Chapter 13: The "Truth" of the Civil War
"As I said earlier, after the Civil War, there were only two or three million blacks and eight million whites in Dixie, America."
"Leaving aside the women and children of the Negroes, less than a million Negroes are the strong laborers of the cotton fields."
"In the whole Dixie region, the majority of the labor force is still white."
"So, what kind of white man can become a slave owner and control less than a million strong laborers?"
Tom pulled out a question, a plain one.
The three middle-aged women are also women who have received systematic higher education, which can be said to be rare in this era.
The three were not stupid and quickly understood this simple "truth".
"You're saying that the slave owners in the South are just a minority of the population, just like the factory owners in the North?"
"That's true, but when you think about what it was like when you lived in the north, was it the majority of factory employees who had a political voice, or were there very few factory owners?"
"This ......"
Although these three women, who are members of the American Association for Equal Rights, are very reluctant to admit that the right to speak in society is now in the hands of a few, the fact is that political power is now in the hands of a few.
"The reality of the predicament does not affect our ambitions!"
"The goal we strive for is to make everyone in the world truly equal."
"Yes, that's why we joined Equal Rights America in the first place."
After recalling the dark side of politics in the north, some of the women began to "deceive themselves".
Use words that express Lingyun's ambition to stimulate yourself and don't be hindered by the predicament of reality.
This is the most striking characteristic of the greatest human rights fighters of our time – tenacity, unhindered by the realities of reality.
This is also the reason why these three women can empathize with Tom's constructing events in the aftermath of the attack on his brother-in-law and Tom's own awakening.
"That's also my goal, but we have to admit the confusion of reality and not numb ourselves with imaginary fantasies."
"We have to face up to our predicament."
"Don't forget the struggle for affirmative action!"
Seeing that the topic was a little off, Tom did not pull back the topic at the first time, forcibly interrupting the oath of allegiance of the three middle-aged women to the equal rights struggle.
Instead, he chose to follow the other party's words, and also showed a wave of "loyalty" to egalitarianism, which invisibly brought the relationship between the two sides closer.
"But the reality is that whether it is the South or the North, in the whole of America, it is some dirty and filthy villains who hold the right to speak."
"You see, there are millions of ordinary people in Dixie who are slaveless, self-reliant, and struggling to survive in difficult situations, and they are also unforgivable slave owners?"
"Of course they are not, they are all deceived by politicians."
As he spoke, Tom raised his tone, and his own tone even revealed a hint of anger and resentment.
"I've asked hundreds of ordinary Dixie farm families why they support slavery-led Confederate America."
"I am resentful of the final truth, that Dixie's politicians have deceived them that the Yankees are coming south to plunder their property, to rob their families, to conquer their land."
"You have also seen countless women working on the front line, these people work day and night, surviving in confusion and confusion, where do you get the extra time to care about politics?"
"All they know is that the Yankee government has indeed increased tariffs, which has caused the prices of their agricultural products to fall, and their lives have become a little more embarrassing."
"They're starting to resent the Yankees."
"But they had no idea that the Yankees were raising tariffs to protect America's young industry."
"Without these exorbitant tariff protections, the industry of the American North would simply not be able to compete with Europe."
"The end result will be that the United States will become a large colony like India, and it will not have the social status it has today."
Tom's words began to penetrate into the hearts of the three women, whose homes were more or less engaged in industrial output, under the eyes and ears of their families and the environment.
Having read poetry and books, they also recognized the theory that Tom's American industry was developed under the protection of high tariffs.
"But the Dixie politicians don't say that, they put all the key points of these things out of the way."
"They only say to the masses of innocent people:"
"It's the Yankees who make your life so miserable, they still continue to raise taxes, even agricultural taxes, and if they resist, they will conquer by force!"
"After Dixie politicians promised false empty promises such as tax exemptions after victory in the war, their emotions were officially mobilized."
"Look at the bloodshed that is now happening between the garrisons and the local population."
"Is it fair to you that one of the local inhabitants is a big Dixiyan farmer or a big slave owner?"
"Is one of the garrisons a factory owner?"
"Isn't this the same as the Civil War?"
"When a conflict breaks out, the real helmsmen on both sides hide behind the scenes, leaving countless civilians to die and shed blood!"
"But that's not even the most hateful thing."
Tom clenched his fists and smacked his leg a few times, as if he was about to break it.
It's hard to hide your anger.
"The most resentful thing is that I was smuggled from Germany to New York."
"I saw with my own eyes that after the end of the Civil War, the victorious North did not change in the slightest."
"The workers in the factory still work 16 hours a day, and the farmers on the farm still use improvised tools to throw food in the soil."
"Last winter, I don't know how many coal mine employees who didn't have heating froze to death at the gates of the coal mines in Pennsylvania."
"How many garment factories and textile factory employees who have no clothes to protect themselves from the cold work in the factory."
"How many cannery workers work in the factory hungry to earn one or two of the thousands of cans they produce every day."
"This is also the motivation for me to make the world equal!"
"Only ordinary people such as factory employees, farmers on farms, women with their families, black slaves who were once ravaged by slavery, can participate in political activities and improve their voice."
"Only then can they get real equality."
"When I came to America, I fell in love with this land where there were no nobles."
"I love nothing more than the American constitution that all men are created equal."
"But politicians in the United States have turned this sentence into a joke."
"I want to be part of the movement for equal rights for the people of America and the world!"
"Let all men be created equal" is a phrase that has been detached from the cold Constitution and is truly popularized in every corner of the United States and even the world.
As soon as the carriage reached Smith's Farm, Tom looked out the window and stopped, and instead of the field where he was fleeing backwards, he opened the door and walked down.
Standing by the carriage door, Tall Tom stretched out a hand and invited the three middle-aged women to get out of the carriage.
"Three beautiful ladies, Smith Farm has arrived."
"I'll give you a detailed plan in the conference room."
"Now, let's get ready to start the greatest affirmative action movement in human history!"