Recent votes on war memorials have actually been inspired by opposition to racism. Because of county votes in Virginia in November 2020, we discuss Confederate symbols with a conflict-resolution approach common to peacemaking. Below that we discuss President Andrew Jackson, due to a vote to remove statues in Jackson County, Missouri.
Confederate Symbols
Those of us who favor removal of Confederate symbols to improve race relations would do well to consider the interests of people who advocate that they remain. Are there other ways of meeting concerns that might make both sides happy?
Concern: Southern Heritage
Just think of all the creativity that could be unleashed if a fuller idea of Southern heritage could be represented in the town square. The South especially has fiction writers to take pride in, and glorious music with its music writers and singers. A little digging will bring out some fascinating county history.
One possibility is to get the local high school students involved. They can surely come up with all kinds of historical information, and ideas on how to present it. Get the whole community involved in designing what would go up. A project done together can really bolster community spirit.
Proposed new flag for Mississippi to replace the one with the Confederate symbol. Voters accepted this on November 3 with over 71% of the vote.
Concern: Family Heritage
When families go back generations, to before the Civil War, then why not have the county be specific about its own people? There will always be an awful lot of ancestors to be proud of – or, if not pride, at least with interesting stories that deserve to be told.
Why not have a Wall of Ancestors? (Or obelisk, or dome, or whatever the community chooses.) What about collecting the photos to make copies of, and putting them onto a weather-proof permanent wall? Add stories to go with them. This would make for a monument unique to the county.
Again, the whole community could get involved in a project like this. The merits of individual ancestors are beside the point, if every participant’s ancestors from generations past in the county are included.
If done well, this project could avoid the divisiveness of a Confederate statue, and still meet the positive concern that the statue represents to some people.
For Pro-Lifers
The racism in the origins of the movement for abortion legalization is well established. Planned Parenthood has even admitted that its founder Margaret Sanger was racist, to the point of removing her name from their Manhattan Center.
What is now NARAL Prochoice America was founded as NARAL, the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws. NARAL’s founders included Garret Hardin and Lawrence Lader. As with Margaret Sanger, they were clearly eugenicist, with its associated racism.
Employees of Planned Parenthood still complain of racism today; see this open letter. For both organizations, an article in BuzzFeed shows that problems of racism in their employment remain a major problem. Both sources favor abortion availability, yet the problem is clear even to them.
If racism is entrenched in the origins and continuing practice of abortion – especially when women from racial minorities are targeted for attempts to persuade them to have abortions – then any stand against racism becomes a stand against abortion as well. To stop abortion, we must get at its roots.
Andrew Jackson Statues
There is widespread (though not universal) agreement that it’s a good idea to remove racists from places of honor when applied to Confederates. Some are worried the principle can be over-done. But with Andrew Jackson (U.S. President, 1829-1837), we think we can make a case he belongs in the category of people who should be remembered by history, but not honored.
In addition to racism, this can be seen as a war memorial – not commemorating bravery or sacrifice, but commemorating a man who was especially brutal in war even by the standards of his day.
Jackson statue, downtown Jackson County Courthouse in Kansas City.
Duels
Duels share with abortion, euthanasia, and executions that they were a form of socially-approved killing that directly targeted specific individuals. They aren’t socially approved any more, of course, but Andrew Jackson challenged more than a hundred men to duels, and did kill a man in a duel in 1806. This was known at the time he ran for president; it wasn’t a scandal then, but rather something to be admired as showing his courage.
Andrew Jackson killing Charles Dickenson in 1806. Woodcut print, 1834. (Library of Congress)
War
Well-known as an army general before entering Congress, his actions were brutal and illegal even by the standards of the time.
Quoting from Andrew Jackson and the Constitution (Professor Matthew Warshauer):
Andrew Jackson’s fame came with the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 and 1815 . . . The victory launched the general to national stardom and ultimately the presidency. Yet there were looming, constitutionally delicate issues that roiled beneath the surface of this victory, namely Jackson’s suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and declaration of martial law . . . After several years of dismal military encounters during the War of 1812 and the burning of the nation’s capitol to the ground in the summer of 1814, no one, especially President Madison, was in the mood to investigate, let alone chastise, the victorious General Jackson’s illegal conduct . . .
[In 1818], the indomitable general exceeded his orders to protect the Georgia frontier by crossing into Spanish Florida, where he invaded two towns and executed two British citizens . . . Unlike Jackson’s use of martial law in New Orleans, Congress debated Jackson’s rogue behavior in Florida, with Henry Clay announcing that the general was a “military chieftain” and dangerous to a young republic.
At the end of the Creek War (1813-1814), General Jackson forced the Creeks to give up millions of acres in what is now Georgia and Alabama. The First Seminole War was around 1816–1819, and began with General Jackson’s incursions into Florida. Andrew Jackson was well-seasoned in personally practicing brutality in war against Native Americans before he got into office.
Racism: Native Americans
Jackson as U.S. president pushed for and signed the Indian Removal Act of 1830. This led to the Trail of Tears, which killed thousands of people and destroyed cultures – all for the sake of taking the land for slave-run plantations.
Trail of Tears Exhibit at the Cherokee National Museum
Racism: Slavery
Slave-holding was done by 12 U.S. presidents, 8 of them while in office. But Andrew Jackson was especially vicious.
History.com reports the many beatings included a brutal public whipping of a woman for “putting on airs,” and they say, “In an 1804 newspaper advertisement for a 30-year-old runaway named Tom, he offered an extra $10 for every 100 lashes doled out to the escapee.”
When abolitionists tried to send anti-slavery tracts to the South during his presidency, he worked with his postmaster general to ban their delivery. He called the abolitionists monsters, who should “atone for this wicked attempt with their lives.”
Death Penalty
Though he lived in an era when executions were common, he was especially prolific in executing for minor infractions. This included prisoners of war, but also soldiers under his command. In 1818, he had two executions done immediately to avoid a chance of appeal – by the standards of the day, the executions probably wouldn’t have withstood appellate scrutiny.
Poverty
All the above were quite intentional. In contrast, Jackson was an anti-elitist who favored the interests of poor Whites, and certainly never intended his policies to lead to massive poverty. However, Jackson’s fiscal policies are understood by many historians and were thought by many of his contemporaries as partly responsible for the Panic of 1837 (within weeks of the end of his term). This financial crisis touched off a severe depression that lasted about seven years. It seems odd to honor him when he left so much poverty in his wake after his presidency.
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In the case of Jackson County, Missouri, the vote was substantial in Kansas City to remove the statues, but higher yet in the suburbs and rural areas to keep them, and keeping them prevailed.
The original plan to put plaques on the statues was put on hold due to Covid restrictions, plus it would be pointless if the statues were removed. Since they remain, here’s the plaque that will be added:
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