as their positions were seen as extreme.
However, black northerners were predominantly abolitionists and historians today also admit that blacks in border states were the main drivers of the UGGR
The bolded. There was one thing Lincoln neglected to do that would have been a great tribute: Execution by firing squad of all the leaders of the the Confederacy.
Except for the part that Lincoln didn't care to stop slavery. He cared to keep the Union together and to stop slavery from spreading to the rest of the country. It was much later when the decision to end slavery in the South came about. So by default, should he have been executed by firing squad? (Well, I guess he was... but you get my point)
Ehm - the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed as a Federal law on the insistence of the slave states whose property kept walking North.
So slaves could pass into free states.
In the free states in the north, the 1793 Fugitive Slave Act was being undermined by officials at the state level and slaves could achieve a degree of safety in the free states. Naturally, this incensed the slave states. Hence the 1850 act.
In the free states, they absolutely did. You may need to do a bit of reading.
They passed THROUGH northern states into Canada. (many using the underground Railroad) They weren't "free" until they got to Canada. If picked up in the North, they were returned to the South.
Why bother taking the Secret Underground Railroad through the north, staying at safe houses, hiding out & ultimately traveling all the way to Canada..... if everything was hunky dory in the North. (& I've read plenty....not just Wiki). Bottom line.....many people who lived in the Northern States weren't as enlightened as some on this board seem to think. The "South" (& many of their people) sucked, but the "North" wasn't that much better.
Jeez, it took another 50-60 years before Child Labor laws went into effect (to protect kids as young as 10) & until women got the right to vote. The MFG cities of the North & Midwest weren't exactly a Progressive Paradise from 1850-1910.
Many whites in northern states did align themselves with abolitionists. They may have been against slavery from a moral perspective, but a substantial amount of whites in northern states did not want blacks to be immediately freed and especially did not want them to come to those states (hence various "black codes" enacted in those states) and there was intense prejudicial beliefs and racism against black people, especially in states where the UGGR was highly active like Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania. They did not work for the cause of abolition.
The more well known abolitionists today, like William Lloyd Garrison would be considered to be on the "fringe" left of that era as he and other white abolitionists like John Brown took a very hard stance against slavery and abolitionism for immediate emancipation. But most whites back then did not agree with them in northern states as their positions were seen as extreme.
However, black northerners were predominantly abolitionists and historians today also admit that blacks in border states were the main drivers of the UGGR
Correct. (beat me to it )
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