February 27, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“The War That Never Ended”

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War. In contrast with the 100th anniversary back in the 60’s which was, as I recall, the occasion for thoughtful histories of the War (By Bruce Catton and Shelby Foote among others) and also a celebration of the unity of our nation, the 150th anniversary seems already to have been high-jacked by those who want to re-write history as well as to push their own political agendas.

I am not particularly troubled by people who want to dress in period costumes for a Confederate Ball or re-enact the inauguration of Jefferson Davis. I am more troubled by such things as the decision of the state of Mississippi to issue a license plate in honor of Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest was a remarkable soldier in the same mold as a Sheridan or Patton, but he was also a thorough going racist who was the first Imperial Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan. Surely there are better Confederates to celebrate such as Robert E. Lee who, after the surrender at Appomattox, urged his soldiers to return home and become loyal citizens of the re-united Union.

What most concerns me is the attempt by some to suggest that the War was really about "States’ Rights" and "Northern Aggression." As the Confederacy made clear at the time, the only reason the South was supporting "States’ Rights" was in order to protect and preserve the "peculiar institution" of slavery. Can you imagine what would have happened if the South had won the War?
Today this anniversary seems to have been seized upon by those who want to promote the right of individual states to ignore ore repeal Federal laws they disagree with and, if that is not enough, once again to secede. Have some people really learned nothing from history? Even if it were possible — which I cannot believe it is — for the United States to be broken up into competing, sovereign states, the result would be economic and political disaster.

The great American poet and Lincoln biographer Carl Sandburg once noted that the Civil war was fought over a verb. Before the War official government documents said "The United States are . . . " After the war they read "The United States is . . . " Do we really want to fight again over a verb?

Love,
Pastor Dave