30 – The American Way?
At the beginning of the Civil War, there were 18 free states and one free territory, but slavery was legal in 15 states. Did hospitality existed among the American people who were divided with one group advocating enlightenment ideas based on equality for all and one group advocating ancient ideas based on “superior” people owning “inferior” people that provided most of the labor but received little in return?
What can we learn today from the approach taken by the two groups in attempting to achieve their different goals? Were peaceful discussions attempted to resolve their differences? Historic events indicate that was not the case. What is the “American way” for resolving differences?
Was it common from early colonial times for hatred and violence to exist between Americans holding differing views? For example, as mentioned in Message 28, the Massachusetts Pilgrams relied on brutal, physical punishments, including lynchings, to enforce their religious theocracy against those that disagreed with them.
Were hatred and violence common among Americans prior to the Civil War? Can this be seen in activities associated with Bleeding Kansas, the John Brown rebellion, violence among congressmen, and murder by them? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bleeding_Kansas, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist), https://home.heinonline.org/blog/2021/03/beatings-battles-and-brawls-congressional-violence-in-the-antebellum-era/
Did anyone see the potential shortcoming of using force to settle the slavery issue? What was the thinking of New York City Mayor Fernando Wood that proposed seceding from the Union to form an independent city-state identified as “Tri-Insula,” that would be made up of Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island. Did Wood consider the importance of Southern production and New York’s economic dependency on it? Did he desire to avoid the radical Puritanical influences of up-state New Yorkers and citizens in the northern states that dominated their thinking? (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/time-when-new-york-city-seriously-considered-seceding-from-united-states-180987838/)
Did more than 600,000 Americans die and many others permanently maimed for life in attempting to settle the slavery issue? Today is there still the same engrained thinking among Americans for how to go about solving social problems?
Consider thinking and actions demonstrated by our fictional “superheroes.” For example, the 1950’s solution in the fight for truth and justice required a “Superman” from out of space to apply power and force to win the battle. Isn’t the application of physical force common among all our superheroes?
Is the application of force a common approach among us today? How much alike is our national situation when compared with the United States in 1861? How often do Mark’s videos highlight stories of frustrated, violent parents using force that damages their children, resulting in them living invisible lives? Do daily news programs report on continued application of force in attempting to “solve” national social problems?
Is it possible we, the American people, might reexamine the “American way?” Might we consider Dr. King’s following words in our efforts to become a more enlightened people?
“Somewhere somebody must have some sense. Men must see that force begets force, hate begets hate, toughness begets toughness. And it is all a descending spiral, ultimately ending in destruction for all and everybody. Somebody must have sense enough and morality enough to cut off the chain of hate and the chain of evil in the universe. And you do that by love.” (https://www.azquotes.com/author/8044-Martin_Luther_King_Jr/tag/hate#google_vignette)
Is it also possible we should examine how the abolitionists, known as the Radical Republicans, went about “settling” the slavery issue and assess how effective they were? Did their Puritanical hatred of slave owners hinder their use of logic and reasoning? Did their approach result in the first Jim Crow being inflicted on innocent black citizens following “Reconstruction?”
Joseph L. Bass, 1/21/2026