We have to own — not sanitize — our history; what those here back then did, not only on their own behalf, but for following generations too. We need not agree with what they did to accept the memorials intervening generations have set to commemorate it. These memorials do not necessarily say that we value whatever was their cause, but that they then valued it. That is how art serves history.
The idea that the American Civil War was about slavery is an oversimplification fit for elementary school, but high school and college history courses typically acknowledge a multiplicity of causal factors besides slavery: tariffs, which had little to do with slavery; federal control versus local autonomy, and northern noncooperation with federal laws which had more to do with slavery; and even ethnic-cultural differences. Jeffrey Rogers Hummel’s libertarian classic, “Freeing the Slaves, Enslaving the Free.” posits that the “lower seven” states, which seceded in response to Lincoln’s election, “seceded over slavery” versus the “upper four,” including Virginia, which rejected secession initially and only “seceded over freedom” after Lincoln’s call to invade following Fort Sumter.
I was in New Orleans on business after Mayor Landrieu had the statues removed. Viewing an empty grand pedestal while waiting for the streetcar, I experienced a visceral sensation like beholding Rip Van Winkle’s headless horseman: New Orleans had effectively renounced its history as if its present was not a result of its past. Annihilation of the past is the hallmark of the most abusive regimes. If we are vexed by our past, we need monuments to remind us and future generations to not repeat it.
Dino Drudi
Alexandria