06-20-2021, 04:42 AM
PS: The last time I looked (decades ago) the price of farm land was somewhere in the one to two thousand dollars per acre range. That would make the current value of 40 acres and a mule as somewhere in the 40 to 80 thousand dollar range, and the mule would be a little more. This does not mean that 40 acres and a tractor is a good goal considering the economics of modern agriculture, but the overall dollar value of that land and mule can be considered.
If I understand correctly there never was an offer or promise of 40 acres and a mule. It seems to have been a rumor that was passed around freely because it sounded good.
One other thought that will come across as a little angry: The southerners (and yes, some northerners) made a lot of money selling slaves, and for slave owners, there was a lot of net worth in their ownership of human beings. I don't remember any suggestion that the former slave owners should have been instructed to pay the former slaves what they had paid for them originally, or something along those lines. It's clear that there was no attempt to make things right for former slaves or their families or descendants. The fact that this is overdue does not mean it goes away as a moral obligation, any more than people who stole valuables from Jews during the Nazi days have the right to keep them now. Nor do their descendants or even the museums that got possession. I suggest that these two questions are analogous.
If I understand correctly there never was an offer or promise of 40 acres and a mule. It seems to have been a rumor that was passed around freely because it sounded good.
One other thought that will come across as a little angry: The southerners (and yes, some northerners) made a lot of money selling slaves, and for slave owners, there was a lot of net worth in their ownership of human beings. I don't remember any suggestion that the former slave owners should have been instructed to pay the former slaves what they had paid for them originally, or something along those lines. It's clear that there was no attempt to make things right for former slaves or their families or descendants. The fact that this is overdue does not mean it goes away as a moral obligation, any more than people who stole valuables from Jews during the Nazi days have the right to keep them now. Nor do their descendants or even the museums that got possession. I suggest that these two questions are analogous.