University of Virginia Library

Ditto

Christian S. White, in the CD of
October 28, 1971, states that "no
moral stigma can attach to them
[the Confederates] for their
beliefs" because "Southerners
based their opinions on the best
information available in their day."
I find this point of view deeply
amusing.

To follow Mr. White's logic, the
massacre by the Viet Cong of scores
of human beings at Hue during Tet
1968 must be condoned. Were not
the Viet Cong acting on "the best
information" that this massacre
would aid their fight for freedom?

Similarly, we must honor the
German extermination factories at
Auschwitz and Buchenwald.
Consider the vast ingenuity and
technical skill that converted the
German Republic from a bankrupt,
downtrodden nation to the most
powerful war machine in the world.
Surely such intelligent men must
have been acting on "the best
information" in imposing the final
solution to the Jewish problem.

In the Civil War itself, if
Southerners were actually acting on
"the best information," must we
conclude that the Union was
wrong, that it was acting on
second-rate information in believing
that slaves were human beings?

Mr. White is wholly correct in
asserting that we must consider the
moral standards and beliefs that
were accepted at the time in
evaluating any human endeavor.
However, it is foolish and
dangerous to refuse to make any
moral judgments simply because a
man believed he was right at the
time. Bull Connor believed he was
right at the time. General Sherman
believed he was right at the time.
Attila the Hun believed he was right
at the time. Pontius Pilate believed
he was right at the time. I think it is
time—after a full century for Mr.
White to accept the fact that
slavery was wrong, and that those
who supported it were wrong.