CONFEDERATE MEMORIAL DAY: For the Governors of South Carolina, Mississippi and Alabama
Author: Bobby Valentine | Filed under: American Empire, Black History, Race Relations, Slavery
Confederate Memorial Day (May 10).
On Tuesday, May 10, South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi observed Confederate Memorial Day. The state offices closed for a legal holiday. Three Republican Governors, all claim to be the “Party of Abraham Lincoln.” If we are going to close down for this holiday, I recommend that the Governors of said states be legally obligated to read publicly from the state podium for the whole world, the Declaration of Immediate Causes which Induce Secession. The Declarations of Secession by South Carolina, Alabama and Mississippi are preserved.
GOVERNOR MCMASTER (R-SC)
Henry McMaster, of South Carolina, a Republican needs to read out loud on the Capital, what this Day is about. South Carolina proclaims:
“But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding states to the institution of slavery has lead to a disregard of their obligations, … In many of these States [Northern] the fugitive [i.e. slaves] is discharged from the service or labor claimed, and in none of them has State Government complied with the stipulation … the current Anti-Slavery [sic] feeling has led more recently to the enact of laws which render inoperative the remedies … In the State of New York even the right of transit is refused for a slave … the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitive [i.e. slaves] … The right of property in slaves was recognized by giving free persons distinct political rights; by giving them the right to represent, and burdening them with direct taxes for, three-fifths of their slaves … They have denounced as sinful the institution of Slavery [sic]; they have permitted the open establishment among them of societies, whose purpose is to disturb the peace of and eloign the property of citizens of other states. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures …. For twenty-five years this has been steadily increasing … [Now] all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man [i.e. Abraham Lincoln] to the high office of President of the United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery … The Slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government … We, therefore, the people of South Carolina, by our Delegates in Convention assembled … [announce secession].
Maybe Governor McMaster would then like to read South Carolina’s Address to the People of the Slaveholding States” to form a “slaveholding Confederacy” (sent to those States on December 24, 1860). Here is a portion,
“TO BE ONE OF A GREAT SLAVE HOLDING CONFEDERACY.”
“Citizens of the slaveholding States of the United States! Circumstances beyond our control, have placed us in the van of the great controversy between the Northern and Southern States. We would have preferred, that other States should have assumed the position we now occupy. Independent ourselves, we disclaim any design or desire, to lead the councils of the other Southern States. Providence has cast our lot together, by extending over us an identity of pursuits, interests and institutions. South Carolina, desires no destiny, separate from yours. To be one of a great Slave holding Confederacy, stretching its arms over a territory larger than any power in Europe possesses …”
GOVERNOR TATE (R-MS)
Governor Tate Reeves of Mississippi, a Republican. Stand on the steps of the Capital in Jackson and read the whole text of Mississippi’s “Declaration of Immediate Causes which Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi” (Jan 26, 1861). Read the whole thing. It is much shorter than SC’s.
“Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest in the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of the commerce on earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world and a blow to slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has long been aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles have been subverted to work to our ruin.”
GOVERNOR IVEY (R-AL)
Governor Kay Ivey of Alabama, you too should do the honorable thing. Ascend the steps of the Capital and read the entire text of Alabama’s “Ordinance of Secession” from the Alabama Secession Convention Jan 7, 1861, held right there.
“And WHEREAS [sic], a sectional party, known as the Black Republican Party, has, in the recent election, elected Abraham Lincoln to the office of President, and Hannibal Hamlin to the office of Vice-President of these United States, upon the avowed PRINCIPLE [sic] that the Constitution of the United States DOES NOT RECOGNIZE PROPERTY IN SLAVES [sic], and that the Government should prevent its extension into the common Territories of the United States, and that the power of the Government should be so exercised that slavery in time, should be exterminated. RESOLVED, By the people of Alabama, in Convention assembled That the State of Alabama cannot, and will not, submit to the Administration of Lincoln and Hamlin as President and Vice President of the United States, upon the principles referred to in the preamble.“
THOUGHTS
Governors do you not find it a bit ironic that anything connected with the Confederacy is Proslavery and White Supremacist. Slavery is the only cause mentioned in South Carolina, Mississippi, and Alabama. Secondly, it is not ironic that the Confederacy is the explicit rejection of the principles of Abraham Lincoln and yet, you Republicans, claim to be the Party of Lincoln. It is ANTI-LINCOLN, are you?
If you are going to have Confederate Memorial Day at least be honest enough to tell the truth about why the Confederacy was created in the first place: White Supremacy and Black Slavery. The Confederacy was unapologetic about its reasons for existence, why lie about it?
I doubt you will have the courage to read privately, much less publicly, the self-proclaimed of the Causes of the Confederacy you are celebrating on this day. Surprise me.
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May 14th, 2025 at 7:59 am
Indeed, these are some most difficult facts in our nation’s history to revisit! Pride, hypocrisy, and ignorance often go hand in hand. Shalom