A special election in January 1861 allowed Virginia voters the opportunity to pick delegates to the convention. To the dismay of secessionists in Virginia and across the South, of the 152 delegates they elected, a solid majority were Unionist. Desire to leave the Union had never been as strong in the Upper South, and some Unionists speculated that Virginia’s example might even draw the wayward Deep South back into the United States.
When the convention met on February 13 in the Mechanics Institute at the foot of Capitol Square in Richmond, all of the factions favored delay. Radical secession men, small in number, were content to let the Confederates organize their infant republic in Montgomery, Alabama, before acting. Adamant Unionists, also a minority, bided their time as well. The great majority of delegates were conservatives who loved the Union, mistrusted Lincoln, but accepted his election and inauguration. They hoped that, like their predecessors in constitutional disputes o
Timothy Egan: After 5 centuries, a Native American official with real power reformer.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from reformer.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Egan: After five centuries, a Native American with real power
Timothy Egan
In the American West, a ration of reverence is usually given to the grizzled Anglo rancher who rises at a public hearing and announces that his people have been on the land for five generations.
So what are we to make of Rep. Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, who says that her people have been in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico for 35 generations dating to the 13th century?
“Native history is American history,” she told me. “Regardless of where you are in this country now, you’re on ancestral Indian land, and that land has a history.”
Jan. 1, 2021
In the American West, a ration of reverence is usually given to the grizzled Anglo rancher who rises at a public hearing and announces that
his people have been on the land for five generations.
So what are we to make of Representative Deb Haaland, a citizen of the Laguna Pueblo, who says that
her people have been in the Rio Grande Valley of New Mexico for 35 generations dating to the 13th century?
“Native history is American history,” she told me. “Regardless of where you are in this country now, you’re on ancestral Indian land, and that land has a history.”