So far, most of the political portion of the Jefferson Davis biography I have been reading (Jefferson Davis, American by William J. Cooper, Jr), Jefferson Davis has been a 'States Rights' man.
After the author mentioned this for the 1000th time, I thought about what that meant then, and what that means today. Then as now it means that the Federal government should stay out of the states way with a strict reading of the Constitution - however what it really meant then was letting the issue of slavery alone.
While no one today calls themselves a 'States Right' man today, plenty of Republicans have been using the same arguments today as their Democratic forebears used before and up to the Civil War. A strict construction of the Constitution and keeping the Federal Government small - specifically as it relates to the Affordable Care Act.
I have wondered when our 2 political parties basically swapped ideals considering that the first Republicans were vehemently against slavery and thus, against a strict construction of the Constitution, and Democrats - The party of Davis, Jackson, and many other slave owners dominant in the south - I guess I will find out as I read each new biography.
It also appears that the same intransigence and fighting that is happening now, happened right before the Civil War. The Democratic Party split along sectional lines, and even within each section there were separate and distinct parties - the secessionist fire eaters calling for a break of the Constitution remind me of the Tea Party in the Republican party today.
Will we have a repeat of the Civil War? I can't imagine we will - It seems almost preposterous. But some of the similarities are striking.
Monday, June 16, 2014
Sunday, June 15, 2014
First Post
I never thought I would write a blog. Blogs are for chumps - those who think that everyone wants their opinion on everything, or thinks that random people care about what they say.
However, I have been thinking recently about family. I have a hard time remembering stories about my parents from when they were young. Either they tell me and I forget, or they just aren't very forthcoming about it.
I have a fear that one day my children won't know how I was, what shaped me and how I became the father (of the year probably) that I will be.
So in talking with my wife one day, she said 'Start a blog about your presidential biography thing,'. I thought that was foolish (see first paragraph), but then came around to the idea so that there is a record of me for them to see - who I was, and how I wrote, just like a lot of the American Presidents did with their writings - keeping and editing them with a critical eye for how they wanted future generations to perceive them.
So here goes:
Junior year of college I was lent Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and loved it. I was then recommended John Adams by David McCullogh and thoroughly enjoyed that as well. Since I was already 2/44 of the way done, I decided that it should be a lifelong goal of mine to read a biography about every president.
I set some standards for the project, no autobiographies, no biography shorter than 300 pages, and the biography had to have come out at least 30 years after the presidents passing. I wanted as objective a view on their life and presidency as possible.
Since then I expanded the goal slightly to include reading books on the American Wars that each president was involved in around the same time that I read the biography of the president e.g. before reading James Madison, I read a book on the war of 1812.
I expanded my goal even more in the past year to include all those who were presidents on American Soil, but not in the white house. I recently read a Sam Houston biography (President of the Republic of Texas), and I am in the middle of reading a biography about Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America).
This blog will be a place where I can put my thoughts down as I read these books so that I leave an imprint somewhere about how I feel and maybe a little about who I am for future generations (probably just my own - who else would care?).
Sadly, I cannot put my thoughts down about the Presidents that I have read up to this point since I do not own a time machine (yet).
However, I have been thinking recently about family. I have a hard time remembering stories about my parents from when they were young. Either they tell me and I forget, or they just aren't very forthcoming about it.
I have a fear that one day my children won't know how I was, what shaped me and how I became the father (of the year probably) that I will be.
So in talking with my wife one day, she said 'Start a blog about your presidential biography thing,'. I thought that was foolish (see first paragraph), but then came around to the idea so that there is a record of me for them to see - who I was, and how I wrote, just like a lot of the American Presidents did with their writings - keeping and editing them with a critical eye for how they wanted future generations to perceive them.
So here goes:
Junior year of college I was lent Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin and loved it. I was then recommended John Adams by David McCullogh and thoroughly enjoyed that as well. Since I was already 2/44 of the way done, I decided that it should be a lifelong goal of mine to read a biography about every president.
I set some standards for the project, no autobiographies, no biography shorter than 300 pages, and the biography had to have come out at least 30 years after the presidents passing. I wanted as objective a view on their life and presidency as possible.
Since then I expanded the goal slightly to include reading books on the American Wars that each president was involved in around the same time that I read the biography of the president e.g. before reading James Madison, I read a book on the war of 1812.
I expanded my goal even more in the past year to include all those who were presidents on American Soil, but not in the white house. I recently read a Sam Houston biography (President of the Republic of Texas), and I am in the middle of reading a biography about Jefferson Davis (President of the Confederate States of America).
This blog will be a place where I can put my thoughts down as I read these books so that I leave an imprint somewhere about how I feel and maybe a little about who I am for future generations (probably just my own - who else would care?).
Sadly, I cannot put my thoughts down about the Presidents that I have read up to this point since I do not own a time machine (yet).
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