South Carolina Senator Tim Scott's Civil War Memory
I am always interested to see how our elected leaders leverage or manipulate a certain narrative of Civil War memory to suit their political needs. Politics has always been wrapped up in how we remember and choose to commemorate America’s defining moment.
In his video announcing the formation of an exploratory committee for a possible 2024 presidential run, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina chose to use Charleston Harbor and the anniversary of the firing on Fort Sumter as his backdrop.
On this day, April 12, 1861, in this harbor, the first shots of the Civil War were fired. And our country faced the defining moment. Would we truly be one nation, under God, with liberty, and justice for all? America’s soul was put to the test and we prevailed. Today our country is, once again, being tested. Once again, our divisions run deep and the threat to our future is real.
Scott uses the anniversary to drive home the theme of a ‘Divided America,’ which, to no one’s surprise, he pins on President Joe Biden and the Democrats. I will leave this for others to analyze. It’s boilerplate conservative rhetoric that holds zero interest for me.
What does interest me is how he characterizes this key anniversary. Scott steers clear of offering any hint that it was South Carolinians who were responsible for firing the first shots that led to war. They were the aggressors. Of course, to do so would be suicidal in his home state and he certainly knows it.
Let’s be clear what happened on April 12, 1861. Confederate forces under the command of General P.G.T. Buearegard ordered a bombardment of a federal military installation. Major Robert Anderson was forced to surrender the following day. The spark for what led to the most divisive and costly event in American history was centered in South Carolina, first with its decision to secede from the Union in December 1860 andagain in April 1861.
Scott places the blame for our divided country on the current president, but avoids pinning the blame on anyone in 1861 at all cost
Tim Scott’s Republican Party has largely embraced the Confederacy’s Lost Cause legacy through state laws protecting Confederate monuments, their committment to limiting voting access, and the censoring of the teaching of the history of white supremacy in numerous states acros the country.
Notice that Scott couldn’t even bring himself to acknowledge the defeat of the Confederacy as part of the Republican Party’s legacy. Again, such a statement would be suicidal in South Carolina and in Republican circles acros the nation. Former president Trump praised Confederate generals like Robert E. Lee on multiple occasions.
Memory is often a tangled mess.
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It is amazing to see, especially when the reason for the attack was losing an election and being denied the chance to bring Kansas into the Union as a slave state. But to see a well educated African American using the imagery of Ft. Sumter to announce his campaign is mind numbing. Had the Confederates won he wouldn’t be a Senator and probably not even able to vote.
Disturbing that Senator Scott would think that Ft. Sumter is an appropriate symbol for his campaign. Can you be a Conservative Politician and criticize the Confederacy for waging a violent insurrection against the United States to preserve slavery?