The Truth About the Confederacy in the United States

July 7, 2020 10:08 AM

Jeffery Robinson, the ACLU's top racial justice expert, discusses the dark history of Confederate symbols across the country and outlines what we can do to learn from our past and combat systemic racism.

The Truth About the Confederacy in the United States
posted by y2karl (12 comments total)

See also

How Did Robert E. Lee Become an American Icon ?
posted by y2karl at 10:36 AM on July 7, 2020 [5 favorites]

This was the most informative talk I have ever experienced. I actually don't know what to say. Thank you for posting.
posted by sundrop at 12:34 PM on July 7, 2020 [1 favorite]

When the United States emerged as a world power in the years before the Civil War, the men who presided over the nation’s triumphant territorial and economic expansion were largely southern slaveholders. As presidents, cabinet officers, and diplomats, slaveholding leaders controlled the main levers of foreign policy inside an increasingly powerful American state. This Vast Southern Empire explores the international vision and strategic operations of these southerners at the commanding heights of American politics.
This Vast Southern Empire: Slaveholders at the Helm of American Foreign Policy
posted by robbyrobs at 1:04 PM on July 7, 2020 [3 favorites]

There's a lot of valuable insight here.

sundrop, thank you for mentioning how valuable you found it, which prompted me to go take a closer look.

For anyone who'd find a transcript easier to manage than a long video, I've posted a rough transcript on my blog - the URL's in my profile.

y2karl, thank you so much for posting this. I'm a big fan of the ACLU, but I can't keep up with everything they're doing, and I'm really glad to know about Jeffery Robinson and this talk.
posted by kristi at 1:19 PM on July 7, 2020 [5 favorites]

I agree with Sundrop. I grew up in Texas and, yeah.
posted by apex_ at 1:38 PM on July 7, 2020

Jeff Robinson also has a documentary coming out soon along the same lines, The Who We Are Project. I'm not sure about the release date, but it should be good.
posted by bepe at 1:51 PM on July 7, 2020

This is amazing. I'd planned to just see half of it today and the other half tomorrow because it is past my bedtime, but couldn't stop. Even though I knew most of the things he told about, the way he put the pieces together was very powerful and it will influence my teaching and writing from now on.
posted by mumimor at 3:09 PM on July 7, 2020

Line-by-line comparison of the U.S. and Confederate constitutions, for those who claim it was all about states' rights.

Overall, the CSA constitution does not radically alter the federal system that was established by the United States constitution. It is therefore very debatable as to whether the CSA was a significantly more pro-"states' rights" country (as supporters claim) in any meaningful sense. At least three states rights are explicitly taken away — the freedom of states to grant voting rights to non-citizens, the freedom of states to trade freely with each other, and, of course, the freedom of states to outlaw slavery within their borders.

States only gain four minor rights under the Confederate system — the power to enter into treaties with other states to regulate waterways, the power to tax foreign and domestic ships that use their waterways, the power to impeach (some) federally-appointed officials, and the power to distribute "bills of credit."

As previously noted, the CSA constitution does not modify many of the most controversial (from a states' rights perspective) clauses of the American constitution, including the "Supremacy" clause (Art. VI, Sec. 1[3]), the "Commerce" clause (Art. I, Sec. 8[3]) and the "Necessary and Proper" clause (Art. I, Sec. 8[18]). Nor does the CSA take away the federal government's right to suspend habeus corpus or "suppress insurrections."

As far as slave-owning rights go, however, the document is much more effective. Four different clauses entrench the legality of slavery in a number of different ways, and together they virtually guarantee that any sort of anti-slave law or policy would be unconstitutional. People can claim the Civil War was "not about slavery" as much as they want, but the fact remains that anyone who fought for the Confederacy was fighting for a country in which a universal right to own slaves was one of the most entrenched laws of the land.

posted by Rhaomi at 3:38 PM on July 7, 2020 [11 favorites]

This really was an amazingly well-put together talk. He knitted everything beautifully.
posted by Anonymous at 4:38 PM on July 7, 2020

When the United States emerged as a world power in the years before the Civil War, the men who presided over the nation’s triumphant territorial and economic expansion were largely southern slaveholders.

This point cannot be emphasized enough. The 3/5 Compromise was mainly intended to produce exactly this result. When cheating by 5/3 on Congressional and Electoral College representation was no longer enough to guarantee Slave Power control of the Federal Government, the slavers tried to take their marbles and go home in a huff. That is to say, they tried to refuse to honor the result of a Presidential election.

Richard Nixon thought that he could harness the hatred of their successors to the Republican Party, but at the end of the day it was the Party in harness and the Confederates holding the whip.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 6:59 AM on July 8, 2020 [2 favorites]

A super clear, compelling, comprehensive presentation, weaving fact, history, and emotion together to peel back the hagiography of American history and clearly point to the white supremacy at the heart of the nation's founding and every heartbeat since. Thank you very much kristi for the transcript you put together.
posted by riverlife at 8:17 AM on July 8, 2020

For anyone who'd find a transcript easier to manage than a long video, I've posted a rough transcript on my blog - the URL's in my profile.

Thanks for doing that Kristi; I don’t generally have time to watch a YouTube video that long but can easily read the transcript and it was well worth it. I will probably make time to watch the video now.

A few years ago David Niewert posted an excellent series of articles on the Confederacy that I made into an FPP here that seems as relevant as ever.
posted by TedW at 9:22 AM on July 8, 2020 [2 favorites]