GDG- Did the Civil War really start 150 years ago today?

[128thpa at comcast.net]

Hi Dennis!

In my haste in posting, I really didn't explain fully.  I didn't mean to say that Douglass was thrilled with the decision, just that he saw the positive of it.  In May, 1867 he stated:   (the entire speech is at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=772)

"This infamous decision of the Slaveholding wing of the Supreme Court maintains that slaves are within the contemplation of the Constitution of the United States, property; that slaves are property in the same sense that horses, sheep, and swine are property; that the old doctrine that slavery is a creature of local law is false; that the right of the slaveholder to his slave does not depend upon the local law, but is secured wherever the Constitution of the United States extends; that Congress has no right to prohibit slavery anywhere; that slavery may go in safety anywhere under the star-spangled banner; that colored persons of African descent have no rights that white men are bound to respect; that colored men of African descent are not and cannot be citizens of the United States. 
You will readily ask me how I am affected by this devilish decision--this judicial incarnation of wolfishness? My answer is, and no thanks to the slaveholding wing of the Supreme Court, my hopes were never brighter than now. 
I have no fear that the National Conscience will be put to sleep by such an open, glaring, and scandalous tissue of lies as that decision is, and has been, over and over, shown to be. 
The Supreme Court of the United States is not the only power in this world. It is very great, but the Supreme Court of the Almighty is greater. Judge Taney can do many things, but he cannot perform impossibilities. He cannot bale out the ocean, annihilate the firm old earth, or pluck the silvery star of liberty from our Northern sky. He may decide, and decide again; but he cannot reverse the decision of the Most High. He cannot change the essential nature of things--making evil good, and good evil." 
U of Pa professor, Steven Hahn, (who wrote the 2004 Pulitzer Prize winning book "A Nation Under Our Feet"), was the presenter at the conference.  He didn't propose that Douglass thought it was the best thing in the world, but Hahn was proposing for the audience to see another side of the case and see how it galvanized those who were on the fence about slavery.  
Paula


-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Dennis Lawrence <denlaw at kc.rr.com> 

> Esteemed GDG Member Contributes: 
> 
> 
> At 02:58 PM 3/5/2007, you wrote: 
> >I attended an excellent seminar on the Dred Scott Case at Dickinson 
> >College on Sat. Some of the ideas discussed was that the Scott decision 
> >was probably a good thing (also supported by a quote from Frederick 
> >Douglass) because it hasten the abolishment of slavery. 
> 
> Hello, 
> 
> That is certainly a different way to look at it. However, I can 
> see Douglas his voice dripping with irony arguing Dred Scott was a good 
> thing. After all, he argued the Constitution was a bad thing. 
> 
> Take Care 
> 
> Dennis 
> 
> 
>