Democrats and supporters of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Wednesday after she refused to name slavery as the primary cause of the Civil War.
Haley, 51, made the apparent gaffe during a town hall event in Berlin, NH, after a voter asked the former United Nations ambassador to identify the cause of the deadliest war in American history.
The White House hopeful appeared caught off guard by the question and failed to mention the antebellum South’s “peculiar institution” in her response.
Although her answer was ridiculous and she is a despicable human being, “slavery” did not cause the Civil War.
Slavery did not cause a civil war throughout the entirety of United States history leading up to 1860. When the voters elected Abraham Lincoln in November of 1860, it was not because he promised to abolish slavery. Abolition was never on his agenda.
When South Carolina seceded from the United States in December of 1861, there was no war. It is certainly true that South Carolina, and the other Deep South states which seceded in January of 1861, had concerns for the future of slavery. But there was no war. If we are talking about the political concern for the future of slavery and the secession of the Deep South states in December of 1860 and January of 1861, then we are not talking about a war. We are especially not talking about the Civil War. There was no war.
There was no war when the Deep South states created and joined the Confederate States government in February of 1861. There was no war when Lincoln was inaugurated in March of 1861.
However, in his inaugural address, Lincoln did promise to start a war. You see, President Abraham Lincoln merely refused to acknowledge the cold hard facts of reality: the Deep South states peacefully and democratically seceded from the USA, and then they peacefully and democratically formed the CSA.
For months, there existed two American republics. For months, they co-existed in peace. Oh, there were instances of violence exchanged between the agents and the people of both republics, to be sure. But there was no state of war. There was no Civil War.
If we do not know the history, and if we totally goober up the timeline, perhaps for current ideological reasons, then the statement that “slavery” caused the Civil War might seem like a sensible comment to make. As if everyone was just hanging out, having a good time in 1861, and then — BOOM! — all of a sudden, “slavery” happened, and that started the war. It’s nonsense.
The Civil War was about the thing that started the war. And it was not “slavery” that started the war. The thing that started the war between the USA and the CSA was Abraham Lincoln’s refusal to accept the departure of the Deep South. That is why on April 4, 1861, he ordered an invasion of CSA territorial waters. Much lip service is given to Lincoln today for maneuvering the CSA into “firing the first shot” at the Battle of Fort Sumter on April 12, but that is also nonsense for a couple of reasons. First of all, the Confederates only fired on US forces because the US invaded the Confederacy. The “first shot” was not the first act of aggression in that scenario.
Secondly, it was not even the Battle of Fort Sumter that started the Civil War. According to the post-war, Lincoln appointee-packed US Supreme Court, the Civil War was initiated when Abraham Lincoln declared a state of war against the Confederacy by announcing the blockade of Confederate ports, on April 19, 1861. Until then, there was no state of war. But Lincoln wanted a war, he promised to start a war, he deliberately started a war, and that is why the Civil War happened.
ArklahomBoy 