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Healing from the American Civil War

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  • #31
    Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
    I almost sprayed soda all over my computer screen!!!:)):))
    Never heard that one before?:) It goes way back.

    "1830's South Carolina Attorney General James L. Petigru was one of the leading advocates of the so-called “unionist” position in the State, arguing the federal Union must remain intact. On the other hand, nullifiers and, later, secessionists argued that the union could not be preserved if states rights were trampled upon. Petigru was a minority of one as the War Between the States drew near, making the famous comment that “South Carolina is too small to be a nation and too large to be an insane asylum.”

    Here's the whole story:
    South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster - Inside the Office

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Officer of Engineers View Post
      Forgive me for asking this ... and this is from a Canadian whose knowledge of American history is through books and not through stories

      But did not Robert E Lee and Ulyssess S Grant began the healing by their very own actions?
      Grant allowing Lee to keep his sword was a grand start. I believe if reconciliation had been left to the former combatants, reconstruction would have been far more effective. Unfortunately for the South, this could not have been.

      The former combatants had a long, brutal history of grudging respect for each other. Once hostilities ended, that respect and shared suffering formed a bond. If you take the many Gettysburg reunions for an example, you witness a reunion of comrades, Blue and Grey.


      The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913

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      • #33
        Originally posted by GAU-8 View Post
        [/SIZE][/FONT]

        "South Carolina is too small to be a nation and too large to be an insane asylum"
        True, so true :))
        “He was the most prodigious personification of all human inferiorities. He was an utterly incapable, unadapted, irresponsible, psychopathic personality, full of empty, infantile fantasies, but cursed with the keen intuition of a rat or a guttersnipe. He represented the shadow, the inferior part of everybody’s personality, in an overwhelming degree, and this was another reason why they fell for him.”

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        • #34
          Originally posted by GAU-8 View Post
          I believe if reconciliation had been left to the former combatants, reconstruction would have been far more effective.

          The former combatants had a long, brutal history of grudging respect for each other. Once hostilities ended, that respect and shared suffering formed a bond. If you take the many Gettysburg reunions for an example, you witness a reunion of comrades, Blue and Grey.
          Exactly; I have great respect for many Union commanders, soldiers, and units that I've read about.

          The First and Second Regiments of United States Sharpshooters for example. To me,they were just yankees.

          The Carpetbaggers.....well, they were damnyankees.

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          • #35
            Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
            There is no doubt that much of Reconstruction was ham handed and overly harsh...

            I would say to expect an easy let down from the North after the war is expecting too much.

            I think it was more of a grudging coexistence because there was really no other choice.
            Ah, yes.....the "cough medicine" reconstruction viewpoint: you know you might need it; you know it might make you better; but it's gonna taste bad going down! ;)

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            • #36
              Originally posted by Rifleman View Post
              Ah, yes.....the "cough medicine" reconstruction viewpoint: you know you might need it; you know it might make you better; but it's gonna taste bad going down! ;)

              Well, it sure beat the enema reconstruction viewpoint!
              “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
              Mark Twain

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              • #37
                Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post
                Well, it sure beat the enema reconstruction viewpoint!
                You know.....I can't think of anything to say! :P

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                • #38
                  Always has been an interesting topic because of the absense of wholesale reprisals. I give Lincoln a large part of the credit because he understood that a union half subjected to harsh retribution would never be whole again. But credit also goes to cultural and politicial currents that never ceased functioning during the war. First, there were families and friends on opposite sides who never came to hate each other and yearned for reconciliation after the war. Second the constitutional form of government was accepted by both sides and both would have expected it to continue.
                  Last edited by JAD_333; 29 Aug 08,, 05:02. Reason: nothing better to do
                  To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

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                  • #39
                    Jad

                    Well said.

                    Yet even with that, look how c=brutal the war was in the hinterland. Jayhawkers, Partisan Rangers, etc were all brutal. Yet this was not allowed to become the norm.

                    A big part was what the individual soldier believed he was fighting for. That was a huge motivator, both during and after.

                    Oh, and by the way, its Union, not union!:))
                    “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                    Mark Twain

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by Albany Rifles View Post

                      Oh, and by the way, its Union, not union!:))
                      Quite right.
                      To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

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                      • #41
                        JAD,

                        Always has been an interesting topic because of the absense of wholesale reprisals. I give Lincoln a large part of the credit because he understood that a union half subjected to harsh retribution would never be whole again. But credit also goes to cultural and politicial currents that never ceased functioning during the war. First, there were families and friends on opposite sides who never came to hate each other and yearned for reconciliation after the war. Second the constitutional form of government was accepted by both sides and both would have expected it to continue.
                        as bad as lincoln's murder at the end of the war was- imagine how much worse it would have been had it happened in 1864, during the height of the fighting.

                        hannibal hamlin + vengeful Union = massive retribution and probably the creation of an insurgency.
                        There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

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                        • #42
                          Originally posted by astralis View Post
                          JAD,



                          as bad as lincoln's murder at the end of the war was- imagine how much worse it would have been had it happened in 1864, during the height of the fighting.

                          hannibal hamlin + vengeful Union = massive retribution and probably the creation of an insurgency.

                          When I read your words, and I must admit I have never considered them, I thought of names like Sherman, Sheridan, Chase, Lane, Stanton and others and I don't know if there would hve been a Confederate leader left alive to lead the rebellion!
                          “Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
                          Mark Twain

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                          • #43
                            Originally posted by astralis View Post
                            JAD,



                            as bad as lincoln's murder at the end of the war was- imagine how much worse it would have been had it happened in 1864, during the height of the fighting.

                            hannibal hamlin + vengeful Union = massive retribution and probably the creation of an insurgency.
                            I've thought that myself when reading about the period. Albany has a point.
                            To be Truly ignorant, Man requires an Education - Plato

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                            • #44
                              As with any insurgency, it never starts with a general but always with a PO farmer who just lost his crop for the year for no good reason.

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                              • #45
                                and the american south is a hell of a bush-whacker's country...
                                There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "My ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."- Isaac Asimov

                                Comment

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