Earlier this week marked the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War, the bloodiest conflict in our nation’s history. A century and a half ago, rebel forces fired on Fort Sumter off the coast of South Carolina, and the battle for the heart and soul of the idea of democracy in the United States commenced.
We have come a long way since then, although old wounds still run deep, just as old resentments lay just below the surface. The Stars and Bars still rankle those who deeply resent the legacy of slavery, and the playing of Dixie still stirs the hearts of those who proudly call themselves sons of the confederacy.
That things have changed in America is so completely obvious, it probably doesn’t need to be stated. But it is hard to think that the Great Emancipator himself could ever have imagined that one day a black man would ascend to the White House, or that he would win Virginia and North Carolina, two of the most important states in the old Confederacy, to get there.
Loading ...