Rethinking Sherman's March: A Kindler, Gentler Total War?

Started by CountDeMoney, November 19, 2014, 10:23:34 AM

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Eddie Teach

Hey Raz, does your newfound interest in alt history mean you'll give Newt's books a shot?  :P

Your proposal has the disadvantages that it would have caused massive rioting - in the North. Followed by Democrats sweeping the elections and reversing it.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Berkut

It is interesting to hear the theory that if only the South had been treated more harshly, things would have turned out better.
"If you think this has a happy ending, then you haven't been paying attention."

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derspiess

Quote from: Berkut on November 21, 2014, 05:49:15 PM
It is interesting to hear the theory that if only the South had been treated more harshly, things would have turned out better.

Yeah.
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Admiral Yi

I think it is one of the most glorious chapters in American history that we fought a bloody civil war and were able to reconcile afterwards.

LaCroix

Quote from: viper37 on November 21, 2014, 03:12:27 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 21, 2014, 02:32:10 PM
Or you could require that slave holder reimburse all slaves back pay for their service. 
Not that I'm a lawyer, but I fail to see how this would have worked.

Slavery was legal until 1863.  Only on 1st January of this year was it made officially illegal.
The war ended in 1865.  So that's 2 year back pay.  I doubt very much that black citizens of the North earn the exact same pay as the white male at the time, so you'd have to make it, realistically, at half the pay of a white worker at the time.

i think this would be deemed unconstitutional.

the emancipation proclamation had no actual authority as congress did not enact a law during the war to affirm the proclamation. the 13th amendment ended slavery in the US, and the states ratified the 13th after the war ended. if the government imposed back-pay on slave owners for those two years, i think the slave owners could have successfully appealed to SCOTUS. there wouldn't be back-pay owed to ex-slaves for when they were still technically property.

nobody challenged the emancipation proclamation IRL, probably because the emancipation proclamation only encouraged more of what the US already practiced -- seizing and freeing slaves from rebellious states. rather than leave it to the discretion of the US occupying forces, the proclamation essentially ordered those forces to seize/free all slaves in their area.

Razgovory

Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 21, 2014, 06:08:36 PM
I think it is one of the most glorious chapters in American history that we fought a bloody civil war and were able to reconcile afterwards.

Yeah, if you ain't black.  Otherwise it's not so good.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

garbon

Quote from: Razgovory on November 21, 2014, 06:37:40 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 21, 2014, 06:08:36 PM
I think it is one of the most glorious chapters in American history that we fought a bloody civil war and were able to reconcile afterwards.

Yeah, if you ain't black.  Otherwise it's not so good.

Yeah...
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Razgovory

Quote from: LaCroix on November 21, 2014, 06:09:11 PM
Quote from: viper37 on November 21, 2014, 03:12:27 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 21, 2014, 02:32:10 PM
Or you could require that slave holder reimburse all slaves back pay for their service. 
Not that I'm a lawyer, but I fail to see how this would have worked.

Slavery was legal until 1863.  Only on 1st January of this year was it made officially illegal.
The war ended in 1865.  So that's 2 year back pay.  I doubt very much that black citizens of the North earn the exact same pay as the white male at the time, so you'd have to make it, realistically, at half the pay of a white worker at the time.

i think this would be deemed unconstitutional.

the emancipation proclamation had no actual authority as congress did not enact a law during the war to affirm the proclamation. the 13th amendment ended slavery in the US, and the states ratified the 13th after the war ended. if the government imposed back-pay on slave owners for those two years, i think the slave owners could have successfully appealed to SCOTUS. there wouldn't be back-pay owed to ex-slaves for when they were still technically property.

nobody challenged the emancipation proclamation IRL, probably because the emancipation proclamation only encouraged more of what the US already practiced -- seizing and freeing slaves from rebellious states. rather than leave it to the discretion of the US occupying forces, the proclamation essentially ordered those forces to seize/free all slaves in their area.

Fine, confiscate the land as penalty of treason and execute them.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Razgovory

Quote from: garbon on November 21, 2014, 06:53:59 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 21, 2014, 06:37:40 PM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on November 21, 2014, 06:08:36 PM
I think it is one of the most glorious chapters in American history that we fought a bloody civil war and were able to reconcile afterwards.

Yeah, if you ain't black.  Otherwise it's not so good.

Yeah...

I can't tell if you are agreeing with me or disagreeing with me.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

MadImmortalMan

"Stability is destabilizing." --Hyman Minsky

"Complacency can be a self-denying prophecy."
"We have nothing to fear but lack of fear itself." --Larry Summers

Valmy

Quote from: Razgovory on November 20, 2014, 11:22:13 AM
Why?  The south still did.  The Union threw blacks under the bus to keep the peace.

They threw blacks under the bus to win the 1876 Presidential Election.
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Eddie Teach

Quote from: Valmy on November 21, 2014, 10:33:25 PM
They threw blacks under the bus to win the 1876 Presidential Election.

Clearly that was because the Republicans were too moderate and weren't getting their base of rebel-haters energized enough.
To sleep, perchance to dream. But in that sleep of death, what dreams may come?

Tonitrus

I figure we worked out that frustration on the Lincoln assassination conspirators.

Razgovory

Quote from: Valmy on November 21, 2014, 10:33:25 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on November 20, 2014, 11:22:13 AM
Why?  The south still did.  The Union threw blacks under the bus to keep the peace.

They threw blacks under the bus to win the 1876 Presidential Election.

And peace was assured. Or in the words of  D. W. Griffith, "The former enemies of North and South are united again in defense of their Aryan birthright".
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

derspiess

"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall