I would dare say that a sizable portion of the heated discussions on this board deal with the legality as opposed to the moral wrongs of slavery and whether or not slavery was "THE" cause of the Civil War. Am I wrong?
The Southern States are condeamed in public opinion as being the sole cause of slavery in the United States. The question of reparation stricks directly at these people today. Even though it existed in the United States for 77 years under the Constitution of the United States. For 10 years under the Articles of Confederation of the United States and for 200 before that under the colonial rule. Slavery existed longer in this land, before it was abolished, than the United States of America, and its notion of "FREEDOM", has even today presently existed. This idea of "FREEDOM" in the world today is still a suckling baby. It has not yet growth to even represent a child in it stage of developement on the world stage. We live in a dream world in this counrty because of this. The ideas born here have matured the most here, but are not the norm for the world today.
Therefore that alone makes the discussion of this modern day apologies and reparations in my opinion the very center point of any Civil War discussion. The course of History throughtout all of time is marked by people making mistakes in judgements, because of the times they lived (past tense) in. Where does this apology things get us?
How do we apologize for all the mistakes man has made? Who do we apologize to today and who will we apologize to tommorrow? Should we demand an apology from the Isreali's for their forefathers having Jesus Christ Crucified, or the Italians for providing the nails? That is foolhardy isn't it.
That is my point with my question about Clement Laird Vanlandingham to accentuate that absurdity. Is the injustice committed against one man any less that the injustice committed against a million?
How do you apologize for one miscarriage of justice, and allow another miscarriage of justice to stand?
The point is that you can never apologize for all the precieved miscarriages of justice, or pay restitution for all the damages done during the American Civil War and be totally fair and just about it. The very Best apology and restitution is not with an act of Congress, or the payment of moneies. The best restitution is to learn from history and to never allow those events to ever repeat themselves.
I am afraid with such talk of reparation, as a feel good measure, we have not learned "THE LESSON" of the American Civil War yet. We will probably never have Slavery again in this country. But we can still have another actual rebellion in this country, if we are not very careful. And as long as there are groups who think that they are owed something at the expense of others in this country we are creating those divisions which may not be able to be healed.
That is what happen in 1860.