Confederate and Neo-Confederate Reader

by Loewen, James W.

• ISBN13: 9781604732191
• ISBN10: 1604732199
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-07-28
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Mississippi

Summary

Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the Civil War, and the actions of subsequent neo-Confederates. For example, two thirds of AmericansÂ--including most history teachersÂ--think the Confederate States seceded for Â"statesÂ' rights.Â" This error persists because most have never read the key documents about the Confederacy.These documents have always been there. When South Carolina seceded, it published Â"Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union.Â" The document actually opposes statesÂ' rights. Its authors argue that Northern states were ignoring the rights of slave owners as identified by Congress and in the Constitution. Similarly, MississippiÂ's Â"Declaration of the Immediate Causes Â'¦Â" says, Â"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slaveryÂ--the greatest material interest of the world.Â"Later documents in this collection show how neo-Confederates obfuscated this truth, starting around 1890. The evidence also points to the centrality of race in neo-Confederate thought even today and to the continuing importance of neo-Confederate ideas in American political life. The 150th anniversary of secession and civil war provides a moment for all Americans to read these documents, properly set in context by award-winning sociologist and historian James W. Loewen and co-editor, Edward H. Sebesta, to put in perspective the mythology of the Old South.

Author Biography

James W. Loewen is the best-selling author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong and Lies across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. He is professor emeritus at the University of Vermont. Edward H. Sebesta is a co-editor of Neo-Confederacy: A Critical Introduction. His articles have appeared in numerous journals.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments and Photo Credits	p. XIII
Introduction
Unknown Well-Known Documents	p. 3
The Gathering Storm (1787-1860)	p. 22
Debate over Slavery at the Constitutional Convention, August 21-22, 1787	p. 25
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), ôOn Abolition Petitions,ö U.S. Senate, February 6, 1837	p. 30
Alabama Platform, February 14-15, 1848	p. 36
John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), ôAddress to the Southern People,ö U.S. Senate, January 22, 1849	p. 40
James H. Thornwell (1812-62), The Rights and the Duties of the Masters, May 26, 1850	p. 50
Resolves of the Southern Convention at Nashville, June 10-11, 1850	p. 55
Journal, Resolution, and Ordinance, State Convention of South Carolina, April 26-30, 1852	p. 60
Two Images of Slavery: Confederate $100 Bill (1862) and Obelisk, Fort Mill, South Carolina (1895)	p. 62
Samuel A. Cartwright (1793-1863), ôDiseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race,ö 1851	p. 64
Slave Jail, Alexandria, c. 1859	p. 71
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), ôEndorsementö; T. L. Clingman (1812-97), ôEndorsementö; and J. H. Van Evrie (1814-96), ôNegroes and Negro 'Slavery,' The First an Inferior Race-The Latter, Its Normal Condition,ö 1853	p. 73
George Fitzhugh (1806-81), Cannibals All! Or Slaves Without Masters, 1857	p. 80
Alexander H. Stephens (1812-83), ôSpeech on the Bill to Admit Kansas as a State under the Topeka Constitution,ö House of Representatives, June 28, 1856	p. 82
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), Speech at State Fair, Augusta, Maine, September 29, 1858	p. 87
John B. Gordon (1832-1904), ôAn Address Delivered Before the Thalian & Phi Delta Societies of Oglethorpe University,ö June 18, 1860	p. 89
Secession (1859-1861)	p. 92
South Carolina General Assembly, ôResolutions for a Southern Convention,ö December 22, 1859	p. 94
Jefferson Davis, Congressional Resolutions on ôRelations of States,ö U.S. Senate, March 1, 1860	p. 96
Official Proceedings of the Democratic Convention, April 28-May 1, 1860	p. 98
Benjamin Palmer (1818-1902), ôThanksgiving Sermonö November 29, 1860	p. 104
Christiana Banner 1994 (1911, 1851)	p. 109
South Carolina Secession Convention, ôDeclaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of South Carolina from the Federal Union,ö December 24, 1860	p. 111
South Carolina Secession Convention, ôThe Address of the People of South Carolina, Assembled in Convention, To the People of the Slaveholding States of the United States 1861,ö December 24, 1860	p. 118
Mississippi Secession Convention, ôA Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union,ö January 26, 1861	p. 127
Florida Secession Convention, ôCause for Secession,ö January 7, 1861	p. 130
Alabama Secession Convention, ôResolution of Resistance,ö January 7, 1861, and ôOrdinance of Secession,ö January 11, 1861	p. 131
Georgia Committee of Seventeen, ôReport on Causes for Secession,ö January 29, 1861	p. 133
Texas Secession Convention, ôA Declaration of the Causes Which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union,ö February 2, 1861	p. 140
George Williamson (1829-82), Louisiana Secession Commissioner, ôLetter to President and Gentlemen of the Convention of the People of Texas,ö February 11, 1861	p. 145
Henry L. Benning (1814-75), ôAddress Delivered Before the Virginia State Convention,ö February 18, 1861	p. 149
Virginia Secession Convention, ôResolutions,ö March 28-April 5, 1861	p. 153
Arkansas Secession Convention, ôResolutions,ö March 11, 1861	p. 156
Isham Harris (1818-97), Governor of Tennessee, ôMessage to the Legislature;ö January 7, 1861	p. 160
John W. Ellis (1820-61), Governor of North Carolina, ôProclamation,ö April 17, 1861	p. 166
Civil War (1861-1865)	p. 167
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), ôFarewell to the U.S. Senate,ö January 21, 1861	p. 170
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), ôMessage to the Confederate Congress about Ratification of the Constitution,ö April 29, 1861	p. 175
The Constitution of the Confederate States of America, March 11, 1861	p. 182
Alexander H. Stephens (1812-83), ôAfrican Slavery: The Corner-Stone of the Southern Confederacy?,ö March 22, 1861	p. 187
Governor H. M. Rector (1816-99), Letter to Colonel Sam Leslie, November 28, 1861	p. 191
Three National Flags of the Confederacy, 1861, 1863, 1865	p. 193
William T. Thompson (1812-82), ôProposed Designs for the 2nd National Confederate flag,ö April-May 1863	p. 194
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), ôMessage to the Confederate Congress,ö January 12, 1863	p. 198
Confederate Congress, ôResponse of the Confederate Congress to Message from Jefferson Davis on the Emancipation Proclamation,ö May 1, 1863	p. 201
Richard Taylor (1826-79), Edmund Kirby Smith (1824-93), ôTreatment of African American Prisoners of War,ö June 8, 13, 16, 1863	p. 203
Fort Pillow Massacre, April 12, 1864	p. 206
John R. Eakin (1822-55), ôThe Slave Soldiers,ö June 8, 1864	p. 209
Henry Hotze (1833-87), ôThe Negro's Place in Nature,ö December 10, 1863	p. 213
Robert E. Lee (1807-70), Letter to Hon. Andrew Hunter, January 11, 1865	p. 216
Macon Telegraph, Editorial Opposing Enlistment of African Americans, January 6, 1865	p. 219
Howell Cobb (1815-68), Letter to James A. Seddon, Secretary of War, January 8, 1865	p. 221
J. H. Stringfellow (1819-1905), Letter to President Jefferson Davis, February 8, 1865	p. 223
General Orders, No. 14, An Act to Increase the Military Force of the Confederate States, approved March 13, 1865	p. 228
Reconstruction and Fusion (1866-1890)	p. 230
Edmund Rhett Jr., ôLetter to Armistead Burt,ö October 14, 1865	p. 234
Mississippi's Black Code, November 24-29, 1865	p. 237
Robert E. Lee (1807-70), Testimony before the Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction, February 17, 1866	p. 240
Rushmore G. Horton (1826-68), ôA Youth's History of the Great Civil War in the United States from 1861 to 1865,ö 1867	p. 242
Jack Kershaw (1913-), Statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, 1998	p. 247
Edward A. Pollard (1831-72), ôThe Lost Cause Regained,ö 1868	p. 249
Alexander H. Stephens (1812-83), ôConclusion,ö A Constitutional View of the Late War Between the States, 1868	p. 251
Robert E. Lee (1807-70), ôThe White Sulphur Manifesto,ö August 26, 1868	p. 254
John B. Gordon (1832-1904), ôTo the Colored People,ö address in Charleston, South Carolina, September 11, 1868	p. 257
Ku Klux Klan Postcard, c. 1937	p. 259
R. L. Dabney (1820-98), ôWomen's Rights Women,ö 1871	p. 260
Jubal A. Early (1816-94), ôSpeech to the Southern Historical Society,ö August 14, 1873	p. 267
Jefferson Davis (1808-89), ôSlavery Not the Cause, but an Incident,ö 1881	p. 271
The Nadir of Race Relations, 1890-1940	p. 277
J. L. M. Curry (1825-1903), The Southern States of the American Union, 1895	p. 283
Stephen D. Lee (1833-1908), ôThe Negro Problem,ö 1899	p. 286
White Mob Burns Black Businesses in Wilmington, North Carolina, November 10, 1898	p. 294
S. A. Cunningham (1843-1913), ôM'Kinley, Roosevelt, and the Negro,ö January 1903	p. 296
S. A. Cunningham ôProblem of the Negroes,ö January 1907	p. 299
John Sharp Williams (1854-1932), ôIssues of the War Discussed,ö November 1904	p. 301
John Singleton Mosby (1833-1916), Letter to Sam Chapman, July 4, 1907	p. 304
E. H. Hinton (1852-1916), ôThe Negro and the South: Review of Race Relationships and Conditions,ö August 1907	p. 306
South Carolina Confederate Women's Monument, 1912	p. 312
C. E. Workman, ôReconstruction Days in South Carolina,ö July 1921	p. 314
Mildred Rutherford (1852-1928), ôThe War Was Not a Civil War,ö January 1923	p. 320
Susan Lawrence Davis (1862-1939), ôThe First Convention,ö 1924	p. 322
John E. Rankin (1882-1960), ôForrest at Brice's Cross Roads,ö August 1925	p. 324
The Civil Rights Era, 1940-	p. 330
Richard Weaver (1910-63), Selections from The Southern Tradition at Bay, 1943	p. 334
M. Clifford Harrison (1893-1967), ôThe Southern Confederacy-Dead or Alive?ö December 1947	p. 336
Dixiecrat Convention, Birmingham, Alabama, July 1848	p. 338
Birmingham Post Staff Writers, Untitled Sidebars about the Dixiecrat Convention, July 17, 1948	p. 339
Strom Thurmond (1902-2003), ôAddress to the State Convention of the United Daughters of the Confederacy at Winthrop College, South Carolina,ö October 17, 1957	p. 341
Sumter L. Lowry (1893-1985), ôThe Federal Government and Our Constitutional Rights,ö Address to the United Daughters of the Confederacy, October 15, 1958	p. 348
The Citizens' Council Logo, March 1957	p. 354
ôHis Example Inspires Our Efforts of Today,ö The Citizens' Council June 1956	p. 355
ôW. E. Rose, The Warning of Robert E. Lee,ö The Citizens' Council, February 1957	p. 357
The Citizens' Councils, ôOld Censored Joe,ö November 1957	p. 359
The Citizens' Councils, ôMan Mail Party,ö December 1958	p. 360
The Citizens' Council, ôConditions in U.S. Today Offer Alarming Parallel to First Reconstruction Era of a Century Ago,ö August 1960	p. 361
Richard Quinn (c. 1945-), ôMartin Luther King Day;ö Fait 1983	p. 366
James Ronald Kennedy (1947-) and Walter Donald Kennedy (1947-), ôEquality of Opportunity,ö 1994	p. 368
ôSic Semper Tyrannisö T-shirt, 1999	p. 370
Alister C. Anderson (c. 1924-), ôAddress at Arlington National Cemetery,ö June 6, 1999	p. 371
Moses Ezekiel Arlington Cemetery Confederate Monument, detail, June 4, 1914	p. 373
Sons of Confederate Veterans, ôPostcard Objecting to Mention of Slavery at Civil War Sites,ö 2000	p. 375
John J. Dwyer (1956-), ôIntroductionö to The War Between the States: America's Uncivil War, 2005	p. 376
ôLincoln's Worst Nightmare,ö 1996-99	p. 379
States Voting for Lincoln (Republican, 1860) and Kerry (Democrat, 2004)	p. 380
Sonny Perdue (1946-), ôConfederate History Month Proclamation,ö March 5, 2008	p. 382
ôFrank Conner, ôWhere We Stand Now: And How We Got Here,ö September 2003	p. 384
Concluding Words	p. 392
Notes	p. 394
Index	p. 417
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