Tree of liberty endures, historian says
Bill Potter says the Civil War changed the kinds of liberties Americans enjoy today — and not just for slaves.
Potter, a historian and curator at Circa, a history guild and museum in Alpharetta, spoke to a gathering at Dalton State College on Thursday as part of the city’s Liberty Tree Festival this week.
“There were many in the North and the South who thought that the tree of liberty was tottering in 1861,” he said. “Certainly the tree of liberty has been watered with the blood of our soldiers to defend and maintain that liberty. All of the original (liberty) trees (that were used as political gathering places for colonials) are now gone and they live in just a few seedlings, such as the one here in Georgia in Dalton, and it is part of the seedbed of our original liberties from colonial times.”
The issues leading to the War Between the States were some of the same issues Americans had debated since the founding of the country, Potter said. Thomas Jefferson was a staunch strict constructionist who believed the Constitution should be taken literally, and that the powers of the federal government were thoroughly defined in it. Alexander Hamilton favored a stronger federal government with power to oversee the financial system and set up a national bank, Potter said...
... One common misconception, Potter said, is that Lincoln before his election was an abolitionist who wanted to end slavery. Potter said historic documents show Lincoln didn’t favor ending slavery until he was president, though historians debate whether the change was politically or morally motivated. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery only in the South, Potter said, while it continued in the Northern states for several years.
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Potter, a historian and curator at Circa, a history guild and museum in Alpharetta, spoke to a gathering at Dalton State College on Thursday as part of the city’s Liberty Tree Festival this week.
“There were many in the North and the South who thought that the tree of liberty was tottering in 1861,” he said. “Certainly the tree of liberty has been watered with the blood of our soldiers to defend and maintain that liberty. All of the original (liberty) trees (that were used as political gathering places for colonials) are now gone and they live in just a few seedlings, such as the one here in Georgia in Dalton, and it is part of the seedbed of our original liberties from colonial times.”
The issues leading to the War Between the States were some of the same issues Americans had debated since the founding of the country, Potter said. Thomas Jefferson was a staunch strict constructionist who believed the Constitution should be taken literally, and that the powers of the federal government were thoroughly defined in it. Alexander Hamilton favored a stronger federal government with power to oversee the financial system and set up a national bank, Potter said...
... One common misconception, Potter said, is that Lincoln before his election was an abolitionist who wanted to end slavery. Potter said historic documents show Lincoln didn’t favor ending slavery until he was president, though historians debate whether the change was politically or morally motivated. The Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery only in the South, Potter said, while it continued in the Northern states for several years.