The American Civil War, fought between 1861 and 1865, was one of the greatest examples in recorded history of military action undertaken by one people to free another from subjugation. Certainly the motives of those on both sides of the conflict were complex, and not altogether either altruistic or depraved, but it is hard to argue that at least a very prominent cause of the War of the Rebellion, as it was often called, was the desire of those in the North to abolish the enslavement of African-Americans in the South, and the desire of those in the South to prevent the abolition of slavery. The Civil War was fought with a ferocity and level of bloodshed unmatched in the history of the United States. By comparison, in World War II, our nation’s second most bloody conflict, 2.5 percent of those who served were killed. In the Civil War, almost 20 percent of those who served died. Over 600,000 dead. A number when adjusted for the population is over six times the rate of casualties in World War II. And those were just the soldiers. Being our only declared Civil War, no other conflict in our history even approaches the devastation wrought on our home front.
And for that unprecedented sacrifice of men and material, that incredible bloodletting, our nation had another next best chance to prove we truly believed, as enshrined in our Declaration of Independence, that it is a self-evident truth that all God’s children are created equal, that we are all are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, among these being life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And with the Emancipation Proclamation during the War and efforts at Reconstruction after the war, efforts were made, however imperfect, to heal our nation’s Achilles Heel and build a more prosperous and equitable future.
But the will was not there, and political expediency prevailed over foresight. The promise was vanquished for a time once again. Following the hotly contested presidential election of 1876 between the Republican Governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes, and the Democrat Governor of New York, Samuel J. Tilden, the Compromise of 1877 between the political parties allowed the Republicans to gain the White House in exchange for Democrats in the South regaining mastery once again over their newly freed slaves. The incredible sacrifices of millions during the Civil War was traded in as a political bargaining chip in an election. Less than 30 years after Hayes’ election, and 40 years after the end of the war, virtually all the African-Americans who remained in the South had been essentially disenfranchised once again. Slaves no more, but not free either.
Party platforms and allegiances have moved back and forth, but the promise has too often fallen victim, time and again, to political expediency. Too often Republicans politicians, to their shame, have left unaddressed the concerns of our African-American fellow citizens because they simply had no connection to African-American communities and no real vision for how to improve them, and maybe most importantly, most Republican politicians don’t seem to think they can earn any African-American votes anyway. Too often Democratic politicians have neglected to adequately address the concerns of our African-American fellow citizens as well, paying prodigious amounts of lip service until the votes are cast, feeling confident that as Democrats they are entitled to the votes of African-Americans, whether they deliver anything meaningful and lasting or not.
So the cycle continues, until it doesn’t. Our Achilles Heel remains unhealed, and nothing changes, until it does.