Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

King Leopold II

2021-12-11T05:37:00Z

Belgium: fuck you this the 10th time, you ask me this

'''Leopold Lodewijk Philip Maria Victor''' ([[Brussels]], April 9, 1835 – Laeken, December 17, 1909), Prince of [[Belgium]], Duke of Saxony, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Brabant and Senator of Belgium, was the second King of the Belgians. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Belgium's first king Leopold I of Belgium and Queen Louise Marie of Orléans. He succeeded his father to the throne on December 17, 1865 and remained king until his death in 1909. Leopold II was also the founder and [[Absolute monarchy|King sovereign]] of the [[Congo Free State]], which he obtained through the [[Berlin Conference]].

==Early Life==
Leopold was born in Brussels on 9 April 1835, the second child of the reigning Belgian monarch "Leopold I of Belgium", and of his second wife "Louise of Orléans" the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. At the age of 18 on August 22, 1853 Leopold was married to "Marie Henriette of Austria", a cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph I of [[Austria]] and granddaughter of the late Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The marriage produced four children: three daughters and one son. As Leopold's older brother, the earlier crown prince Louis Philippe had died the year before Leopold's birth, Leopold became heir to the throne of Belgium when he was 9 years old, Leopold received the title of Duke of Brabant, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the army. He served in the army until his accession in 1865, by which time he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general.

==Belgian Senator==
Leopold's public career began on his attaining the age of majority in 1855, when he became a member of the Belgian Senate. He took an active interest in the senate, especially in matters concerning the development of Belgium and its trade. Leopold traveled abroad extensively from 1854 to 1865 with his privately owned Yacht the "Alberta" visiting Spain, The Ottoman Empire, Austria, India, China, Egypt, where he was a special guest at the opening ceremony of the famous Suez Canal amongst others, and most other countries on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. His father died on 10 December 1865, and Leopold took the oath of office on 17 December, at the age of 30. It is on these voyages, where he, under the influence of his father King Leopold I starts to explore the possibilities of enlarging Belgium through an overseas empire with Colonies.

==Second King of the Belgians==
Leopold became king in 1865. In a speech at his swearing-in ceremony He explained the goal for his reign as follows:

:''"On this day, succeeding to a father so honored during his life and so regretted after his death, my first engagement before the representatives or the nation is to religiously follow the precepts and examples which his wisdom has left me, and never to forget the duties imposed on me by this precious inheritance. If I do not promise to Belgium either a great reign like that which founded her independence, or a great king like him whom we mourn, I at least promise her a king Belgian in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to her."''

Leopold II did however not mention anything about colonies in his speech as been told by various Liberal and popular media outlets, the full speech is available [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Speech_from_King_Leopold_II_of_Belgium_at_his_swearing-in_ceremony here].

During Leopold's reign, many social changes were enacted into law. Among these were the right of workers to form labor unions and the abolition of the livret d'ouvrier, an employment record book. Laws against child labor were passed. Children younger than 12 were not allowed to work in factories, children younger than 16 were not allowed to work at night, and women younger than 21 years old were not allowed to work underground. Workers gained the right to be compensated for workplace accidents and were given Sundays off. Leopold was also a big opponent of the Death penalty, which was abolished under his rule.

The first revision of the Belgian constitution came in 1893. Universal male suffrage was introduced, though the effect of this was tempered by plural voting. The eligibility requirements for the senate were reduced, and elections would be based on a system of proportional representation, which continues to this day. Leopold pushed strongly to enable a royal referendum, whereby the king would have the power to consult the electorate directly on an issue, and use his veto according to the results of the referendum. The proposal was rejected, as it would have given the king the power to override the elected government. Leopold was so disappointed that he considered abdication. Leopold writes:

:''"Dear Minister, I particularly regret that the government, as I had expressly requested, did not make the royal referendum a sine qua non, three points in the program concern the crown directly, the possibility of expanding the territory, the referendum and the princely marriages, I would have liked to see this matter implemented, we have been clear about this during our discussions, we have taken a very moderate attitude with this at a time when the most democratic constitution in Europe is being even more democratized, a constitution drawn up during a revolution, and at a time when there was no monarch, your devotee, etc. Leopold."'' and ''"To the presidents of the chambers, the institutions of the country are on the eve of profound changes, various indications and circumstances have convinced me that it is desirable in the new situation, a new administration should take office, I request you on my behalf to inform the chambers of my abdication, with the highest and most special esteem, your affectionate King, Leopold."''

===Builder King===
Leopold commissioned a great number of buildings, urban projects and public works. These projects earned him the epithet of "Builder King". The public buildings were mainly in Brussels, Ostend, Leuven and Antwerp, and include the Hippodrome Wellington racetrack (1883), the Royal Galleries and Maria Hendrikapark in Ostend (1902); the Royal Museum for Central Africa and its surrounding park in Tervuren (1898); the Cinquantenaire park and triumphal arch complex (1852-1880), the Duden Park in Brussels (1881), the Reconstruction of the Royal Palace in Brussels (1904), The Palace of Justice of Brussels (1866-1883) the Antwerp ZOO (1843), Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels (1905-1969), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (1884), the Royal Greenhouses of Laken (1874-1895), and the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station (1895–1905). In popular Liberal media it is portrayed that the funds for these buildings were mainly from profits from his rule over the Congo Free State, this is however untrue, as most building projects were realized before the Colony in the Congo even existed, and many of them even were initiated by his father King Leopold I who was considerably rich himself. Leopold writes in 1865 when ascending to the throne of Belgium:

:''"I am generous and about to make a multi-million dollar sacrifice to beautify my capital. It will cost me three to four years of wages, but I wish my life here on earth to leave many traces."''

Thinking of the future after his death, Leopold did not want the collection of estates, lands and heritage buildings he had privately amassed to be scattered among his daughters, each of whom was married to a foreign prince. In 1900, he created the Royal Trust, by means of which he donated most of his property to the Belgian nation. This preserved them to beautify Belgium in perpetuity, while still allowing future generations of the Belgian royal family the privilege of their use.

==Belgian colonial Empire==
Leopold just as his father fervently believed that overseas colonies were the key to a country's greatness, and he worked tirelessly to acquire colonial territory for Belgium. He envisioned "little Belgium" as the capital of a large overseas empire. Leopold writes:

:''"Trading posts and colonies, gentlemen, have not only strengthened the commercial positions of the peoples concerned; these nations owe their greatness to these institutions."''

During his reign, Leopold saw the empires of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as being in a state of decline and expressed interest in buying their territories. In 1866, Leopold instructed the Belgian ambassador in Madrid to speak to Queen Isabella II of Spain about ceding the Philippines to Belgium. Knowing the situation fully, the ambassador did nothing. Leopold quickly replaced the ambassador with a more sympathetic individual to carry out his plan. In 1868, when Isabella II was deposed as queen of Spain, Leopold tried to press his original plan to acquire the Philippines. But without funds, he was unsuccessful. Leopold then devised another unsuccessful plan to establish the Philippines as an independent state, which could then be ruled by a Belgian. When both of these plans failed.

===Congo Free State===
After numerous unsuccessful plans to acquire colonies in Africa and Asia, Leopold created the international scientific and philanthropic association in 1878, which he called the International African Society, the society was an international organization with branches in every industrialized nation of the world at the time, with its headquarters was in Brussels, in 1878 under the mandate of the association, he hired the then already world-famous explorer and American Civil War hero Henry Morton Stanley to explore the possibilities of establishing a colony in the Congo region.

===Recognition by the United states===
The United States was the first country to recognize the Congo free state in 1884, as it went trough a civil war recently concerning the abolishion of slavery, and so as American diplomats describe it at the time, the United States had a special duty towards the negro race, they already had set up the Liberia colony in West Africa as a safe heaven for returning emancipated Black Afro-American slaves and also as a refuge for slaves who were captured from illegal slavers after 1861 by American military vessels patrolling mostly the Gold Coast of Africa and the mouth of the Congo stream, which were the main source for black slaves in the transatlantic slave trade, as it was unpractical and cruel to send the slaves back to the places where they were first enslaved, this same idea of creating a free heaven was initially also the idea behind the Congo free State, therefore 6 months before the Berlin conference and after various positive reports from American diplomats to the United States Congress in 1884, the United States recognized the Congo free state, 6 months before the Berlin conference, further diplomatic maneuvering among European nations with a great help of the United States resulted in the recognition of the Congo free state of 1884–1885, at which Leopold was recognized as sovereign of most of the area to which he and Stanley had laid claim. On 5 February 1885, the Congo Free State, an area 80 times larger than Belgium, was established under Leopold II's sovereign rule. It was however not his private property or colony as the Liberal media and academics claim, he was merely the head of state.

===Critisism of the Congo Free State===
Under pressure of the Congo Reform Association, a political and humanitarian activist group that sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, in the King's private territories namely "the Crown domain" which was located in the Western part of the Congo Basin Area of the Congo Free State. International criticism of Leopold’s rule increased and mobilized. Reports of outrageous exploitation and widespread human rights abuses led the British Crown to appoint their consul, Liberal and Gay Activist who was also a member of the Congo Reform association Roger Casement who in his later life was sentenced to death for treason against in his own country to investigate conditions there. His extensive travels and interviews in the region resulted in the Casement Report, which detailed the extensive abuses under Leopold's regime. Leopold unaware of the crimes committed in his name immediately assembles a commission to investigate these allegations, but because of the vast size of the Congo and the inability to find appropriate replacements, and also the large financial depth he had gathered by the cost of creating large scale infrastructural works such as the Matadi-Leopoldville railway and the military campaign to drive out the Arab slavers in earlier years, Leopold was unable and some claim unwilling to correct this aberration.

Writer Arthur Conan Doyle also criticized the "rubber regime" in his 1908 work The Crime of the Congo, written to aid the work of the Congo Reform Association. Doyle contrasted Leopold's rule with British rule in Nigeria, arguing that decency required those who ruled primitive peoples to be concerned first with their uplift, not how much could be extracted from them. As Hochschild describes in King Leopold's Ghost, many of Leopold's policies, in particular those of colonial monopolies and forced labor, were influenced by Dutch practice in the East Indies. Similar methods of forced labor were employed to some degree by Germany, France, and Portugal where natural rubber occurred in their own colonies.

International opposition and criticism from the Catholic Party, Progressive Liberals and the Labour Party caused the Belgian parliament to compel the king to cede the Congo Free State to Belgium in 1908. The deal that led to the handover cost Belgium the considerable sum of 215.5 million Francs. This was used to discharge the debt of the Congo Free State and to pay out its bondholders. The Congo Free State was transformed into a Belgian colony known as the Belgian Congo under parliamentary control.

==Death and Afthermath==
On 17 December 1909, Leopold II died at Laken, and the Belgian crown passed to Albert I, the son of Leopold's brother, Philippe, Count of Flanders. Leopold's reign of exactly 44 years remains the longest in Belgian history. He was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laken in Brussels.

In June 2020, the Extreme and violent Black Lives Matter and Antifa movement demonstration in Brussels protested the murder of George Floyd, causing Leopold II's legacy to become once again the subject of debate. Several MPs from the Center-Left Labor and the Extreme Left Green Party agreed to set up a parliamentary commission to examine Belgium's colonial past, a step likened to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee set up in South Africa after the apartheid regime was abolished.

==Further reading==
* Ascherson, Neal. ''The King Incorporated: Leopold II in the Age of Trusts'' (1963) [http://www.questia.com/read/14902959?title=The%20King%20Incorporated%3a%20Leopold%20II%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Trusts online edition]
* Emerson, Barbara. ''Leopold II of the Belgians: King of Colonialism.'' (1979). 324 pp.
* Slade, Ruth. ''King Leopold's Congo: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Congo Independent State'' (1962) [http://www.questia.com/read/102157070?title=King%20Leopold's%20Congo%3a%20Aspects%20of%20the%20Development%20of%20Race%20Relations%20in%20the%20Congo%20Independent%20State online edition]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold II, King}}

[[Category:Belgian Monarchs]]
[[Category:Belgian People]]
[[Category:Congo]]
[[Category:African History]]

User:Belgium

2021-10-03T01:05:08Z

Belgium: typo

As head of state, it is part of the spirit of the King's constitutional role, to ensure that in all areas, there is unity among Belgians and constancy in all that can guarantee the existence of the kingdom, the monarchy is the best guarantor of our freedoms and rights, for as long as the King is there and exercises his function in a constitutional context, there will be no place in this country for an authoritarian regime, in that respect the Monarchy is just as important for what it prevents as for what it accomplishes.

Conservapedia:Contact Us

2021-10-03T00:57:06Z

Belgium: question

==I made a new page on concern troll==

https://conservapedia.com/Concern_troll

I'm hoping someone with better formatting experience and slightly more information can add to it..

==The black Israelite page is incredibly under-done==

there's only two paragraphs on that page and even Wikipedia has much more information.. I suggest a collaboration on this site to really fill it out in respect to the black Supremacy that they promot

==Why was this page deleted?==

https://www.conservapedia.com/Christopher_krebs

Chris krebs is an important figure.. the removal log says that it had insufficient information but the last time I was there it was a fully written article with all the proper citations.. bing searches can prove that with the cache text

==Captcha is faulty==

When editing an article you can go to the editor and then click publish however the captcha does not appear until first clicking publish.. which adds a few extra unnecessary ste

==Getting into search results==

I developed a userscript to replace googles Wikipedia results with conservapedia

Would anyone be interested? Its completed. And it works

:Sounds fabulous! Please tell us more about it.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] ([[User talk:Aschlafly|talk]]) 12:12, 12 December 2020 (EST)

:: Basically the way it works is it literally just changes the Google search results.. If you type in a topic that would normally have a Wikipedia entry at the top it will change it to the text found on conservapedia as well as taking you to conservapedia if you click it.. I've tested it and it works as long as there is a conservapedia page with the same name as the Wikipedia one.. If not it will just default to Wikipedia..
I'm currently working to find some developers to improve it and see if it's possible to plant search results for conservapedia pages that don't exist on Wikipedia.. but so far it already works really well. Ive uploaded it here https://gofile.io/d/Q63V6k
And you can download it and open it in a text editor to see that it's legitt

==Getting into search results==

I was wondering if there's any way to develop a chrome extension or a user script or something that can replace Wikipedia information in Google search with conservapedia?

Wikipedia is obviously unreliable and it would be nice to have conservapedia results insteadd {{unsigned|Mikephshdj}}

:An extension should be able to do this, but you would probably need to make it from scratch. It sounds like you are talking about modifying the search result page itself, so that might be bit difficult, though. The search engine will still be returning WP results, so I think you would need your addon to check independently for a CP page on the same topic, then do post processing on that page to overlay that CP result on top of the WP result. A somewhat "lazier" option would be to do DNS replacement/interception in the addon, and simply redirect wikipedia.org URIs to conservapedia URIs. The search results would look the same, but when a WP link is clicked, you would end up on CP instead. Of course, if CP doesn't have a page by the same exact name as WP, that wouldn't work. --[[User:DavidB4|DavidB4]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 15:09, 12 December 2020 (EST)

:: The second option you gave probably wouldn't work because obviously you want the results to have the correct text.. But the first option would work.. I actually found somebody and they developed a user script.. it works pretty well.. I don't know if an administrator would be interested in advertising it on conservapedia because if they did it would enable users to create better search results..

==Mobile Site Editing Not Working Properly==
When I try to edit a page on the mobile site, as soon as I tap on a line all the text goes white and I have to try to guess where words are. I constantly have to turn off editing so I can see where sentences and things are, and then turn it back on so I can actually edit them. Is this supposed to happen, or is it a glitch of some kind. [[User:Eholkins|Eholkins]]

:Well that sounds very problematic! No, that is not supposed to happen. It seems to work properly for me, although I typically switch out of mobile view and just scroll around on the standard view instead, just by preference (I know, it sounds crazy, but with good eyes and a large screen, it works). Have you tried a different browser on your phone, such as Firefox? --[[User:DavidB4|DavidB4]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 18:43, 4 June 2019 (EDT)

==Congressman John Fleming==
How can I update his photo? Thanks. Nathan posted that I need to contact an administrator to upload a photo. How do I contact an administrator? [[User:Dustygram|Dustygram]]

:I'll upload it for you now. Please look for it in "Recent changes" (link on right side).--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] ([[User talk:Aschlafly|talk]]) 20:41, 20 May 2017 (EDT)
::Andy Schlafly, I can't find "Recent changes" and a link. Where is this? On the article page? [[User:Dustygram|Dustygram]] ([[User talk:Dustygram|talk]]) 22:34, 22 May 2017 (EDT)
:::The link is on the upper-lefthand corner of the screen, right below the CP logo. However, I have the link to the image here: [[:File:John Flemming.jpg]]. Doing it once should not be a problem, but please post something at the bottom of such a page next time. Thanks for contributing! --[[User:1990'sguy|1990'sguy]] ([[User talk:1990'sguy|talk]]) 22:36, 22 May 2017 (EDT)
::::Thanks 1990'sguy for uploading a more recent official portrait. Now, how can I replace the old one with the new one?--[[User:Dustygram|Dustygram]] ([[User talk:Dustygram|talk]]) 12:31, 23 May 2017 (EDT)
:::::This is a very late reply, but I just noticed this never got answered. If you are still looking for an answer, just go to the article, and replace the name of the old image with the name of the new one. For future reference, image uploads can be formally requested here: [[Conservapedia:Image upload requests]]. --[[User:DavidB4|DavidB4]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 18:48, 4 June 2019 (EDT)

== Taking AP Biology ==
Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this, but... I am a student in public high school, and am taking AP Biology. I have just learned that Evolution is an entire '''chapter''' in the course. Would it be moral for me to learn evolution without believing it just to pass the test? Or should I drop the course? (This would be very time consuming and difficult)- David {{unsigned|DavidKondner}}
::Nothing immoral about learning about evolution at all. Go for it and you will be pleasantly surprised to learn what evolution is actually like. After all, the majority of people have major misconceptions on what it is which leads to their denial of it. Learning about something from those who support it is always best for learning the truth about the subject, don't limit your understanding of things to just those against it. [[User:Riddles|Riddles]] 23:30, 14 October 2009 (EDT)

I think Riddle is a very smart man and you should listen to what he has to say. No, you don't need to believe in evolutionism, but how are we suppose to become one peaceful humanity without learning about one another. [[user:horenvalle]] 14:01, October 16 2009 (EDT)

:::Learn a falsehood and pretend it's true, and more falsehoods, confusion, depression and errors will follow. Realize that atheists must believe in evolution despite its falsehood and you'll immediately see why they push, and push, and push it in public schools.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:56, 14 October 2009 (EDT)

::::"Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never peril. [[Sun Tzu]]"
::::If there's ''only'' a chapter on evolution in your course, I'd be amazed. Any non-creationist course on [[biology]] is likely to be [[evolution]]-centric. After all, if one won't accept special [[creation]], it's the only game in town! Just keep in mind the difference between science (testable, repeatable) and just-so stories ("This feature arose because ..."). Here are a couple of links you might find useful and encouraging:
::::*[http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2004/0920classroom.asp ‘Creation evangelism’ in the public school classroom]
::::*[http://creation.com/how-do-i-do-my-assignment-about-evolution How do I do my assignment about evolution?]
::::You also might want to invest in a copy of Evolution Exposed, a book that breaks down the evolutionary assumptions and explanations, explicit and implicit, and provides both brief answers and directions to finding more information on line.
::::In short, you need to know what the evolutionists teach, even if you know it's wrong. ~ ''[[User:Mdotley|Webster]]'' ([[User talk:Mdotley|talk]]) 15:53, 24 October 2009 (EDT)

::better learn the material. College consists of a lot of required courses you have to take but don't have to believe. [[User:RJJensen|RJJensen]] 01:05, 27 September 2009 (EDT)

:::All the examples of such requirements consist of learning and reciting anti-Christian beliefs. I'm not aware of any colleges or AP tests that require learning a Christian belief to obtain basic credits.

:::Try homeschooling David, or try a college that does not require recitation of evolutionary beliefs.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 01:12, 27 September 2009 (EDT)

Thank you all for your wonderful suggestions! In the end I decided to take the course and found out it wasn’t nearly as bad as a thought it would be. I expressed my concerns to my teacher beforehand and he was very understanding. Before we started the unit he was very clear to the class that evolution was a theory and we were under no obligation whatsoever to believe evolution, however he still expects us to know the material for the AP exam. It’s amazing how similar some of God’s creatures can be and I can almost see how a Godless Atheist might believe they once shared a common ancestor. All in all, the course has been an enlightening experience and, for the most part, has given me greater respect and appreciation for God’s creatures and life in general. --[[User:Davidkon|Davidkon]] 14:59, 3 February 2010 (EST)

:Davidkon, we have no way to confirm your experience, but even if true it is not typically for public school science teachers, most of whom can be very liberal and very dogmatic about the theory of evolution. Also, I find it odd that "he still expects us to know the material for the AP exam." AP exams are like extra credit, for an extra charge, and are rarely a requirement of any public school class.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 17:21, 3 February 2010 (EST)

As I’ve said before, my AP Bio class is relatively harmless, but my AP government class is sure getting out of hand! The entire class is one big batch of liberal propaganda about how social reform is “necessary” and how that the current conservative platform on homosexuality is one of “intolerance and bigotry”, and that’s a direct quote from the textbook! There are countless other biases that I have to deal with on a daily basis. On top of that when I asked my teacher about concerns the course is liberally biased, she told me “David, I’m sorry to tell you this, but ''reality'' has a liberal bias.” Can you believe that!?!--[[User:Davidkon|Davidkon]] 22:22, 2 March 2010 (EST)

== Unable to edit? ==
I would like to post the following to the Jesse Helms article after "Foreign Policy" but am locked out. I don't know why. {{unsigned|BertSchlossberg}}
: Editing is often turned off overnight (U.S. time), which may have been your problem, although that means that you shouldn't have been able to post here, so unless it was turned back on in the meantime, I can't explain it. Would you like to try it again? [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 08:47, 19 December 2007 (EST)

:: Right. The [[Jesse Helms]] entry is not locked.--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 09:06, 19 December 2007 (EST)

==When only part of an article is accepted==
I recently posted an entry, [[F-105 Thunderchief]], and included a references section and a category, but in the final article, neither section shows up, although they are clearly present when the "Edit" button is clicked. Just now, this happened again with another entry I tried to make. What gives? Does the site only accept so much information in a new entry? --[[User:Frey|Frey]] 17:58, 27 February 2008 (EST)
:You had a bad <nowiki><ref></nowiki> tag which I have fixed. [[User:BrianCo|BrianCo]] 18:02, 27 February 2008 (EST)
::I did? Oopsie. And thanks.--[[User:Frey|Frey]] 18:09, 27 February 2008 (EST)

==KAL 007 article on Main page==
I would like to propose having the article [[Korean Airlines Flight 007]] as a featured article on the Main page. Thanks.[[User:BertSchlossberg|BertSchlossberg]] 15:32, 1 March 2008 (EST)
(finally got it right!)

: I'd like to review it in detail and hear what others think about it. On its surface, without yet studying it, it appears to be a major work. Congratulations!--[[User:Aschlafly|Aschlafly]] 15:58, 1 March 2008 (EST)
:: There's a [[Conservapedia:Featured articles|page]] for listing proposed featured articles. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 17:52, 1 March 2008 (EST)

==To Kill The Child/Leaving Beirut==
I just wrote an exteremly long and extensive article about these two songs. Then, when I went to save the page, it said that it did not save it because there was a quote in their to explain about the song that contained a profanity. What gives? I thought that this website was supposed to educate people, yet people cannot be educated if they cannot know what the article is talking about and what the proof is. {{unsigned|Std}}
: We have a profanity filter for good reason, but sometimes exceptions need to be made. You haven't supplied enough information for us to judge if this warrants an exception. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 22:47, 10 April 2008 (EDT)

::What exactly are the exeptions that would get me the warrent?
::How do you upload an image?{{unsigned|Std}} on 10 April 2008, 21:26

:::You have to ask an administrator. There was a problem with people uploading obscene materials. [[User:HenryS|HenryS]] 00:42, 11 April 2008 (EDT)
:::An exception would be warranted if, for example, the word caught by the filter was not objectionable in the context. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 02:57, 11 April 2008 (EDT)

== Article on Larry McDonald ==
Can anyone do an article on Cong. [[Larry McDonald]], a passenger aboard KAL 007? —[[User:BertSchlossberg|BertSchlossberg]] 07:01, 8 May 2008 (EDT)

==Proposal==
I wrote some time ago about making plans to build Conservapedia into a force to be reckoned with. This site has the potential to become a powerful tool, but still has a ways to go, I think. As an example, I just did a search on [http://article.nationalreview.com/print/?q=NDZiMjkwMDczZWI5ODdjOWYxZTIzZGIyNzEyMjE0ODI= ACORN], a group funded by leftist billionaire [[George Soros]] that is becoming a very serious threat to the integrity of local elections. All I found was a one-line page about the oak tree. Of course the solution to this is to simply create the page myself. But I don't think this solves the larger issue; to my knowledge, there isn't a program of incentives inviting conservatives to contribute high-quality information and research articles on our opposition. How do we do this?

For one, I take it that Conservapedia gets some heavy traffic. Heavy traffic = $$$ in potential advertising revenue. Use that money to attract the right people to help build Conservapedia into a powerhouse of information. This could include rewards for college students, or hired admins (background checked with references and resume, of course). Perhaps contact county or state Republican/conservative groups, show what you've done, and propose a team effort to get more people to contribute articles to the web site.

In short, there's a million ways that this project can grow, and it is more important to me that the conservative cause succeeds than to keep these ideas to myself. My hope is that someone reading this will take hold of them... [[User:Alexander|Alexander]] 17:35, 29 May 2008 (EDT)

:If conservapedia isn't interested I would recommend infogalactic

== IP address unblock request ==
My IP address at home appears to have been blocked. Could someone please unblock me? [[User:FOIA|FOIA]] 15:16, 27 June 2008 (EDT)

==Bobby R. Himes==
I have a photo for the new article [[Bobby R. Himes]]. Can I get permission to upload it?[[User: Bhathorn|Bhathorn]] 18:24, 29 August 2008 (EDT)
: If the picture is on-line (and available for Conservapedia to use, of course), post the address here or click [[Special:Emailuser/Philip_J._Rayment|here]] to e-mail me the link and I can upload it to Conservapedia for you. If it's on your computer, e-mail me via that link anyway and I will reply with my e-mail address for you to e-mail me the picture, so I can then upload it. [[User:Philip J. Rayment|Philip J. Rayment]] 23:59, 29 August 2008 (EDT)

==Banning policy?==
Hello, I represent a website interested in your work. However recently a member of ours, JMcClane used your website and edited a page on Obama because it stated he was a Muslim, which it has been proven he isn't, he has been banned for 5 years, care to comment? It was a JPatt who did the banning, would he like to comment too?
:JMcClane removed a large amount of material in that article and replaced it with this:
::''"Obama is regularly mistaken as Islamic due to his second name, in fact he is not Muslim though stands for equality between religions. He is in fact Christian, though rumours were spread by Conservative spin Doctors hoping to turn the public against him."''
:And who is JMcClane to you? Care to comment on that? [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 14:16, 12 October 2008 (EDT)

:Beyond the fact that you didn't answer my question mate, we're part of the same website who are interested in the current election in America, you might have heard of it. He became involved in this site and this happened, so I reiterate, gonna answer the question properly?
::I did answer your question, "mate", and you're not going to act like you run ''this place''; you will answer mine now. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 14:33, 12 October 2008 (EDT)

:As I said, we're part of the same website. I'm sorry about the mate comments, I'm just friendly like that. You've said you banned him cause of the edit, but isn't it kind of harsh as it is proven he's not Muslim so the entire article was pointless. That's all I'd like to know. And 5 years does seem steep.

Which website do you represent? Why are you interested in Conservapedia? Our banning policy is carefully calibrated and appropriate to the demands of the various situations. And sign your posts with four tildes, please; we are not interested in anonymous 'contributions'. [[User:Bugler|Bugler]] 17:10, 17 October 2008 (EDT)

==Google misdirection==
In Google Search, the entry for ""Alger Hiss - Conservapedia" was changed today from "http://www.conservapedia.com/Alger_Hiss" to misdirect to the nonexistent Web page "http://www.conservativeencyclopedia.com/wiki/Alger_Hiss." Is there a way to ask Google to restore the correct link? [[User:FOIA|FOIA]] 13:19, 4 February 2009 (EST)

*Thanks for noticing and reporting this, FOIA, but nothing needs to be done. When we had the hard drive failure, and temporarily re-directed, the search engine bots picked that up. Now that things are restored, the bots will report back to all the search engines, and in due time will be directing properly. The Google (and all other engines) are smart enough to compare and repair. Or so they say. Administrator Conservative might have more insight into this, and I have linked him to this page. --[[User:TK|'''₮K''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 14:23, 4 February 2009 (EST)
** For what its worth, Google is pretty much 100% automated. They almost never manually intervene in their search results, and that's generally due to a court or otherwise governmental order. [[User:ArthurA|ArthurA]] 14:38, 4 February 2009 (EST)
*** You mean that they generally ''only'' intervene due to court or governmental orders, correct? [[User:Npov2|Npov2]] 00:56, 24 April 2009 (EDT)

== Copyright? ==
I'd like to comment that [[:File:Kathleen Sebelius.jpg]] should probably be tagged as “fair use” rather than as “public domain.” Also, I think the description of the {{tl|commons}} template, both in [[Help:List of Templates]] and in the template body itself, is slightly misleading: items in Wikimedia Commons are not necessarily in the public domain. Thank you. [[User:Npov2|Npov2]] 00:56, 24 April 2009 (EDT)

Why does the Conservapedia page on the 1951 movie, "The Thing From Another World" say that, "The film is now in the public domain."? Was there a problem with the copyright, or its renewal?

In suspense,

William Clark

tmcgeeclark@yahoo.com

== Google Gadget? ==
I understand that [[google]] has problems, but has there ever been thought to developing a "Google Gadget" with a conservapedia news feed?[[User:Mrguido45|Mrguido45]] 20:59, 9 June 2009 (EDT)

========

I dont know about a gadget but i did develop a userscript that replaces Wikipedia with conservapedia in search results

It can be found here

https://gofile.io/d/Q63V6k

== Evolution feature on the Main Page ==
The section of the main page devoted to the Evolution article states that, "In 2006, the prestigious science journal Science reported concerning the United States: "The percentage of people in the country who accept the idea of evolution has declined from 45 in 1985 to 40 in 2005. Meanwhile the fraction of Americans unsure about evolution has soared from 7 per cent in 1985 to 21 per cent last year." The study was conducted with 2000 Americans (approximately), selected by pseudo-random digit dialing over the telephone. the study found that the portion of people unsure about evolution has increased in a statistically significant manner. The second finding of the study was that the proportion of people who believe in evolution and creationism have not changed in any statistically significant way (i.e.: That the p-value of the 1985 and 2005 data sets is greater than 0.05 - simply put, that there is not enough detectable difference between the respondents in 1985 and 2005 to make any kind of statement about it). Essentially, the study cited on the main page didn't actually prove that the public belief in evolution is declining. I would request a change to that article to remove the irrelevant citation about a decrease in evolutionary thinking among Americans. [[User: Praboud|Praboud]] 19:52, 15 June 2009 (EDT)

== Referred to as a Methodist ==
Hi, I am not sure if this is the right location to ask this, but at the bottom of my user page there is a category section that says "Category: Methodist Conservapedians". I didn't place that there and it isn't available for editing out when I look at the editable content for my user page. I only bring this up because I am not a Methodist and I do not wish to mislead anyone into thinking I am. I do not know who added me to this category or why, or somehow if I accidentally did this myself. If possible, may I be added to the "Agnostic conservapedians" category instead? Thank you. -- [[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 8:42, 20 June 2009 [EDT]

:It appears to be because of your userbox "This user believes in the United States Constitution." When I tried putting it on my user page, the Methodist category automatically appeared there as well. --[[User:OscarJ|OscarJ]] 09:02, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

::Fixed. --[[User:TK|'''ṬK''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 11:20, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

== I might be wrong... ==
But I do see quite a bit of bias on Conservapedia. If this is supposed to be "The Trustworthy Encyclopedia" then shouldn't bias be removed? I think that some of the articles are great and others are blatantly biased based upon the authors moral views. I know that some of the topics go against the beliefs of the people who run this site but it isn't a great way to run things. Tolerance of others and their beliefs, no matter what we think of them, is what Conservapedia should be about. Just my opinion and nothing more.

:Just your '''unsupported''' opinion and nothing more, you might have said.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 21:35, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

::I could have, but I figured that people would pick that up from "'''I might be wrong...'''". I never had any beliefs that my opinions were supported here, as I had to make an effort to "vocalize" them. Generally people on and off of the internet don't support my opinions.

:::What I meant was that you made a claim of bias without providing any examples to support your claim.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 22:02, 20 June 2009 (EDT)

::::Ah. [[http://www.conservapedia.com/Che_Guevara]] "Ernesto "Che" Guevara" "became a cultural icon for" "'''dumb white teenagers'''." [[http://www.conservapedia.com/Communism]] "Communism is an atheistic political system" Although extremely hilarious, I think that those articles are somewhat biased and detract from Conservapedia's accountability. I have not seen Wikipedia style hijackings yet though.

:::::Conservapedia is definitely biased. Its even in the name

Which is unfortunate because it would be great if it wasn't and we could make the case to certain search engines like DuckDuckGo to replace Wikipedia with it.. It has a great amount of information that you won't find on Wikipedia you're very dedicated user base.. unfortunately the bias does prevent it from ever serving as a true mainstream alternativ

For a more moderate alternative theres always infogalactic

But they don't really have much of a user base that keeps their articles up to datee

==Tau ceti to Tau Ceti==
I created an article called [[Tau ceti]], but it should be [[Tau Ceti]], is there anyway the name can be reset as the latter? Thank you. -- [[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 16:00, 24 June 2009 [EDT]

:Yes, there [[Tau Ceti|'''is''']]. --[[User:TK|'''ṬK''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 16:17, 24 June 2009 (EDT)

:: Thanks! -- [[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 16:22, 24 June 2009 [EDT]

: In MediaWiki the proper way to do it is by a "move" operation, which preserves the editing and talk history. This feature is not currently enabled in Conservapedia for regular users. Ask an administrator to do it. — [[User:Philcooper81|Philcooper81]][[User_talk:Philcooper81|T]] 16:31, 26 February 2013 (EST)

==Alger Hiss==
I just tried to link to The Encyclopedia of Ukraine at and got this message:

::Spam protection filter

::The page you wanted to save was blocked by the spam filter. This is probably caused by a link to a blacklisted external site.

The spam filter apparently mistook part of the URL for an obscenity.

Is there any way to fix this? Thanks![[User:FOIA|FOIA]] 21:40, 3 July 2009 (EDT)

*You can give the URL without making it a link, so that people can copy and paste the link into their own browser, but I am not inclined to unblock any part of that corner of the world, for pretty obvious reasons. --[[User:TK|'''ṬK''']]/Admin[[User_Talk:TK|/Talk]] 21:44, 3 July 2009 (EDT)

==Kapteyn's star to Kapteyn's Star==
The article I created called [[Kapteyn's star]] was created with a lower case s for star, it should be upper case, could someone with the rights change the title to [[Kapteyn's Star]]? Thank you. -- [[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 15:00, 8 July 2009 [EDT]

== Double Redirects ==
All three of the current [[Special:doubleredirects|double redirects]] are protected. Could a Sysop fix them, please? Thanks. ~ ''[[User:Mdotley|Webster]]'' ([[User talk:Mdotley|talk]]) 22:18, 17 September 2009 (EDT)

==I'm having a bit of trouble with some linking==
I'm trying to get the "Weather Report" and "Return to Forever" articles to link to jazz fusion. Instead, it's linking me to another jazz fusion article that I accidentally created and was recently deleted. Any help is much appreciated. [[User:Jdelong11|Jdelong11]]

: Did my change fix this?--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 13:55, 28 December 2009 (EST)

==Username change==
Is it possible to change one's username? I haven't decided what I want the new one to be but will let you know when I have.--[[User:TedM|TedM]] 13:30, 27 September 2009 (EDT)

If this is possible, I would also be interested in doing so, since I have been recently denuked, and it would be disingenuous to continue with this username. [[User:Navy Nuke|Navy Nuke]]

:Sure, just provide your requested new name here and I'll change it.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 08:35, 1 December 2009 (EST)

I'd to change my username to JonathanDP81. I'm standardizing my username across all my websites. [[User:JonathanDP|JonathanDP]] 10:47, 19 June 2010 (EDT)

==User additions to this site==
Hi, I'm new here and I'm interested in adding some content to Conservapedia, namely in respect to firearm laws. Just a cursory glace makes me think that users can only edit existing topics? Am I wrong?
--[[User:LibGunslinger|LibGunslinger]] 11:28, Dec 10 2009
:You can add new pages if you so desire.--[[User:Jpatt|Jpatt]] 14:32, 10 December 2009 (EST)

==Nova==
I believe this is right place to ask this, so here I am. I want to write an article on the astronomical phenomenon known as a "Nova", however all search on this site for that word is already directed towards "NOVA", a stub on the PBS series of that name. Should I rebuild that article to focus on the astronomical phenomena as that is what the base definition of a nova means? Or start a whole new article, such as "nova_(star)"? Thanks. --[[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 13:18, 28 December 2009 (EST)

: I'll move "NOVA" to "NOVA (PBS)", and you can then have "Nova". Thanks.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 13:56, 28 December 2009 (EST)

::I turned the NOVA page into a disambiguation page that now points to both [[NOVA_(PBS)]] and [[Nova_(star)]], is this good? May want to make it Nova instead of NOVA though. --[[User:BMcP|BMcP]] 17:29, 28 December 2009 (EST)

:::It's fine as you did it. Thanks.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:53, 28 December 2009 (EST)

==Writing Plan==
User Ed Poor requested a writing plan from me. How exactly do I submit it to him?
Thank you. --[[User:JohnLee|JohnLee]] 16:53, 11 October 2010 (EDT)

: Anyone can post to his talk page: [[User talk:Ed Poor]]. Thanks.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 17:00, 11 October 2010 (EDT)

==Editing complaint==
Someone started a debate page without posting any comments, so I decided to start the discussion. I spent about half an hour writing the post, clicked on save, and was redirected to a page informing me that I didn't have permission to edit it (Probably because it was the first post). And I was unable to go back and copy/paste what I'd written to post it later. Can someone please fix this so that if you click on a page to edit that you can't edit, it tells you straight away and doesn't simply waste your time. Thanks. - JamesCA, 31 July 2011
:And something similar. I recently tried to edit a page because some of the information was out of date, and did not find out until after I tried to save it, that it was locked for only administrators to edit. - [[User:JamesCA|JamesCA]] 19:02, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

::Both of the above comments surprise me, and the software should not lose information as you described. The browser being used may have an effect on this also.

::I thought that locked pages (which I think are a very small percentage of entries here) announced themselves as such when there is an attempt to edit them. The browser should not discard information regardless.--[[User:Aschlafly|Andy Schlafly]] 19:11, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

:::It looks like you lock up editing at night. Is it possible that these folks were just caught by the deadline? --[[User:DrDean|DrDean]] 20:03, 29 August 2011 (EDT)
::::That is possible, I just tried editing the same page, and it worked. Also, because of my different timezone, I sometimes find that while looking through Conservapedia articles, the edit tag suddenly disappears, because the deadline suddenly comes in. Is there a way to check how long until the deadline? I'll check to make sure the information actually is lost when I get a chance. And does the deadline cut off at the same time every night? And also, who can start new pages (including debate pages)? Thanks - [[User:JamesCA|JamesCA]] 21:56, 29 August 2011 (EDT)

==Christianity and Politics==
I'm wondering what is your take (creators of conservapedia) on the mixing of Christianity and politics? I ask because as a young Christian I'm a little confused about how much focus I should give for politics alongside my faith. Other opinions I've read disregard politics completely within a Christian life, as if Christians in general should simply accept and respect whatever form of government rules over them regardless of the corruption or misguided policies such governments may contribute to the falling of the nation. Please clarify this conundrum for me as I feel uncertain if politics should be in any part of my life. God bless. --[[User:gravis57|gravis57]] 12:32PM, 8 August 2011 (EDT)
:Do you mean with regards to being active in politics, or how much your religious beliefs should influence your political opinions? One suggestion, try coming up with and arguing using non-religious points to support views that stem from religious beliefs. It'll enable you to more effectively argue against those who believe that the Bible alone is not enough to justify moral opinions. It'll also give you a wider range of arguments you can call on when discussing religion, politics or morality, and will enable you to more easily come up with counterpoints to arguments that you've never come across before. For example, if you're arguing against gay marriage, try using points such as family values, and the effect it would have on the institution of marriage, instead of using (only) quotes from Leviticus and Deuteronomy, and points based around what God says. - JamesCA (not a creator of conservapedia), August 9 2011

:Not exactly. I'm asking as a Christian to another Christian(s) as to how much politics should be a part of my life, or if they should even be apart of it at all. I mean while the founders of this great nation used God's principles to create a system of government that ensured rights, liberty, and freedom--is it wrong or vain to wish to inform, protect, or care about my country when Christ called us to spread his Word and not (unless I'm mistaken) deal with lesser matters in regard to such (political) things. This is where I'm confused about whether I should become even somewhat active within politics or simply disregard it entirely to focus on Christianity. - gravis57, August 8, 2011

:It's not wrong, and it's not vain, to wish to inform, protect or care about your country. It's part of serving one's country, part of helping people. There are many varied ways that you can help and serve people, and God. Christ called us not just to spread his Word, but to serve. 'For the son of God came not to be served, but to serve.' Can you serve God by becoming involved in politics? Maybe. Could you help people by becoming involved in politics, and by getting Congress to give them what they need? Or would it be better for you to serve another way? If you did become involved in politics, would it make it more difficult for you to serve God? I guess my general point is this: you can still serve God and the people by becoming involved in politics, but whether or not that is the best place for you to serve is a different matter. I'm starting to think that I might not be able to give you as good of an answer as you're looking for. Hopefully someone else will see this and help answer your question. Note about dates: different time zones is causing the inconsistent dates. - JamesCA, August 9 2011

==Request for disambiguation==
Hi there. I was hoping to work on the page [[poetry]] as well as other pages about poetic forms. However, as it exists right now, there is only the page [[form]] which talks about musical form. I'd like to include a form page about poetry, is there any way someone can disambiguate it into 2 articles, form (music), form (poetry) for me? Or is it preferred that I just start a new section within the existing form page? Much love --[[User:RLorain|RLorain]] 16:27, 27 August 2011 (EDT)

==Question regarding Debate==
Someone posted a new debate semi-recently, [[Debate:Should the United States of America really be counted as a country?]] It was tagged for speedy deletion as it was silly and a non-debate. After a bit, I decided to answer the question, explaining what is necessary for something to be considered a country, and that the US clearly falls into the current definitions. My answer was then copy/pasted onto a new page for the theory of what constitutes a country, and the speedy-deletion tag was removed. No one else has posted on the page, and as the debate is quite silly, is it appropriate for me to delete the page? (And if it is, but I can't, can someone else do it, thanks). - [[User:JamesCA|JamesCA]] 03:21, 14 October 2011 (EDT)

==Greetings and couple questions==
I just signed up a couple of days ago or so, so please bare with me as I learn the ropes!
By way of background, I love God and truth and science (like physics, math, electronics, computer programming, etc.) I'm very conservative.
I do have three questions!
First, question: Is edit turned off at night? I work full-time during the day often don't get home till late and sometimes the edit links are gone, But right now, they are on and it's late so maybe it's hit or miss!

Second, is the owner's goal of this site to be a full spectrum source of family friendly information (like with articles on math, science, electronics, etc.) or is it supposed to be more geared toward moral issues or issues specific to conservatism? If full-spectrum, I will be glad to contribute scientific information as time permits.

Third, is the owner's goal to have articles relating to moral issues to carry a conservative slant, or is the goal to be as factual and unbiased as possible?

My tendency is toward truth whether it's comfortable for me or not -- rather than slanted either way.
However I fully respect the site owner's right to run his private property as he wishes and I wouldn't want to upset anybody (or waste my time) making edits that weren't pleasing to the owner.
Thanks & have a great day! [[User:Jesseg|Jesseg]] 01:57, 8 February 2013 (EST)

:Jesseq, three answers...
::1. Editing is sometimes turned off at night at owner's discretion, but productive newbies are granted night-editing privileges.
::2. The goal of the site is a full, online encyclopedia covering as many subjects as possible, with the intent that the content be family-friendly. So, you can pretty much contribute in any subject.
::3. Moral issues can carry a conservative slant, but I believe that these issues should also be in a "right vs wrong" slant as well. We sometimes tell what the liberal side believes in, but we also will tell why that side is wrong at times.
:So, pick a subject, commence editing, check your sources, and do the very best you can. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 02:25, 8 February 2013 (EST)
How do I put those nice little tabs that show your opinions on my user page? I know almost nothing about computers, so help me out here.
[[User:SGrosman|SGrosman]] 15:22, 30 March 2013 (EDT)

==Partnership with Conservapedia==
Hello. I am Superdadsuper, an Administrator and Bureaucrat on [http://bible.wikia.com/wiki/ Biblicalapedia] a biblical-history wiki. This is a very short message but I was wondering if it were possible to have some kind of partnership. We can discuss in more detail when I get a response
Thanks,
Superdadsuper, Biblicalapedia Administrator and Bureaucrat
:Sent message to owner and sysops. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] 11:44, 10 December 2014 (EST)

==Delete request==
Hi there, could you please delete this page [[Jeremy Shum]]. Thank you [[User:Matthewbible|Matthewbible]] ([[User talk:Matthewbible|talk]]) 10:14, 25 January 2017 (EST)
:Done.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 20:52, 20 May 2017 (EDT)

==Unable to edit==
I tried to add a website to the list of conservative humor sites, but my edit never shows, even though I clicked "Save".
anyway the site is: http://thepeoplescube.com/
You can add it if you see this.

==Unknown stalker==
Need assistance; someone is following me on conservapedia and leaving vulgar remarks. The culprit removed a page of text, but I was apparently able to put it back in place. The stalker then again removed the article [[George B. Campbell]].[[User:BHathorn|BHathorn]] ([[User talk:BHathorn|talk]])

== Username change to Winston Smith. ==

Hello, would it possible to change my name from my current one to a new one called Winston Smith? Thanks.
:Just create a winstonsmith account. If there is a way to rename a username via the Wikimedia software, we don't know how to do it.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 18:40, 21 March 2018 (EDT)
::The user that wrote the request created that account only a few hours ago and only made two edits, both of them being requests to change the username. It's ridiculous to create a new account and immediately ask for a name change without doing anything else. --[[User:1990'sguy|1990'sguy]] ([[User talk:1990'sguy|talk]]) 19:41, 21 March 2018 (EDT)

==Please change title of article==
From [[Leroy Shafer]] to Manzell Shafer.[[User:BHathorn|BHathorn]] ([[User talk:BHathorn|talk]]) 13:38, 2 May 2018 (EDT)

:Done! --[[User:DavidB4|David B]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 15:20, 2 May 2018 (EDT)

::Hallo. Please also change the title of the article at present called "Karen White alias Stephen Wood alias David Thompson alias". The final word is an error. I don't know how to edit the title or move it to another fresh page. Apologies [[User:GraceDalrymple|GraceDalrymple]] ([[User talk:GraceDalrymple|talk]])

== Username change to Publius. ==
Hey, guys! Am I able to change my username to "Publius?" -- [[User:Geopolitician|Geopolitician]] ([[User talk:Geopolitician|talk]]) 14:41, 9 June 2018 (EDT)
:You have to create a new account.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 15:08, 9 June 2018 (EDT)
::Wait. I thought Andy was able to approve new usernames and change it. Well, at least back in 2009, he was. -- [[User:Geopolitician|Geopolitician]] ([[User talk:Geopolitician|talk]]) 15:20, 9 June 2018 (EDT)
:::If you are correct, you could go to Andy's talk page. But why bother him with a request like this? So much easier to create an account called publius1 or publius2, publius472, etc. etc.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 15:35, 9 June 2018 (EDT)
::::Andy has that power, but he rarely uses it. --[[User:1990'sguy|1990'sguy]] ([[User talk:1990'sguy|talk]]) 16:52, 9 June 2018 (EDT)

== FUNimation page deleted labled as advertisement when it wasn't. ==
One of the admins deleted the page even though it was against their libral practices like other pages on this wiki. I think it was probably mistaken as advertisement due to lack of sources. I want the page back and I want to improve the page including adding sources. I was following how the page on The Walt Disney Company was created. I think FUNimation needs a page here and was mistakenly deleted. I wanted to tell the admin that deleted it mistaking it for advertisement with my account [[User:Conservaboy|Conservaboy]] but I can't edit for some reason so I made an alt account until that can be fixed. By the way, both account links are red because I haven't put info on them yet and I will do that on my current alt account. -- [[User:Naan|Naan]] 8:19, 13 March 2020 [PT]
:The admin who deleted that page and blocked your account is [[User:Karajou]]. You will need to speak with him on this matter. It was probably seen as an advertising attempt because it is a paid service, and lacked in citations and overall notability. --[[User:DavidB4|DavidB4]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 11:40, 13 March 2020 (EDT)
::Thanks. I will tell him and I will point out that it was mistaken as an advertisement attempt instead of an actual page and that I forgot to put citations and that I will do that once the page is restored or recreated and add some more information on their shady business practictes that made people upset including removing the cancel function on their service FUNimation now and blamed it on a glitch and provide a link to a YouTube video that proves that they have left wing agenda in their dubs. I'm now back on my original account. -- [[User:Conservaboy|Conservaboy]] 10:43, 13 March 2020 [PT]

==[[Ehsan Sehgal]]==
I came here from Wikipedia to ask whether this site allow anyone to use Conservapedia to shamelessly self promote their-self? This guy has been curating his bio both on Wikipedia and Conservapedia for the past one decade yet remained under the radar. Other than self promotional material, I also found most of the information on his Conservapedia bio is made up and is fabricated. His Wikipedia bio was deleted this week and I'm curious what do you guys think of this Conservapedia bio? --[[User:Saqib|Saqib]] ([[User talk:Saqib|talk]]) 15:44, 18 May 2020 (EDT)

:Hi Saqib, we generally do oppose self-promotion articles. The article was imported by [[User:JusticeOfJustice]], who said they are the original author of the text. I will look into it a bit further. Thanks for the heads-up! --[[User:DavidB4|DavidB4]] ([[User talk:DavidB4|TALK]]) 15:53, 18 May 2020 (EDT)
::@David, JusticeOfJustice is actually Ehsan Sehgal himself. On Wikipedia, his username was Justice007. See this deletion: [thread https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Ehsan_Sehgal_(4th_nomination)]. --[[User:Saqib|Saqib]] ([[User talk:Saqib|talk]]) 16:04, 18 May 2020 (EDT)
:::Mr. Sehgal is very sick. There is no point in upsetting him by deleting the article before he dies. I locked the article.[[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 13:01, 19 May 2020 (EDT)
::::Yup. I can see [https://web.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10221662477326238&set=pcb.10221662485886452 that]. --[[User:Saqib|Saqib]] ([[User talk:Saqib|talk]]) 16:23, 20 May 2020 (EDT)

== CAPTCHA Questions ==
Hello. I have trouble answering some of the CAPTCHA questions relating to the New Testament, because I am Jewish. Is there a way that I can select certain CAPTCHA questions to be removed for my account? [[User:Ethan Parmet|Ethan Parmet]] ([[User talk:Ethan Parmet|talk]]) 16:07, 26 May 2020 (EDT)
: Ask [[User:Aschlafly]] to remove the CAPTCHA from your account. Tell him [[User: Conservative]] recommend him doing so. [[User:Conservative|Conservative]] ([[User talk:Conservative|talk]]) 17:42, 26 May 2020 (EDT)

== Conservapedia in other languages ==
Are there any possibility to create other language versions of Conservapedia for active conservative communities around the world (for example, German, Polish, Russian, Hungarian)? Of course, some of them already have their own wikis, like traditio.wiki, but there are no interwiki links between projects. Such projects also lack base for homeschooling, thus being completely useless for parents with conservative views.
If engine of the Conservapedia could give us the possibility to link to existing wikis in other languages or create the very new language versions, it would be perfect for the development and spreading of the conservative thought worldwide.
[[User:Lakonur|Lakonur]]

:Hmm, interesting idea. Perhaps [[CP]] can be modified so that there's an option to change the displayed language for this online encyclopedia? —[[User:Liberaltears|<code>'''LT'''</code>]]'''''[[User:Liberaltears/mail|May D.C., his mother, and I.S. be all well!]]''''' Monday, 18:27, 2 November 2020 (EST)

I'm really interested in this idea. I want to create a conservapedia project in Spanish (from Spain). Contact with me please.--[[User:Alvaro|Alvaro]] ([[User talk:Alvaro|talk]]) 18:01, 16 March 2021 (EDT)

==Irrelevant post==
Whats up with Evolution and the wiki in general?
Pretty sure evolution shouldnt be treated like that, it doesnt violate religious beliefs and has been proven over and over again. Just a suggestion-maybe be a bit less anti-evolution, you ever heard of tolerance? There's a reason why this wiki is inactive. Your only audience essentially consists of RationalWiki editors spying on the wiki. Do you ever address opposition or do you just spam banhammers? I dont speak out against someone or anything usually, but this is the exception. So much conservative bias on this wiki that it isnt even FUNNY. You suppress any and all people who have SLIGHTLY different beliefs than you. You should be ashamed, you are acting just like a cowardly dictator. Heh, not many of your cronies are left anyways. {{unsigned|Syncronyzer07}}
:Two things: first, evolution has been proven wrong too many times to count, and we are going to print such evidence on this website. Try doing that in Wikipedia, and you'll have your edits reverted immediately and then blocked from the site. Which leads to second: don't come here and scream to us about tolerance and how we should be accommodating to all of those beliefs you think we suppress at the drop of a hat. We see in the news every single day how it is YOUR SIDE OF THE FENCE that routinely suppresses thoughts and opinions they don't like. So don't lecture us. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] ([[User talk:Karajou|talk]]) 13:13, 19 February 2021 (EST)
First of all, YOUR first argument is irrelevant, its funny how every person like you says that. Second, Wikipedia says that Evolution is a scientific theory, which means that it is something that has CONSISTENTLY been verified by scientists. Very funny-well, how do you know that i'm a Liberal? Do I hear conservative bias? Anyways, even if you are right, and the liberals are part of some worldwide conspiracy, well, dont you think that Conservatives would do the same thing? Just some food for thought. You are a hypocrite. YOU dont lecture me, Karajou-theres a reason why i put it at the very top.--[[User:Syncronyzer07|Syncronyzer07]] ([[User talk:Syncronyzer07|talk]]) 13:51, 19 February 2021 (EST)
:Its irrelevant if you say so. And your point about Wikipedia is actually pointless, as it is written by amateurs with little to no credentials on the subjects they are talking about, while writing about a ''theory'' that they say is a ''fact'', and you come here using their bias on the subject to insist we have a bias against it here. And yes, I'm going to lecture you. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] ([[User talk:Karajou|talk]]) 14:05, 19 February 2021 (EST)
::And it's so very obvious you're a liberal. We always get the occasional rant from the clown who just has to come here and whine about our bias how much we restrict his freedom of speech...and usually from the very first posting he makes. [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] ([[User talk:Karajou|talk]]) 14:10, 19 February 2021 (EST)
Seriously? Are you joking right now? I've been on this site on alt accounts for longer than you think. Enjoy. https://www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html--[[User:Syncronyzer07|Syncronyzer07]] ([[User talk:Syncronyzer07|talk]]) 14:12, 19 February 2021 (EST)
:::And its obvious that you are not here to engage in anything remotely resembling a meaningful discussion. Enjoy! [[User:Karajou|Karajou]] ([[User talk:Karajou|talk]]) 14:25, 19 February 2021 (EST)
==Editing complaint==
Recently, I tried to create a article but I failed to do. When I click on 'publish', then it takes me to CAPTCHA. Then after finishing 'CAPTCHA' correctly, the page is again reloaded or sometimes I am redirected to another page. My changes aren't being saved. Please somebody help me. [[User:Prinon|Prinon]] ([[User talk:Prinon|talk]]) 10:09, 11 April 2021 (EDT)
:The article in question that you posted was copied word-for-word from Wikipedia; that is not generally approved of here unless you were the original author of the article there, and even then it would need some revision to conform to Conservapedia's [[Conservapedia:Editing article and talk pages|manual of style]]. [[User:Northwest|Northwest]] ([[User talk:Northwest|talk]]) 10:53, 11 April 2021 (EDT)

==Access==
HI can I have access to upload images and delete page
--[[User:HamzhaSaleem|HamzhaSaleem]] ([[User talk:HamzhaSaleem|talk]]) 15:16, June 27, 2021 (EDT)

==Media==
How do i upload media? I am only here to write articles about Belgium and the Belgian monarchy during the era of the Belgian Colonial Empire (1844-1960), so majority of the pictures that i use are in the Public domain. Kind regards. [[User:Belgium|Belgium]] ([[User talk:Belgium|talk]]) 20:57, October 2, 2021 (EDT)

User:Belgium

2021-10-03T00:46:08Z

Belgium: bio of the belgian monarchy, which i do not support as a flemish nationalist, but i do like the quote

As head of state, it is part of the spirit of the King's constitutional role, to ensure that in all areas, there is unity among Belgians and constancy in all that can guarantee the existence of the kingdom, the monarchy is the best guarantor of our freedoms and rights, for as long as the King is there and exercises his function in a constitutional context, there will be no place in this country for an authoritarian regime, in that respect the Monartchy is just as important for what it prevents as for what it accomplishes.

King Leopold II

2021-10-03T00:33:22Z

Belgium: typo

'''Leopold II of Belgium''' was the second king of the [[Belgium|Belgians]] from 1865 until his death in 1909 and King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, today the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].

==Early Life==
Leopold was born in Brussels on 9 April 1835, the second child of the reigning Belgian monarch "Leopold I of Belgium", and of his second wife "Louise of Orléans" the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. At the age of 18 on August 22, 1853 Leopold was married to "Marie Henriette of Austria", a cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph I of [[Austria]] and granddaughter of the late Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The marriage produced four children: three daughters and one son. As Leopold's older brother, the earlier crown prince Louis Philippe had died the year before Leopold's birth, Leopold became heir to the throne of Belgium when he was 9 years old, Leopold received the title of Duke of Brabant, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the army. He served in the army until his accession in 1865, by which time he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general.

==Belgian Senator==
Leopold's public career began on his attaining the age of majority in 1855, when he became a member of the Belgian Senate. He took an active interest in the senate, especially in matters concerning the development of Belgium and its trade. Leopold traveled abroad extensively from 1854 to 1865 with his privately owned Yacht the "Alberta" visiting Spain, The Ottoman Empire, Austria, India, China, Egypt, where he was a special guest at the opening ceremony of the famous Suez Canal amongst others, and most other countries on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. His father died on 10 December 1865, and Leopold took the oath of office on 17 December, at the age of 30. It is on these voyages, where he, under the influence of his father King Leopold I starts to explore the possibilities of enlarging Belgium through an overseas empire with Colonies.

==Second King of the Belgians==
Leopold became king in 1865. In a speech at his swearing-in ceremony He explained the goal for his reign as follows:

:''"On this day, succeeding to a father so honored during his life and so regretted after his death, my first engagement before the representatives or the nation is to religiously follow the precepts and examples which his wisdom has left me, and never to forget the duties imposed on me by this precious inheritance. If I do not promise to Belgium either a great reign like that which founded her independence, or a great king like him whom we mourn, I at least promise her a king Belgian in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to her."''

Leopold II did however not mention anything about colonies in his speech as been told by various Liberal and popular media outlets, the full speech is available [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Speech_from_King_Leopold_II_of_Belgium_at_his_swearing-in_ceremony here].

During Leopold's reign, many social changes were enacted into law. Among these were the right of workers to form labor unions and the abolition of the livret d'ouvrier, an employment record book. Laws against child labor were passed. Children younger than 12 were not allowed to work in factories, children younger than 16 were not allowed to work at night, and women younger than 21 years old were not allowed to work underground. Workers gained the right to be compensated for workplace accidents and were given Sundays off. Leopold was also a big opponent of the Death penalty, which was abolished under his rule.

The first revision of the Belgian constitution came in 1893. Universal male suffrage was introduced, though the effect of this was tempered by plural voting. The eligibility requirements for the senate were reduced, and elections would be based on a system of proportional representation, which continues to this day. Leopold pushed strongly to enable a royal referendum, whereby the king would have the power to consult the electorate directly on an issue, and use his veto according to the results of the referendum. The proposal was rejected, as it would have given the king the power to override the elected government. Leopold was so disappointed that he considered abdication. Leopold writes:

:''"Dear Minister, I particularly regret that the government, as I had expressly requested, did not make the royal referendum a sine qua non, three points in the program concern the crown directly, the possibility of expanding the territory, the referendum and the princely marriages, I would have liked to see this matter implemented, we have been clear about this during our discussions, we have taken a very moderate attitude with this at a time when the most democratic constitution in Europe is being even more democratized, a constitution drawn up during a revolution, and at a time when there was no monarch, your devotee, etc. Leopold."'' and ''"To the presidents of the chambers, the institutions of the country are on the eve of profound changes, various indications and circumstances have convinced me that it is desirable in the new situation, a new administration should take office, I request you on my behalf to inform the chambers of my abdication, with the highest and most special esteem, your affectionate King, Leopold."''

===Builder King===
Leopold commissioned a great number of buildings, urban projects and public works. These projects earned him the epithet of "Builder King". The public buildings were mainly in Brussels, Ostend, Leuven and Antwerp, and include the Hippodrome Wellington racetrack (1883), the Royal Galleries and Maria Hendrikapark in Ostend (1902); the Royal Museum for Central Africa and its surrounding park in Tervuren (1898); the Cinquantenaire park and triumphal arch complex (1852-1880), the Duden Park in Brussels (1881), the Reconstruction of the Royal Palace in Brussels (1904), The Palace of Justice of Brussels (1866-1883) the Antwerp ZOO (1843), Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels (1905-1969), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (1884), the Royal Greenhouses of Laken (1874-1895), and the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station (1895–1905). In popular Liberal media it is portrayed that the funds for these buildings were mainly from profits from his rule over the Congo Free State, this is however untrue, as most building projects were realized before the Colony in the Congo even existed, and many of them even were initiated by his father King Leopold I who was considerably rich himself. Leopold writes in 1865 when ascending to the throne of Belgium:

:''"I am generous and about to make a multi-million dollar sacrifice to beautify my capital. It will cost me three to four years of wages, but I wish my life here on earth to leave many traces."''

Thinking of the future after his death, Leopold did not want the collection of estates, lands and heritage buildings he had privately amassed to be scattered among his daughters, each of whom was married to a foreign prince. In 1900, he created the Royal Trust, by means of which he donated most of his property to the Belgian nation. This preserved them to beautify Belgium in perpetuity, while still allowing future generations of the Belgian royal family the privilege of their use.

==Belgian colonial Empire==
Leopold just as his father fervently believed that overseas colonies were the key to a country's greatness, and he worked tirelessly to acquire colonial territory for Belgium. He envisioned "little Belgium" as the capital of a large overseas empire. Leopold writes:

:''"Trading posts and colonies, gentlemen, have not only strengthened the commercial positions of the peoples concerned; these nations owe their greatness to these institutions."''

During his reign, Leopold saw the empires of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as being in a state of decline and expressed interest in buying their territories. In 1866, Leopold instructed the Belgian ambassador in Madrid to speak to Queen Isabella II of Spain about ceding the Philippines to Belgium. Knowing the situation fully, the ambassador did nothing. Leopold quickly replaced the ambassador with a more sympathetic individual to carry out his plan. In 1868, when Isabella II was deposed as queen of Spain, Leopold tried to press his original plan to acquire the Philippines. But without funds, he was unsuccessful. Leopold then devised another unsuccessful plan to establish the Philippines as an independent state, which could then be ruled by a Belgian. When both of these plans failed.

===Congo Free State===
After numerous unsuccessful plans to acquire colonies in Africa and Asia, Leopold created the international scientific and philanthropic association in 1878, which he called the International African Society, the society was an international organization with branches in every industrialized nation of the world at the time, with its headquarters was in Brussels, in 1878 under the mandate of the association, he hired the then already world-famous explorer and American Civil War hero Henry Morton Stanley to explore the possibilities of establishing a colony in the Congo region.

===Recognition by the United states===
The United States was the first country to recognize the Congo free state in 1884, as it went trough a civil war recently concerning the abolishion of slavery, and so as American diplomats describe it at the time, the United States had a special duty towards the negro race, they already had set up the Liberia colony in West Africa as a safe heaven for returning emancipated Black Afro-American slaves and also as a refuge for slaves who were captured from illegal slavers after 1861 by American military vessels patrolling mostly the Gold Coast of Africa and the mouth of the Congo stream, which were the main source for black slaves in the transatlantic slave trade, as it was unpractical and cruel to send the slaves back to the places where they were first enslaved, this same idea of creating a free heaven was initially also the idea behind the Congo free State, therefore 6 months before the Berlin conference and after various positive reports from American diplomats to the United States Congress in 1884, the United States recognized the Congo free state, 6 months before the Berlin conference, further diplomatic maneuvering among European nations with a great help of the United States resulted in the recognition of the Congo free state of 1884–1885, at which Leopold was recognized as sovereign of most of the area to which he and Stanley had laid claim. On 5 February 1885, the Congo Free State, an area 80 times larger than Belgium, was established under Leopold II's sovereign rule. It was however not his private property or colony as the Liberal media and academics claim, he was merely the head of state.

===Critisism of the Congo Free State===
Under pressure of the Congo Reform Association, a political and humanitarian activist group that sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, in the King's private territories namely "the Crown domain" which was located in the Western part of the Congo Basin Area of the Congo Free State. International criticism of Leopold’s rule increased and mobilized. Reports of outrageous exploitation and widespread human rights abuses led the British Crown to appoint their consul, Liberal and Gay Activist who was also a member of the Congo Reform association Roger Casement who in his later life was sentenced to death for treason against in his own country to investigate conditions there. His extensive travels and interviews in the region resulted in the Casement Report, which detailed the extensive abuses under Leopold's regime. Leopold unaware of the crimes committed in his name immediately assembles a commission to investigate these allegations, but because of the vast size of the Congo and the inability to find appropriate replacements, and also the large financial depth he had gathered by the cost of creating large scale infrastructural works such as the Matadi-Leopoldville railway and the military campaign to drive out the Arab slavers in earlier years, Leopold was unable and some claim unwilling to correct this aberration.

Writer Arthur Conan Doyle also criticized the "rubber regime" in his 1908 work The Crime of the Congo, written to aid the work of the Congo Reform Association. Doyle contrasted Leopold's rule with British rule in Nigeria, arguing that decency required those who ruled primitive peoples to be concerned first with their uplift, not how much could be extracted from them. As Hochschild describes in King Leopold's Ghost, many of Leopold's policies, in particular those of colonial monopolies and forced labor, were influenced by Dutch practice in the East Indies. Similar methods of forced labor were employed to some degree by Germany, France, and Portugal where natural rubber occurred in their own colonies.

International opposition and criticism from the Catholic Party, Progressive Liberals and the Labour Party caused the Belgian parliament to compel the king to cede the Congo Free State to Belgium in 1908. The deal that led to the handover cost Belgium the considerable sum of 215.5 million Francs. This was used to discharge the debt of the Congo Free State and to pay out its bondholders. The Congo Free State was transformed into a Belgian colony known as the Belgian Congo under parliamentary control.

==Death and Afthermath==
On 17 December 1909, Leopold II died at Laken, and the Belgian crown passed to Albert I, the son of Leopold's brother, Philippe, Count of Flanders. Leopold's reign of exactly 44 years remains the longest in Belgian history. He was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laken in Brussels.

In June 2020, the Extreme and violent Black Lives Matter and Antifa movement demonstration in Brussels protested the murder of George Floyd, causing Leopold II's legacy to become once again the subject of debate. Several MPs from the Center-Left Labor and the Extreme Left Green Party agreed to set up a parliamentary commission to examine Belgium's colonial past, a step likened to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee set up in South Africa after the apartheid regime was abolished.

==Further reading==
* Ascherson, Neal. ''The King Incorporated: Leopold II in the Age of Trusts'' (1963) [http://www.questia.com/read/14902959?title=The%20King%20Incorporated%3a%20Leopold%20II%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Trusts online edition]
* Emerson, Barbara. ''Leopold II of the Belgians: King of Colonialism.'' (1979). 324 pp.
* Slade, Ruth. ''King Leopold's Congo: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Congo Independent State'' (1962) [http://www.questia.com/read/102157070?title=King%20Leopold's%20Congo%3a%20Aspects%20of%20the%20Development%20of%20Race%20Relations%20in%20the%20Congo%20Independent%20State online edition]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold II, King}}

[[Category:Belgian Monarchs]]
[[Category:Belgian People]]
[[Category:Congo]]
[[Category:African History]]

King Leopold II

2021-10-03T00:24:21Z

Belgium: This article is not complete yet, but at least it's better than the dogmatic little text that was here before.

'''Leopold II of Belgium''' was the second king of the [[Belgium|Belgians]] from 1865 until his death in 1909 and King-Sovereign of the Congo Free State from 1885 to 1908, today the [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]].

==Early Life==
Leopold was born in Brussels on 9 April 1835, the second child of the reigning Belgian monarch "Leopold I of Belgium", and of his second wife "Louise of Orléans" the daughter of King Louis Philippe of France. At the age of 18 on August 22, 1853 Leopold was married to "Marie Henriette of Austria", a cousin of Emperor Franz Joseph I of [[Austria]] and granddaughter of the late Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. The marriage produced four children: three daughters and one son. As Leopold's older brother, the earlier crown prince Louis Philippe had died the year before Leopold's birth, Leopold became heir to the throne of Belgium when he was 9 years old, Leopold received the title of Duke of Brabant, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the army. He served in the army until his accession in 1865, by which time he had reached the rank of lieutenant-general.

==Belgian Senator==
Leopold's public career began on his attaining the age of majority in 1855, when he became a member of the Belgian Senate. He took an active interest in the senate, especially in matters concerning the development of Belgium and its trade. Leopold traveled abroad extensively from 1854 to 1865 with his privately owned Yacht the "Alberta" visiting Spain, The Ottoman Empire, Austria, India, China, Egypt, where he was a special guest at the opening ceremony of the famous Suez Canal amongst others, and most other countries on the Mediterranean coast of Africa. His father died on 10 December 1865, and Leopold took the oath of office on 17 December, at the age of 30. It is on these voyages, where he, under the influence of his father King Leopold I starts to explore the possibilities of enlarging Belgium through an overseas empire with Colonies.

==Second King of the Belgians==
Leopold became king in 1865. In a speech at his swearing-in ceremony He explained the goal for his reign as follows:

:''"On this day, succeeding to a father so honored during his life and so regretted after his death, my first engagement before the representatives or the nation is to religiously follow the precepts and examples which his wisdom has left me, and never to forget the duties imposed on me by this precious inheritance. If I do not promise to Belgium either a great reign like that which founded her independence, or a great king like him whom we mourn, I at least promise her a king Belgian in heart and soul, whose whole life belongs to her."''

Leopold II did however not mention anything about colonies in his speech as been told by various Liberal and popular media outlets, the full speech is available [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Speech_from_King_Leopold_II_of_Belgium_at_his_swearing-in_ceremony here].

During Leopold's reign, many social changes were enacted into law. Among these were the right of workers to form labor unions and the abolition of the livret d'ouvrier, an employment record book. Laws against child labor were passed. Children younger than 12 were not allowed to work in factories, children younger than 16 were not allowed to work at night, and women younger than 21 years old were not allowed to work underground. Workers gained the right to be compensated for workplace accidents and were given Sundays off. Leopold was also a big opponent of the Death penalty, which was abolished under his rule.

The first revision of the Belgian constitution came in 1893. Universal male suffrage was introduced, though the effect of this was tempered by plural voting. The eligibility requirements for the senate were reduced, and elections would be based on a system of proportional representation, which continues to this day. Leopold pushed strongly to enable a royal referendum, whereby the king would have the power to consult the electorate directly on an issue, and use his veto according to the results of the referendum. The proposal was rejected, as it would have given the king the power to override the elected government. Leopold was so disappointed that he considered abdication. Leopold writes:

:''"Dear Minister, I particularly regret that the government, as I had expressly requested, did not make the royal referendum a sine qua non, three points in the program concern the crown directly, the possibility of expanding the territory, the referendum and the princely marriages, I would have liked to see this matter implemented, we have been clear about this during our discussions, we have taken a very moderate attitude with this at a time when the most democratic constitution in Europe is being even more democratized, a constitution drawn up during a revolution, and at a time when there was no monarch, your devotee, etc. Leopold."'' and ''"To the presidents of the chambers, the institutions of the country are on the eve of profound changes, various indications and circumstances have convinced me that it is desirable in the new situation, a new administration should take office, I request you on my behalf to inform the chambers of my abdication, with the highest and most special esteem, your affectionate King, Leopold."''

===Builder King===
Leopold commissioned a great number of buildings, urban projects and public works. These projects earned him the epithet of "Builder King". The public buildings were mainly in Brussels, Ostend, Leuven and Antwerp, and include the Hippodrome Wellington racetrack (1883), the Royal Galleries and Maria Hendrikapark in Ostend (1902); the Royal Museum for Central Africa and its surrounding park in Tervuren (1898); the Cinquantenaire park and triumphal arch complex (1852-1880), the Duden Park in Brussels (1881), the Reconstruction of the Royal Palace in Brussels (1904), The Palace of Justice of Brussels (1866-1883) the Antwerp ZOO (1843), Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Brussels (1905-1969), Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (1884), the Royal Greenhouses of Laken (1874-1895), and the Antwerpen-Centraal railway station (1895–1905). In popular Liberal media it is portrayed that the funds for these buildings were mainly from profits from his rule over the Congo Free State, this is however untrue, as most building projects were realized before the Colony in the Congo even existed, and many of them even were initiated by his father King Leopold I who was considerably rich himself. Leopold writes in 1865 when ascending to the throne of Belgium:

:''"I am generous and about to make a multi-million dollar sacrifice to beautify my capital. It will cost me three to four years of wages, but I wish my life here on earth to leave many traces."''

Thinking of the future after his death, Leopold did not want the collection of estates, lands and heritage buildings he had privately amassed to be scattered among his daughters, each of whom was married to a foreign prince. In 1900, he created the Royal Trust, by means of which he donated most of his property to the Belgian nation. This preserved them to beautify Belgium in perpetuity, while still allowing future generations of the Belgian royal family the privilege of their use.

==Belgian colonial Empire==
Leopold just as his father fervently believed that overseas colonies were the key to a country's greatness, and he worked tirelessly to acquire colonial territory for Belgium. He envisioned "little Belgium" as the capital of a large overseas empire. Leopold writes:

:''"Trading posts and colonies, gentlemen, have not only strengthened the commercial positions of the peoples concerned; these nations owe their greatness to these institutions."''

During his reign, Leopold saw the empires of the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain as being in a state of decline and expressed interest in buying their territories. In 1866, Leopold instructed the Belgian ambassador in Madrid to speak to Queen Isabella II of Spain about ceding the Philippines to Belgium. Knowing the situation fully, the ambassador did nothing. Leopold quickly replaced the ambassador with a more sympathetic individual to carry out his plan. In 1868, when Isabella II was deposed as queen of Spain, Leopold tried to press his original plan to acquire the Philippines. But without funds, he was unsuccessful. Leopold then devised another unsuccessful plan to establish the Philippines as an independent state, which could then be ruled by a Belgian. When both of these plans failed.

===Congo Free State===
After numerous unsuccessful plans to acquire colonies in Africa and Asia, Leopold created the international scientific and philanthropic association in 1878, which he called the International African Society, the society was an international organization with branches in every industrialized nation of the world at the time, with its headquarters was in Brussels, in 1878 under the mandate of the association, he hired the then already world-famous explorer and American Civil War hero Henry Morton Stanley to explore the possibilities of establishing a colony in the Congo region.

===Recognition by the United states===
The United States was the first country to recognize the Congo free state in 1884, as it went trough a civil war recently concerning the abolishion of slavery, and so as American diplomats describe it the time, the United States had a special duty towards the negro race, they already had set up the Liberia colony in West Africa as a safe heaven for returning emancipated Black Afro-American slaves and also as a refuge for slaves who were captured from illegal slavers after 1861 by American military vessels patrolling mostly the Gold Coast of Africa and the mouth of the Congo stream, which were the main source for black slaves in the transatlantic slave trade, as it was unpractical and cruel to send the slaves back to the places where they were first enslaved, this same idea of creating a free heaven was initially also the idea behind the Congo free State, therefore 6 months before the Berlin conference and after various positive reports from American diplomats to the United States Congress in 1884, the United States recognized the Congo free state, 6 months before the Berlin conference, further diplomatic maneuvering among European nations with a great help of the United States resulted in the recognition of the Congo free state of 1884–1885, at which Leopold was recognized as sovereign of most of the area to which he and Stanley had laid claim. On 5 February 1885, the Congo Free State, an area 80 times larger than Belgium, was established under Leopold II's sovereign rule. It was however not his private property or colony as the Liberal media and academics claim, he was merely the head of state.

===Critisism of the Congo Free State===
Under pressure of the Congo Reform Association, a political and humanitarian activist group that sought to promote reform of the Congo Free State, in the King's private territories namely "the Crown domain" which was located in the Western part of the Congo Basin Area of the Congo Free State. International criticism of Leopold’s rule increased and mobilized. Reports of outrageous exploitation and widespread human rights abuses led the British Crown to appoint their consul, Liberal and Gay Activist who was also a member of the Congo Reform association Roger Casement who in his later life was sentenced to death for treason against in his own country to investigate conditions there. His extensive travels and interviews in the region resulted in the Casement Report, which detailed the extensive abuses under Leopold's regime. Leopold unaware of the crimes committed in his name immediately assembles a commission to investigate these allegations, but because of the vast size of the Congo and the inability to find appropriate replacements, and also the large financial depth he had gathered by the cost of creating large scale infrastructural works such as the Matadi-Leopoldville railway and the military campaign to drive out the Arab slavers in earlier years, Leopold was unable and some claim unwilling to correct this aberration.

Writer Arthur Conan Doyle also criticized the "rubber regime" in his 1908 work The Crime of the Congo, written to aid the work of the Congo Reform Association. Doyle contrasted Leopold's rule with British rule in Nigeria, arguing that decency required those who ruled primitive peoples to be concerned first with their uplift, not how much could be extracted from them. As Hochschild describes in King Leopold's Ghost, many of Leopold's policies, in particular those of colonial monopolies and forced labor, were influenced by Dutch practice in the East Indies. Similar methods of forced labor were employed to some degree by Germany, France, and Portugal where natural rubber occurred in their own colonies.

International opposition and criticism from the Catholic Party, Progressive Liberals and the Labour Party caused the Belgian parliament to compel the king to cede the Congo Free State to Belgium in 1908. The deal that led to the handover cost Belgium the considerable sum of 215.5 million Francs. This was used to discharge the debt of the Congo Free State and to pay out its bondholders. The Congo Free State was transformed into a Belgian colony known as the Belgian Congo under parliamentary control.

==Death and Afthermath==
On 17 December 1909, Leopold II died at Laken, and the Belgian crown passed to Albert I, the son of Leopold's brother, Philippe, Count of Flanders. Leopold's reign of exactly 44 years remains the longest in Belgian history. He was interred in the royal vault at the Church of Our Lady of Laken in Brussels.

In June 2020, the Extreme and violent Black Lives Matter and Antifa movement demonstration in Brussels protested the murder of George Floyd, causing Leopold II's legacy to become once again the subject of debate. Several MPs from the Center-Left Labor and the Extreme Left Green Party agreed to set up a parliamentary commission to examine Belgium's colonial past, a step likened to the Truth and Reconciliation Committee set up in South Africa after the apartheid regime was abolished.

==Further reading==
* Ascherson, Neal. ''The King Incorporated: Leopold II in the Age of Trusts'' (1963) [http://www.questia.com/read/14902959?title=The%20King%20Incorporated%3a%20Leopold%20II%20in%20the%20Age%20of%20Trusts online edition]
* Emerson, Barbara. ''Leopold II of the Belgians: King of Colonialism.'' (1979). 324 pp.
* Slade, Ruth. ''King Leopold's Congo: Aspects of the Development of Race Relations in the Congo Independent State'' (1962) [http://www.questia.com/read/102157070?title=King%20Leopold's%20Congo%3a%20Aspects%20of%20the%20Development%20of%20Race%20Relations%20in%20the%20Congo%20Independent%20State online edition]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold II, King}}

[[Category:Belgian Monarchs]]
[[Category:Belgian People]]
[[Category:Congo]]
[[Category:African History]]