John Kelly Blames Civil War on Lack of Compromise
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly is making more appearances in front of microphones and simultaneously making us more aware of why he is a member of the Trump administration. Monday night Kelly was asked about a church in Virginia removing memorabilia honoring George Washington and Robert Lee and his response was less than inspiring. He noted that Robert E. Lee was “an honorable man”, and that “lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War”. Kelly made additional statements referencing fighting for one’s state was more important that fighting for one’s country “back then”, and the classic “men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand”.
John Kelly is a former General in the United States Military in the modern era and now sits in a position of power in the White House, which are reasons why his view point is disappointing and unacceptable. Let no one fool you or tell you otherwise, the Civil War was about slavery. It was about some very rich families in the south that created a socio-economic hierarchy that was 100% dependent on slavery and the slave labor of Blacks. Oh you don’t believe me? Slavery was so important to the Confederacy it is mentioned in their constitution 10 times (yes the Confederate states that seceded from the Union had their own constitution)!
Here is an excerpt from the Constitution of Confederate States Article I Section 9 (4) “No bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law denying or impairing the right of property in negro slaves shall be passed”. Translation, there will be no laws made that deny white people the right to own negro slaves. They wanted to ensure that a state could not on it’s own make it illegal to own slaves, but the Civil War wasn’t about slavery folks.
Let’s try this excerpt from their Constitution Article IV Section 2 (3) “No slave or other person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the Confederate States, under the laws thereof, escaping or lawfully carried into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such slave belongs,. or to whom such service or labor may be due”. Translation, it don’t matter where you go, if you’re a slave in Texas, you are a slave in Georgia no matter how you get there, and if lost, you are to be returned to your owner. If you want to read more of the Confederate Constitution, check it out here.
The Confederacy incriminates Confederate apologists on a pretty consistent basis because those who try to minimize and white wash the Confederacy are constantly proven wrong by the exact words of the Confederacy. If John Kelly were just some professor or CNN talking head (Jeffrey Lord), while most of would be annoyed, we’d point out where he was wrong and move on. With John Kelly we have a different and much more serious problem. Kelly is a retired General, he retired as one of the highest ranking members of the military, if these are his thoughts on the Civil War, what did he think of the Black soldiers he commanded? Better question, if those soldiers knew about his thoughts on the Civil War would they have looked at him the same? Now that thought process is in the White House, the most powerful office in the land.
There is a phrase that gets used often when talking about history, “if you don’t know your history, you’re destined to repeat it”. People like me, who are disturbed by those who try to distort the causes of the Civil War, are we worried about slavery coming back or another Civil War? No, at least I’m not. My concern does come in reference to what happened after the Civil War. The last time we saw the government try to assuage the south regarding the Civil War, they introduced Jim Crow, Segregation, and Black Face which we as a nation are still feeling the effects of. All it would take is one school or city to start with something small, and chain of conservative courts and judges to uphold a law, and now we’re going backwards, but this time around, it may not be just blacks. While 8 years ago that statement seemed absurd, the current socio-political environment doesn’t make me as confident in that absurdity.
White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly was the guest for the premiere of Laura Ingraham’s new show on Fox News Channel on Monday night. During the interview, he outlined a view of the history of the Civil War that historians described as “strange,” “highly provocative,” “dangerous” and “kind of depressing.”
Kelly was asked about the decision of a church in Alexandria, Va., to remove plaques honoring George Washington and Robert E. Lee.
“I would tell you that Robert E. Lee was an honorable man,” Kelly said. “He was a man that gave up his country to fight for his state, which 150 years ago was more important than country. It was always loyalty to state first back in those days. Now it’s different today. But the lack of an ability to compromise led to the Civil War, and men and women of good faith on both sides made their stand where their conscience had them make their stand.”
“That statement could have been given by [former Confederate general] Jubal Early in 1880,” said Stephanie McCurry, a history professor at Columbia University and author of “Confederate Reckoning: Politics and Power in the Civil War South.”
“What’s so strange about this statement is how closely it tracks or resembles the view of the Civil War that the South had finally got the nation to embrace by the early 20th century,” she said. “It’s the Jim Crow version of the causes of the Civil War. I mean, it tracks all of the major talking points of this pro-Confederate view of the Civil War.”
Kelly makes several points. That Lee was honorable. That fighting for state was more important than fighting for country. That a lack of compromise led to the war. That good people on both sides were fighting for conscientious reasons. Both McCurry and David Blight, a history professor at Yale University and author of “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory,” broadly reject all of these arguments.
“This is profound ignorance, that’s what one has to say first, at least of pretty basic things about the American historical narrative,” Blight said. “I mean, it’s one thing to hear it from Trump, who, let’s be honest, just really doesn’t know any history and has demonstrated it over and over and over. But General Kelly has a long history in the American military.”
Blight described Kelly’s argument in similar terms as McCurry — an “old reconciliationist narrative” about the Civil War that, in the past half a century or so has “just been exploded” by historical research since.
The idea that compromise might have been possible was rejected out of hand by McCurry and Blight.
“It was not about slavery, it was about honorable men fighting for honorable causes?” McCurry said. “Well, what was the cause? . . . In 1861, they were very clear on what the causes of the war were. The reason there was no compromise possible was that people in the country could not agree over the wisdom of the continued and expanding enslavement of millions of African Americans.”
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
