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Originally Posted by Kevin
The fact that Congress recognized them in 1958 IN 1958 as veterans for the sole purpose of awarding pensions to veterans and their widows does not change history. It was done not only nearly a century after the surrender, but was only done for the limited purpose of awarding pensions by conferring status for that purpose. There is not a whisper of the word "pardon" in the statute and it certainly doesn't make them the same as veterans of the United States (for anything but a limited purpose).
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There is likely not a whisper of the word "pardon" in a 1958 law because the vast majority of Confederate soldiers and officers were pardoned and granted amnesty by the end of 1868 as part of Reconstruction.
That said, I agree that nothing made them veterans of the United States military, unless they separately served in the United States military.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin
To be a slave owner who thought it was moral must have required some pretty serious internal moral jujitsu.
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Yes, but that internal jujitsu wasn't nearly as complicated when the society in which you had always lived told you that it was moral, and when you considered that slavery in some form has always existed.
I'm not excusing anyone, believe me. But there is some danger in simply applying contemporary moral understandings to any situation in the past. I have little doubt that there are things widely considered normal or near normal now that our great-great-great grandchildren will say required pretty serious internal moral jujitsu on our parts.