Just to be clear, the cops suck. The first amendment should protect people in Confederate uniforms singing Dixie if that's what they want to do. And who the hell traumatizes kids like that?
Cops do. And we've both seen it.
That said, I still think it was a douche move on the part of Francis Scott Key to threaten people for wanting freedom.
Possibly. But is that "douchiness" rooted in racism or making an overtly racist remark?
No, not at all.
The British impressing black seaman (and paying them) into
temporary service sounds like the Union impressing black freeman to build
Ft. Negley in Nashville.
The "pay" was next to nothing, worse than prison pay. Prize money was often never paid out. And most of the press ganged men, died, long before being discharged or released.
Still waiting for an answer as to why invading Canada was justified. Funny enough the U.S. best success was fighting at sea. Which...goes back to my earlier point. The U.S. could have simply better equipped U.S. vessels to be able to defend themselves from whoever was attacking them. Would have had the same result. But then we wouldn't have gotten a national song I suppose.
Because a formal declaration of war was passed, legally and constitutionally.
Not a weak sauce "AUMF".
Now, that does not mean it was strategically smart, nor morally justified.
I never made those points, just that it was constitutionally justified.
Monroe could have handled things better.
The U.S. could have simply better equipped U.S. vessels to be able to defend themselves from whoever was attacking them. Kind of the Ron Paul "letters of marque and reprisal" proposition that he offered as opposed to a land war in Afghanistan. And we see how that ended up.
These were British ships-of-line, the best, most heavily armed, fastest and heavily crewed vessels on the sea.
There is not the room, the crew or the supplies that would fit on a merchant vessel or whaling vessel of the time that could defend against a British warship of the day.
At the turn of the 19th century for example, a typical long range whaling vessel was only 100 to 120 feet long with a crew of thirty or so and every square inch was taken with supplies, casks, tools, men and longboats for the purpose of hunting whales. Many vessels already carried a swivel gun, small arms and maybe a "Long Nine" but these were more for use against pirates and hostile natives.
Letters of Marque were not a sure thing either.
