It strikes me that the North and the South have a lot in common, on the slavery issue. Both the North and the South have significant histories of racist slavery. Both of them tried to rewrite history, to make themselves look less awful.<\/p>\n
The difference is that the North succeeded<\/i> in rewriting history; very few people now remember that all the original Northern states were slave states. And in the North, just like in the South, it was not a moral awakening but a war that delivered a mortal blow to slavery; but in the North’s case, it was the Revolutionary War that did slavery in. ((I’m aware that slavery in the North didn’t end instantly with the Revolutionary War, any more than it ended instantly in the South with the Civil War. But in both cases, the War can reasonably be seen as the essential event bringing the eventual end about.))<\/p>\n
The South hasn’t succeeded that well, so everyone remembers that the South had slaves, but somehow many people now believe — contrary to what the South’s leaders, in the lead-up to the Civil War, said — that the South didn’t fight the civil war to preserve slavery.<\/p>\n
I respect attempts to uncover the whitewashed history of slavery and racism in the northern states. But I don’t think that project either requires or excuses whitewashing the history of slavery and racism in the southern states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It strikes me that the North and the South have a lot in common, on the slavery issue. Both the North and the South have significant histories of racist slavery. Both of them tried to rewrite history, to make themselves … Continue reading