Tom,

The legislature is a body. It is not the specific people in it. It is The 
Government. It is The Commonwealth of Virginia. It speaks for All of the 
people (or at least those allowed to vote). It speaks to All of the People 
(even if they don't vote). It is the body politic.

If not the Virginia Legislature, who should apologize. Surely not the 
slaveholders themselves. They went to their graves lamenting that the feds 
didn't pay them for the value of their slaves, disregarding that in truth 
the feds should have CHARGED them to pay the slaves for their labor.

It is a small thing being asked. An apology. Not a repayment for all the 
labor that was used, not all the lives that were forfeited, not all the 
families that were destroyed. Virginia would not be what it was today had it 
not been for the labor of the slaves!

Get over it! Apologize, as asked. It is the least you can do.

Anne

Anne Pemberton
[log in to unmask]
http://www.erols.com/stevepem
http://www.erols.com/apembert
http://www.educationalsynthesis.org 

To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions
at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html