# Resolved: Not one Federal dime should go to rebuild Jefferson Davis's house **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 9, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967 "2006-08-09T04:27:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/1 "2006-08-09T04:27:25Z")
[http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS0110/604250371/1002](http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060425/NEWS0110/604250371/1002) If Mississippi state officials want to appropriate money, fine. Davis served as a U.S. senator and congressman from Mississippi, after all. But he led the Confederacy, which sought the breakup of the United States, and was commander-in-chief of the armies which fought Union forces, at a cost of 600,000-plus lives. Eleven days after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Davis told the Confederate Congress that the document was “the most execrable measure in the history of guilty man.” Davis said Union officers captured while leading black troops would be turned over to state governments to be punished as “criminals engaged in inciting servile insurrection,” the penalty for which would, of course, be death. Surely there are better uses for your and my Federal tax dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/2 "2006-08-09T04:43:39Z")
If it makes you feel any better, just think of it as an “old house museum.” There are hundreds of those around the country, (including those of our Founding Fathers, some of whom not only held racist views but actually owned slaves.) That’s not to mention the hundred of house museums that belonged to minor historical personages or were preserved because they were just plain lovely. These old, beautiful homes are dissapearing too quickly, and I believe we should make every effort to preserve them as part of our national heritage. Like it or not, ugly things have happened in our history. Neglecting to preserve that part of our past out of ideological indignation does a grave disservice. We shouldn’t bury our shame-- we should learn from it. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/3 "2006-08-09T04:44:02Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Surely there are better uses for your and my Federal tax dollars. [/QUOTE] We shouldn’t try to bury history just because it is unpleasant. Maybe there are better things to spend our money on but just because J. Davis wasn’t a good guy doesn’t mean historical sites connected to him aren’t worth preservation. > [@OP's link](#): > > “We adamantly oppose the restoration of Beauvoir,” said Mississippi NAACP President Derrick Johnson. “It is one of the most divisive symbols in this state and in this state’s history.” Divisive? Maybe, but Jefferson Davis has a legimitate place in U.S. history even if it is that of a villain. Do federal dollars support other historic locals? Marc ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/4 "2006-08-09T04:44:38Z")
I say, give them federal funding for restoring this very-important-to-all-Americans-of-all-races historical site – only provided such funding is matched dime-for-dime by funding for new monuments to Martin Luther King – who was not only a black hero, not only an American hero, but a **Southern** hero, and a far greater one than Jeff Davis. After all, King did more for the South, and more for the **white** South as well as as the black, than any other Southerner in history, including Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, John C. Calhoun, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Consider: From 1865 to 1965, the South was effectively a Third World country within America – an exploited, impoverished colony of Yankee business interests. And now we’re one of the most economically vibrant regions of the U.S. Can anyone seriously believe that the Southern economic revolution of the '60s and '70s could have happened, if the Southern civil rights revolution had not happened first?! The South **has** risen again, and we have MLK to thank for it! (Of course the civil rights revolution was a group enterprise involving millions, black and white, but if any individual deserves to be identified with it, MLK is he.) I have often posted in this forum reviling the South’s regional culture – but only its **political** culture, and **only** WRT those aspects of it that set it at odds with the rest of the country’s. (Of the three American regional political cultures identified by political scientist Daniel Elazar, the South’s [“Traditionalist”](http://academic.regis.edu/jriley/421elazar.htm) culture has no legitimate place in the American polity and never had.) But I speak here as a white Southerner who had ancestors (on my mother’s side) who fought in the Revolution (for the Patriots) and who fought in the Civil War (for the Confederacy). And I say I have as much right to speak for the South, and as much right to speak for the **white** South, as has Jesse Helms, or Rick Santorum, or David Duke. And I say MLK was the greatest Southern hero of all time! ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/5 "2006-08-09T04:48:10Z")
I agree with \*\*Elendil’s Heir \*\* and if Thad Cochran cares so much about this building he should go through the south and raise money for it. > [@](#): > > But at the behest of the National Trust and other historic preservation organizations, Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran has included $80 million to restore storm-battered historic property in a $27 billion emergency hurricane package the Senate plans to debate this week. Davis is and always will be a traitor to the USA. He was fortunate he was allowed to live in style and was not put in Federal jail for life. His home could only be a reminder of our counties worst history. There is no glory in the confederacy, they were desperate to retain their rights to enslave fellow humans and treat them like animals. Davis led this fight, he should be considered a bloody stain upon our nation. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/6 "2006-08-09T05:04:47Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] I say, give them federal funding for restoring this very-important-to-all-Americans-of-all-races historical site – only provided such funding is matched dime-for-dime by funding for new monuments to Martin Luther King [/quote] That’s just plain ridiculous. They’re not talking about building a new memorial to Davis they just want to **preserve** a piece of history that has been damaged. The buildings destroyed were historically significant and should be repaired along with all the other historical sites damaged by the hurricane. You want people to concede that King was better for the south than Davis? Fine, you win that arguement, congratulations. Now explain to me how it is relevant when discussing the preservation of historical sites. > [@Wat Exit?](#): > > Davis is and always will be a traitor to the USA. He was fortunate he was allowed to live in style and was not put in Federal jail for life. His home could only be a reminder of our counties worst history. Ample reason for his home to be preserved I’d say. We shouldn’t just work to save the nice parts of our history we need to look at the ugly as well. Plus, it really does look like a lovely home. Marc ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/7 "2006-08-09T05:12:46Z")
> [@](#): > > **BrainGlutton** : And I say I have as much right to speak for the South, and as much right to speak for the white South, as has Jesse Helms, or Rick Santorum, or David Duke. And I say MLK was the greatest Southern hero of all time! Although I don’t think that any one person can “speak for the South,” you certainly make a great deal more sense to me in your post than Daniel Elazar’s broad brush “Traditionalist Culture” view. For MLK: “Born of the sun, he travelled a short while toward the sun, And left the vivid air signed with his honor.” – Stephen Spender ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/8 "2006-08-09T05:18:59Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] Ample reason for his home to be preserved I’d say. We shouldn’t just work to save the nice parts of our history we need to look at the ugly as well. Plus, it really does look like a lovely home. Marc [/QUOTE] That is fine let them raise the money. There is no reason to spend 80 million Federal dollars to restore the “storm-battered historic property”. I bet they can get by quite fine on donations from people with confederate pride and maybe some volunteer workers. But I really cannot see the justification of spending $80 million federal dollars on such a place. This is not just about Davis being a traitor this is also about blatant pork and misallocation of federal emergency money that should be going to help people and build protection against future storms. Jim ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/9 "2006-08-09T05:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Zoe] Although I don’t think that any one person can “speak for the South,” you certainly make a great deal more sense to me in your post than Daniel Elazar’s broad brush “Traditionalist Culture” view. [/QUOTE] Well, on finer analysis, that “Southern” political culture can be broken down into **two** cultures – “Tidewater” and “Highlands.” From [_Vietnam: The Necessary War,_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0684870274/sr=8-1/qid=1155100982/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-3209670-4156108?ie=UTF8) by Michael Lind: > [@](#): > > The real reason for the persistence of sectionalism in U.S. foreign policy can be found in the ethnoregional theory of American politics, which has been developed by the historians David Hackett Fischer, Daniel Elazar, D.W. Meinig, Kevin Phillips, and others. The ethnoregional theory holds that in the United States powerful ethnic and regional subcultures are more important and enduring than political parties and ideologies. The labels “Democrat” and “Republican” differ in their meaning from generation to generation; regional subcultures such as those of New England and the Tidewater South change much more slowly. > > The greatest insight of ethnoregional theorists is that immigrants in the United States do not assimilate to a uniform American national culture; rather, they assimilate to one of a small number of preexisting regional cultures. The historian Wilbur Zelinsky has defined a thesis he calls the Doctrine of Effective First Settlement that holds: “Whenever an empty territory undergoes settlement, or an earlier population is dislodged by invaders, the specific characteristics of the first group able to affect a viable, self-perpetuating society are of crucial significance for the later social and cultural geography of the area, no matter how tiny the initial band of settlers may have been.” . . . > > Historians differ on the question of how many of these enduring regional cultures there are in the United States. Most agree on three: a Yankee culture that spread westward overland from New England; a Quaker culture operating in Pennsylvania; and a Cavalier culture originating in the coastal South. Most, but not all, identify a fourth regional culture, that of the Scots-Irish Highland South from Appalachia to the Ozarks and Texas. In his magisterial _Albion’s Seed: Four British Folkways in America_ (1989), David Hackett Fischer argues persuasively that these four “hearth cultures” originated in different regions of early modern Britain and were transplanted to North America by four waves of immigrants. In the first wave (1629-40), Puritans from the eastern counties of England settled New England. The second wave (1642-75) brought anti-Puritan, royalist Cavaliers from the south of England to Virginia. Quakers from the North Midlands of England colonized Pennsylvania and the Delaware Valley after emigrating during the third wave (1675-1715). The fourth and final major Anglo-American migration, which lasted from 1717 to 1775, transplanted so-called Scots-Irish from northern England, lowland Scotland, and the north of Ireland (Ulster). > > In addition to having distinctive folkways and dialects of English, these four groups of British-American immigrants had their own unique variants of a common individualistic and liberal British political culture. Fischer describes the New England Puritan ideal as “ordered freedom,” the Quaker ideal as “reciprocal freedom,” the Scots-Irish ideal as “natural freedom,” and the coastal southern ideal as “hegemonic freedom” (deference to traditional elites). Another historian, Daniel J. Elazar, calls the New England tradition the “moralistic” culture, the midatlantic region the “individualistic” culture, and the coastal southern tradition the “traditional” culture. . . . > > The ethnoregional theory provides the answer to the mystery of American sectional differences with respect to war. Regional disagreements about war are part of a larger pattern of regional disagreement about the legitimacy of all forms of violence. “Historians of Southern mores are agreed that violence as an aspect of Southern life clearly distinguished the region from the rest of the country,” writes historian Bertram Wyatt-Brown. Of the southerner, Alexis de Tocqueville observed that “the energy which his [northern] neighbor devotes to gain turns with him to a passionate love of field sports and military exercises; he delights in violent bodily exertion, he is familiar with the use of arms, and is accustomed from a very early age to expose his life in single combat.” Southern states lead the nation not only in military academies but in homicide rates and death penalty laws and in low penalties for domestic violence. Northern states have the lowest homicide rates and the greatest number of statutes requiring a citizen to retreat before attacking an assailant or intruder in his home. > > These regional differences reflect the difference in moral systems between the post-Calvinist Puritanism of Greater New England, which shuns violence as a means for resolving disputes, and the cultures of honor of the Scots-Irish Highland South and the Anglo-American Tidewater South. The two southern cultures are quite different, but compared to Greater New Englanders, both Highland and Tidewater southerners look with greater approval on violent retaliation for insults. But southerners are not indiscriminately violent. The difference between northern and southern homicide rates is accounted for almost entirely by violent responses of southerners to personal offenses: arguments, insults to women, lovers’ quarrels, and disputes within the family. The researchers Richard E. Nisbet and Dov Cohen discovered that, at the same university, white southern students were more likely to respond aggressively than white northern students to the same set of insults and provocations. The same researchers have pointed out the similarities between the culture of honor of white southerners and that of inner-city black Americans, most of whom are descendants of southern migrants. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/10 "2006-08-09T07:02:23Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] That is fine let them raise the money. There is no reason to spend 80 million Federal dollars to restore the “storm-battered historic property”. [/quote] The 80 million isn’t for the Davis house it is to be divided among Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation the money “will go a long way towards assisting property owners, particularly low- and moderate-income owners of historic homes.” (Check out the NTHP website.) > [@](#): > > I bet they can get by quite fine on donations from people with confederate pride and maybe some volunteer workers. Since that 80 million has to be divided among so many areas I imagine they’ll be doing plenty of fundraising though what Confederate pride has to do with anything is a mystery to me. > [@](#): > > This is not just about Davis being a traitor this is also about blatant pork and misallocation of federal emergency money that should be going to help people and build protection against future storms. It’s 80 million out of a 27 billion dollar package, it’s going to help owners of historic homes with damaged property, and it’s spread across three different states among many different people not just those who own the Jefferson Davis house. Do you object to the package as a whole or just any portion of it being spent on the Jefferson Davis house? One of the justifications I hear for preserving New Orleans is because of historic preservation. Architecture, culture, etc. If these things aren’t important then why bother trying to save the city? If it is important to preserve New Orleans for historic reasons why isn’t it important to preserve other areas in the Gulf region? Marc ---
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/11 "2006-08-09T07:05:39Z")
I agree that Jefferson Davis was a vile motherfucker, and would definitely be on the top 5 list of worst americans. However, I still believe his house should be maintained for historical reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/12 "2006-08-09T11:48:38Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] We shouldn’t try to bury history just because it is unpleasant. Maybe there are better things to spend our money on but just because J. Davis wasn’t a good guy doesn’t mean historical sites connected to him aren’t worth preservation. Divisive? Maybe, but Jefferson Davis has a legimitate place in U.S. history even if it is that of a villain. Do federal dollars support other historic locals? Marc [/QUOTE] Well said. Sweeping our nation’s bad behavior under the rug isn’t going to make it go away. Every step in our history leads to who we are today; even the missteps. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/13 "2006-08-09T12:19:56Z")
This is a legitimate piece of American history and I don’t have any problem with spending tax monies to preserve it. Similarly, I think it would be entirely appropriate for the German government to preserve Auschwitz as an historical site. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/14 "2006-08-09T13:00:19Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] Similarly, I think it would be entirely appropriate for the German government to preserve Auschwitz as an historical site. [/QUOTE] I don’t understand this. Auschwitz (and other concentration camps) have been preserved, though in Auschwitz’s case, it’s preserved by the Polish government. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/15 "2006-08-09T14:30:20Z")
If we do anything on the federal level to honor Indians who have opposed the US Gov’t through force I see no reason not to also honor J.D. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/16 "2006-08-09T14:36:10Z")
[QUOTE=Lissa] I don’t understand this. Auschwitz (and other concentration camps) have been preserved, though in Auschwitz’s case, it’s preserved by the Polish government. [/QUOTE] Arrgh! My mistake. I had always thought that it was in Germany. Of course it’s an historical site in Poland. Thank you for pointing this out. You learn something new every day. ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/17 "2006-08-09T15:19:35Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] Eleven days after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, Davis told the Confederate Congress that the document was “the most execrable measure in the history of guilty man.” Davis said Union officers captured while leading black troops would be turned over to state governments to be punished as “criminals engaged in inciting servile insurrection,” the penalty for which would, of course, be death. [/QUOTE] This event happened over a hundred years ago. How do you know about it? Because those who came before you decided not to filter the world for you and sweep Davis under the rug. Massive attempts at re-writing history have been done in the past and future generations have regretted them. 80 Million for restoration of historic homes in the wake of Katrina is really not much at all. I think the best thing that could possibly happen is for the home to be preserved and for mixed-race school groups to visit it and have the laughter of children of all races ring through those halls again, this time laughing at the foolishness of a man who believed such a silly idea as “skin color matters”. Let it stand as a monument to how wealth and power do not make one worthy of respect and deference. This is a lesson many in the US need desperately. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/18 "2006-08-09T15:37:33Z")
[QUOTE=MGibson] The 80 million isn’t for the Davis house it is to be divided among Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation the money “will go a long way towards assisting property owners, particularly low- and moderate-income owners of historic homes.” (Check out the NTHP website.) Since that 80 million has to be divided among so many areas I imagine they’ll be doing plenty of fundraising though what Confederate pride has to do with anything is a mystery to me. It’s 80 million out of a 27 billion dollar package, it’s going to help owners of historic homes with damaged property, and it’s spread across three different states among many different people not just those who own the Jefferson Davis house. Do you object to the package as a whole or just any portion of it being spent on the Jefferson Davis house? Marc [/QUOTE] My apologies, I mis-read the article as $80 million for the Jefferson Davis house and that blew my circuit breakers. I can see $1 million or less as be worthwhile to preserve it as a museum. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/19 "2006-08-09T15:53:34Z")
As a Libertarian, I’m sympathetic to the argument that federally funded preservation of historic sites is an invitation to ladle out the pork. Given the reality, however, that we have a National Park Service that spends billions on National Historic Sites, I’m **not** sympathetic to the argument that Davis’ house should be excluded because he was a slaveholding Confederate. If any of you have been to Mount Vernon or Monticello lately, you will know that these are more than sterile monuments to dead white males. The experience of the plantation slaves is given full play. There are tours of the remains of the slave cabins, interpretive signs discussing daily live among the enslaved, and ranger-led discussions of every conceivable aspect of slavery. For many people (especially older people who grew up before these subjects were emphasized in school), this is the closest exposure to the slave experience that they will have. The Davis plantation, in particular, offers the opportunity to narrate the fascinating story of [Benjamin Montgomery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Montgomery), Davis’ one-time slave who bought his plantation after the war and managed it for ten years, only to see his empire collapse, along with so many African American aspirations, at the end of Reconstruction. By all means, preserve Jefferson Davis’ house. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967/20 "2006-08-09T19:56:29Z")
[QUOTE=Blalron] I agree that Jefferson Davis was a vile motherfucker, and would definitely be on the top 5 list of worst americans. However, I still believe his house should be maintained for historical reasons. [/QUOTE] I agree. Let’s preserve the house, and put up a big sign: It is important that we retain the evidence of how this vile, traitorous motherfucker lived. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/resolved-not-one-federal-dime-should-go-to-rebuild-jefferson-daviss-house/367967.md?page=2)