What do Confederate statues stand for, and should they be removed?
There has been plenty of back and forth regarding the removal of Confederate statues and monuments. Well, let’s cut to the chase. A public monument is not a piece of history, but exists to honor someone or something. Furthermore, whatever we honor, we endorse. Thus any monument to the Confederacy is an endorsement of those things for which it stood.
The Confederate States of America stood for two basic principles, as laid out in its own constitution of 1861. First, it stood for a disunion of the United States. Second, it stood for an official establishment of slavery based on race. This is a matter of historical fact. Simply stated, the Confederacy was a treasonous and racist institution.
Therefore, any statue or monument honoring the Confederacy endorses treason and racism. And the people who defend those monuments should think carefully about which flag they want to support — the stars and bars or the stars and stripes. You couldn’t have it both ways then, and still can’t. ●●●
Monuments to Confederate soldiers were not put up to glorify slavery or any lost Confederate cause, but to memorialize great men and fallen soldiers. They were put up in recognition of great, albeit imperfect, leaders of the South, those who served our country well before the Civil War, but who were faithful to their home state. When we look at these memorials as tributes to slavery, we are ignoring their intended purpose. It isn’t fair to look at the past through the lens of today. No historical figure could pass the test. But if these monuments do remind us of slavery, perhaps that is a good thing. Let’s leave them up to remind future generations of the past. Let’s put up new monuments alongside to celebrate the elimination of slavery.
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The Civil War monuments are a constant reminder of the oppression and treason perpetrated by the rebellious South. They we traitors — plain and simple. Their place in history is clear. They no more deserve monuments than Hitler does in Germany. The South turned Democrat when Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and Republican when Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. There is a common thread here that can’t be denied. The monuments should be removed. If those protesting want them so badly, put them up for auction and let them be put up on private property. I am sure that they will get the dysfunctional home they deserve. ●●●
How sad it was that the statue had to be taken down of General Robert E. Lee. He was the son of Henry “Light-Horse Harry” Lee, the top of his class at West Point, an exceptional officer and engineer in the Mexican-American war, and superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy.
Why do Americans feel it’s necessary to change history? It is what it is. If we need to do this then, maybe we need to take down the Washington Monument — George Washington had slaves. Then there is the Jefferson home at Monticello and maybe even the Lincoln memorial. After all, his wife was a Southerner and her family had slaves. ●●●
In Lexington, Ky., there is a great deal of excitement about removing statues of two men from Kentucky’s Civil War days. One is John C. Breckinridge.
In Colorado, the town of Breckinridge was named in honor of said John C. Breckinridge, as he was the vice president of the United States when the town was founded in 1859. The spelling of the name of the town was changed to Breckenridge in 1861 due to the fact that Mr. Breckinridge defected to the Confederacy. Only the spelling of the name of the town was changed, not the name.
Is there going to be an effort to change the name of the town to avoid connection with the unpopularity of Confederates? Send letters of 150 words or fewer to openforum@denverpost.com or 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 800, Denver, CO, 80202. Please include full name, city and phone number. Contact information is for our purposes only; we will not share it with anyone else. You can reach us by telephone at 303-954-1331.