General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: The South was not sufficiently punished after the war [View all]backscatter712
(26,355 posts)Sure, we helped them rebuild, and that was totally awesome, and turned them into strong allies.
But we also de-Nazified Germany. We held the Nuremberg trials, and hanged the worst Nazi war criminals. We severely punished those that ran, or guarded the concentration camps, or participated in the atrocities. We did the same in Japan, executing those who abused and murdered civilians and POWs.
So perhaps the best strategy would have been to hang Jefferson Davis, General Lee, and hang or imprison virtually every high-ranking officer in the Confederate military and official in the Confederate government. Also conduct war crimes tribunals and crimes-against-humanity tribunals against slave-owning plantation owners, and hang those who were the worst abusers of their slaves, and make sure that all the slaveowners' property was forfeited.
For those that didn't participate in such abuses, help them rebuild.
The problem with Reconstruction is that we failed to cut the heads off the snake. Nathan Bedford Forestt should have been hanged for war crimes, instead, he was allowed his freedom, and went on to found the Ku Klux Klan.