Confederate Heritage Groups Dismayed by Warner's Decisio-No proclamation marking April for Civil War

1863—Emancipation Proclamation President Abraham Lincoln decrees that all slaves in Rebel territory are free on January 1, 1863. The Proclamation only freed those slaves in states that were in rebellion against the United States. The proclamation did not free slaves in the states that never left the Union.

Well,,then explain this to me.

http://www.undergroundrailroad.org (link)

The proclamation did not free slaves in the states that never left the Union. Well,,then explain this to me.

Lincoln believed that his Constituional authority with regard to emancipation was limited to his authority as Commander-in-Chief to institute a wartime measure against people/states in rebellion. He also realized that as a practical as well as a political matter, abolition of slavery throughout the U.S. would not be possible unless and until the Confederates were defeated.

The radical Republicans wanted Lincoln to be much bolder with regard to emancipation. John Fremont, for example, got into trouble with Lincoln for issuing an emancipation order covering Missouri while he was serving as the Union general in charge of that state and subsequently resigned over the issue, and the radical Republicans later nominated him for President in 1864.

Lincoln was certainly not the most strident Republican on the issue of abolition, but he sure did a masterful job of both putting down the rebellion and orchestrating the abolition of slavery in a relatively short period of time. If you can come up with some course of action which would have accomplished Lincoln's amazing feats in less time, I'd like to hear it.

Gone but not forgotten, Walt.

Johnson vs. Tompkins wasn't a Supreme Court case and Baldwin wasn't speaking for the court. But in the end all it shows is that the leaders of the southern rebellion were interested in protecting their slaves when they decided on their course of action.

Johnson vs. Tompkins wasn't a Supreme Court case

What was it?? No wonder I could not find it.

AND,,,what happened to Walt????? Not that I will miss his insults,,just courious.

Walt got a 24 hour ban for calling Twodees a cracker. He's back, dancing and singing like always.

Mr. Justice Baldwin was a lawyer and politician prior to being appointed to the Supreme Court in 1830. He held no judicial posts prior to that. While on the bench he is best known for writing the Majority Opinion in Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (30 U.S. 1) which sent the Indians down the Trail of Tears, and for writing the dissenting opinion in United States v. Libellants and Claimants of the Schooner Amistad (40 U.S. 518). Baldwin's quotes on the rights of property come from closing remarks made to juries, one of which was Johnson v. Tompkins, when he was an attorney.

Thanks for the info. So much to learn.

Congratulations – you seem to have proved that Dr. Steiner was ‘less than sympathetic’ to the cause of Southern independence. Would you suggest that such an attitude would tend to cause him to over-estimate the number of black Confederate soldiers he observed? Or perhaps that his hostility impaired his ability to perform simple addition?

The mention of “female secessionists” and “Union ladies” raises an additional point. Harriet Beecher Stowe noted in September 1869 “that the position of a married woman under English common law, is, in many respects, precisely similar to that of the negro slave.” Apparently the much-ballyhooed moral superiority of Unionists didn’t extend to their own wives.

Finally, your Post #276 suggests (by way of comparison) that Unionists ‘strain at the gnat and swallow the camel.’ How true - perhaps there’s hope for you yet! (Then again, perhaps not. When I saw your post admitting that you had voted for Clinton in ’92 and Gore in ’00, I just about fell out of my chair laughing! ;>)

'Old times there are not forgotten' by the true sons of the South

April 6, 2002 1:46 am

IREAD WITH great revulsion the comments by John Goolrick ["Gray ghosts: Let them lie," March 23], who agrees with Gov. Mark Warner's decision not to proclaim April Confederate Heritage Month.
He touted his lofty credentials of former political reporter and present aide to U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis. He expounded on how his father had written extensively about the "Civil War" (as he calls the War Between The States).
He set the stage further by mentioning a close friend who is a local historian. Then he began his present-day politically correct rubbish on why he agreed with Gov. Warner.
I'll start right off by saying that I don't have any credentials to hype.
I'm just an old country boy who was taught to honor my ancestors. Since an early age I have had an intense interest in history. All of my great-granddads were Confederates. Like Goolrick's ancestors, mine owned no slaves. The wealthiest one, according to the 1860 census, owned an 81-dollar farm in Floyd County.
Goolrick derided these men for being part of a nation that lasted only five years and fought to per-petuate slavery. How could any thinking person come to the conclusion that a poor Southern dirt farmer would volunteer to fight a war to perpetuate slavery?
Only 5 percent of the Southern population owned slaves. It is preposterous to think that the common soldier wanted to fight and die to perpetuate a situation that benefited him in no way. The laws of the United States of America sheltered slavery. Why then would Southerners secede and fight?
From the time of our Revolution against King George there was a struggle between those who favored a strong central government and those favoring a republic of sovereign states. This struggle came to a head when the Republicans, who favored centralization, gained power with the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
Mr. Lincoln's War bequeathed to us the federal monstrosity that we have for a government today and destroyed the intentions of our Founding Fathers. Our Confederate forefathers fought to keep state sovereignty alive.
Goolrick says that we don't need a month to celebrate our Confederate heritage. He then quotes Gov. Warner: "Over the past few years, the proclamation of a Confederate History Month has been a lightning rod. My belief is urging such a proclamation would not advance the healing process."
That is precisely why we do need the proclamation. Over the past few years, those who extort us by being perpetually offended have declared they will obliterate our Southern heritage. Goolrick and Warner have jumped on the PC bandwagon to demonize all things Southern.
Warner has called Lee-Jackson Day "divisive." I have written three letters asking the governor to explain why he made that statement, and I have yet to receive an answer.
Members of the NAACP are speciously and outrageously comparing the St. Andrews Cross--the Confederate battle flag--to the Nazi swastika. We need a Confederate History and Heritage Month to keep the truth alive.
Goolrick says, "Virginia has many pressing needs and can do without the distraction sure to arise if the month were to be designated again." In other words, he is urging us to reward extortion by surrendering to those who malodorously deceive, prevaricate, and distort the very heritage that the month was intended to honor. That is incredible doublespeak even by today's standards!
Blundering along, Goolrick suggests that we need a Virginia History Month to "teach all aspects of Old Dominion history." I think every month of the year should be Virginia History Month. Our Confederate heroes were a big part of that history. Their history didn't begin in 1861 and end in 1865. Robert E. Lee, for example, served in the Mexican War and as Commandant of West Point. He was the only cadet ever to graduate from West Point without a single demerit.
President Davis was also a Mexican War hero, served in the House of Representatives and the Senate, and was secretary of war under President Franklin Pierce.
Tragically, the lives of too many of Virginia's best ended during that period. I wonder what great accomplishments were never realized because of the terrible toll of Virginia lives snuffed out
in the heroic effort to thwart the Yankee invaders. What will future generations of Virginians have to endure if the truth is allowed to die out now?
DUANE MITCHELL lives in Spotsylvania County.
Copyright 2001 The Free Lance-Star Publishing Company.