On Reparations
Printed; 5/21/19
The recent “debate” on racial reparations based on descent from those held in slavery within the confines of these United States of America and of the Thirteen Colonies needs some historical perspective, rational thought, and some just plain common sense. At the end of this essay, will be a bibliography that, if followed, will open some eyes as to the racism and arrogant ignorance, or, maybe, the hidden agenda of those proposing these reparations.
Starting at the beginning of the thirteen colonies, not one of the original thirteen allowed slavery. Slavery was absolutely prohibited by the original charters and beliefs of the colonists. In the New England and Atlantic Colonies, religious beliefs that all are God’s creatures, caused the colonists to prohibit slavery; in the Southern Colonies, the economics of pre-cotton industrial agriculture, hemp, potash, & indigo, and the political & religious beliefs of the colonists, prohibited slavery.
Slavery was injected through the economic necessity of Mercantilism, the emerging economic philosophy of today’s American Leftist politicians and as exemplified in Venezuela, Cuba, The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of North Korea, Iran, The People’s Republic of China (PRC) & most African People’s Democratic Republics (PDR’s), as well as most Muslim countries.
In the XVIIth Century British Empire, the king had a monopoly on the slave trade. Thus, the King received a commission on each trade, a commission that was not regulated nor restricted by parliament. The money that the Crown received from each trade was uniquely his. His to do as he willed. His to spend as he would. Thus, a political necessity for going around Parliament’s hold on the purse strings. Not dissimilar to our own separation of powers, where the executive keeps trying to find ways to use resources which congress has allocated to programs with which the executive either disagrees with, or wants to use for purposes which congress has not authorized. The current disagreement over the southern border wall is only one of many that started with President Washington’s administration.
The existence of slavery in the early colonies was not only frequently challenged by Evangelicals as morally wrong, but the Scottish Reformation influenced The Founders in profound ways such that many slave owners either manumitted their slaves upon their deaths, or entered into labor contracts with slaves such that after they credited their books for their labor, this credit went against their purchase price, and they were manumitted upon equity.
The pre-1787 societal interests in slavery, with the rare exception, were fraught with guilt and moral sorrow. The open conflict between the two groups within the three colonial regions, New England, The Atlantic States, and The South, with the nascent West, defined as that region West of the Appalachian Mountains and frequently referred to as The Ohio River Valley Territories, although integral to The War of 1861, a.k.a. The American Civil War, was only one of several issues, among which the economic issue of illiberal and sectional taxation and spending was a more paramount issue.
The South paid taxes amounting to over 75% of the Federal Income. The Atlantic States and New England receiving over 75% of that income in the form of National Improvements for the encouragement of industry and transportation. This was part of Hamilton’s plan for industrial growth and Federalist supremacy, and in direct opposition to Jefferson’s Yeoman Farmer philosophy and Christian personal accountability. (DiLorenzo, Thomas J., PhD, Hamilton’s Curse, ISBN 978-0-307-38285-6) Thus, the viral infection of slavery was entered directly into the 1787 constitution and becoming one of two major killers of the original nation; the other issue being the Right to Secede, often included as one of the legalities generally called, States’ Rights.[1]
Slavery is an economic issue structured on the incorrect concept that labor is a commodity separate from the laborer. Except for the current practice in places such as India, China, and Africa, where parents can exchange the labor of their children for currency, slaves have been created almost exclusively through military conquest. Over 80% of those African slaves entered into the North Atlantic Slave Trade were taken in raids by one African tribe over another. This tribalism is still going on in Africa as shown by the slave raids of such groups as Boko Harim, Isis, and other Islamic groups. Slavery being approved of in the Qur’an. The other 20% of said slaves were taken in raids by professional slavers.
Slavery, being a mercantile concept, race, gender, religion, +/or place of origin are irrelevant to the slaver. Only the theft of labor is important. Proof of this is in the U.S. Census of 1860. Broken down by the historians, twins Ronald & Donald Kennedy of New Orleans LA, show that 58% of slaves in the U.S. were of African origin, 38% of Native American origin, working predominantly on plantations of varying sizes or in urban, both Northern and Southern, settings, 3% Chinese, predominantly owned by railroad companies or labor companies located in California selling labor to the railroads, and 1% Irish Catholic, almost exclusively in domestic positions in The North.
Of even greater interest, 32% of slaver owners were of African origins, mostly manumitted slaves. Think back to the suppression of this data when made public after Spielberg’s Amistad was released. Over 50% of slave owners owned five or fewer slaves working on smaller agricultural plots with the slaves living in the same homes as their owners, eating together, working together and attending church together. The richest slave owner in Charleston S.C. in 1861 was a Black gentleman, named Jackson, who owned 693 slaves on seven plantations, who, when it became apparent that Lincoln would be elected president, sold his holding for gold and moved Northwest to Canada. When Lincoln’s General “Butcher” Butler took military control of New Orleans in 1862, he confiscated all of the cotton that he could get his hands on as contraband, sold it at a bargain to British textile agents, and bankrupted the private citizens, amongst which the second largest land owner was a Black widow, who then moved her family Westward to Texas.
As of 1866, the actual economic benefits the American slave experience accrued either to Great Britain or the “Union.”[2]
From the 17th Century through 1866, the economics of the Slave trade was that of a triangle. Agricultural produce from The South, was sold to Britain, where a factor purchased British goods from the proceeds for reshipment to The South. Northern and British ships shipped the goods, British and Northern Banks provided the credit and currency, and the Federal government accrued the excise taxes which went predominantly to the expansion of Northern industry, or various government canal, railroad, and industrial development schemes. Consider, John Adams died well-to-do, Thomas Jefferson died 10’s of thousands of dollars in debt[3].
As to what leftover wealth accrued to Southern States, General Sherman’s Army Reunion speech of 1866 says it all. General Sherman openly acknowledged that his army pillaged over $100,000,000.00 of wealth from along his march route, and took another $20,000,000.00 North as compensation from the Rebels. All taken from unarmed citizens under the guise of protecting and keeping The Union[4]. All taken from along his march route. How much was taken from the rest of the Confederacy as ‘retribution’ for owning slaves by ‘Union’ armies?
With the Potato Famine of the 1840’s and 1850’s in Ireland, thousands fled to the U.S. Shortly after, the unrest on the Latin Peninsula surrounding the formation of Italy as a State, more legal immigrants fled to America’s shores. Almost exclusively, they entered through New York City, with some to Boston and Philadelphia. No record of any of these, then nor after, mentions them bringing slaves with them. And, given the times of their arrivals, they could not purchase slaves after the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
The history of outright theft of labor, slavery, in the United States, ends in 1866. Not one person held in slavery is alive today, not one!
Why is this important on this issue? Because in order to claim either reparations or restitution, one must be able to show that one was the one damaged. None of the people held in slavery are alive in order to make this claim!
Another important piece on this is that over 60% of the people living in these United States today, have nothing to do with, nor are descended from, slave owners, nor the slave owning culture of this country. And, how many of the Colored are descended from people brought here as slaves, and how many simply emigrated here? Oral histories being notoriously inaccurate or down right false, embellished for dramatic purposes as was Jason Blair’s NYTimes reporting or Alex Haley’s compilation of numerous family histories presented as his actual family history in Roots, all for personal financial gain or fame, rather than history or accurate reporting. What ‘proof’ will be used to establish damages? It certainly won’t comply with The Federal Rules of Evidence.
Consider this: if allowed to even make the claim, then I, as a descendant of Polish serfs, am permitted to sue The Russian Federation for generations of stolen labor for the time period when Russia controlled the region around Krakow, Poland; that most of those Irish descended from those born East of the Shannon can sue the British People; that Chinese can sue Manchuria & Mongolia for the decades of oppression; and on in absurdum.
The history between 1866 and 2019 regarding the theft of labor, is more along the lines of suppression and repression. Rather than get into the weeds, read Dr. Sowell’s works and that of Bruce Bartlett[5]. Basically, it is a matter of labor economics coupled to resentment over the results of The Civil War. The destruction of the Southern Economy, the loss of capital in the form of released labor, steam technology[6], excess labor due to automation, the influx of legal immigrants, limited skill sets, and the rise of federal mercantilism since 1866, all contribute to unfounded & unreasonable racism as a restriction on labor costs and availability. Note particularly, that every time there’s a labor shortage, such as that in 1917, 1941, and again in 1966, each fostered by a war economy, race as an issue is either reduced or disappears completely in the hiring process, which immediately goes to a meritocratic standard.
The likes of educated Liberals, like FDR[7], and personified by academics like Woodrow Wilson, simply made matters that were progressing nicely due to market economic factors retrogress. As former slaves and their descendants became educated and learned skills, they entered the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th Century and became forces in both government and industry only to be forced out because of political agendas. Remember, all of those former slaves and their descendants, were fluent in English, and for the most part, were Protestants, as was the predominant population. Immigrants spoke little or no English, the Irish with a patois or accented English, and the Italians with almost no English. Former slaves were already assimilated, a condition changed over time through the Liberal Balkanization of America, and the Irish and Italian Catholics became assimilated as generations progressed, even though strong anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic sentiment survives.
In all of this, not only is who should pay to be considered, but how to calculate what compensation should be made, there is to whom should reparations be made.
Having discussed that there is no possible way to figure out to whom reparations should be made, let us look at how to calculate compensation.
Since, as noted in the first section, much money went to Great Britain, how do we assess their liability? Books were kept by most of the banks and shipping companies, as well as The Crown, and are, or their legal successors are, still in existence. Profits made from slavery by these legal entities, plus interest and allowance for inflation, can be easily calculated by computers, once the original data is collected and inputted. However, are we to include that wealth stolen by the Union Army? How do we allocate that stolen wealth? How do we calculate what they stole and destroyed? And, who has it now?
Do we subtract the costs of Affirmative Action, a program originally designed and SCOTUS approved as actual reparations to those descendants of slavery and of racism? Do we subtract Pell Grants? Again, an expense designed specifically as reparations for slavery and racism. What about, “The War on Poverty?” Again, a taxpayer expense designed specifically as reparations for slavery and racism. And, if we believe the proponents of Reparations, the White citizen-taxpayer paid for these programs and the Black citizen-victim collective received these monies. Latinos, Asians, and Native-Americans, as shown by recent lawsuits against Ivy League schools, have, allegedly and incorrectly, been excluded from these reparation programs. And, by the way, what happened to those tax dollars? Chicago has certainly not, as a city, benefitted from any of these programs. What happened to those trillions of dollars spent over the last 60 years?
A legal concept regarding this issue, is that a sum certain must be stated or at the least ascertainable. There is absolutely no way to figure out what the indeterminant victim-collective is owed, even if we could determine who the victim-collective is, for if it is to be determined by race, then, according to my 23andme results, I am to be included in the victim-collective.
Which brings us to, who IS to be included in this victim-collective and to what extent?
Recently, federal statistics by various departments,[8] although in conflict, suggest that less than 50% of those of Color currently residing in these United States, are actually descended from those held in slavery in 1865. Prior to the 1960’s Civil Rights movement, Latinos and Hispanics were considered Caucasians, and, as noted above, have never been held in slavery by citizens of these United States. How is it that these groups are being included as part of the victim-collective? Further, how is it that they were included in all of the Affirmative Action programs when there is no evidence of their having been discriminated against any worse than The Irish, Catholics, Jews, The Italians, &c.? Will these reparations proponents expand the victim-collective to include all of those who have had their labor stolen or oppressed?
The very proposal of reparations is stupid. It cannot logically be done. It defies most legal concepts of liability, damages, and remedies. It is corrupt racism and mercantilist redistribution of wealth based on narcissistic self-serving greed and moral bankruptcy.
Last question: who would implement this stupidity, and what would their cut be?
Based on The War on Poverty, The War on Drugs, Common Core, and Affirmative Action, a racial bureaucracy led by Al Sharpton[9] and Rev. Jesse Jackson, both of whom have been proven liars and racial provocateurs rather than assimilated Americans. Will they include Negan, the former mayor of New Orleans LA? Or former Gov of Illinois Blagovich?
Who will pick the bureaucracy that would implement such a program? And, how much will they keep for themselves and their bubbas?
It will just be another Chicago.
Justplainbill
Bibliography
Sowell, Thomas, PhD
Intellectuals and Race ISBN 978-0-465-05872-3
The Vision of the Anointed ISBN 978-0-465-08995-6
Discrimination and Disparities ISBN 978-1-51116-4560-8
Mason, Matthew, PhD
Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic
ISBN 978-0-8078-3049-9
Adams. J. Christian, JD
Injustice; Inside the Obama DoJ ISBN 978-1-59698-277-2
Freehling, William W., PhD
The Road to Disunion, Vol I, Secessionists at Bay 1776 – 1854
ISBN 0-19-507259-6
The Road to Disunion, Vol II, Secessionists Triumphant 1854 – 1861
ISBN 978-0-19-505815-4
Thomas, Hugh, PhD, Oxford Don
The Slave Trade; a history of the North Atlantic Slave Trade
ISBN 0-684-81063-8
Lefkowitz, Mary, PhD
Not Out of Africa ISBN 0-465-09838-X
Adams, Charles, PhD
Slavery, Secession, & Civil War ISBN 978-0-8108-5863-3
Bartlett, Bruce, JD
Wrong on Race ISBN 978-0-230-60062-1
There are numerous other works in the public domain upon which I touch upon, but as the slavery/ mercantilism issues are tangent to their focus, I have not included them. One such work is David Detzer’s, PhD, Allegiance, ISBN 978-0-15-100641-5. Dr. Detzer’s work deals with the immediate events in Washington, D.C., and Charleston S.C., leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter. Dr. Detzer comments tangentially on how city slaves, butchers, carpenters, and teamsters, were instrumental in the supplying of Fort Sumter with food and water under the supervision of the SC Militia. Although the property of plantation owners, these slaves lived in the city, on their own, operating their own businesses, and when the owner came to town, the books were audited and the owner took his predetermined share of the income.
[1] Shelby Foote’s, The Civil War; a narrative, has much more on these issues, and Cmdr. Matt Shipley’s blog, www.americanfoundingprinciples.wordpress.com has several references that include references to states’ ratification articles specifying that they were joining the union with the understanding that at anytime they could leave the union.
[2] When 1/3 of the population and governments are held in military occupation, the use of the word ‘union’ must be taken with more than just a grain of salt. For how long this military occupation lasted and its terrible and detrimental effect on The South is left for another essay. Just note the still prevalent and extensive poverty throughout the former Confederacy.
[3] Much of this had been accrued by his father-in-law, but through-out his life time, he was never able to reduce it, as plantation agriculture was not profitable for the planter. Note how George Washington went from unprofitable cotton to vegetables sold in the local markets.
[4] A reading of The Declaration of Independence and a review of various Federalist Papers essays on the Right of Man to self-governance may be of interest at this point, but only tangentially relevant to reparations. See also the writings of Thomas Paine from this time. Particularly, Common Sense and The Rights of Man.
[5] Publishing/purchases details are in the bibliography.
[6] One of the many stupidities of this war, is that slavery was dying because slave labor is so much more expensive than automation. In 1861, steam engines were being used on tractors, harvesters, railroad engines, and threshers. Slavery, as an issue for war, was disappearing. Lincoln’s use of it in The Emancipation Proclamation, is what caused so much hatred among Southerners toward the former slaves. For loads more, read Adams’ Slavery book, noted in the bibliography.
[7] FDR’s labor laws and policies provided that race could be a determination for terminating employment. Thus, in order to keep White Blue Collar and Union political support, his administration allowed employers to fire Blacks before Whites as a matter of course, merit & seniority held irrelevant.
[8] HUD, DoC(ommerce), Bureau of Labor Statistics, DoL(abor), IRS, DoJ(ustice) and a few others.
[9] From what seminary did Rev. Al graduate? Specifically, who ordained him and what was his academic record?
Justplainbill's Weblog 
On Reparations
On Reparations
Printed; 5/21/19
The recent “debate” on racial reparations based on descent from those held in slavery within the confines of these United States of America and of the Thirteen Colonies needs some historical perspective, rational thought, and some just plain common sense. At the end of this essay, will be a bibliography that, if followed, will open some eyes as to the racism and arrogant ignorance, or, maybe, the hidden agenda of those proposing these reparations.
Starting at the beginning of the thirteen colonies, not one of the original thirteen allowed slavery. Slavery was absolutely prohibited by the original charters and beliefs of the colonists. In the New England and Atlantic Colonies, religious beliefs that all are God’s creatures, caused the colonists to prohibit slavery; in the Southern Colonies, the economics of pre-cotton industrial agriculture, hemp, potash, & indigo, and the political & religious beliefs of the colonists, prohibited slavery.
Slavery was injected through the economic necessity of Mercantilism, the emerging economic philosophy of today’s American Leftist politicians and as exemplified in Venezuela, Cuba, The Peoples’ Democratic Republic of North Korea, Iran, The People’s Republic of China (PRC) & most African People’s Democratic Republics (PDR’s), as well as most Muslim countries.
In the XVIIth Century British Empire, the king had a monopoly on the slave trade. Thus, the King received a commission on each trade, a commission that was not regulated nor restricted by parliament. The money that the Crown received from each trade was uniquely his. His to do as he willed. His to spend as he would. Thus, a political necessity for going around Parliament’s hold on the purse strings. Not dissimilar to our own separation of powers, where the executive keeps trying to find ways to use resources which congress has allocated to programs with which the executive either disagrees with, or wants to use for purposes which congress has not authorized. The current disagreement over the southern border wall is only one of many that started with President Washington’s administration.
The existence of slavery in the early colonies was not only frequently challenged by Evangelicals as morally wrong, but the Scottish Reformation influenced The Founders in profound ways such that many slave owners either manumitted their slaves upon their deaths, or entered into labor contracts with slaves such that after they credited their books for their labor, this credit went against their purchase price, and they were manumitted upon equity.
The pre-1787 societal interests in slavery, with the rare exception, were fraught with guilt and moral sorrow. The open conflict between the two groups within the three colonial regions, New England, The Atlantic States, and The South, with the nascent West, defined as that region West of the Appalachian Mountains and frequently referred to as The Ohio River Valley Territories, although integral to The War of 1861, a.k.a. The American Civil War, was only one of several issues, among which the economic issue of illiberal and sectional taxation and spending was a more paramount issue.
The South paid taxes amounting to over 75% of the Federal Income. The Atlantic States and New England receiving over 75% of that income in the form of National Improvements for the encouragement of industry and transportation. This was part of Hamilton’s plan for industrial growth and Federalist supremacy, and in direct opposition to Jefferson’s Yeoman Farmer philosophy and Christian personal accountability. (DiLorenzo, Thomas J., PhD, Hamilton’s Curse, ISBN 978-0-307-38285-6) Thus, the viral infection of slavery was entered directly into the 1787 constitution and becoming one of two major killers of the original nation; the other issue being the Right to Secede, often included as one of the legalities generally called, States’ Rights.[1]
Slavery is an economic issue structured on the incorrect concept that labor is a commodity separate from the laborer. Except for the current practice in places such as India, China, and Africa, where parents can exchange the labor of their children for currency, slaves have been created almost exclusively through military conquest. Over 80% of those African slaves entered into the North Atlantic Slave Trade were taken in raids by one African tribe over another. This tribalism is still going on in Africa as shown by the slave raids of such groups as Boko Harim, Isis, and other Islamic groups. Slavery being approved of in the Qur’an. The other 20% of said slaves were taken in raids by professional slavers.
Slavery, being a mercantile concept, race, gender, religion, +/or place of origin are irrelevant to the slaver. Only the theft of labor is important. Proof of this is in the U.S. Census of 1860. Broken down by the historians, twins Ronald & Donald Kennedy of New Orleans LA, show that 58% of slaves in the U.S. were of African origin, 38% of Native American origin, working predominantly on plantations of varying sizes or in urban, both Northern and Southern, settings, 3% Chinese, predominantly owned by railroad companies or labor companies located in California selling labor to the railroads, and 1% Irish Catholic, almost exclusively in domestic positions in The North.
Of even greater interest, 32% of slaver owners were of African origins, mostly manumitted slaves. Think back to the suppression of this data when made public after Spielberg’s Amistad was released. Over 50% of slave owners owned five or fewer slaves working on smaller agricultural plots with the slaves living in the same homes as their owners, eating together, working together and attending church together. The richest slave owner in Charleston S.C. in 1861 was a Black gentleman, named Jackson, who owned 693 slaves on seven plantations, who, when it became apparent that Lincoln would be elected president, sold his holding for gold and moved Northwest to Canada. When Lincoln’s General “Butcher” Butler took military control of New Orleans in 1862, he confiscated all of the cotton that he could get his hands on as contraband, sold it at a bargain to British textile agents, and bankrupted the private citizens, amongst which the second largest land owner was a Black widow, who then moved her family Westward to Texas.
As of 1866, the actual economic benefits the American slave experience accrued either to Great Britain or the “Union.”[2]
From the 17th Century through 1866, the economics of the Slave trade was that of a triangle. Agricultural produce from The South, was sold to Britain, where a factor purchased British goods from the proceeds for reshipment to The South. Northern and British ships shipped the goods, British and Northern Banks provided the credit and currency, and the Federal government accrued the excise taxes which went predominantly to the expansion of Northern industry, or various government canal, railroad, and industrial development schemes. Consider, John Adams died well-to-do, Thomas Jefferson died 10’s of thousands of dollars in debt[3].
As to what leftover wealth accrued to Southern States, General Sherman’s Army Reunion speech of 1866 says it all. General Sherman openly acknowledged that his army pillaged over $100,000,000.00 of wealth from along his march route, and took another $20,000,000.00 North as compensation from the Rebels. All taken from unarmed citizens under the guise of protecting and keeping The Union[4]. All taken from along his march route. How much was taken from the rest of the Confederacy as ‘retribution’ for owning slaves by ‘Union’ armies?
With the Potato Famine of the 1840’s and 1850’s in Ireland, thousands fled to the U.S. Shortly after, the unrest on the Latin Peninsula surrounding the formation of Italy as a State, more legal immigrants fled to America’s shores. Almost exclusively, they entered through New York City, with some to Boston and Philadelphia. No record of any of these, then nor after, mentions them bringing slaves with them. And, given the times of their arrivals, they could not purchase slaves after the passage of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
The history of outright theft of labor, slavery, in the United States, ends in 1866. Not one person held in slavery is alive today, not one!
Why is this important on this issue? Because in order to claim either reparations or restitution, one must be able to show that one was the one damaged. None of the people held in slavery are alive in order to make this claim!
Another important piece on this is that over 60% of the people living in these United States today, have nothing to do with, nor are descended from, slave owners, nor the slave owning culture of this country. And, how many of the Colored are descended from people brought here as slaves, and how many simply emigrated here? Oral histories being notoriously inaccurate or down right false, embellished for dramatic purposes as was Jason Blair’s NYTimes reporting or Alex Haley’s compilation of numerous family histories presented as his actual family history in Roots, all for personal financial gain or fame, rather than history or accurate reporting. What ‘proof’ will be used to establish damages? It certainly won’t comply with The Federal Rules of Evidence.
Consider this: if allowed to even make the claim, then I, as a descendant of Polish serfs, am permitted to sue The Russian Federation for generations of stolen labor for the time period when Russia controlled the region around Krakow, Poland; that most of those Irish descended from those born East of the Shannon can sue the British People; that Chinese can sue Manchuria & Mongolia for the decades of oppression; and on in absurdum.
The history between 1866 and 2019 regarding the theft of labor, is more along the lines of suppression and repression. Rather than get into the weeds, read Dr. Sowell’s works and that of Bruce Bartlett[5]. Basically, it is a matter of labor economics coupled to resentment over the results of The Civil War. The destruction of the Southern Economy, the loss of capital in the form of released labor, steam technology[6], excess labor due to automation, the influx of legal immigrants, limited skill sets, and the rise of federal mercantilism since 1866, all contribute to unfounded & unreasonable racism as a restriction on labor costs and availability. Note particularly, that every time there’s a labor shortage, such as that in 1917, 1941, and again in 1966, each fostered by a war economy, race as an issue is either reduced or disappears completely in the hiring process, which immediately goes to a meritocratic standard.
The likes of educated Liberals, like FDR[7], and personified by academics like Woodrow Wilson, simply made matters that were progressing nicely due to market economic factors retrogress. As former slaves and their descendants became educated and learned skills, they entered the Industrial Revolution of the late 19th Century and became forces in both government and industry only to be forced out because of political agendas. Remember, all of those former slaves and their descendants, were fluent in English, and for the most part, were Protestants, as was the predominant population. Immigrants spoke little or no English, the Irish with a patois or accented English, and the Italians with almost no English. Former slaves were already assimilated, a condition changed over time through the Liberal Balkanization of America, and the Irish and Italian Catholics became assimilated as generations progressed, even though strong anti-Catholic and anti-Semitic sentiment survives.
In all of this, not only is who should pay to be considered, but how to calculate what compensation should be made, there is to whom should reparations be made.
Having discussed that there is no possible way to figure out to whom reparations should be made, let us look at how to calculate compensation.
Since, as noted in the first section, much money went to Great Britain, how do we assess their liability? Books were kept by most of the banks and shipping companies, as well as The Crown, and are, or their legal successors are, still in existence. Profits made from slavery by these legal entities, plus interest and allowance for inflation, can be easily calculated by computers, once the original data is collected and inputted. However, are we to include that wealth stolen by the Union Army? How do we allocate that stolen wealth? How do we calculate what they stole and destroyed? And, who has it now?
Do we subtract the costs of Affirmative Action, a program originally designed and SCOTUS approved as actual reparations to those descendants of slavery and of racism? Do we subtract Pell Grants? Again, an expense designed specifically as reparations for slavery and racism. What about, “The War on Poverty?” Again, a taxpayer expense designed specifically as reparations for slavery and racism. And, if we believe the proponents of Reparations, the White citizen-taxpayer paid for these programs and the Black citizen-victim collective received these monies. Latinos, Asians, and Native-Americans, as shown by recent lawsuits against Ivy League schools, have, allegedly and incorrectly, been excluded from these reparation programs. And, by the way, what happened to those tax dollars? Chicago has certainly not, as a city, benefitted from any of these programs. What happened to those trillions of dollars spent over the last 60 years?
A legal concept regarding this issue, is that a sum certain must be stated or at the least ascertainable. There is absolutely no way to figure out what the indeterminant victim-collective is owed, even if we could determine who the victim-collective is, for if it is to be determined by race, then, according to my 23andme results, I am to be included in the victim-collective.
Which brings us to, who IS to be included in this victim-collective and to what extent?
Recently, federal statistics by various departments,[8] although in conflict, suggest that less than 50% of those of Color currently residing in these United States, are actually descended from those held in slavery in 1865. Prior to the 1960’s Civil Rights movement, Latinos and Hispanics were considered Caucasians, and, as noted above, have never been held in slavery by citizens of these United States. How is it that these groups are being included as part of the victim-collective? Further, how is it that they were included in all of the Affirmative Action programs when there is no evidence of their having been discriminated against any worse than The Irish, Catholics, Jews, The Italians, &c.? Will these reparations proponents expand the victim-collective to include all of those who have had their labor stolen or oppressed?
The very proposal of reparations is stupid. It cannot logically be done. It defies most legal concepts of liability, damages, and remedies. It is corrupt racism and mercantilist redistribution of wealth based on narcissistic self-serving greed and moral bankruptcy.
Last question: who would implement this stupidity, and what would their cut be?
Based on The War on Poverty, The War on Drugs, Common Core, and Affirmative Action, a racial bureaucracy led by Al Sharpton[9] and Rev. Jesse Jackson, both of whom have been proven liars and racial provocateurs rather than assimilated Americans. Will they include Negan, the former mayor of New Orleans LA? Or former Gov of Illinois Blagovich?
Who will pick the bureaucracy that would implement such a program? And, how much will they keep for themselves and their bubbas?
It will just be another Chicago.
Justplainbill
Bibliography
Sowell, Thomas, PhD
Intellectuals and Race ISBN 978-0-465-05872-3
The Vision of the Anointed ISBN 978-0-465-08995-6
Discrimination and Disparities ISBN 978-1-51116-4560-8
Mason, Matthew, PhD
Slavery and Politics in the Early American Republic
ISBN 978-0-8078-3049-9
Adams. J. Christian, JD
Injustice; Inside the Obama DoJ ISBN 978-1-59698-277-2
Freehling, William W., PhD
The Road to Disunion, Vol I, Secessionists at Bay 1776 – 1854
ISBN 0-19-507259-6
The Road to Disunion, Vol II, Secessionists Triumphant 1854 – 1861
ISBN 978-0-19-505815-4
Thomas, Hugh, PhD, Oxford Don
The Slave Trade; a history of the North Atlantic Slave Trade
ISBN 0-684-81063-8
Lefkowitz, Mary, PhD
Not Out of Africa ISBN 0-465-09838-X
Adams, Charles, PhD
Slavery, Secession, & Civil War ISBN 978-0-8108-5863-3
Bartlett, Bruce, JD
Wrong on Race ISBN 978-0-230-60062-1
There are numerous other works in the public domain upon which I touch upon, but as the slavery/ mercantilism issues are tangent to their focus, I have not included them. One such work is David Detzer’s, PhD, Allegiance, ISBN 978-0-15-100641-5. Dr. Detzer’s work deals with the immediate events in Washington, D.C., and Charleston S.C., leading up to the firing on Fort Sumter. Dr. Detzer comments tangentially on how city slaves, butchers, carpenters, and teamsters, were instrumental in the supplying of Fort Sumter with food and water under the supervision of the SC Militia. Although the property of plantation owners, these slaves lived in the city, on their own, operating their own businesses, and when the owner came to town, the books were audited and the owner took his predetermined share of the income.
[1] Shelby Foote’s, The Civil War; a narrative, has much more on these issues, and Cmdr. Matt Shipley’s blog, www.americanfoundingprinciples.wordpress.com has several references that include references to states’ ratification articles specifying that they were joining the union with the understanding that at anytime they could leave the union.
[2] When 1/3 of the population and governments are held in military occupation, the use of the word ‘union’ must be taken with more than just a grain of salt. For how long this military occupation lasted and its terrible and detrimental effect on The South is left for another essay. Just note the still prevalent and extensive poverty throughout the former Confederacy.
[3] Much of this had been accrued by his father-in-law, but through-out his life time, he was never able to reduce it, as plantation agriculture was not profitable for the planter. Note how George Washington went from unprofitable cotton to vegetables sold in the local markets.
[4] A reading of The Declaration of Independence and a review of various Federalist Papers essays on the Right of Man to self-governance may be of interest at this point, but only tangentially relevant to reparations. See also the writings of Thomas Paine from this time. Particularly, Common Sense and The Rights of Man.
[5] Publishing/purchases details are in the bibliography.
[6] One of the many stupidities of this war, is that slavery was dying because slave labor is so much more expensive than automation. In 1861, steam engines were being used on tractors, harvesters, railroad engines, and threshers. Slavery, as an issue for war, was disappearing. Lincoln’s use of it in The Emancipation Proclamation, is what caused so much hatred among Southerners toward the former slaves. For loads more, read Adams’ Slavery book, noted in the bibliography.
[7] FDR’s labor laws and policies provided that race could be a determination for terminating employment. Thus, in order to keep White Blue Collar and Union political support, his administration allowed employers to fire Blacks before Whites as a matter of course, merit & seniority held irrelevant.
[8] HUD, DoC(ommerce), Bureau of Labor Statistics, DoL(abor), IRS, DoJ(ustice) and a few others.
[9] From what seminary did Rev. Al graduate? Specifically, who ordained him and what was his academic record?
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