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Issue 1207 April 10, 2011
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ALABAMA AWAKES: James G. Birney Finally Recognized in Encyclopedia

Republican Party Heritage on the Line in Historic Senate Election

December 9, 2017       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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The State of Alabama, currently a hotbed of political controversy over U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore's alleged misdeeds, has finally recognized one of its most prominent pioneers -- James G. Birney.

The contrast between the two political figures should serve to provide the Republican Party with a clear choice about the direction of its ideology.

Although Birney (1792-1857) died 160 years ago, it has been only recently that Alabama has seen fit to publicly claim the famed abolitionist as their own. The long delay is confirmation that old opinions die extremely hard, especially in the South and regarding volatile issues like slavery and treatment of minorities.

During his 15 years residence in Alabama, 1818-1833, Birney was a member of the first Alabama Legislature and the first mayor of Huntsville, advocating for schools and battling the liquor interests among other initiatives.

In my 2011 book "Apostles of Equality: The Birneys, the Republicans and the Civil War" (cited in the encyclopedia), I note that several academics assert that the abolitionist movement (aiming to end slavery of immigrant African descendants) actually began when Birney represented the Cherokee Indians who were being pushed off their ancestral lands by President Andrew Jackson. The infamous campaign against the natives ended in the historic "Trail of Tears" in which U.S. soldiers drove the indigenous peoples to Oklahoma on foot, many dying during the 700-mile trek.

Jackson's suppression of the Indian tribes in the South opened 25 million acres of land to white settlement. Some writers have observed that Jackson's policy was "cultural extinction" of the Indians; Birney's opposition to Jackson's ill-treatment of the Indians ended his promising political career in Alabama.

Legal scholars also assert that Birney's defense of the Indians laid the groundwork for the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution that provides for due process and equal justice -- provisions that are the key to the U.S. laying claim to the title of "democracy."

We in Michigan know about Birney because he was a founder of Bay City, ran for governor twice and helped organize the original Republican Party that had abolitionist roots.

States the online Encyclopedia of Alabama entry: "James Gillespie Birney (1792-1857) was a major voice in the abolitionist movement of the nineteenth century and the first presidential candidate for the abolitionist Liberty Party. His lifelong struggle over the morality of slavery stemmed from his early life on plantations in Kentucky and Alabama, and the close relationships that developed between Birney and the people his family held in bondage."

Birney was inducted into the Alabama Lawyers' Hall of Fame in 2009, after a long struggle by his great-great-grandson, Topper Birney of Huntsville.

It would seem logical that the great State of Alabama, whose past was shaped by people of sterling character like James G. Birney, would not be inclined to honor politicians with less than honorable characters.

And certainly, the Republican Party, with its roots firmly formed by concepts of equality, would reject such contrary views about abuse of women and youth as are being promoted for spurious political aims in what will no doubt be a historic Senate election.

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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