On Wed, 11 Jan 2006 17:34:26 -0500 Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
writes:
> Charles Brown wrote:
>
> >In my opinion, nostalgia about the Confederacy and Robert E. Lee is
> racist.
> >Of course, I'm Black, so that might impact how I think about it
> :>).
>
> Hey, I'm white & I agree. While it's true that the North & Lincoln
> weren't anti-racist and anti-slavery except when it was convenient,
> that doesn't really matter for talking or singing about Dixie today.
Concerning Lincoln, I think it's more accurate to say that he came under the pressure of circumstances to take anti-slavery and anti-racist stances as the war dragged on. He did that to rally public support for the war in the North (remember that the war in fact was rather unpopular until later on when it became apparent that the Union would win), to rally public support for the Union side in Europe at a time when both the British and French governments were contemplating intervention on the side of the Confederacy and because the actual fighting of the war required that the Union army take in African-American recruits to fight and because Lincoln came to realize that one of the best ways to undermine the Confederates was to encourgage slaves to rebel and/or run away.
And yes, a great many of the German refugees that came to the US following the failed revolution of 1848 were very much involved on the side of the Union, and that includes the socialist contingent too, among which numbered some old friends and associates of Karl Marx, like Joseph Weydemeyer who served as a colonel, commanding the Fortieth Missouri Regiment, and August Willich, who likewise became a colonel, commanding the 6th Brigade of the Army of the Cumberland plus Carl Schurz who became a brigadier general.
And concerning Lincoln's administration, I think it can fairly be characterized as having been a progressive one, and not only because it put down the slaveholders' rebellion (as progressive as that was). Lincoln began his political career as a Henry Clay Whig. And as such supported Clay's economic program which emphasized high tariffs and Federal government support for the development of industry. To that extent, it was really just an updated version of Alexander Hamilton's old economic program. But some Whigs, including Lincoln, gave it a more progressive twist, in that they also favored government action to protect the interests of workers and farmers too. (In fact some of the early American socialists were Whigs too). Later when Lincoln became president he backed legislation to extend educational and economic opportunities to farmers and working people; the Morill Land Grant College Act plus the Homestead Act were passed under his administration, in addition to legislation that was favorable to business interests in the North. It is also interesting to note that Lincoln was known to speak favorably about labor unions.
>
> Doug
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