Less than three weeks after Abraham Lincoln was elected President and before a single Civil War cannon was ever fired, Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederate States of America, addressed Savannah, Ga.
In the impromptu speech he discussed the Southern revolution: “[Slavery] was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. [Thomas] Jefferson in his forecast had anticipated this, as the ‘rock upon which the old Union would split.’ … [His] ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; 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 normal condition.”
Stephens would later restyle the words of his famous Cornerstone Speech, claiming that the reporter who jotted down his claims did not represent his true sentiment. Restyled or not, Stephens’ words had accurately represented the cause of one of America’s most brutal wars.
The institution of American slavery will forever stain United States’ history. However, this “peculiar” institution has stigmatized the Southern states more than the rest: South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, Florida and North Carolina. It was these states that fought to preserve American slavery. Under the banner of the Confederacy, they fought to protect a way of life.
Earlier this month, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared April as Confederate History Month. Virginia, which ended this practice in 2002, will rejoin Florida, Georgia and Texas as they only states that recognize such a month.
McDonnell was criticized for not mentioning slavery in his April proclamation. His error, however, was not only in his omission of slavery. The Virginia governor should have never made such a proclamation. No state should be proud of any political entity that fought to preserve the enslavement of African Americans. If Southern states want to celebrate their history, a Southern History Month would suffice.
The only thing that distinguishes Southern history from Confederate history is racism and slavery. All that is worth celebrating about the South is American history. The history of the American South — just like California history or Native American history or any other North American history — is rich and worth studying. The institution of slavery, however, is inherently linked to the Confederacy and a celebration of its five-year history is inherently a celebration of American racism. This is unacceptable. Simply put, the South should transcend this five-year stain on our country’s history.
No one would object to the fact that American students should learn about slavery, the Civil War or the Confederate States of America, in order to better understand their country. However, the designation of a month in celebration of a political entity that fought for slavery, well, that’s not the kind of learning we need.
Southern states should celebrate their rich American history. The initiation of a month celebrating an entity that fought against the United States would be disingenuous and, frankly, racist.
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