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In reply to the discussion: NC lawmaker calls Abraham Lincoln a tyrant like Hitler [View all]Yupster
(14,308 posts)Question 1 - Many in the southern and border states owned slaves. It was perfectly legal and common for them to do so. Judging people of the past by standards of today is the "sin of presentism," frowned on by historians.
2 - That's the whole question isn't it? I secession is legal, then obviously they did not as they were taking arms against a foreign country.
3- Yes, but luckily no one got hurt. This was a big decision that Davis had to make. It was the classic short term gain and long term loss. Fort Sumter brought with it three of the four highest population states of the CSA, Tennessee, Virginia and N Carolina along with leaders like Lee, Jackson, Stuart, Bragg, Johnston, Hill, Early, etc. In the long term it led to a war the CSA couldn't win. Could the CSA have survived without those large states anyway? Lessons like this would be good for our leaders to study. If W had studied Jefferson Davis, maybe he wouldn't have attacked Iraq.
4. Obviously each side would blame the other for this. The north certainly did a lot more invading and destroying than the south did.
5. On POW's, it was the north which stopped the paroling and exchanging of POW's, not the south. The south by 1864 didn't have the food or transportation system to feed its own armies and people let alone thousands of prisoners. The south's transportation system was systematically torn to pieces as a war strategy of the north. I agree that Wirz took the fall as I believe his trial showed he tried to do a decent job faced with an impossible situation. He did get a trial though. Now Camp Douglas is another thing. There the north had the resources to give the prisoners and withheld them anyway. I don't remember if anyone took the fall for that other than congressional reports and committee hearings.
6. I don't need to tell you what Davis's reaction to Lincoln's assassination was. It is well documented. He was with Johnston's Army in N Carolina when he heard of it and he was mortified. His well documented quote is that the assassination would be a disaster for the south partly because he had known Andrew Johnson for decades and considered him an enemy of anything educated, ethical or moral. No, I have no doubt that Davis had nothing to do with Lincoln's assassination. It would go against everything in his entire life. There's a real good biography of Davis written about 20 years ago. I forget the author, but the title is "Jefferson Davis, American." I recommend it if you really have an interest in history. He was a fascinating person.
7. No, I'm not saying these guys were innocent. I have my own opinions, but that's not my point. My point is they deserved a trial. There are always two sides to every story and these guys had a case to be argued.
In conclusion, declaring someone an enemy of the people and executing them without trial is not something any Democratic Party supporter should be advocating. I'd recommend Kafka's book "The Trial" to make that point.