
Confederate Statues Were Never Really About Preserving History - Kednicma
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/confederate-statues/
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klyrs
I think Jerry Sexton said [1] it best in defense of the KKK memorial in the
Tennessee capitol building.

> It was not against the law to own slaves back then. Who knows, maybe some of
> us will be slaves one of these days. Laws change.

Tear them all down.

[1] [https://www.wsmv.com/video/tn-legislator-makes-
controversial...](https://www.wsmv.com/video/tn-legislator-makes-
controversial-comment-about-slavery-during-debate-over-forrest-
bust/video_11d1d94d-6203-5bbd-bf42-2565bd12b6e2.html)

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wmeredith
The idea that the US Confederacy was about anything other than slavery is
utterly farcical after just a cursory reading of primary sources from that
era. Not the least of which is The Cornerstone Speech, an oration given by
Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens in Savannah, Georgia, on
March 21, 1861.

The key excerpt is this, “Its [The Confederacy’s] foundations are laid, its
cornerstone rests upon the great truth, that the negro is not equal to the
white man; that slavery—subordination to the superior race—is his natural and
normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of
the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth”

Source:
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornerstone_Speech)

Some other good primary sources are the states’ own declarations of
succession. Here’s the opening paragraphs from Mississippi’s:

“In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection
with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we
should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the
greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which
constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the
earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical
regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear
exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the
world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow
has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its
consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of
abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted
to work out our ruin.”

Source: [http://www.civilwar.com/resources/government/confederate-
sta...](http://www.civilwar.com/resources/government/confederate-states-of-
america-government-documents/148335-declaration-of-secession-mississippi.html)

The other states’ declarations all contain similar language. This isn’t oral
history, editorial, or “spin”. These are official government documents that
are widely available.

People who put forth that the US Civil War was not primarily about slavery,
that the Confederacy’s own self-declared foundations were anything other than
the subjugation of humans based on their race, are either ignorant or arguing
in bad faith.

