Jefferson Davis disappears as New Orleans removes another tribute to the Confederacy

[TexasTowelie]

Source: Washington Post

Jefferson Davis served as the first and only President of the Confederate States of America, though his legacy as rebel leader does not exactly shine in the historical record. The Civil War Trust notes that “Davis’ popularity and effectiveness were not enhanced by the growing numbers of Confederate defeats,” and Davis was captured in the waning days of the war by Union soldiers after he had fled the Confederate capital in Richmond.

Still, Davis is celebrated in pockets of the South for his part in the Confederate cause, with highways, high schools and more named in his honor.

For more than 100 years, there was also a prominent statue of Davis in New Orleans.

But that changed overnight, as the statue was removed from its longtime perch — along Jefferson Davis Parkway, no less — following days of tension and protests.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/05/11/jefferson-davis-disappears-as-new-orleans-removes-another-tribute-to-the-lost-cause-of-the-confederacy/

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Time to properly place these folks

in an actual historical context - NOT as anyone to prominently "celebrate".

[Kolesar]

2. Davis thus gave the Lost Cause its fundamental lifeblood

This was the last installment of the NY Times' very excellent series on the Civil War called "The Disunion", commemorating the 150th anniversary of our Civil War, in the Opinionator section. Davis enabled the pathetic loser philosophy that still endures until today. Or at least until last November eighth.

1. What were the two or three biggest mistakes made by Jefferson Davis?

David Blight, professor of history, Yale University:

But as a long-term historical mistake – or perhaps more of an embarrassment – I would rank Davis’s publication of his memoir in 1881 as a genuine low point in the development of his legacy.

The two-volume, 1,279-page “Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government” is perhaps the longest, most turgid and most self-righteous defense of a failed political movement ever written by an American. The book is hundreds of pages of vindication for the Confederacy, for the slaveholders’ republic he led, and for the right of secession.

The book also stands as one of the most open and aggressive defenses of slavery written by a former Confederate. Although Davis went to great length to argue that slavery “was in no wise the cause of the conflict, but only an incident,” he nevertheless provided a thorough version of the alleged mental and historical inferiority of black people. American slaves’ African ancestors, argued Davis, “were born the slaves of barbarian masters, untaught in all the useful arts and occupations, reared in heathen darkness.” In America they had been “enlightened by the rays of Christianity,” taught the “arts of peace, order and civilization” by their new masters. This world of “contented … faithful service,” a “happier dependence of labor and capital” than realized anywhere else in the world, had all been crushed by Yankee armies and industry.

Davis thus gave the Lost Cause its fundamental lifeblood – faithful black slaves and heroic, victimized white Southerners who in their noble exercise of “sovereign” rights had tried to hold back the ravages of the Yankee Leviathan. It would be ahistorical to simply wish Davis had not written such a defense of the Confederate cause; but it is always fascinating to witness a colossal tragedy and failure all but unwittingly defended.

[NewRedDawn]

3. Good!

152 yrs to late. But Good. Time to stop revering these slave holding traitors! They have morphed today into the Trumputin Publicans!
We need to exterminate this ideology.

[Ligyron]

4. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Keep removing these abominations

[Paladin]

5. Jeff Sessions' namesake. Good riddance, way overdue. (nt)

[OldRedneck]

6. How about we wave a Confederate flag in his honor!!!

[chelsea0011]

7. Are there any Loyalists from the Revolutionary War statues?

Loyalists were treated as traitors during the fight for independence. Many ended up fleeing to Canada. There seem to be many statues in Boston dedicated to Patriots but, and maybe I am wrong, there doesn't seem to be any dedicated to Loyalists. So, how did the South come to view these people as heroes? They seem to be traitors more than anything.

[brer cat]

9. Denial.

There is a large segment in the South who believe that the Civil War was a "noble" cause; that brave men fought and died to preserve states' rights and their agrarian life. Poke them with a mention of slavery, and you will get a discourse on how their great, great grandpappy wasn't a slave owner, just a farmer with a mule and a passel of his children bringing in the cotton. He certainly didn't fight to preserve slavery.

I suppose it is natural to deny that our ancestors were a part of such an atrocity, that our inheritance is drenched in blood and tears. To most of us, reducing slavery to an incidental side issue is an appalling rewrite of history, but to them slavery was a footnote to a greater cause, one that is totally honorable in their minds. Further, there were Confederate generals who were in fact distinguished officers, widely respected by historians and by the military, most notably Robert E. Lee. Those who cling to the concept of noble causes will not easily dismiss their heroes.

[joe_stampingbull]

8. Davis was a traitor

and if he had won, the confederacy would have supported the Nazis during world war 2. They were natural allies as they both supported white supremacy.

[Gothmog]

10. I am glad that this symbol of hate and racism was removed

[geek tragedy]

11. His statute belongs in a museum, hanging from a noose as should have been the case with Davis nt

[funkybutt]

12. For historical accuracy:

They should have put him in a dress or gown like the one he borrowed from his wife and was wearing upon his capture...instead of the bubble wrap.

[MicaelS]

13. Davis and the entire Confederate government

Should have hanged for Treason.

[Kennah]

14. Bye Felicia (n/t)