A mistaken apology for slavery

New Jersey's 'profound regret' trivializes an important issue.

from the January 11, 2008 edition

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In the 18th century, the Founders could go only so far toward justice. As Lincoln explained: "They meant simply to declare the right, so that the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit."

Lincoln's view of the Founders is supported by the most vociferous defenders of slavery, including South Carolina Senator John Calhoun, who said in 1848: "[the proposition "all men are created equal"] as now understood, has become the most false and dangerous of all political errors.... We now begin to experience the danger of admitting so great an error to have a place in the Declaration of Independence."

Alexander Stephens, vice president of the Confederacy, asserted in 1861 that the Confederate Constitution would correct the error Calhoun identified. "Our new government," he said, "is founded upon exactly the opposite idea ... that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery ... is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth."

Lincoln contended that the Founders believed they had placed the institution of slavery on the road to extinction. But as the tragic events of mid-century were to prove, they were wrong. It took a bloody civil war to extirpate slavery finally, to purify America's "republican robe."

At his second inaugural, Lincoln attributed the Civil War to the will of God, "as the woe due to those by whom the offense [of slavery] came.... Fondly do we hope – fervently do we pray – that his mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said 3,000 years ago, so still must it be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' "

What apology today could compare with that?

New Jersey has expressed regret for its role in slavery. But several years ago, the state rejected a bill that would have required students to recite a portion of the Declaration of Independence. That's too bad, because the more substantial work of atoning for slavery lies in correcting the false philosophy that supported it – and affirming America's founding principles that rejected it.

• Mackubin Thomas Owens is professor of national security affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.

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