Today is the anniversary of Georgia Senator Alexander Stephens’s Cornerstone Speech, given in 1861 just after he became the provisional vice president of the Confederacy. All these years later, the themes of that speech are still with us. Stephens spoke in Savannah, Georgia, to explain the difference between the United States and the fledgling Confederacy. That difference, he said, was slavery. The American Constitution was defective because it based the government on the principle that all men were created equal. Confederate leaders had corrected the Founding Fathers’ error by basing the Confederate government on the idea that some people were better than others.
If many in the GOP had their way, the contents of your letter could not be taught in our public schools and universities. A very sad statement to have to make over 150 years since the 14th and 15th Amendments were incorporated into our Constitution. -- This is not CRT. This is OUR shared history.
It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. … One ever feels his twoness — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
—W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, activist, 1897
The chasm between the principles upon which this Government was founded … and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawns so wide and deep.
—Mary Church Terrell, clubwoman, businesswoman, activist, 1906
We will kneel in, we will sit in until we can eat in any corner in the United States. We will walk until … we can take our children to any school in the United States. And we will … lie in until every Negro in America can vote.
—Daisy Bates, civil rights activist, president of Arkansas NAACP, 1963
2020
Every police killing of an un-armed black man, woman or child damages our country. ... These killings are a tragedy for families and communities. But they are also a stain on our nation's very soul.
—Sherrilyn Ifill, president, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Another brilliant HCR history lesson linked to current events and our potential future.
It seems Republicans want states to govern as they see fit, as quasi independent nations essentially free to ignore parts of the Constitution they find meddlesome — especially the 14th Amendment. But they never come right out and declare it, unlike the more philosophically honest leaders of the Confederacy like Alexander Stephens.
Without a Supreme Court majority and a filibuster-proof Senate majority, we face long odds in slowing the steady erosion of what Lincoln envisioned. But as the Republicans become more radical, more emboldened, they help rally Democrats to fight back and vote in unprecedented numbers.
The juxtaposition of Republicans exploiting the system to destroy democracy from within and Ukrainians risking their lives to save their fledgling democracy is a sight to behold.
Dear Senator Blackburn; is it your personal and not-so-secret agenda to offensively suggest that every person of color has a secret agenda to declare systemic racism present in everything we strive to accomplish in this nation? By asking the question you asked, are you not drawing attention to the fact that systemic racism is, in fact, imbedded in a great deal of our nation's history? Indeed, it won't surprise me a bit if part of the MAGA dogma will soon include the concept that the American caucasian male is an endangered species, a discriminated minority, worthy of constitutional protection. Are you offended that a woman of color has been promoted to candidacy for the highest court in our nation? Would you have asked that question of a white woman? Since the caucasian male has blatantly promoted exclusionary and discriminatory policies across the centuries in this country, why shouldn't an American who isn't a part of that demographic be vigilant about identifying the next expression of that perverse tendency? Personally, I find your question disgusting and unbecoming of a US Senator who is part of a demographic that only gained the right to vote a mere 100 years ago.
The adult on the playground ensures all play fair, take turn, rein in bullies, protect the vulnerable. It’s an essential and tireless job — the bullies are forever testing, protesting, picking on, ganging up, name calling, breaking rules, taking more than their share. Federal oversight is the firm, benevolent adult on-duty, and the bullies will always complain and resent her.
An excellent letter that needs to be read by everyone in our United States. I can't believe how far back in history the republicans are trying to push us. I was part of the sit ins in VA in the 60's when I was in college. I was born and raised in CT but went to college in VA. I found dealing with the segregation in VA unbelievable. I'm sharing your letter with many.
Ironic or maybe not that this anniversary of a speech so divisive comes on a day of the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a black woman. The first in the court’s history. The questions or comments by Dems were positive and congratulatory. The repubs made sure they complained about the Dems bad behavior for the previous TFG nominations. So highly qualified, she should be confirmed unanimously but that’s not predicted to be the case. At all. Forever forward will we be divided as if we were/are two countries, North and South? Again? States afraid of teaching the truth to school children, that ban books, ban abortion, restrict voting, but protect gun rights. Take us backwards. Grateful there should be/will be more than enough votes for the first black woman Supreme Court Justice in history. So highly qualified the vote SHOULD be unanimous.
Thank you. I refer your readers to today's article in The Guardian by Thomas Zimmer where he exposes the beliefs of the dominant conservative thought that underlies the Republican party of today. The long term agenda is to return the US to a society based on white patriarchal Christian principles with a redefinition of what citizenship is and who can be a citizen. It is all of a piece and a long term agenda. It meshes with Heather's letter. And both pieces demand that concerned citizens get busy to stop the erosion of the constitution.
It would appear that one thing that the Republican autocrats in all three branches of federal and state governments are consciously ignoring is the Federal Supremacy clause in the Constitution. As I understand it, the federal government takes priority over state governments.
Simply put, are we color blind or color bound? Is Black as good as it gets or is Black or any color inferior to white? And what is white, after all, if not the absence of color? Put differently, are not we all people of some color, isn’t white a fiction in the first place? Who remembers what the first man and woman looked like? Was Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection logical or not, should we teach Darwin in Tennesse or not? Who decides what we teach, what books our children should read? Are we all created equal or not? Should we all vote or not? It’s Putin or Zelenskyy, Ukraine or Russia, fascist or free, no?
Thank you Heather for showing a big picture view of why “the confirmation hearing of a Black woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court matters.”
My earlier view had been simpler; Judge Jackson’s experience and character qualify her to serve on the Supreme Court.
Immediately following all the bullshit about slavery, Stephens goes on to describe "Southernomics," which we see today espoused the past 50 years by the GOP:
Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. The power, claimed by construction under the old constitution, was at least a doubtful one; it rested solely upon construction. We of the South, generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise upon grounds of its inexpediency and injustice. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions of money, from the common treasury had been drawn for such purposes. Our opposition sprang from no hostility to commerce, or to all necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it was simply a question upon whom the burden should fall. In Georgia, for instance, we have done as much for the cause of internal improvements as any other portion of the country, according to population and means. We have stretched out lines of railroads from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the hills, and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less than $25,000,000. All this was done to open an outlet for our products of the interior, and those to the west of us, to reach the marts of the world. No State was in greater need of such facilities than Georgia, but we did not ask that these works should be made by appropriations out of the common treasury. The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the enterprise. Nay, more not only the cost of the iron no small item in the aggregate cost was borne in the same way, but we were compelled to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of importing the iron, after the price was paid for it abroad. What justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid into the common treasury on the importation of our iron, and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere? The true principle is to subject the commerce of every locality, to whatever burdens may be necessary to facilitate it. If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah river has to be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it, bear the burden. So with the mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi river. Just as the products of the interior, our cotton, wheat, corn, and other articles, have to bear the necessary rates of freight over our railroads to reach the seas. This is again the broad principle of perfect equality and justice, and it is especially set forth and established in our new constitution.
If many in the GOP had their way, the contents of your letter could not be taught in our public schools and universities. A very sad statement to have to make over 150 years since the 14th and 15th Amendments were incorporated into our Constitution. -- This is not CRT. This is OUR shared history.
It is a peculiar sensation, this double consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others. … One ever feels his twoness — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.
—W.E.B. Du Bois, sociologist, historian, activist, 1897
The chasm between the principles upon which this Government was founded … and those which are daily practiced under the protection of the flag, yawns so wide and deep.
—Mary Church Terrell, clubwoman, businesswoman, activist, 1906
We will kneel in, we will sit in until we can eat in any corner in the United States. We will walk until … we can take our children to any school in the United States. And we will … lie in until every Negro in America can vote.
—Daisy Bates, civil rights activist, president of Arkansas NAACP, 1963
2020
Every police killing of an un-armed black man, woman or child damages our country. ... These killings are a tragedy for families and communities. But they are also a stain on our nation's very soul.
—Sherrilyn Ifill, president, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Another brilliant HCR history lesson linked to current events and our potential future.
It seems Republicans want states to govern as they see fit, as quasi independent nations essentially free to ignore parts of the Constitution they find meddlesome — especially the 14th Amendment. But they never come right out and declare it, unlike the more philosophically honest leaders of the Confederacy like Alexander Stephens.
Without a Supreme Court majority and a filibuster-proof Senate majority, we face long odds in slowing the steady erosion of what Lincoln envisioned. But as the Republicans become more radical, more emboldened, they help rally Democrats to fight back and vote in unprecedented numbers.
The juxtaposition of Republicans exploiting the system to destroy democracy from within and Ukrainians risking their lives to save their fledgling democracy is a sight to behold.
Dear Senator Blackburn; is it your personal and not-so-secret agenda to offensively suggest that every person of color has a secret agenda to declare systemic racism present in everything we strive to accomplish in this nation? By asking the question you asked, are you not drawing attention to the fact that systemic racism is, in fact, imbedded in a great deal of our nation's history? Indeed, it won't surprise me a bit if part of the MAGA dogma will soon include the concept that the American caucasian male is an endangered species, a discriminated minority, worthy of constitutional protection. Are you offended that a woman of color has been promoted to candidacy for the highest court in our nation? Would you have asked that question of a white woman? Since the caucasian male has blatantly promoted exclusionary and discriminatory policies across the centuries in this country, why shouldn't an American who isn't a part of that demographic be vigilant about identifying the next expression of that perverse tendency? Personally, I find your question disgusting and unbecoming of a US Senator who is part of a demographic that only gained the right to vote a mere 100 years ago.
The adult on the playground ensures all play fair, take turn, rein in bullies, protect the vulnerable. It’s an essential and tireless job — the bullies are forever testing, protesting, picking on, ganging up, name calling, breaking rules, taking more than their share. Federal oversight is the firm, benevolent adult on-duty, and the bullies will always complain and resent her.
An excellent letter that needs to be read by everyone in our United States. I can't believe how far back in history the republicans are trying to push us. I was part of the sit ins in VA in the 60's when I was in college. I was born and raised in CT but went to college in VA. I found dealing with the segregation in VA unbelievable. I'm sharing your letter with many.
Ironic or maybe not that this anniversary of a speech so divisive comes on a day of the confirmation hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, a black woman. The first in the court’s history. The questions or comments by Dems were positive and congratulatory. The repubs made sure they complained about the Dems bad behavior for the previous TFG nominations. So highly qualified, she should be confirmed unanimously but that’s not predicted to be the case. At all. Forever forward will we be divided as if we were/are two countries, North and South? Again? States afraid of teaching the truth to school children, that ban books, ban abortion, restrict voting, but protect gun rights. Take us backwards. Grateful there should be/will be more than enough votes for the first black woman Supreme Court Justice in history. So highly qualified the vote SHOULD be unanimous.
Thank you. I refer your readers to today's article in The Guardian by Thomas Zimmer where he exposes the beliefs of the dominant conservative thought that underlies the Republican party of today. The long term agenda is to return the US to a society based on white patriarchal Christian principles with a redefinition of what citizenship is and who can be a citizen. It is all of a piece and a long term agenda. It meshes with Heather's letter. And both pieces demand that concerned citizens get busy to stop the erosion of the constitution.
One of your best letters. Thank you for the history lesson.
It would appear that one thing that the Republican autocrats in all three branches of federal and state governments are consciously ignoring is the Federal Supremacy clause in the Constitution. As I understand it, the federal government takes priority over state governments.
Thanks for another profound essay linking our present to our past so that we may evolve that more perfect union.
An excellent reminder. I’m sad we need it so urgently.
Simply put, are we color blind or color bound? Is Black as good as it gets or is Black or any color inferior to white? And what is white, after all, if not the absence of color? Put differently, are not we all people of some color, isn’t white a fiction in the first place? Who remembers what the first man and woman looked like? Was Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection logical or not, should we teach Darwin in Tennesse or not? Who decides what we teach, what books our children should read? Are we all created equal or not? Should we all vote or not? It’s Putin or Zelenskyy, Ukraine or Russia, fascist or free, no?
Thank you Heather for showing a big picture view of why “the confirmation hearing of a Black woman, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, to the Supreme Court matters.”
My earlier view had been simpler; Judge Jackson’s experience and character qualify her to serve on the Supreme Court.
Immediately following all the bullshit about slavery, Stephens goes on to describe "Southernomics," which we see today espoused the past 50 years by the GOP:
Again, the subject of internal improvements, under the power of Congress to regulate commerce, is put at rest under our system. The power, claimed by construction under the old constitution, was at least a doubtful one; it rested solely upon construction. We of the South, generally apart from considerations of constitutional principles, opposed its exercise upon grounds of its inexpediency and injustice. Notwithstanding this opposition, millions of money, from the common treasury had been drawn for such purposes. Our opposition sprang from no hostility to commerce, or to all necessary aids for facilitating it. With us it was simply a question upon whom the burden should fall. In Georgia, for instance, we have done as much for the cause of internal improvements as any other portion of the country, according to population and means. We have stretched out lines of railroads from the seaboard to the mountains; dug down the hills, and filled up the valleys at a cost of not less than $25,000,000. All this was done to open an outlet for our products of the interior, and those to the west of us, to reach the marts of the world. No State was in greater need of such facilities than Georgia, but we did not ask that these works should be made by appropriations out of the common treasury. The cost of the grading, the superstructure, and the equipment of our roads was borne by those who had entered into the enterprise. Nay, more not only the cost of the iron no small item in the aggregate cost was borne in the same way, but we were compelled to pay into the common treasury several millions of dollars for the privilege of importing the iron, after the price was paid for it abroad. What justice was there in taking this money, which our people paid into the common treasury on the importation of our iron, and applying it to the improvement of rivers and harbors elsewhere? The true principle is to subject the commerce of every locality, to whatever burdens may be necessary to facilitate it. If Charleston harbor needs improvement, let the commerce of Charleston bear the burden. If the mouth of the Savannah river has to be cleared out, let the sea-going navigation which is benefited by it, bear the burden. So with the mouths of the Alabama and Mississippi river. Just as the products of the interior, our cotton, wheat, corn, and other articles, have to bear the necessary rates of freight over our railroads to reach the seas. This is again the broad principle of perfect equality and justice, and it is especially set forth and established in our new constitution.
Good to know the history, thank you professor Richardson!