Not at all. Is anything on this forum actually important?

Why would they bother? It's been ratified at the federal level since 1865. I'm sure the government of Mississippi had better things to do than waste their time on a mildly symbolic gesture with no legal effect whatsoever.

Sorry, bo_sox but this is a dumb thread.

So let's say that hypothetically Delaware hasn't ratified the Second Amendment.. you think the NRA would care? They'd be going crazy over it saying Delaware is a state of anti-freedom communist dictatorial socialites. Just a gesture, just the Constitution. The point here is that Mississippi managed to remain (legally, not socially - I hope) on the side of slavery for the last 150 years. Not that I think they meant anything by it, only that it's finally going to be unanimous among this country that slavery is bad... good for us.

The NRA probably wouldn't care, because the Second Amendment has already been ratified, whether Deleware likes it or not.

Chances are they didn't ratify it at the end of the Civil War as a gesture of defiance and then they forgot all about it until recently.

*Delaware

They forgot about it till 1995. The legislation passed again and somehow the federal government was never notified of the ratification. Some civilian found this out and told someone who told someone who is organizing a final ratification. Evidently Mississippi cares if they are taking time on it.

Actually, because enough states had ratified it, had they tried to keep slaves, the National Guard would have moved in guaranteed. No President or Congress, Liberal or Conservative, would have ever allowed that. Mississippi would have been divided amongst its neighbors and lost its statehood. A state cannot take away protections guaranteed by the US Constitution. It can provide more protections, but never ever take them away.

Okay, I know I'm in high school, but believe it or not, I actually *did* know that the 13th Amendment was ratified a long, long time ago and that slavery actually *is* illegal! Geez guys...

No, Mississippi did not remain "on the side of slavery" for the past 150 years. It has been illegal to have slaves in Mississippi for the past 150 years.

Once again, you demonstrate without a shadow of a doubt that you are an uneducated idiot.

Once again, you demonstrate without a shadow of a doubt that you didn't read what I said.

Bo_sox, shut the fuck up. http://imgur.com/U9mt72m.png

I'm on bo_sox's side here. While symbolic, it is still important. Of course there are probably few people in Mississippi that are "on the side of slavery" and of course the state has been following the rules they have to follow.

Hell, I'm not finding the right words, but I still see it as a valuable act.

Bo - I read what you wrote. Even as a philosophical discussion it is simply idiotic and repugnant. to suggest that Mississippi up until recently had any affection for slavery is offensive. You are an idiot. You are not even clever in your attempt to drum up a conversation...but just a ignorant fool.

You guys will turn anything into a fight. Bo was just pointing out something. He doesnt think that mississippi was a slave state until now and he doesnt think that mississippi legally endorsed slavery. He was just pointing it out.

I would be interested what size both Bo and Krellin so if it come down to a wrestling match we could see who had the upper hand, guys can you please post your vital stats, i.e. height, weight, any martial arts experience, favourite kung fu weaponry, that sort of thing.

Actually, Mississippi (like the rest of the rural South) was home to a form of slavery known as debt peonage from the Reconstruction until fairly recently. In the 1970s the Justice Department was still getting dozens of debt peonage complaints from the South every year; I'm not sure what the numbers are since then.

I would say that there is a clear relationship between a state government which would not ratify the 13th amendment and a society whose members would turn a blind eye to rural servitude of debtors, not to mention lesser but still significant violations of people's rights. Mississippi's failure to ratify is important, as all symbolic decisions are, because it reflected and legitimized a social and legal structure which oppressed black Americans.

Kill him ......

5'10", 210, use a Spyderco Dragonfly2 or Para2... depends on whether I'd rather cut out someone's eyes or give them a non-removable tattoo. Run a 4.85 40, below average for a running back, but hey, I'm a defensive end... bench 200. Never done a thing with martial arts and don't know shit about kung fu.

Symbolically it is rather important, same reason having the CSA battleflag on the state flag matters, same reason it matters that statues of rebel generals still stand around the south, indeed on my own campus. Symbology and ideas are certainly not meaningless.

Good on Mississippi.

It's the same reason it is important for institutions that were part of horrible acts in the past to formally apologize later when it becomes clear how wrong they were. Not doing so begs a few questions. Owning up to it is honorable.

Can you convince the Japanese of that?

We're still 70 years behind.. give it time.

That was sarcasm. I didn't use a smiley; there's someone that won't be able to figure that one out.

The Germans have been awesome with their past.. maybe we can look to them.

The Japanese need to apologize for a lot of shit. But no I doubt I can convince them of anything.

I am a son of the South though, I have at least a little bit of cachet as regards Southern American history and the CSA.

It's outrageous that any institution would fail to apologize publicly for so many of the atrocities of the past, but even more outrageous to me personally is when it is a native institution, or an institution of whom I am a constituent of some stripe.

So as a non-Catholic I'm not as concerned with getting them to apologize for their baggage, etc.

Noam Chomsky for example has been criticized for focusing his criticisms on the American government. He is American, after all. No one is bitching that Ai Weiwei should be paying more attention to corruption in southern Europe lol.