Re: Defend slavery instead of promoting Southern virtues...a strategy for non growth!

From: Dr. Neill H. Payne [familychiro@bellsouth.net]
Date: Thu, Jul 5, 2012
To: dewey [dewey@barberandcompany.com], HK Edgerton [hk.edgerton@gmail.com]

HK;

I have been going back and forth with this person on facebook on the Due South page and my conclusion is that Mark Vogl is a nut. He is backing the Yankee Puritan Abolitionist position that slavery was a sin per se. This is what the Yankee churches demanded that the South confess before they would even talk about reunion and our ancestors refused. They admitted that there were abuses in the system and that often the Southern slaveholders did not give the respect that they should have to slave marriages, but that did not make slavery a sin. Wife-beating does not make marriage a sin. God said that He hates divorce, yet he allowed it and regulated it and did not call it a sin.

This Vogl, whom some suspect that he lied about having a Confederate ancestor in order to get into the SCV, is full of himself. He thinks that he has the great vision for Southern restitution. I wish he did, but he thinks that if we can just get the slavery thing out of the way, call it a sin, repent of our ancestors' evil, then somehow, magically, all will be forgiven and the Yankees will see how superior the South is and was (except for that slavery thing) and they will become born-again Southerners like him and the South will save the world. or something like that.

He thinks that he is some great historian. It is amazing that he thinks this: "And I would argue the South was moving towards ending slavery on its own in the 1830's and 40's until Yankees felt the right to interfere in state issues and pressure the South on the issue of slavery. Placing pride above wisdom, Southerners then ended their move to end slavery."

If he were any historian, he would know that the South had a larger Abolition movement than the North did. It was not Yankee interference predominantly but slave insurrections during that time period that derailed the movements that were going forward to liberalize the slaves' situation and to advance emancipation. It became a very hard sell to tell slave holders and other Southerners, "Yeah, we just need to turn these ignorant Africans loose." after Denmark Vessy, Gabe Prosser and Nat Turner stirred things up. All people could imagine is Haiti on a larger scale with hacked to death, men, women and babies. The more outrageous Yankee agitation started later but these earlier rebellions had already just about shut down the movement for emancipation and greater liberty.

It would be good to ask Kirk about this fellow.

Great to see you yesterday,

Cheers,

Neill H. Payne, D. C.