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[L Verge]

(06-20-2018 04:32 PM)JMadonna Wrote:  

(06-20-2018 09:45 AM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  And, as regards slavery, I can never forget the photograph of the older distinguished black slave whose back was absolutely covered in healed whip wounds. What an awesome personality that man must have possessed!

Not sure of your conclusion of the man's personality but I'm not defending slavery in any shape manner or form. My point was that abolition is a very recent phenomenon in the history of man. One should not damn ones ancestors for either following or ignoring the custom of the time.

Your point coincided very well with my previous post, Jerry. Thank you. I also would question (just for the heck of it) how David is able to determine that the former slave (I believe he was in a contraband camp when photographed) was a "distinguished gentleman" with an "awesome personality."

I was about 12 years old, I think, when I first saw that photo, and it shocked me terribly. But even then, I thought he must have been very difficult to deal with in order to earn so many stripes. By that time, I was educated enough on slavery to know that very few slaves were severely punished to that extent. I also knew the horror stories of how the enslaved were mistreated by foreign and Yankee ships' captains during that horrible Middle Passage before they ever set foot on southern soil.

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In my never-ending attempt to convince some people on the need to consider all sides of people and history, let's take Roger B. Taney, since he was "condemned" earlier. Taney wrote the majority report on the Dred Scott case, but it followed the majority vote of the entire court - 7/2. While jurists consider him one of the finest legal minds and constitutional supporters in our history, he will continue to carry the burden of that case as if it was his and his alone to decide.

Taney was also a Roman Catholic, which was not popular in those days. Taney considered slavery an evil. He had freed the slaves he had inherited before he came to the Supreme Court. It was his belief, however, that slavery was a problem to be resolved gradually and chiefly by the states in which it existed. Remember that, until the Civil War, much of the governmental authority rested on the states - not on a strong, central government such as Lincoln and the Republicans established.

And, speaking of Lincoln, Scott ruled against many of the unusual wartime measures that the President put into action. After the war and the assassination, the deceased Taney's reputation was smeared for having questioned the martyred Lincoln during life.
Again, we become products of our time.