Ken Burns' "Congress" Is Pure Blather

Oregon Magazine ^ | 26 May 2003 | "LL"

[Grand Old Partisan]

Yeah, that's it.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Every day on Free Republic, neo-Confederates spew Democrat propaganda about the early Republican Party, and you have no problem with that.

[F16Fighter]

"Well, c'mon now, Ken Burns can't make something that makes democrats look bad, can he? If he has to fudge a little history that's OK."

Hmmm...the evocation of the word, "fudge" with "Ken Burns" -- coincidence??;-)

[stainlessbanner]

Every day on Free Republic, neo-Confederates spew Democrat propaganda

Provide some links; or maybe you have FR confused with another liberal news forum? Read the FR homepage, no products or services are sold here.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Provide some links to what?

I don't sell anything on Free Republic.

[lowbridge]

bump

[subrosa sam]

An excellent source for the Civil War and Reconstruction is the biography, "Grant" written by Historian, Jean Edward Smith. It is an exciting read and goes into great detail about General/President Grant and the Republican radicals struggle against the Demorats and the KKK to bestow equality to the Southern blacks. This past weekend a black minister/author was interviewed on CSPAN has just written a book explaining the Republicans role in obtaining freedom and equality for Southern blacks during reconstruction. The author was amazed by what he found in his research. It's strange that the GOP doesn't inform the public about the radical Republicans during reconstruction.

[Grand Old Partisan]

Most Republican leaders rely for their information on the early history of our Party on books written by Democrat historians.

[Bullish]

Hmmm...the evocation of the word, "fudge" with "Ken Burns" -- coincidence??;-)

Hehehe....

[RobbyS]

The Republican Party was a kind of expanded Free-Soil Party. Most northerners and westerners were opposed to extending slavery to the territories because they didn't want to be confronted with blacks. The infamous black code which was introduced into Louisiana by Lincoln was based on the law of Illinois.

[muleskinner]

That series changed my life. It gave me a new and profound respect for those willing to give the ultimate sacrifice for their country. North and South. Memorial Day and Thanksgiving have a deeper meaning for me now than before the series first ran.
If anyone is confused about the meanings of courage, self-sacrifice and bravery, you won't be after viewing the Civil War.
I tried to get a books on tape copy of Shelby Foote's "The Stars in Their Courses", but it is out of print, according to Borders.
His trilogy is excellent, adds lots of detail and depth.

[billbears]

and Justice Clarence Thomas cited it in a Supreme Court opinion.

Clarence Thomas cited your book in a Supreme Court decision? This I have to see. Provide link, source, or something!!

[Grand Old Partisan]

Interesting but wrong. Nearly all historians get this wrong too.

There were no ballots, such as we know them, in use in the United States until the 1880s. Now, election authorities print ballots with the candidates' names on them for people to check off, but prior to the 1880s voters dropped into the ballot box their own pieces of paper with their candidates names written on them. Voters did not have to use them, but political parties did print their own lists of candidates for voters to drop in the ballot box. These party ballots, or tickets, were the origin of the term "party ticket" used today.

Also, not until the 1880s was voting done in secret. Only in heavily Unionist western Virginia did people feel secure enough to vote Republican if they wished.

[Grand Old Partisan]

You can look it up in the 2001 decision "FEC v. Colorado Republican Federal Election Committee" at http://www.ussupremecourt.gov, around page 43 I think.

The reference, though brief, is blatantly gratuitous, what a reporter told me amounted to "an air kiss for the book."

[jackbill]

Ken Burns Civil War Series is a superb work. You need to own it if you are keenly interested in the Civil War. So much of it can be seen or listened to over and over and it need not be reviewed in the order presented to be informative.

I agree. Also, there is a large, coffee-table "companion book" which contains text and photos (about 500) from the program. I have it and pick it up from time to time.

It's still available at Amazon - $3.50 used

The Civil War: An Illustrated History by Geoffrey C. Ward, Ric Burns (Contributor), Ken Burns (Contributor)

[Grand Old Partisan]

Thank you! Lawyer friends to whom I mention this are astonished, as it is unheard-of for a Supreme Court Justice to plug a book in a decision.

[FirstFlaBn]

the Iron Brigade (Black Hat Brigade) didn't break against the vaunted Army of Northern Virgina...it kicked their collective butt.

Better go back to the library, the old memory ain't what it used to be. While Meredith's Brigade deserves its laurels won at Gettysburg, it's delusional to say they kicked butt. In buying time they were effectively destroyed, losing 1153 of 1829 engaged and, finding it impossible to recruit quality replacements, were never a factor again. Their first fight at Gettysburg against Archer was against one of the weakest brigades of Lee's army.

If losing very nearly 2/3rds is kicking butt, what would you say counts as getting whipped? A shorthand 19th Century method of determining the victor was to note which force held the field at the end of the day. The Iron Brigade after all their efforts marched back through their own footprints.

[SamAdams76]

I've got two thirds of the Shelby Foote trilogy. I'd better get that third volume before that particular set goes out of print. I have plans to read it later this summer. Right now, I'm trying to get through Winston Churchill's The Second World War, which is a massive 6-volume set.

I too have become fascinated with the Civil War recently. That's why I wanted to get the Ken Burns set (and I will get it). Like you, I respect what both the North and South were trying to accomplish. It's a shame that so many good people had to die to keep this nation together.