Should the US Government and the Northern States apologize for Reconstruction?

Question

I do not beleive in Slavery, nor do I beleive in hating anyone because of the color of their skin, religion or country of origin.

It was during a recent discussion on the causes of world war I that the thought occurred to me that it was the harsh treatment of the south following the civil war, not the down fall of the institution of slavery that has caused most of the racial hatred in this country today.

Abraham Lincoln accepted Lee's surrender with the words "With charity towards all and Malice towards none" for this he was shot!
Andrew Johnson attempted to hold to Lincoln's policy and for this he was impeached. (He was not removed from office)

Had Lincoln's postwar policy been adopted do you think many of attitudes of racial hatred in this country might have been avoided?

jtaylor and bubu. I couldn't agree with you more, but when I read the other day that liberals in Richmond were saying that Va. should apologize for its role in slavery it got me to thinking.

Nostrodamus: If the war was fought soley over slavery why did the south succeed from the union? At this time there were fifteen slave states and 15 free states. The 45 state was not admitted to the union until 1896 and as it would have required a 2/3 majority to pass a constitutional amendment abolishing slavery, do you think there might have been other issues as well?

Answer 1

No, for the same reasons I don't believe in repatriation for slavery. It would accomplish nothing. Aside from that, you can't hold the people in today's day and age accountable for things committed by their ancestors, people who are long dead and gone.

As a side note: about Lincoln's "assassination," you may want to read a new book that just came out called "The Execution of Abraham Lincoln." In it the author makes a very persuasive, fact-filled case proving that Lincoln was not simply assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, but that he was executed at the order of Johnston and Staunton (the VP and the Sec'y of War). I attended a lecture by the author last week, and he's very convincing!

NOTE TO NOSTRADAMUS: You have absolutely NO IDEA of what you're talking about, and it shows. For openers, the total amount of troops involved in the Battle of Gettysburg was approximately 160,00, of which Union forces had 3,155 killed, 14,530 wounded, and 5,365 missing; the Confederate forces had 2,600-4,500 killed (records are incomplete), 12,800 wounded, and 5,250 missing. At worst, using these figures the total amount of soldiers killed combined was 7,655. The total casualty figures in terms of soldiers killed was approximately 600,000 for the ENTIRE WAR. In reality, Gettysburg didn't even come close to having the highest casualty rate during the war - that dubious distinction goes to the Battle of Antietam, when 23,000 men were killed in a SINGLE DAY. Gettysburg took three days, and didn't produce a third as many casualties.

You may also want to look up the definition of the word "treason."

May I suggest you do some research before you shoot your mouth off? It only makes you look like an idiot if you don't.

Answer 2

People are continuously apologising to the Jews for the holocaust. The Pope did before he died. There were along with the Jews many black people who were killed as well and no one has bothered to apologise to them. To date, there are national museums in place to show the concentration camps and persons can even meet others who have survived it. There is nothing so extensively done to commemorate slavery or to show exactly what the slaves really went through. It seems that slavery has been downplayed compared to the slaughter of the jews. There are Germans who are still standing trials/or would be called upon to stand trial for the crimes committed against the Jews. However, what has been done to prosecute the people who have killed many slaves coming over the Middle passage, the rape of the women, the dehumanizing of a race and the emasculation of the men...to date the black people still suffer from the break down in the family, which if you were to study the African people, was a very important way of life. Further, they still also suffer from racism in certain parts of the world, the only thing that has changed is that people have learned to hide their hate of other race/colour a lot better. Iran denies that the holocaust ever occured and this of course has put the Jews in an uproar. I do not blame them. Many people by their attitudes try to deny that racism against the blacks still exists and by no formal apologies fo rslavery, it is almost a slap in the face. It's as if people are in their own subliminal way trying to say that slavery did not exist. The civil war is not enough. WWII was not enough for the Jews and I do not think that anyone should tell the black race that the war between the two states is sufficient. I think we as black people are just as worthy of a formal apology as any other race for the wrongs that we have suffered and the insults that we still face even today.

Answer 3

The US Government should apologize for Deconstruction. Let the past sleep for eternity.

Answer 4

sorry but i don't agree.

the southern states that seceeded were traitorous rebels and got what they deserved - in fact things could have gone much worse for them.

more men died at gettysburg than in all other american wars combined up until vietnam.

over 600,000 dead all tolled.

this happened because the south wanted to keep slaves.

it's the south who should be making reparations...

Answer 5

Grow up will you! Do you not think that we have enough problems and issues to keep us going for a hundred years?

Answer 6

I think we have enough problems today without going back in history looking for someone to blame.

Answer 7

What reconstruction? Lincoln started an unnecessary war and his successor failed in his job too.