Talk:Modern History/American Civil War/Wartime Diplomacy/US-Russian Relations

Even after the Confederacy seceded, the majority of Russians still viewed the United States with contempt in regard to segregation and racism. THIS IS AN UNSUPPORTED CLAIM AND THE BIBLIOGRAPHY CITED BELOW IS STANDARD FARE. THE ONLY "MAJORITY" WAS 2% OF RUSSIAN POPULATION WHO COULD READ, HAD AN EDUCATION (ALL PRIVATE/TUTORED) AND A STAKE IN THE HISTORY OF THE LAND, OR EVEN KNEW ANYTHING ABOUT THE NEWS FROM AMERICA IN THOSE DAYS OTHER THAN WHAT COULD BE READ IN THE ST PETERSBURG TIMES WHICH MADE CLEAR THE RUSSIAN GOV'TS SYMPATHY FOR THE NORTH. THERE ALSO WAS A LIBERAL SECTION WITHIN THE ESTABLISHMENT (Lincoln, In the Vanguard of Reform: Russia's Enlightened Bureaucrats,1825-1861). 8% OF THIS "MAJORITY" WERE FUNCTIONALLY ILLITERATE AND THE REST INCLUDING THE 24 MILLION RECENTLY-EMANCIPATED SERFS WERE ILLITERATE.

IT SEEMS EVEN TODAY THOSE WITH COLLEGE DEGREES STILL MAKE THE MISTAKE OF VIEWING RUSSIA AND RUSSIAN HISTORY THROUGH WESTERN LENS WITH ASSUMPTIONS AND EXPECTATIONS NO LESS ILLUSORY THEN THE EXPECTATIONS THAT ARE ALREADY CLAIMED OR BELIEVED TO EXIST IN THE WEST AND FULFILLED IN AMERICA.

WHERE THE IDEA THAT THIS "MAJORITY" IN RUSSIA HAS SOLELY A CYNICAL VIEW OF NORTHERN ATTEMPTS TO EMANCIPATE THE SLAVES HAS NEVER READ ACTUAL CIVIL WAR DIPLOMATIC DISPATCHES BETWEEN THE TWO NATIONS ACKNOWLEDGING THOSE SIMILAR ACTS OF EMANCIPATION--OR THINK, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT SEWARD'S WORDS ARE MERELY DISINGENUOUS, VAPID PROSE. WHILE RUSSIAN MINISTER, STOEKL STATES THAT "WE HAVE NO QUARREL WITH THE SOUTHERN PEOPLE" WE THINK WE CAN ACCURATELY SAY THAT THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY'S ATTITUDE (THE ONLY "MAJORITY" OPINION THAT WAS ACTUALLY HEARD OR COUNTED IN RUSSIA THANKS TO THE AUTOCRATIC, 'TABLE OF RANKS' SYSTEM) WAS THAT WHEREAS THE CONFEDERATES (THINKING THEMSELVES ARISTOCRATS AND SONS OF BLUE BLOODS) VIEWED THEIR NEGROES AS "SUB-HUMAN," THE RUSSIAN NOBILITY (ACTUAL ARISTOCRATS) VIEWED THEIR SERFS AS ONLY "SUB-CLASS." THERE'S A WIDE WORLD OF DIFFERENCE IN THOSE TWO VIEWS. GOING BACK TO CATHERINE THE GREAT, THE RUSSIAN GOV'T TOOK AN ACTIVE INTEREST NOT ONLY IN THEIR OWN ABORIGINAL POPULATION BUT EVEN OF THOSE IN NORTH AMERICA AND DID ACTIVE LINGUISTIC WORK OF RECORD IN THAT REGARDS.

IN SUM, FOR THE DAVIS GOVERNMENT TO ADMIT OTHERWISE THEIR IDEA OF THE NEGRO PERSON AS "SUB-HUMAN" IS TO REMOVE ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF THEIR IDEOLOGY. . .AND TO AGREE WITH THE PRO-NORTHERN POSITION OF RUSSIA? THE AUTHOR OF THIS "DIPLOMATIC HX" IS LIKE SO MANY PROTESTANTS: "MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG." I am: terry@fourstarorganic.com