A National Dilemma
Recently, American citizens all over the country have been engaged in a debate over the removal of statues erected in honor of Confederate figures during the Civil War. Some Americans do not want the Confederate statues to be removed at all because they believe that it would be erasing a part of our nation’s history, while other Americans believe that the statues should be removed because they represent a time in American history where slavery was a way of life. I would argue that it would be more appropriate to move these statues into a museum where they can still be seen and remembered for their historical significance, but moved from their current spots in public because they no longer reflect the southern cultures today.
The Civil War is still significant today because people need to know about the Civil War in order to have a good reason for tearing these statues down. Also, as historian Dr. Robert Wooster believes, we need to be educated on events throughout history, such as the Civil War, in order to be considered good citizens. I believe learning about the Civil War is still significant because it was such a pivotal part of our nation’s history. Going to visit the actual site of the Battle of Gettysburg really puts into perspective the events that unfolded on that battleground and other engagements that occurred in the Civil War.
According to the book Give Me Liberty written by Eric Foner, the “Gettysburg Address” was a three-minute speech written and delivered by President Abraham Lincoln in November of 1863 to dedicate a cemetery at the site of the Battle of Gettysburg to fallen soldiers, and to memorialize the men who had fought to end the “peculiar institution” known as slavery.
Leading up to the “Gettysburg Address,” President Lincoln went through a series of political maneuvers and changes in his beliefs. In the first year of the war (1861), President Lincoln believed that slavery was irrelevant in the Civil War. He believed that it was important to keep the border slave states in the Union to help support the North in their war effort. At this time, Lincoln believed that taking action against the border states of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, would lead them to join the Confederacy. As a precaution to keep the slave states at bay, a resolution was proposed by Kentucky Senator John J. Crittenden, which stated that the Union would in no way interfere with slavery in the South. Although the Union was not interfering with slavery, many of the slaves working as military laborers began escaping and fleeing to Union states for freedom. This policy of ignoring slavery had begun to fall apart.
Sometime in 1862 President Lincoln made the decision that emancipation was politically and militarily necessary. The Emancipation Proclamation was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1,1863. At the time it was signed, the Emancipation Proclamation was designed to “combat the South’s rebellion;” therefore, it did not apply to the slave states that never seceded from the Union. The southern slaves that were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, however, would have to wait until battles were fought resulting in Union victories in order to be freed from their captors.
Similarly, the statues of Confederate officials we see in public today are meant to memorialize as well, but not the work that was done by the Confederacy; they memorialize the institution of slavery. Today as American citizens we are faced with a conflict in which the history of the Civil War is very important. Removal of Confederate statues and monuments has recently been a main focal point in the national news. What many people fail to realize is that most of the Confederate statues we see today were not built during the time of reconstruction to honor the memory of those lost in battle, but rather, they were mainly built in two key eras during American history, the Jim Crow era and during the civil rights movement. This information suggests that the statues have very little to do with memorializing those who fought in the Civil War and a large part to do with disenfranchisement of blacks, segregation, and racial tension. This begs the question, to remove or not to remove?
One very important reason that these statues should be removed is because the statues are memorializing and recognizing a treasonous act by the Confederacy. As Mayor Mitch Landrieu of New Orleans, Louisiana stated in his recent speech on the removal of Confederate statues, “It is self-evident that these men did not fight for the United States of America, they fought against it. They may have been warriors, but in this cause, they were not patriots.” Treason by its very definition is “the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiances.” In the article “Treason is Treason” written by James Tyrus Seidule, Seidule quotes Michigan Senator Zachariah Chandler’s argument that “West Point Academy has produced more traitors within the last fifty years than all the institutions of learning and education that have existed since Judas Iscariot’s time.” General Robert E. Lee is one of the many graduates of West Point Academy who went on to turn his back on the United States and fight for the Confederacy.
Another important reason to remove the statues and monuments from the public eye is because each of these statues and monuments is another reminder that the individuals being memorialized fought in the Civil War to maintain Slavery. Mayor Landrieu stated in his speech, “After the Civil War, these statues…were erected purposefully to send a strong message to all who walked in their shadows about who was still in charge in this city.” He goes on in his speech to prove even more that the Civil War was fought over slavery by saying, “Should you have any further doubt about the true goals of the Confederacy, in the very weeks before the war broke out, the Vice President of the Confederacy, Alexander Stephens, made it clear that the Confederate cause was about maintaining slavery and white supremacy.”
The Final reason that these statues and monuments should be taken down and moved into a museum is because they no longer represent southern culture today. One piece of evidence that I have found states that even people within southern states wish for these Confederate statues to be removed. In a USA Today article titled “KKK Rally in Charlottesville Met With Throng of Protestors,” it states that people from the state of Virginia ventured out to counter protest the KKK’s belief that the Confederate statue of General Robert E. Lee should not be removed from a public park. The protest against the KKK was so large that local law enforcement had to step in. This protest against the KKK shows that many southerners today no longer believe that these statues are relevant to their communities anymore.
Despite my argument, there are other people who believe that the Confederate statues and monuments should not be removed for various reasons. One objection a person of the opposite belief may argue is, taking down the statues and monuments would be erasing our nation’s history; however, in moving the statues from the public eye and relocating them into a museum, American citizens would still be able to see them and remember what occurred during the Civil War, and it would be in the proper context. Another argument that one may have is that the Civil War was about state’s rights, so they believe that the statues and monuments do not represent slavery; however, as stated in an excerpt from Ordeal by Fire written by by James M. McPhereson and James K.Hogue, “Slavery was the fundamental cause of the sectional conflict that had led to the war.” These statues and monuments we see today represents a time when our country was flawed.
Each of these reasons puts forth something to think about when one joins this ongoing debate over the removal of Confederate statues and monuments. Although there are various counter arguments on this topic, each of these reasons are hard to overlook when deciding what one’s stance is in this debate. Slavery is no longer a way of life, we no longer view the South the way it used to be viewed, and Treason is still punishable by death or imprisonment and fine, so why should we leave these statues up in the public eye? These statues should be removed and moved into a museum where the proper context can be given to them.
