Politicians get into trouble when they try to play historian. Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia learned this lesson anew since declaring April to be Confederate History Month. A day after declaring that slavery wasn't significant to Virginia's Civil War history, he
Politicians get into trouble when they try to play historian. Gov. Bob McDonnell of Virginia learned this lesson anew since declaring April to be Confederate History Month. A day after declaring that slavery wasn't significant to Virginia's Civil War history, he sounded the retreat. When he first defended his position, he said that slavery was not worth including because there were other causes for the war that were the "most significant" for the history of Virginia. A day later, when he reversed his position, he released a statement longer than the original proclamation testifying to the central role slavery played in the conflict.
This might be seen by some as a climb-down in the face of political correctness. But it was simply common sense. McDonnell's original declaration failed by the very standards of history it cited. It argued for the observation of Confederate History Month because historical context demanded it but elided the historical context of that rather enormous thing called slavery. As a member of the party with an elephant as its mascot, the governor was not able to get a pass for ignoring the one in the room. McDonnell compounded his problem by explaining the declaration's lack of a slavery reference on the grounds that "there were any number of aspects to that conflict between the states," he said. "Obviously, it involved slavery. It involved other issues. But I focused on the ones I thought were most significant for Virginia."
This was historically nuts, politically curious, and logically inconsistent with McDonnell's own standards for other such proclamations.
Look, for example, at the governor's proclamation celebrating Black History Month. It celebrates lots of people who had nothing to do with Virginia, such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Jackie Robinson. It also suggests an attitude toward historical complexity that is absent from the Confederate proclamation. "It is important to learn from the many lessons of history's failures, successes, disappointments and triumphs as we continue to pursue our Founding Fathers' visions of liberty, justice and equality for all."
But it was McDonnell's previous view of history that was so hard to defend. The governor said slavery wasn't "significant for Virginia." There were 500,000 slaves in Virginia at the time of the Civil War. The Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, quoted in McDonnell's proclamation, seemed to have thought slavery was a pretty important part of the war. Richmond was the capital of the Confederacy and houses the largest museum devoted to celebrating the Confederacy. This year, to celebrate the sesquicentennial of the American Civil War, the Museum of the Confederacy will host a special lecture series devoted to the top