https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederate_Soldiers_and_Sailors_Monument_(Birmingham,_Alabama). Moreover, rioters and vandals are unlikely to limit their destructive activities to memorials whose removal is justified. In the eyes of anyone who doesn't already support removal, it just makes critics of honoring the Confederacy look like a bunch of hooligans and thugs. Few realize that even Mahatma Gandhi, while he was in South Africa, routinely expressed “disdain” for black Africans, describing them as “savage,” “raw,” and living a life of “indolence and nakedness” in his early writings. I’m working online! The South certainly had its beautiful minds and souls, then, and always will, but, now, 150 years later, though it has lost some of its regional character, it seems more universally welcoming and generous. “One crucial distinction it misses is that few if any monuments to Washington, Jefferson and other slaveowning Founders were erected for the specific purpose of honoring their slaveholding.”. Let each man resolve to be victorious, and that the right of self-government, liberty, and peace shall find in him a defender.” Lee supported states’ rights not because they protected slavery, but because, as the Founding Fathers understood, they were the “safeguard to the continuance of a free government” and “the chief source of stability to our political system.” As Lee explained to Acton, “The consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it.” Lee further noted that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, both of whom were secessionists in their day, opposed “centralization of power” as the gateway to “despotism.” According to Lee, “The South has contended only for the supremacy of the Constitution, and the just administration of the laws made in pursuance to it.””. Some blacks I know are praying hard for love all around. ... of a statue of Robert E. Lee turned into a reenactment of the cause he led—white supremacists marching behind the Confederate … There are potential political rewards for letting majority opinion guide outcomes. Quoting Donald Trump, Bernstein asks: “Where does it stop?,” a question Hays echoes. Paper money was always different, though. was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution" and that protecting it was the "cornerstone" of the new Confederate government. The removal in recent years of several monuments depicting Confederate leaders and other controversial historical figures by both politicians and unsanctioned activists have generated debate over whether their removal is justified. From there it’s a matter of a simple joint statement from political leaders: “Confederate statues are a continuing source of pain for our community. Four people were charged with criminal mischief, though those charges were later dropped, after tearing down a statue of Confederate Army … Review your logic. Even when vandals target monuments whose removal is justified, conducting the removal in this way is likely to be counterproductive. Yes, economic slavery was and still is a terrible abuse. By contrast, the vast majority of monuments to Confederate leaders were erected to honor their service to the Confederacy, whose main reason for existing was to protect and extend slavery…. […] it will be fun to see it transpire.”. I have never yet met the mob that was any good at casting bronze or working stone. (Example: Georgia didn’t elect a Republican Governor until 2002. This is even more absurd than to claim that noted criminal George Floyd’s health problems and drug usage caused his death and Chauvin was totally in the clear over the incident. It sure worked out well, didn’t it? He arrived just weeks before Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse and met with the two Confederate commissioners, James M. Mason (grandson of George Mason) and John Slidell, in Paris. Can’t wait until some militia gets the idea they can rip down some communist or socialist monument in the public square. One crucial distinction it misses is that few if any monuments to Washington, Jefferson and other slaveowning Founders were erected for the specific purpose of honoring their slaveholding. Douglass was right back then, and he is still right now. Ilya Somin. Vast majority? If these monuments are to be removed it should only be AFTER the mobs are gone, and with a process that actually permits people to organize in opposition. Of course there are. The commissioners quickly sailed to London, where they met with the Prime Minister, Henry John Temple, who sternly rebuked their proposal, stating that Her Majesty’s government would never recognize the Confederacy under any condition. First, removing or even moving a Confederate statue in response to angry citizens sets up a zero-sum encounter, where it is clear that one group “wins” while the other “loses.” These situations often serve to harden beliefs on both sides and raise tension. These ought to be repealed, and I doubt not if the whole South had united in asking their repeal with firmness and decision and with an honest intent to be satisfied with it when they got it that success would have crowned their efforts. A lot happened in that period that brought secession to the forefront. Confederate statues were: Erected as promotions for Jim Crow are: Confederate statues remain: Painful reminders of systemic oppression for many Sources of conflict within the community Publically funded displays of men who fought for the right to own people. The reality is that the Confederate cause was centered on the basic principle of self-government and independence, to about the same extent as the Revolutionary cause was.