HistoricalMullet: Vermont and Massachusetts lead the way today as they did in the past

(continuing to track the development of same-sex and gay marriage this post also includes, in the discussion, what I think is the first question & answer on the potential for a US Civil War over Red v. Blue divides and my first response that civil wars take generations to develop and usually a central dividing fulcrum. Seventeen years after this post we may have gotten closer, but we’re still a long way from a Civil War but it does appear that Red v. Blue identity-based divisions are the main drivers rather than a concrete divide over something more tangible ed 11-5-2023)

Learn something new every day. Vermont and Massachusetts are getting bashed by all sorts of folks (conservative and liberals) for being “out of touch” with “mainstream America” and “deep-seated American values” in regards to allowing same-sex civil unions or the recent court case in Mass. requiring congress to find a way to recognize gay marriage.

In HIS 348 (Civil War) lecture yesterday I learned that in 1777 Vermont was also the first state to make the slave trade illegal as a colony because it found the practice inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence they were now fighting for.

They were followed by Massachusetts soon thereafter as the second colony (this is all before the Constitution by a good decade). Something to think about. I wonder if at the time VT and MA were bashed as being “out of touch” with “deep-seated colonial values”?

Who knows.

Stopped by the Gay-Straight Alliance chapter on campus yesterday, and traded contact information. The group is withering out there in Waleska, too many gays are afraid to put themselves in a very conservative campus/community and too many straights are in the “giggly” immature phase where they’re afraid if they join the GSA their friends will think they are gay. I don’t have much time with class schedules but I offered to help where I could. This year’s charity drive is aimed to support the Rainbow House in Atlanta.

DISCUSSION

Whoever would’ve thought that Vermont of all places would be the first to lead the nation in anything, let alone two things of such great significance? I mean, to paraphrase Arthur Bach, “I heard they recently had the whole state carpeted….”

Yes, it is such a quiet unassuming state that you would never expect to be able to go there and see the MASSIVE RADICAL SEETHING REBELLION BELLION BELLION OF VERMOOOOONT!

SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY!

COME AND SEE V T THROW DOWN WITH CONNECTICUT IN THE NO HOLDS BARRED STEEL CAGE DEATH MATCH!!

I swear, Delaware, New Hampshire (until recently Vermont), we could trade all these states for Canada taking only Vancouver, BC (the city not the province), and still come out ahead. I mean what have they done lately?

Would disagreements like over gay marriage eventually lead to a Civil War?

n College v1.0 I took a Civil War class (I bailed on college the last two weeks that time around and hence turned an A into an F). I wrote a paper based on Clausewitz’s “war is politics by other means” and made the case that the Civil War was politically fought from 1820-1861, then the military fought for four years, and resumed in political warfare through Reconstruction ending in 1877. What I noted was the intense passion and intransigence of the two sides over the firebrand issue of slavery (which was the reason the Civil War was fought, not to free them, but because of a three-decade struggle between the North and South states politically to deal with the issue).

Now while researching the French Religious/Civil Wars I find a similar period of civil/social build-up and political fighting from the 1510’s-1550’s before violence broke out. There the single issue that could not be compromised on was religion (Catholic/Protestant). I’m not sure but I believe there was a similar decades-long social/political buildup/stalemate process leading up to the Glorious Revolution in England (Civil War between parliament and crown), though the French Revolution was distinctly lacking in it.

Makes me worry at times how long we can go with a 50/50 split in this country and political stalemate before something blows. I don’t see any clear-cut issue that is so controversial and widespread, though I fear religion and government is coming down the pike because it touches on a lot of hot buttons (abortion, gay marriage, prayer in school, etc.) Anyways something to note.