Sunday, July 22, 2007

Now back to my research!


Lately, things have gone well in my research realm as I learn more and more about Evander McIver Law. After providing the Library of Virginia a modest fee they were kind enough to send me two addresses written by Law. The first speech is entitled: "An address, delivered by General E.M. Law, of Yorkville, S.C., to the students of Davidson College on the celebration of General R.E. Lee's birthday." The second speech is titled "The Confederate revolution" : an address delivered before the Association of the Army of Northern Virginia at the meeting held in Richmond, Va., May 28th, 1890." I will never forget the Library of Virginia for their consideration and kindness in getting these papers to me. They are professional, honest and helpful in everything that they do. Thank you Library of Virginia.

So far I have only read "The Confederate Revolution" speech and let me tell you it is a good one. Basically, Law's address is divided into three parts. First, he provides a history and reasoning for the South seceding from the Union. The second part is a brief history of the war that must have lasted 20 minutes or so. In the third section he discusses the wars aftermath, honors the memories of Confederate leadership and he pays a stirring tribute to the ordinary privates that served in the Confederate armies.

For me, the thing that stood out the most was Law asking if the Civil War was truly over. "It is true" he says " that the Federal government overthrew secession...but has it relieved it from the danger of revolution and internal dissension in other forms and from other causes?" Law maintains that the "vast accumulation of wealth" to so few people might cause the United States problems in its future. He believes that giving so much power to so few is the biggest reason for corruption and decay within our nation. He accurately predicts the conflicts between labor and their bosses that came during the early 1900's. Law's predictions did interest me because as a society we are wondering about a war that some do not want, rising gas prices, the rise of the cost of living and the need for universal health care. At the end of "The Confederate Revolution" Law was looking into the future which he felt held certain obstacles. He does continue by saying that the Civil War provided us with the strong, centralized government that our forefathers failed to provide. Perhaps he is right, we can look to that for hope and guidance as the election of 2008 looms in the horizon. Well....only time will tell.

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