Nikki Haley’s fumbling of the slavery question reminds me of an incident I experienced while conducting a tour of the State House. I talk about abolition and Vermont’s role in the Civil War while giving these tours. One day, a gentleman from Alabama interrupted me. “Why do you Northerners always say the war was about slavery?” he said. “It was about states’ rights.”
I did not argue with him, said something about different viewpoints and continued the tour. At home, I looked it up. Alabama’s Ordinance of Secession specifically mentions it would seek to create a new government with other “slaveholding states of the South.” Clearly, Alabamans in 1861 thought preserving slavery was sufficient reason for leaving the United States. Other Southern states mention slavery in their articles of secession. There is no doubt about its role in dividing our nation and leading to war.
