My Republican Party Does Not Believe in "Confederate History Month"

Last November Republicans all over the country were excited about the victories of Chris Christie for Governor of New Jersey and Bob McDonnell for Governor of Virginia. Unfortunately, my excitement over Governor McDonnell’s victory is not what it was last November because Governor McDonnell is falling into the same trap that too many Republicans fall into in the South; i.e., confusing conservative and Confederate.

Back when there were old-style Southern Democrats, Republicans didn’t have this problem. Southerners who still hadn’t gotten over the South’s loss in the Civil War (a/k/a the War Between the States, a/k/a the War of Northern Aggression) could be Democrats, and they could talk about the nobility of their Lost Cause and fly their Rebel flags at Democratic Party meetings.

But when conservative Democrats in the South began moving to the Republican Party, the problem of how to deal with Southern history moved with them. Too many Republican leaders have tried to welcome these conservative Democrats by saying nice things about Confederate history. We’re not saying the South was right; we’re just acknowledging the bravery of their soldiers, their sacrifice, their devotion to their cause, etc., etc.

And so, earlier this week, Governor McDonnell, following in the footsteps of former Governor George Allen*, issued a proclamation recognizing April 2010 as Confederate History Month. Governor McDonnell’s proclamation included the following:

"WHEREAS, April is the month in which the people of Virginia joined the Confederate States of American in a four year war between the states for independence that concluded at Appomattox Courthouse; and

WHEREAS, Virginia has long recognized her Confederate history, … the leaders and individuals in the Army, Navy and at home who fought for their homes and communities and Commonwealth in a time very different than ours today; and

WHEREAS, it is important for all Virginians to reflect upon our Commonwealth’s shared history, to understand the sacrifices of the Confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens during the period of the Civil War, and to recognize how our history has led to our present; and …

WHEREAS, all Virginians can appreciate the fact that when ultimately overwhelmed by the insurmountable numbers and resources of the Union Army, the surviving, imprisoned and injured Confederate soldiers gave their word and allegiance to the United States of America, and returned to their homes and families to rebuild their communities in peace, following the instruction of General Robert E. Lee of Virginia, who wrote that, ‘… all should unite in honest efforts to obliterate the effects of war and to restore the blessings of peace.’ …"

Governor McDonnell’s proclamation somehow left out the issue of slavery, for which he was rightly criticized. In response, Governor McDonnell re-issued his proclamation to include a reference to slavery being "an evil and inhumane practice," but all of the language quoted above was still included in the revised proclamation. And it is just a bunch of baloney.

As I commented in my post on why Ulysses S. Grant needs to stay on the $50 bill, the leaders and individuals in the South were not, ultimately, fighting for "homes and communities and Commonwealth". They were fighting for the right of one man to own another. All Abraham Lincoln wanted was to "arrest the further spread of it [i.e., slavery], and [to] place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction …." But the South wouldn’t do that. Instead, they chose war.

Also, it wasn’t "the insurmountable numbers and resources" of the Union that won the war. (That is part of the mythology of the "Lost Cause" movement.) It was, rather, better generals and a better strategy.

And it wasn’t Robert E. Lee who was responsible for the men of Confederate Army going home and rebuilding their communities in peace after the war. It was Ulysses S. Grant. By 1865, it was obvious the war was over. Grant asked Lee several times to surrender and let the killing stop, but Lee wouldn’t do it. It wasn’t until Appomattox that Lee finally agreed to surrender. And at Appomattox, it was Grant, not Lee, who let the Confederate soldiers go home in peace, just as it was Grant’s word that stopped treason trials for people like Lee.

Some people like to talk about how the South was fighting for freedom and states’ rights. That, too, is baloney. The South wasn’t fighting for freedom. They were fighting for slavery, which is the opposite of freedom. The reason they wanted states’ rights was because their states were willing to let them continue to own slaves. That is not the kind of states’ rights I believe in.

I do not know if southern Republicans like Bob McDonnell say these things because they think some of their constituents like to hear them or because they really believe these things themselves. In either case, things like Governor McDonnell’s proclamation of Confederate History Month are not part of any Republican Party I want to belong to. The Republican Party I belong to believes in, and has always believed in, freedom – for everybody – in every time – in every place.

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* But not in the footsteps of Governor McDonnell’s two Democratic predecessors, neither of whom issued such a proclamation.

Update (4/10/2010 12:15 pm): Thanks to the astute reader who noticed that I posted this on the 145th anniversary of Lee's surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House.

Comments

[sue]

That was a very good article. McDonnell should not have issued that proclamation.