I was lied to. And if you grew up white and in the South, so were you. And from an early age. We got lied to by our parents, our friends, our relatives, our schools. Everyone. But they were just repeating the lie. What was the lie? The Great White Lie?
States’ Rights.
We were told that the Civil War was not fought over slavery, but over States’ Rights. That’s it. It’s stupendous in its simplicity and its audacity. It is an evil lie created to hide an evil truth. And that evil truth is that my great-great-great grandparents, and yours, believed so strongly that slavery was good and should be legal that they started a war over it.
You want proof the Civil War was fought over slavery? Good. Because there’s plenty. Where? Just look at what the Confederate states said. It’s not like they were shy about telling everyone why they were going to war. They wrote it down for all to see and proudly published it!
A brief historical primer: The Civil War was fought from 1861 to 1865. Eleven Southern states tried to withdraw, or “secede”, from the United States. Four of those states issued official explanations for why they seceded. Those documents have been preserved in various museums, libraries, and universities. Access to them in their entirety is available online through the Avalon Project at the Goldman Law Library, Yale Law School. Below are excerpts from those online documents. Remember, these are the Confederate state’s own words, no one else’s. Can’t cry “fake” on these.
Texas:
“We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.”
Georgia:
“The North demanded the application of the principle of prohibition of slavery to all of the territory acquired from Mexico and all other parts of the public domain then and in all future time. It was the announcement of her purpose to appropriate to herself all the public domain then owned and thereafter to be acquired by the United States. The claim itself was less arrogant and insulting than the reason with which she supported it. That reason was her fixed purpose to limit, restrain, and finally abolish slavery in the States where it exists. The South with great unanimity declared her purpose to resist the principle of prohibition to the last extremity.”
Mississippi:
“In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course. Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery– the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.”
South Carolina:
“We affirm that these ends for which this Government was instituted have been defeated, and the Government itself has been made destructive of them by the action of the non-slaveholding States. Those States have assume the right of deciding upon the propriety of our domestic institutions; and have denied the rights of property established in fifteen of the States and recognized by the Constitution; they have denounced as sinful the institution of slavery; they have permitted open establishment among them of societies, whose avowed object is to disturb the peace and to eloign the property of the citizens of other States. They have encouraged and assisted thousands of our slaves to leave their homes; and those who remain, have been incited by emissaries, books and pictures to servile insurrection.”
But wait! There’s more! Let’s hear the words of none other than the Vice-President of the Confederate States of America, Alexander Stephens. Ol’ Al gave a rousing speech in Savannah, Georgia on March 21, 1861, just weeks before the Confederacy fired the first shots of the War. That speech is known as the “Cornerstone Speech”, as it lays out the “cornerstone” of the new government, the Confederate States of America. It was published in the Savannah Republican newspaper. Here are the key passages:
“Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and moral condition. This, our new Government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth.“
Excerpt taken from Fordham University archives, from the book: The Rebellion Record: A Diary of American Events with Documents, Narratives, Illustrative Incidents, Poetry, etc., vol. 1, ed. Frank Moore (New York: O.P. Putnam, 1862).
Well, that’s pretty clear. The Vice-President of the Confederacy says that slavery is the “cornerstone”, the basis, of the Confederacy. Straight from the horse’s mouth.
So why did the white Southern establishment feed us the Great White Lie?
You have to look back to just after the Civil War ended, when the “Lost Cause” movement arose. The “Lost Cause” movement tried to glorify the Confederacy by saying slaves liked being slaves and by saying the War was fought over States’ Rights.
Why do that?
Pride. To make themselves feel better.
The Great White Lie was designed to whitewash the Confederacy’s sins. Since all but the most evil persons acknowledge that slavery was wrong, the Southern white establishment couldn’t rationalize the Confederacy based on truth. But if you say the war wasn’t really about the evil thing, slavery, but instead was really about something not evil, States’ Rights, it lets you gloss over the evil, as a mere incidental thing to be overlooked. Focus on the shiny watch of States’ Rights, not on the sleight of hand of slavery. The Southern hierarchy wanted people to take their eye off the ball, so they invented the illusion of States’ Rights.
And most of us fell for the trick. After all, who wants to think their great, great, great grandparents weren’t good people? No one. I sure didn’t. But we don’t get to pick our forefathers. They picked us. It’s a one way street. Kids get stuck with their parents. And just because they’re your parents doesn’t mean they were good people. And just because they weren’t good people doesn’t mean you can’t be. But trying to whitewash the Civil War as not about slavery is just a pathetic attempt to say, “See, my forefathers weren’t really horrible slavery supporters, they just stood up for States’ Rights.” But justifying their support for slavery is like justifying your father beating your mother. He’s your Dad. You want him to be a good guy. But if he beats your Mom he isn’t. Making excuses for slavery is like making excuses for why Dad beats Mom. There are no excuses. It’s wrong and he’s not a nice guy. He’s still your Dad. But you don’t have to justify his flaws. And you don’t have to repeat them.
It’s time we stop making excuses for our forefathers. They advocated and fought for the right to own slaves. They were wrong and a lot of people died because of it. It was more acceptable for them to go to war and kill than it was to accept black people as something more than property to be bought and sold like used cars. Own it. It’s our Southern history. But it’s not our destiny. The sins of the father don’t become the sins of the son. Unless you repeat their sins. Or try to justify them.
Reject the Great White Lie. The truth shall set us free.
By Craig Rogers
June 11, 2020
