"The Civil War Isn’t Over" Topic

"On this 150th anniversary of the surrender at Appomattox, Americans mark the end of the Civil War. The questions at the heart of the war, though, still occupy the nation, which has never truly gotten over that conflict. The great issues of the war were not resolved on that April morning at Appomattox. In this sense, not only is the Civil War not over; it can still be lost.

"It is easy to proclaim all souls equal in the sight of God," wrote James Baldwin in 1956 as the Civil Rights Movement took hold in America; "it is hard to make men equal on earth in the sight of men." Philosophically and theologically, claims of human equality are as old as the hills. But the real struggles for genuine equality of natural rights, of equality before law, and of equality of opportunity are much more recent in historical time. And such a profound—sacred and legal—quest as equality is not a destination, a place over the horizon, but a long, grinding process of human striving. In short, equality is process of historical change. It forever tacks against the trade winds of individualism, self-interest, material accumulation, and widely varying notions of the idea of "liberty" from which it draws momentum.

Americans often begin conversations about equality with Thomas Jefferson's invocation of it as one of the four first principles in the Declaration of Independence. Americans like being "first" with ideas. But as Abraham Lincoln reminded us, more than four-score years later, the nation founded in a revolution against monarchy had to fight a second revolution against itself in order to determine whether the "proposition" of "equality" had a future in any republic. And that second revolution—the Civil War—was so bloody, so devastating, a "result so fundamental and astounding," as Lincoln put it, that ever since, Americans of all backgrounds have yearned to declare, or at least feel, its deepest issues over and resolved. Americans may love the epic story of their Civil War, but would, by and large, prefer its nightmarish causes and consequences to fall quiet, to rest in peace…"

Full text here
link

Amicalement
Armand

A really depressing view of my country.

An excellent essay. Some of the comments are pretty vile, though.

What were the vile parts?

Ah yes, an article from The Atlantic. You must realize this rag puts a strong political and ideological spin on all its' articles. Especially those in the political section. In other words, caveat emptor.

As long as there is political and financial gain to be garnered there will be no end.

That article is an example of that.

And the comment section was a cesspit. Sadly I recognized on of the commenters from another site. He is usually better behaved there.

The article makes a basic mistake. Equality was never a war aim for the union, ending slavery was, not even close to the wam thing besides the fact that one is impossible if the other is still legal.