A freed slave's letter to his former master

This is a fascinating read. This freed slave shows that he had mastered the art of snark when he responded to a request from his former master to come back and work for him again:

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/to-my-old-master.html

The sign-off line was great:

This letter actually appeared in the New York Daily Tribune on Aug. 22, 1865.

 

Seems like he disclosed a lot of that stuff without telling the master he was going to be writing about it. He should apologize.

[/poynter]

 

I would have only needed one guess to get that this ran in Horace Greeley's newspaper.

 

Jourdon was referring to himself in the third-person even in the 1800s, I see.

 

That letter was great, especially in the beginning when the ex-slave says that he's surprised the Union army didn't lynch the master for killing a Union soldier.

It reminds me of when, early in the war, the Union marched into northern Virginia and some slaves escaped and made it to their lines. Southerners demanded the slaves be returned, but Gen. Ben Butler refused. Like, um, hello? You rebel against the country, and then you want the country to respect your new laws?

 

Black people were better off when they were in slavery.

/Michele Bachmann

 

I think the point was that they were demanding the slaves be returned under what was at the time federal law, as per the Dred Scott decision of a few years earlier.

But your point stands, if they're rebelling, then they shouldn't be able to seek return of their property under laws that should no longer apply.

This seems to be one more classic example proving that, despite what the Confederate apologists insist, the Civil War was found over slavery, ahead of any other issue.

 

I remember studying that in college, and I found it pretty ridiculous how the Virginians wanted Federal law applied to them, even though they seceded.

 

Too bad Lincoln didn't have the atomic bomb.

 

Why, so he could nuke all the slaves? Racist.

 

I clicked on this thread thinking it was from a present-day journalist.