General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The South was not sufficiently punished after the war [View all]thucythucy
(8,069 posts)It was the south that first imposed conscription, and extended the terms of its enlistees for the duration when it became apparent that not enough poor whites were willing to be part of "a rich man's war but a poor man's fight."
But the major traitors should have been tried, there should have been true land reform, universal public education and universal suffrage--all of which could have been and probably would have been achieved by 1869, had Lincoln not been murdered. Well, universal male suffrage, anyway--I don't know what Lincoln's view of women's suffrage would have been.
But Lincoln's murder was motivated by racism, and that's a fact. Booth was on the White House lawn when Lincoln gave his last speech, during which he praised the efforts of Louisiana Unionists who had drawn up a new constitution giving voting rights to black veterans. Lincoln approved the effort, but clearly wanted to go further. Booth was said to have turned to one of his friends and said, "That means n@@er citizenship. That's the last speech he'll ever make."
And so racism was the root cause behind one of the worst events--if not the single worst event--in American political history.
Racism is the cancer that has eaten at the soul of this nation since before its inception. It has and will kill this democracy stone dead, until we figure out a just and lasting cure. One step toward that cure would have been smashing "the slave power" when we had the chance.
Just my opinion, for what it's worth.