How Have We Come To This?

Divide and conquer. Some people could be given the world on a silver platter and they would complain that it was not a gold or platinum platter instead. Food for thought comes from an old written media piece wherein the term “Manifest Destiny” is reputedly coined.

From:O’Sullivan on Texas and “Manifest Destiny” regarding the Annexation of Texas.

[July, 1845.]

There has been enough of all this. It has had its fitting day during the period when, in common with every other possible question of practical policy that can arise, it unfortunately became one of the leading topics of party division, of presidential electioneering. But that period has passed, and with it let its prejudices and its passions, its discords and its denunciations, pass away too. The next session of Congress will see the representatives of the new young State in their places in both our halls of national legislation, side by side with those of the old Thirteen. Let their reception into “the family” be frank, kindly, and cheerful, as befits such an occasion, as comports not less with our own self-respect than patriotic duty towards them. Ill betide those foul birds that delight to foul their own nest, and disgust the ear with perpetual discord of ill-omened croak.

(Microsoft ® Encarta ® Reference Library 2005. © 1993-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.)

Some of the same problems then as now. This author stated in writing the plan was to split Texas up into a number of States, equally slave and non-slave. Texas came into the Union as a non-slave state. Texas came into the Union having been a Sovereign Republic. To this day, there are those who feel Texas should not be a part of the United States.

Divide and conquer. . .Not too long after this, Lincoln became the first Republican President of the United States. Many believe that the reason for this war was slavery. However, there were many reasons for that war. Not the least of which was the fact that some states decided that they could not and would not compete with the northern industrial revolution. Basically they said, “You take the high road, and we’ll take the low road, but we don’t want to industrialize.”

These days we are pretty well industrialized to the point of unemployment, homelessness, etc. Our present president did not create these problems any more than Lincoln did in his day.