A century and a half ago today, John Brown's body began "a-moldren" in the grave. What exactly should be done about it?
ON December 2, 1859, a terrorist named John Brown was hanged. Earlier in the year,on October 17th, he and a few dozen other people tried to capture the armory in Harper's Ferry, (West) Virgiania and start a civil war to free the slaves. As we all know, that effort failed...or did it?
After all, Brown used his trial to propagandize the nation, and make himself a martyr. The Democratic Party of James Buchanan was split in two, and a year later, South Carolina had left the Union, making the abovementioned civil war inevitable.
Now the question is what do we do about it? Clearly, not much will happen. There were a couple of op-ed pieces in the NY Times this morning (prompting this dairy), and a number of minor commemorations, there were more last October. However, other events are going to take place, such as the anniversary of Lincoln's Cooper Union speech in February.
Jim Webb and Mary Landreau have sponsored S. 1838, which authorizes a commission to coordinate events and the Senate Subcommittee on National Parks is holding a hearing on this bill tomorrow afternoon at around 2PM. It should pass easily, as well it should, but the big question is, is should the upcoming six years of commemmorations be even-handed, or should they treat the Confederates as the proto-Nazis that they actually were?
I know there are more important topics out there, but it's going to happen and we might as well start talking about it now...