Letters: July 18, 2019

Slavery

Wayne Olson, of Moscow, wants to rewrite history. He wants us to believe that the Civil War was all about states' rights, and not about the enslavement of Africans. (Letter, Lewiston Tribune, July 9, 2019).

Granted:

There were competing understandings of liberty and rights; Northern industry was subsidized by tariffs on Southern harvests -- a kingly style of favoritism.

New western states could not be slave states, so Congress would increasingly vote against the slave states' interests, an existential threat to slavery.

Nevertheless, the Causa Bella? Slavery.

Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederate States of America (CSA), in his March 21, 1861, cornerstone speech said “This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution."

Stephens said that most of those who signed the old constitution believed that enslaving Africans violated the laws of nature, and was wrong in principle; wrong socially, morally, and politically; that it was evil.

“This was an error,” Stephens said.

That CSA was “founded upon exactly the opposite idea;” the cornerstone of it's foundation rests upon, “the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man;” that his “natural and normal condition” is slavery. In the history of the whole world, the CSA was the first government founded upon “this great physical, philosophical and moral truth,” Stephens said.

The seven states passed resolutions emphasizing the centrality of slavery to the Southern way of life.

Chattel slavery would have been locked into their constitution. How many underground railroads would be operating today? If we found a slave-snatcher operating in our state, could we shoot him or her?

We all pledge allegiance to liberty and justice for all. Some of us mean it.

Wiley Hollingsworth

Pullman

strong>War with Iran?

Every day, the United States and Iran continue to move closer to war. As tensions escalate between our nations, the risk grows of accidents and miscalculations tipping us into another deadly conflict in the Middle East.

I am particularly concerned by casual talk about a so-called “limited military strike” that could be carried out at an “acceptable” human cost. In truth, there is no such thing as a quick and painless war – not for any side in the conflict. An American attack against Iran will lead to incalculable death, destruction and human suffering, as well as unsustainable economic costs for all involved.

Only Congress has the power to declare war, and only Congress can appropriate funds to pay for war.

We need Congress – and our Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers – to step up and say “no” to war with Iran and “no” to another war in the Middle East within the last 20 years.

After nearly two decades of ever-expanding wars around the globe, it’s clear there are no military solutions to the challenges we face. Bombing others does not make us safer. Quite the opposite. Now Congress must say “no” to war with Iran.

Nancy Street,

Cheney