Q. WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF JOHN BROWN, THE DRED SCOTT DECISION AND THE KANSAS NEBRASKA ACT?
Q. JOHN BROWN WAS A RADICAL. HIS VIEWS ON FREEDOM FOR BLACKS WHILE BEING CORRECT WERE AHEAD OF THEIR TIME. MANY PEOPLE WERE NOT READY FOR THE FACT OF EQUALITY FOR BLACKS. I DO QUESTION ANY USE OF FORCE TO PROVE A POINT. THE DRED SCOTT DECISION WAS CORRECT IN ONE WAY AND VERY WRONG IN ANOTHER. THE FINDINGS THAT A BLACK COULD NEVER BE A U.S. CITIZEN WAS VERY MORALY WRONG. I DO BELIEVE THAT THE DECISION THAT TERRITORIES AND NEW STATES SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DETERMINE THEIR OWN SOVENTIRY WAS CORRECT. THE PART OF THE DECISION THAT IS OFTEN MISSED IS THE ONE THAT SHOWS THE COURT BELIEVED IN THE SEPERATION OF STATE AND NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. THEY STATED THAT JUST BECAUSE A PERSON WAS A CITIZEN OF A STATE HE WAS NOT NECESSARLY A CITIZEN OF THE U.S. THE DECISION ALSO SHOWS THE BELIEF THAT WAS HELD BY MANY FOR CENTURIES THAT BLACK PEOPLE WERE INFERIOR AND IN SOME CASES NOT EVEN CONSIDERED TO BE HUMAN. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE, THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA ACT WERE ATTEMPTS TO CURE THE GROWING PAINS OF A NATION IN CONFLICT. WHILE ONE GROUP WAS PUSHING FOR LAWS FORBIDING SLAVERY IN NEW STATES MOST SOUTHERN STATES WERE SAYING THAT NEW STATES SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO DECIDE BETWEEN SLAVERY OR NOT..
Q. DO HISTORIANS OFTEN MISREPRESENT SLAVERY , THE WAR AND THE ISSUES OF THE WAR? WHO WOULD YOU CONSIDER TO BE SOME OF THE BEST HISTORIANS OF THE 19TH. CENTURY.
A. I AM NOT AN EXPERT ON HISTORIANS AND DON'T FEEL THAT I CAN SPEAK ON THE SUBJECT. I DO BELIEVE THAT MANY HISORIANS DO MISREPRESENT THESE ISSUES. THE CAUSES ARE VARIED BUT ARE OFTEN CAUSED BY SEARCH FOR OVER SIMPLICITY OF THE SUBJECT AND THE FACT THAT THEY ARE BEING LOOKED AT THRU THE EYES OF CURRENT MORALS AND IDEALS. I HAD A TEACHER YEARS AGO THAT HAD WHAT I BELIEVE WAS THE CORRECT WAY TO TEACH HISTORY. SHE SHOWED HER STUDENTS THE PERSONALITIES OF THE PEOPLE INVOLVED IN HISTORY AND HOW THIS COULD HAVE AFFECTED THEIR DECISIONS.
I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE EITHER AN HISTORIAN OR A SCHOLAR. I AM SIMPELY A MAN THAT LOVES HIS COUNTERY AND IT'S HISTORY AND BELIEVES WE CAN LEARN FROM PAST MISTAKES AND VICTORIES.
Q. COULD YOU ELABORATE A LITTLE ON YOUR BACKGROUND?
A. I AM 57 YEARS OLD AND NOW LIVE IN ARIZONA. I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS. MY FAMILY CAME TO THIS COUNTRY AS FRENCH HUGONOTS AND SETTELED IN VIRGINIA IN 1712. TWO OF THEM FOUGHT IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR AND EIGHT FOUGHT FOR THE CONFEDERATE STATE OF TENNESSEE IN THE WAR BETWEEN THE STATES. MY GREAT GRANDFATHER MIGRATED TO TEXAS IN THE EARLY 1900'S. MY GRANDFATHER FOUGHT IN WW1 AND MY FATHER IN WW2. I WAS LUCKEY AND WAS A LITTLE TO OLD TO GO TO VIET NAM.
DURING MY TEENAGE AND EARLY MANHOOD YEARS, THE AREA WHERE I LIVED WAS VERY RACIST. BLACKS RODE IN THE BACK OF THE BUS AND WERE NOT ALLOWED IN RESTURANTS OR RESTROOMS. THEY WERE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. THERE WAS EVEN A TOWN 35 MILES FROM MY HOME THAT HAD A SIGN AT THE TOWN LIMITS THAT SAID "NIGGER DON'T LET THE SUN SET ON YOU HERE" IT IS SURPRISING THAT MYSELF AND A WHOLE GENERATION OF SOUTHERNERS DID NOT GROW INTO RACEST, BUT SOMEHOW WE DIDEN'T.
OVER THE PAST YEARS I HAVE TAUGHT SUNDAY SCHOOL, BEEN A POLICE OFFICER, ORGANIZED TWO MOTORCYCLE RIGHTS GROUPS, AND MANAGED SEVERAL CHARITY EVENTS. I AM CURRENTLY SELF-EMPLOYED IN THE R.V. REPAIR BUSINESS. I HOPE THIS DESCRIBES MY ENVIROMENT AND HELPS TO SHOW HOW I HAVE BEEN INFLUENCED TO THINK AS I DO.
