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Were Confederate Generals Traitors?
Creators ^ | June 28, 2017 | Walter E. Williams

Posted on 06/28/2017 11:20:43 AM PDT by Sopater

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To: Dixie Yooper
I believe their pardons were worked out in the terms of surrender. Except maybe for Mosby and his Raiders.

No. That was settled by Andrew Johnson through four clemency proclamations in May 1865, September 1867, July 1868, and December 1868 that basically pardoned everyone.

21 posted on 06/28/2017 11:52:41 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: BenLurkin

Lol.

These guys are jokes. It’s hilarious. As detached from reality as any SJW.


22 posted on 06/28/2017 11:53:25 AM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw
The South’s battle cry- “Freedom.”

Well for two-thirds of their population anyway.

23 posted on 06/28/2017 11:53:59 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Sopater

They defended their homeland from invasion by a foreign power.

Hence the war’s proper name: The War of Northern Aggression.


24 posted on 06/28/2017 11:54:17 AM PDT by Alcibiades (Save the Republic.)
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To: Sopater

That would be Lincoln and his numerous unconstitutional acts.


25 posted on 06/28/2017 11:54:56 AM PDT by freedomfiter2 (Lex rex)
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To: freedomjusticeruleoflaw

Actually the south’s battle cry would have been “slavery!”. Or perhaps a better battle cry would (with stomping feet) have been “Someone won the presidential election we don’t like so we are going to destroy the union.” Much like democrats of today.


26 posted on 06/28/2017 11:56:07 AM PDT by OIFVeteran
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To: freedomfiter2
That would be Lincoln and his numerous unconstitutional acts.

Which ones were those?

27 posted on 06/28/2017 11:57:15 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: ifinnegan

“Southern Cry was literally Slavery.”

Both the USA and CSA had slaves. Both the USA and CSA had pro-slavery constitutions. Both the USA and CSA had presidents that took oaths to defend their pro-slavery constitutions.

After the Emancipation Proclamation, only one of these nations added a slave state. Do you know which?


28 posted on 06/28/2017 11:59:45 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: ifinnegan

I think you have made a good point on what really created the federal behemoth we have today. Because southern states were denying some of their citizens their constitutional rights the federal government had to step in and secure those rights. Everything else is history.


29 posted on 06/28/2017 12:00:44 PM PDT by OIFVeteran
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To: Alcibiades
Hence the war’s proper name: The War of Northern Aggression.

So would that mean that the proper name for World War II would be The War of Polish Aggression?

30 posted on 06/28/2017 12:01:28 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Sopater
The U.S. Constitution would have never been ratified — and a union never created — if the people of those 13 "free sovereign and Independent States" did not believe that they had the right to secede. Even on the eve of the War of 1861, unionist politicians saw secession as a right that states had. Rep. Jacob M. Kunkel of Maryland said, "Any attempt to preserve the union between the states of this Confederacy by force would be impractical and destructive of republican liberty." The Northern Democratic and Republican parties favored allowing the South to secede in peace.

Exactly. If entry was voluntary, then it would be assumed that staying was voluntary.

31 posted on 06/28/2017 12:01:37 PM PDT by Still Thinking (Freedom is NOT a loophole!)
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To: grobdriver

The more things change, the more they stay the same...


32 posted on 06/28/2017 12:02:03 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal (Americans are modern day Amorites ripe for destruction)
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To: doorgunner69

Every so often, when some progressives act like they would have been among the patriots in the 18th century, I point out their error.

It goes something like this:

The colonials who were okay with Arbitrary government were the Tories.

Since Arbitrary governance is the core of “progressivism” in the United States — the Constitution otherwise would prevent progressivism at the federal level and progressives feel no need to amend it to make their mad schemes lawful — it follows that this lot would have had no issues with the abuses of the Crown.

And it isn’t just that they are okay with Arbitrary government, but that in every particular they demand far more of government than the George and his Parliament ever considered or even dreamed of.

As a consequence if we consider how they might have acted upon the Patriot’s complaint of the crown sending innumerable officials to lord it over the colonies ... well, I’m sure they’d understand it was meant for our own good just as their bureaucratic hordes are claimed to be. Same with the taxes.

In fact, today’s nut burgers might be howling that George wasn’t taxing and spending enough!

You can’t want to exceed the Crown’s supposed abuses in EVERY respect and think you’d somehow have been against them had you been there.

Simply: an ideology that demands far worse than the worst of the Crown’s supposed abuses would never side with those who wanted less of it all, and the pretense that today’s left wouldn’t have been Tories back in the day is untenable.

Heck, if the colonies had been as far left as the DNC is now the King might have been trying to protest THEM!


33 posted on 06/28/2017 12:02:09 PM PDT by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Sopater

Not the crews of the Hunley. Not yet.


34 posted on 06/28/2017 12:03:07 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: Salman
August 1, 1960
Mr. Dwight D. Eisenhower
White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear Mr. President:
At the Republication Convention I heard you mention that you have the pictures of four (4) great Americans in your office, and that included in these is a picture of Robert E. Lee.
I do not understand how any American can include Robert E. Lee as a person to be emulated, and why the President of the United States of America should do so is certainly beyond me.
The most outstanding thing that Robert E. Lee did, was to devote his best efforts to the destruction of the United States Government, and I am sure that you do not say that a person who tries to destroy our Government is worthy of being held as one of our heroes.
Will you please tell me just why you hold him in such high esteem?
Sincerely yours,
Leon W. Scott

August 9, 1960

Dear Dr. Scott:
Respecting your August 1 inquiry calling attention to my often expressed admiration for General Robert E. Lee, I would say, first, that we need to understand that at the time of the War between the States the issue of secession had remained unresolved for more than 70 years. Men of probity, character, public standing and unquestioned loyalty, both North and South, had disagreed over this issue as a matter of principle from the day our Constitution was adopted.

General Robert E. Lee was, in my estimation, one of the supremely gifted men produced by our Nation. He believed unswervingly in the Constitutional validity of his cause which until 1865 was still an arguable question in America; he was a poised and inspiring leader, true to the high trust reposed in him by millions of his fellow citizens; he was thoughtful yet demanding of his officers and men, forbearing with captured enemies but ingenious, unrelenting and personally courageous in battle, and never disheartened by a reverse or obstacle. Through all his many trials, he remained selfless almost to a fault and unfailing in his faith in God. Taken altogether, he was noble as a leader and as a man, and unsullied as I read the pages of our history.

From deep conviction, I simply say this: a nation of men of Lee’s calibre would be unconquerable in spirit and soul. Indeed, to the degree that present-day American youth will strive to emulate his rare qualities, including his devotion to this land as revealed in his painstaking efforts to help heal the Nation’s wounds once the bitter struggle was over, we, in our own time of danger in a divided world, will be strengthened and our love of freedom sustained.

Such are the reasons that I proudly display the picture of this great American on my office wall.

Sincerely,

Dwight D. Eisenhower

35 posted on 06/28/2017 12:04:36 PM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: Sopater
Robert E. Lee was not a traitor. He did not conspire with a foreign enemy to betray the United States. Nor did he seek to overthrow the Federal government. The southern states left the union, and merely wanted to be a separate nation. They did not even want to conquer or vanquish the North.

And an interesting fact about branding Lee a traitor. Congress wanted to arrest Lee. But Grant told them they would have to go through him and the Union Army if they tried to get to Lee.
36 posted on 06/28/2017 12:06:19 PM PDT by Calvin Cooledge
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To: Still Thinking
Exactly. If entry was voluntary, then it would be assumed that staying was voluntary.

Entry is not voluntary. A territory cannot proclaim themselves a state and send a congressional delegation to Washington. Entry is allowed only with the consent of the other states as expressed through a vote in both houses of Congress. I'm OK if leaving only requires the same thing.

37 posted on 06/28/2017 12:06:43 PM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: Sopater

I don’t believe that you can call them traitors because they were being loyal to their state. In those days Americans’ allegiance was primarily to the state they lived in and were born in than to America as a whole. Most Americans don’t realize that at the time of the Civil War people were citizens of their state as if it was its own country. In those days politics was truly local.


38 posted on 06/28/2017 12:07:03 PM PDT by WMarshal (President Trump, a president keeping his promises to the American people. It feels like winning.)
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To: bigdaddy45
"If you try to secede and lead a successful revolution, then you are a patriot. If you lose, you are a traitor. The winners write history. Thats just how it works."

Yup. If Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin et al had lost, they would have been hung as traitors to the crown.

Unfortunately, not all revolutions are for the best...Cuba, Russia for example. However, the American Revolution and Constitution provided the template for true LIBERTY that the World has copied many times over. Too bad so many of the Western world have forgotten the sacrifices those old wig-wearing men did so you socialists, wannabe commies, anarchists, muslimes can piss on them. You dumbasss are only free to do such because of us.

Keep giving them a lesson, President Trump! Don't bow; don't apologize; don't give aid to enemies (Iran), and don't be politically afraid to use American power! The United States of America created the free modern prosperous world. It needs to be reminded. MAGA!

Last thought President Trump, please no more of our children's live/limbs for Syria, Iraq, Aftganiscrap. Bomb them back to their beloved 7th century and bomb the rubble again.

As a tax-paying Navy veteran, I no longer give one shit about collateral damage. Kill them all as we did in Dresden, Hamburg, Hiroshima, etc. You really think Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emigrates, Oman, Jordan will really care? Hell, they'd be happy to see that mess gone. They'll just make plans for the land and resources. Let them have it. Just give Putin 20 minutes that we are destroying everything. He may get pissed, but won't start a war with us. He's a smart man.

And while we're at it, send some MOABs to Iranian nuke facilities.

39 posted on 06/28/2017 12:07:51 PM PDT by A Navy Vet (I'm not Islamophobic - I'm Islamonauseous. Plus LGBTQxyz nauseous.)
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To: OIFVeteran

“I think you have made a good point on what really created the federal behemoth we have today. Because southern states were denying some of their citizens their constitutional rights the federal government had to step in and secure those rights. Everything else is history.”

And it gave real fodder for the Communists who have been working a century to take over.

It was hard to argue with them when the US had Jim Crow. It made them seem as if they had a moral high ground.

And these Southern Dems were all also big government liberals who supported Roosevelt and the New Deal.

Clinton came directly from this tradition under his segregationist mentor, Fulbright.

Democrats have been absolutely diabolical in first creating true social injustice and then acting as champion for those they oppressed in the first place and then winning over others who admired their social justice fighting.

It’s among the greatest scams in history.


40 posted on 06/28/2017 12:08:39 PM PDT by ifinnegan (Democrats kill babies and harvest their organs to sell)
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