Forgetting Slavery
Not only do a full 48 percent of Americans say that the Civil War was “mainly about states’ rights,” but among those younger than 30, a whopping 60 percent agree with the assessment. Pew notes that seniors are the only other age group in which more say that states right caused the war, and even then, only 50 percent of seniors agree with the statement. Given the general association of “states’ rights” with conservatism, and generally liberal views of younger Americans, this is astounding.
Why does this matter? The virtues of historical accuracy aside, it’s vitally important that Americans remember the centrality of slavery to our history. If there’s anything genuinely admirable about this country, it’s in our ability to account for and overcome our mistakes. To whitewash and sanitize our account of the Civil War is to diminish the United States and the qualities that make it great. Civil War historians disagree on many things, but there is a general consensus surrounding the reasons for the war, and slavery is at the top of the list.
IF I AM UNDERSTANDING CORRECTLY, THIS SHIT RIGHT HERE IS WHITEWASHING SLAVERY. I’M REALLY PISSED.
To be fair the Civil War was about states’ rights. It just happened to be the states’ rights to own fucking slaves.
This is exactly what I was about to say. And I wonder if you asked that 60 percent younger than 30, “Okay, it was about states rights. What rights were the two sides at odds about?” I bet a ton of them would say, “The right to own slaves!” I just don’t see that many young people in denial on this point, they know it was about slavery, they also know it is/was framed as a states rights issue…including the right to secede from the union.
(Source: abbyjean)
Notes
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isayshewashighonexcitement reblogged this from feministhistorian
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feministhistorian reblogged this from wanderingfound and added:
Actually, people did give a damn about slavery. The Abolition Movement was around prior to the Civil War. While slavery...
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numinousnegrita reblogged this from abagond
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wanderingfound reblogged this from bilius and added:
Yeah, I’m pretty sure nobody really gave a damn about the slaves at first. Even when Lincoln made the Emancipation...
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bilius reblogged this from abbyjean and added:
Okay, I’m a fairly recent graduate of the American high school education system what-have-you (two years out), and what...
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14kgoldnyc reblogged this from pigasusflies and added:
is turning out really long...I’ll only post some here. The rest I’m probably going
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national-anathema reblogged this from feministhistorian and added:
This is a problem.
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slowfi reblogged this from feministhistorian and added:
The United Daughters of the Confederacy didn’t really help us here, as they started the whole whitewashing of slavery in...
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soofriends reblogged this from neutralangel and added:
This is exactly what I was about to say. And I wonder if you asked that 60 percent younger than 30, “Okay, it was about...
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yuuko reblogged this from formerlyaeraspais and added:
last time i was in a mainstream k-12 history class i remember there was a much bigger focus on the whole states right’s...
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formerlyaeraspais reblogged this from bananaleaves and added:
Damn, y’all. We cannot even white people to admit slavery happened now. I love my nation. Improving my life and shit....
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