Virginia
This is an excerpt from Henry Washington’s The Races of Men which appeared in the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond in April 1860:
“I now come to my second proposition, that there is, and always has been, not merely diversity but inequality among the races of men – that they are differently endowed by nature – that to each a part has been assigned, and that on each faculties have been bestowed adapted to the part assigned. So simple seems this theory, so comfortable to fact, to history and to experience, that any discussion of it here would be out of place, that we did not know that a vague and undefined idea of human equality is, perhaps, of all others, the most prevalent, and the most deeply rooted in the public mind of the age.
We meet it everywhere, in all ranks and classes. Tacitly, and almost unconsciously, it is made the basis of our Constitution and our social systems. It has found its way into the Virginia Bill of Rights. It stands in the very front of the Declaration of Independence. It is there announced as a self evident truth that all men are by nature equal. Indeed, the idea of human equality is the source of many of the most mischievous errors of our times. No one call tell how much false philosophy, false legislation, and false philanthropy have been based upon it.”
The Declaration of Independence is based on the false assumption of human equality. The Confederacy was based on the proposition that all men are not created equal and that some races and social classes are superior to others and should rule in a “Patrician Republic.”
The West really died in 1865. I dont think New Right thinkers hit on this as much as they should…for all the talk about the French Revolution as “end” of the aristocratic past, something of Medieval Europe continued in the American south another 70 years. Good post, and loved the SNN podcast. It is interesting hearing different southern accents…I was re-listening to Tito Perdue’s interview on Tom Sunic’s show yesterday, love his deep, coastal speech pattern. I cannot stand hearing the blandness of modern American English on the television, and it makes me sick to hear young people in West Texas who do not speak in the same manner as their parents and grandparents. The fake “valley girl” accent that a lot of young girls put on for several years makes me want to go on a rampage of biblical proportions.
Its nice to hear young guys like myself maintain our traditional speech patterns, though. Good stuff.
I learn something new everytime I read “Confederate History Month.” The clarity of Henry Washington’s writing is amazing. It makes me realize how deeply flawed is the part of the Declaration of Independence that states that “all men are equal.”
When “Confederate History Month” is celebrated with a gigantic parade in Austin, I will know that my mission on earth is complete.
That phrase in the D of I, that all men are created equal; wasn’t Jefferson just refering to the Anglo-Americans? I know he wasn’t refering to the slaves.
All men are created equal is not an embrace of equality, but an argument put forth by Locke as a rebuttal of innateness. The Southern patrician position does not make sense in Washington’s argument. If the European is superior to the African, since the time of ancient Greece, then how, pray tell, will the Southern father advance the well being of his slave children in any timely fashion? The true patrician will advance the cause of his own kin, not that of an incompatible foreign race, unless of course it serves a subtle self-interest.
‘All men are created equal’ is a dangerous lie. And for the sake of our race, it must be remembered as such, after America’s time has passed.