J.D.R. Hawkins

One bullet can make a man a hero… or a casualty.

Archive for the tag “United States”

What You Didn’t Know About the WBTS

I recently came upon this article and wanted to share. So many myths and legends have surfaced in regard to the causes of the American Civil War, especially since the last veterans died around the 1930’s. Within the past few years, emphasis has been placed on the issue of slavery. Just to set the record straight, slavery was not the cause of the war, like so many believe today. Georgia has decided to put markers on all their Civil War monuments and memorials in an attempt to make a connection to slavery. I think this is completely inappropriate and inaccurate. Let me know what you think after you read this article. Thank you so much for reading my blog!

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Why have many schools stopped teaching American history or cut back drastically on the curriculum? Does anyone care? Is this making kids dumber?

We have been taught, thru the previous rewrites of history, that the North was righteous and good, the South was evil, and all owned slaves and beat and raped them all the time…Lincoln was a saint, who lead troops into war to end slavery. I understand the hatred generated…but it was based on LIES. This propaganda was generated to justify what was done and the lives lost on American soil.

Falsehood: The reason for the war was slavery. Truth : It was MONEY! Excessive taxation (Morrell Tariff was the breaking point) had the South paying 96% of the nation’s taxes. Only 6% of the population of the South owned slaves. Some slaves were even owned by black people. According to the 1860 U.S. CENSUS There were MORE FREE BLACKS living in the SOUTH than in the north. There WERE also slaves in the north. (Grant said of the slaves which attended him throughout the war, that they were his wives. Sherman also had slaves.) The offered Crittendon Amendment, stated that slavery could be made PERMANENT INSTITUTION IF THE SOUTH DIDN’T SECEDE…This was preaching to the choir, in that these congressmen and legislators were of that elite group…BUT they still declined!!!! There had been an agreement with the previous administration to not fortify or send munitions and additional troops to Ft Sumpter, which was violated at night, under the guise of darkness but the moonlight and the close proximity of the Charleston Battery, revealed this to those watching in Charleston and shots which could easily target MEN, where instead issued as warning shots harmlessly across the bow. Our military STILL does this, upon occasion as a warning of a violation.

ALso, during the War, BOTH white and black women were robbed and raped by invading Union troops. The food that they had if not taken, was spoilt and they were left to starve. The city of Atlanta, WAS KNOWN not to be occupied by any TROOPS , but ONLY by women, children, and elderly people when it was decided to be burned. Lincoln was NO SAINT. He wanted Blacks deported to Africa, Or nearby Haiti, Cuba, or other tropical islands…and NOT mixing the races TOGETHER. He met with several black ministers during the war to discuss this plan. Slavery was NOT targeted UNTIL the North lost several battles, and in hopes that in asurrection might take place…but it didn’t. (The Emancipation Proclamation DIDN’T FREE ANYONE…as Lincoln didn’t control those territories. It took a Constitutional Amendment to make that happen. Etc.) And the Confederate Battle flag NEVER FLEW OVER EVEN ONE SLAVE SHIP, But Old Glory DID. IF these vandals had not been LIED to, I don’t think they would have done this. 

The emancipation proclamation only freed the slaves in the South. It was a tactic used to make Lincoln appear to have a moral reason for the destruction he caused.

Thanks to Sharolyn Hamilton for this article.

 

The Election Process of Peculiarity

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Election Day is now upon us. It goes without saying that this has been an unusual election year. First, a woman is running for president, and she was previously a First Lady. Second, a business tycoon is running for president. He has no political experience but says he is running “to make America great again.” Both candidates have expressed their concern over rising health care costs, immigration policies, college loans, and foreign policy. Both have unique plans for the country, and so far, the vote is tied. It will be interesting to see the outcome and how the American people react and unite afterward.

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Over the course of the country’s history, many unusual elections have taken place. The musical Hamilton has brought to light the bizarre duel in 1801 between Thomas Jefferson’s vice-president, Aaron Burr, and Alexander Hamilton, who died in the duel. The conflict was brought about when Hamilton decided who would be president: Jefferson or Burr.

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When Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860, he represented the very first candidate of the Republican Party. Lincoln did not win in any southern state, and yet, he won 40% of the popular vote and most of the electoral vote. Prior to his inauguration, he was ushered into Washington D.C. (then known as Washington City) via train, under cover of night, and in a disguise because death threats had been made against him. Lincoln’s election lead to the Civil War, which would ultimately claim more than 620,000 lives over the course of four years.

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In 1872, Victoria Woodhull became the first female presidential candidate. Her running mate was Frederick Douglas, an outspoken freed slave and abolitionist. Also in 1872, President Grant, previously General Ulysses S. Grant, who had led the Union army to victory, ran against newspaper mogul Horace Greeley. Oddly, Greeley died before the electoral votes could be dispersed. Grant attended his rival’s funeral.

In 1884, Belva Lockwood ran under the Republican ticket. Her running mate was Marietta Stow, the first female vice-presidential candidate.

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Eugene Debs ran for president five times. In 1918, he delivered an anti-war speech, claiming “the ruling class” sent “the working class” to war. He was convicted of espionage and sentenced to ten years in prison, where he conducted his presidential campaign. He didn’t secure enough votes to beat out Warren G. Harding, but the following year, on Christmas Day, Harding commuted Debs’ sentence.

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In 1948, Harry S. Truman was predicted to lose to Thomas Dewey. This famous photograph was taken after Truman won the election.

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The first televised presidential debates took place in 1960 between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Kennedy secured the African-American vote when he helped free Martin Luther King Jr. from prison weeks before the election.

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The election of 1964 centered on race and the Civil Rights movement, and pitted Republican Barry Goldwater against Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson. The Democrats’ mudslinging campaign effectively portrayed Goldwater as a racist, which he staunchly denied.

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In 1972, Shirley Chisholm became the first major party black candidate for president, and the first woman to ever run for the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. And in 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the first African American president.

As you can see, America has had an illustrious and, at times, strange history of elections. Many of these examples occurred because of flaws in the electoral system. Unfortunately, for the American people, corruption is still rampant. Last week, my husband saw a woman stuffing an election box. Is Trump correct by saying the election is rigged, or is he paranoid? It will be fascinating to find out tomorrow and in the coming weeks.

Voice your choice. Vote!

For a list of female presidential and vice-presidential candidates, check out:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_United_States_presidential_and_vice-presidential_candidates

The ten most bizarre elections in American history:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/30/politics/interesting-u-s-elections/

The Destruction of History

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It has been brought to my attention that a group in Montgomery, Alabama, calling itself the Southern Poverty Law Center, is in the process of mapping out all Confederate monuments and statues in the United States. Their intention, I’ve been told, is to eradicate these markers and monuments, and thus do away with any reminders of the Confederacy. The S.P.L.C. is not a government agency, and therefore, does not have any legal right to do what they are doing.

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I find it alarming that such behavior is being allowed. Talk about discrimination! If they were targeting any other group in America, I’m sure everyone would be up in arms. But since they are attacking Confederate monuments, suddenly everyone thinks that those monuments and statues are “racist.” This is purely ignorant, to say the least. Confederate veterans were declared American war veterans, and a law was passed to establish this in 1958. Desecrating their graves and markers is a federal offense, and should be dealt with accordingly.

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Hate groups such as the S.P.L.C. and the N.A.A.C.P. are trying to take away Southern heritage, and to me, that’s just plain wrong. They claim that the Confederate battle flag is racist, but that is merely an excuse to accomplish their hidden agenda, which is to take away heritage reminders. By doing this, history can be erased and new symbolism can be put in its place. There has been more racial unrest in the past year and a half than there has been in fifty years since the 1960’s. It’s shameful that our illustrious president has nothing to say on the matter. It’s almost as if he wants to stir up social unrest by remaining silent. The groups that are crying racism need to take a serious look in the mirror. They are the biggest bigots.

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The South has every right to retain its own rich, unique, and diverse history. Our politicians need to stop backing down and start standing up for these rights. One person eloquently referred to it this way, and I agree. What’s taking place in America is a modern day witch hunt.

Post-Civil War Files Will Enhance Family Searches

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Recently, FamilySearch, a large genealogy organization, announced that it is in collaboration with several other organizations to digitally release records they collected through the Freedmen’s Bureau. They plan to have the records searchable by 2016. This is a fascinating and important step, allowing millions of Americans to discover their true ancestry. It will also give people the opportunity to connect with relatives they never knew existed.

The Freedmen’s Bureau obtained information about an estimated 4 million newly freed slaves, including their previous owners, marriage and family history, military service, banking practices, and hospital and property records. These records serve as a treasure trove for African Americans who have been unable to learn more about their ancestry for years. They will also allow all Americans to learn how the United States transformed once Reconstruction began.

“The records serve as a bridge to slavery and freedom,” said Hollis Gentry, of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, which will showcase the records when it opens next year. “You can look at some of the original documents that were created at the time when these people were living… We get a sense of their voice. We get a sense of their desires, their goals, their dreams, their hopes.”

Yankee Myths

MYTH– “Confederate symbols should not be tolerated because they represent a government that fought a war to keep blacks in bondage and to preserve the institution of slavery.”

This is one of the most commonly used arguments against Confederate Symbolism and one of the easiest to prove false.

Everyone knows that the South (and the North) had slavery until 1865. The north had slavery at least until 1866, due to some holdouts like future President Union General Ulysses S. Grant who refused to give-up his slaves until the passage of the 13th Amendment. Prior to 1866, slavery was completely legal. The Supreme Court had ruled favorably on the legality and constitutionality of slavery. Presidents Buchanan and Lincoln both promised many times, that they would not interfere with the practice of slavery. Even new laws were put on the books protecting slave owners from loss of slave property due to theft or runaways. Add to that, the fact that the Confederate States constituted the fifth wealthiest region in the world.

The slave owning states had all of these things and more. So why on earth would Southern States secede from the United States? Surely, no one believes that the South would have left the security of the Union and gone to fight a war for something they already had! Countries do not fight wars for the things they have, they fight wars to obtain the things they do not have.

To emphasize how secure the institution of slavery was in the United States, let’s look at what it would have taken to eliminate it. Since slavery was enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, it would require a Constitutional Amendment and that is very difficult to achieve. Two-thirds of the House and Senate must agree to the Amendment and then three-fourths of all the states must vote to ratify the Amendment before it can become part of the U.S. Constitution. This simply would never have happened as long as the Southern States stayed in the Union! That’s right; with the South in the Union, the northern and Southern slave states would have voted down any attempt to amend the Constitution, thereby guaranteeing that the immoral institution of slavery could continue almost indefinitely. So you see, it is quite easy to prove that the South did not secede and fight a war to maintain slavery; an institution they already possessed.

What the South did not have was financial freedom. Southerners were slaves to the industrial demands of the north, just as blacks were slaves to the agricultural demands within the bonds of an unjust labor system. Growth potential was severely limited in the South so long as the north continued to levy heavy Tariffs on things that Southerners needed to purchase; and heavy taxes on those things that Southerners produced.

(Article courtesy of the General William Barksdale Camp 1220, Sons of Confederate Veterans, Columbus, Mississippi, September 2014)

Honoring Veterans on Memorial Day

It has been a long tradition to honor fallen soldiers after battle. In the United States, the tradition began in 1865 following the Civil War. Southern women wanted to honor their soldiers and pay homage, so they designated “Decoration Day” as a day when the South would do just that.

Decoration Day was started in Mississippi by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, as evidenced by a song published in 1867, which was entitled “Kneel Where Our Loves are Sleeping,” and was written by Nella L. Sweet. The hymn carried the dedication: To the Ladies of the South who are decorating the graves of the Confederate dead. After WWI, the name was changed to “Memorial Day,” and in 1971, it officially became a national holiday.

This Memorial Day, please take the time to thank a veteran for the service he or she has dutifully and unselfishly given to us to insure our freedom. Without these brave heroes, we would not be the great country that we are.

Virginia’s Secession

It was on this date in 1861 that Virginia officially seceded from the Union. At the time, West Virginia was part of the state. It didn’t break away until 1863, because sentiment in the western part of Virginia leaned toward the Union, whereas the eastern section went with the side of the Confederacy.

Virginia’s Ordinance of Secession was passed at the State Capitol in Richmond on April 17, 1861, subject to voter ratification. On May 23, 1861, the referendum confirmed it by a vote of 132,201 to 37,451.

It’s common knowledge that many of Virginia’s sons were torn by their loyalties. Probably the most famous is Robert E. Lee, who served as a combat engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. Although he denounced secession, once his home state of Virginia left the Union, he turned down an offer from President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Federal Army and resigned his post to serve for the Confederacy. The rest, they say, is history.

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