Contraband Quotes
Butler was at the time the Union general in charge of Louisiana. He had on his hand a large group of slaves whose owners had abandoned the area. There was no emancipation yet. He wrote for instructions. The result was the first actual emancipation of slaves.
The Revolution was clearly underway although formal hostilities were not to begin until the following year. The Patriots were already trying to stockpile arms and ammunition—especially gunpowder. See {636945}.
A local pilot who knew the local waters was necessary to help a large ship to dock in a port. Most of the pilots were patriots and those who weren’t were intimidated by the Continental Congress and the patriots in the community. At this point there was no formal battles yet of the Revolution. The British authorities were really angered that they could not safely land a British ship in the ports of their own colonies. This is another example of the American Revolution starting before the battles of 1776.
There was little thought of emancipating slaves or their value to the South by the senior officers of the Union Army at the beginning of the war. The Secretary of War changed that. See {629183}for a typical Union General’s view at the beginning of the war.
She was talking about the Soviet Union
This is a particular fascinating quotation. First because the American liquor trade and Prohibition are paralleled to the opium trade in China. Second, is illustrates that the opium growing problem of the 21st century was virtually the same as that which existed at the beginning of the 20th century. The only difference is that the location moved from China to Afghanistan.
We are so used to hearing the freedom seeking reasons for the American Revolution that we overlook the more selfish and venal motives. This quotation shows that the large merchants of the colonies had banded together in an illegal conspiracy trust and monopoly and managed to keep many British competitive products out of the colonies. The British, for equally venal reasons, began to enforce the laws in favor of free trade. Many large American merchants were getting huge profits (and American consumers paying more) from their protectionist illegal monopoly. A Revolution would de facto assure that monopoly for many years to come, so they became supporters—patriots—of the American Revolution. As the Revolution drew closer, the Americans made efforts to protect the protectionism and monopoly of some of the richest Americans. See {636861}.
