Horror: Jefferson Davis Highway in Washington State

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 25 January 2002

[Publius]

In 1939-40, markers were placed at each end of old Highway 99 naming the road Jefferson Davis Highway in honor of the president of the Confederacy.

The markers outraged Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, who learned of them recently. One monument, it turns out, was removed four years ago, but he's still demanding that the road be renamed and says he'll remove the other, even if at the risk of arrest.

Jefferson Davis was the only president of the Confederate States of America.

"In this state, we cannot have a monument to a guy who led the insurgency to perpetuate slavery and killed half a million Americans," told The Herald of Everett.

Washington 99, formerly US 99, was the major north-south route through Western Washington from Oregon to Canada until Interstate 5 was built in the 1960s.

I-5 supplanted the older road in many places, including near the Canadian border. Dunshee noticed the northern marker for the Davis highway about 10 feet from I-5 in Blaine as he returned from a kayaking trip in Canada last summer.

The United Daughters of the Confederacy established Jefferson Davis highways starting in 1913. With the blessing of state officials, they erected stone markers from Washington DC, across the country.

Dunshee said his research showed that in 1939, Democratic state Sen. Howard Roup sponsored the bill that gave the name to US 99. The southern marker was dedicated that June and the northern marker the next year.

Dunshee introduced a bill Wednesday to rename the road the William P. Stewart Memorial Highway in honor of a Civil War soldier from one of the first black families to settle in Snohomish.

Rep. Ruth Fisher, D-Tacoma, chairwoman of the House Transportation Committee, said the bill would get a hearing.

"The reaction is, 'You're kidding. That shouldn't be here,'" Fisher said.

The southern marker was removed without notice from a park in Vancouver four or five years ago, Vancouver City Council members Jim Moeller and Pat Jollota revealed Thursday.

The marker is now stored at a shed in a cemetery. Moeller and Dunshee said the two markers belong in a museum with an interpretive display.

If the bill passes, Dunshee said, the state Parks Department would remove the northern monument. If it fails, he says, he's willing to drive to Blaine and rip it out himself, even if he winds up going to jail.

"Slavery was the greatest injustice of our history," he said. "It's not something we should glorify."

[Publius]

Political correctness run amok.

[wysiwyg]

JudasPriest

member since January 25th, 2002

[Fish out of Water]

FYI

[Chapita]

The Frankfort School would patent the familiar “Critical Theory” which was accurately defined by a student as the “essentially destructive criticism of all the main elements of Western culture, including Christianity, capitalism, authority, the family, patriarchy, hierarchy, morality, tradition, sexual restraint, loyalty, patriotism, nationalism, heredity, ethnocentrism, convention, and conservatism.”

Any surprise that it would be another DEMOCRAT expousing the tenets of Gramscianism?

[balrog666]

"Slavery was the greatest injustice of our history," he said. "It's not something we should glorify."

Right, we're too busy glorifying ignorance.

Wow. This is like deja vu all over again!

[Chapita]

You have a lot to learn, if that is possible!

[wysiwyg]

Jefferon Davis is in essence a deposed leader of a conquered area. What's next? Mussolini Lane? Hitler Terrace?

Whatever your opinion of the Civil War (War of Northern Agression), it is an unbelievable stretch to equate Davis with Mussolini, let alone Hitler. Jefferson Davis was an honorable man, well respected by friends and enemies alike.

[Tennessee_Bob]

Took them a little while to notice it, eh?

[sinclair]

"Wow, can I be cool like you?"

Not likely with that mind-set.

[wysiwyg]

Wow, can I be cool like you?

No.

[cactmh]

Leave, loser.

[Publius]

As recently as a decade ago, I doubt it would have been much of an issue.

[Commiewatcher]

"Jefferson may have well been a common criminal. He was a traitor, nothing more."

William Jefferson Clinton, you mean. I agree.

[aomagrat]

The markers have been there for over 60 years and they are just now noticing? Some people just have to go way out of their way to be offended.

[Chapita]

as well described here as anywhere

[r9etb]

And yes, I did misspell his name on purpose.

Boy, howdy! That'll show 'em!!!

Seriously, pal -- a guy who names himself after charter members of the "Ugly, Loud, and Obnoxious Hall of Fame"

would be well advised to keep a lower profile on his first day here.

[wysiwyg]

Do you actually know anything about the man, or are you simply repeating the same old PC nonsense? HE ASKS KNOWINGLY...

[Dakmar]

He'll probably want to change the name of the entire state next, since Washington owned slaves.

[WaterDragon]

Actually, it is a little silly to name anything after Davis. Now, if they'd named the road after Robert E. Lee, that would have been different. Davis? Nah.

[Publius]

A bit over two years ago I posted an article about the Jefferson Davis Presidential Library in Mississippi after seeing a show about it on C-SPAN. (It's lost somewhere in the FR archives.) I pointed out the political incorrectness of referring to Davis as "president" and lauded the Mississippians for sticking a finger in the eye of the PC crowd.

Can anybody locate that article?

[texson66]

Before you judge him, read his last speech as a U.S. Senator at Jefferson Davis

[NovemberCharlie]

"In this state, we cannot have a monument to a guy who led the insurgency to perpetuate slavery and killed half a million Americans," told The Herald of Everett.

...

If the bill passes, Dunshee said, the state Parks Department would remove the northern monument. If it fails, he says, he's willing to drive to Blaine and rip it out himself, even if he winds up going to jail.

I have to admit, it's a little loopy to have a Jefferson Davis highway in Washington, since the state has no connection to the Civil War.

That said, I'm amused to see that Dunshee is willing to defy the government to prevent honoring a man who defied his government.

[billbears]

Welcome and may I suggest a little reading? Perhaps Official Records of the Civil War published by the federal government in the early 20th century. Or maybe Black Confederates? Maybe if you take your eyes off that federally subsidized history book and come down South to see the multiple monuments to blacks who fought and died for the Confederacy, you'd see it's not as clearcut as the Empire would have you believe. To compare Davis to men such as Hitler shows not only ignorance but is an insult to my ancestors as well

[Christian B]

"In this state, we cannot have a monument to a guy who led the insurgency to perpetuate slavery and killed half a million Americans," told The Herald of Everett.

This jerk should read up about Jefferson Davis. He was a good man.

[texson66]

See #27

[warchild9]

Who cares? Washington--State or DC--is not part of our country. Deo Vindice. The Kid.

[HaveGunWillTravel]

Jefferson may have well been a common criminal. He was a traitor, nothing more.

Davis represented the entire southern half of the country. They wanted to voluntarily secede from a union that they joined voluntarily. They were, and are supposed to be sovereign states. If this is wrong, then Davis is less of a criminal than George Washington. Read the Declaration of Independence. Learn history. Stop being ignorant. The standards you are applying to Davis would cut a lot deeper against those who I assume you view as heroes. Take Lincoln, for instance. How would you characterize his transgressions against the constitution? Does the end justify the means? If so, how do you reconcile tyranny over the entire south in the name of liberty for the slaves? Are men free or aren't they?

[lilylangtree]

Good God, Hans Dunshee doesn't have other problems in Washington that he has to take offense of a road named after a southern statesman who followed his heart. For his information, the Civil War was more than just slavery. The North was economically shutting down the South. Presently, the state of Washington has an 8.1% sales tax, transportation problems, high unemployment due to the many dot.com companies failure and Boeing layoffs, and various other problems, and most importantly, beginning January 1, 2002, Washington has a democratic administration and legislature. This little man, Dunshee, is worried about a name? Give me a break! Apparently, Snohomish doesn't give this little man enough to do in the legislature. What a turkey!

[sphinx]

My no-cost solution wouold be to announce that the Jefferson Davis highway now honors the federal general of the same name. Wouldn't even have to change the signs ...

[Taft in '52]

This news doesn't surprise me. I read recently that Washington's King County, which was originally named for Vice President William R. King (1853-1857), has been renamed for Martin Luther King.

[Christian B]

I read a biography of Jeff Davis that portrayed him as an honorable, brooding man who felt very-much representative of Mississippi. The fact that he was the natural choice for leader of the Confederacy does no more to condemn him than a president who finds him caught in the whirlwind of public enthusiasm. Anyone who can boil Davis down to a few pejoratives simply hasn't read up on their history.

[HaveGunWillTravel]

That said, I'm amused to see that Dunshee is willing to defy the government to prevent honoring a man who defied his government.

Good one.

[Christian B]

Yes, Lincoln did far more to violate the essence of the Constitution than Davis did.

[KC Burke]

The American Enterprise Institute asked noted author Shelby Foote the following question:

After the Civil War, a compromise was obtained in which the North acknowledged the bravery of the Southern soldiers and the valor with which they fought for a cause in which they believed, while the South acknowledged that maybe it was for the best that the Union was preserved. Has this compromise finally broken down?

This removal is further evidence that it has. Foote is critical of the South for letting its symbols of honor be appropriated by the Klan and others. He thinks that this was the reopening of the wounds that has lead to where we are today.

None can be any sort of student of history of the Civil War era and not appreciate what a great thing the compromise mentioned by AEI was in allowing our nation to reconstitute as one and what restraint and honor was shown by both sides in doing so. The people of that era had more respect for what they, and theirs, had been through than all sides of the debates today.

Belittlement of people that went through such a great trial on either side, by light-weights sitting on keyboards today, is a sad thing to see.

[meandog]

[Dante3]

Everybody let's just ignore JudasPriest, aka Hans Dunshee. Imagine being so full of hate!

[aomagrat]

This news doesn't surprise me. I read recently that Washington's King County, which was originally named for Vice President William R. King (1853-1857), has been renamed for Martin Luther King.

I just read this in "Bank Note Reporter" of all places. Seems that someone recently found out that Vice President King once owned slaves. Of course changing the name solved all of the racial problems in the county.

[AUgrad]

Jefferson may have well been a common criminal. He was a traitor, nothing more

He was a Patriot. Do some research before you spout off. You obviously know very little about the Civil War. I suggest you read a few of Shelby Foote's books.

[RetiredArmy]

Well, King County, Seattle area, is was not named for Martin Luther King originally. It was named for some guy, I think who was a prior slave owner and the socialists here went nuts about it. I think it has officially gone over to MLK being honored now, but not originally.

[HaveGunWillTravel]

You talking to me? Try again. The war was before my time and I'm from the north. Either way, I remain a sovereign individual and my own master. Try me.

[AUgrad]

Actually, it is a little silly to name anything after Davis. Now, if they'd named the road after Robert E. Lee, that would have been different. Davis? Nah.

Nathan Bedford Forrest would have been a good choice also. Even Thomas J.(Stonewall)Jackson would be good.

[texson66]

"Every evil which has befallen our institutions is directly traceable to the perversion of the compact of union and the usurpation by the Federal Government of undelegated powers." -President Jefferson Davis, CSA

[Verginius Rufus]

They can keep the name of the state as it is, but pass a law that it is meant to honor Booker T. instead of George.

I recall reading one of the slave narratives (interviews done under the auspices of the WPA in the late 1930s) which was with a freedman who had the last name Davis. He explained that at the end of the war he didn't have a last name and had to choose one. He had heard Jefferson Davis mentioned so often that he decided that Davis was a good name and chose it for himself.