Why Couldnt a War Happen Again

U.S. President Donald Trump (Source: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

The U.Southward. president had a historical question: Why did America'south Civil War happen? "Why could that i not have been worked out?" Remarks by Donald Trump, aired Mon, showed presidential uncertainty almost the origin and necessity of the Ceremonious War, a defining event in U.s. history with slavery at its core. Trump besides declared that President Andrew Jackson was angry well-nigh "what was happening" with regard to the war, which started 16 years after his death, and could have stopped it if still in office.

Trump, who has at times shown a shaky grasp of United states of america history, questioned why issues couldn't have been settled to forestall the war that followed the secession of 11 Southern states from the Union and brought death to more than 600,000 Americans, N and South.

"People don't realize, you know, the Ceremonious State of war, if you lot retrieve about information technology, why?" Trump said in an interview with The Washington Examiner that too aired on Sirius XM radio. "People don't ask that question, merely why was there the Civil War? Why could that i non have been worked out?"

In fact, the causes of the Civil War are often discussed, from heart school classrooms to university lecture halls and in countless books. Immigrants seeking to become naturalized are sometimes asked to name a cause of the state of war in their citizenship tests. Fierce disagreement over the futurity of slavery was a driving strength backside the war, merely economic problems and disputes over state rights were also factors.

"Slavery was the root cause of the Civil War. It was not the only cause, but it was the underlying cause," said Eric Foner, a Columbia University history professor and a leading expert on the war. "Every bit a historian, I would prefer the president had a better handle on American history."

Trump's comments about the war came later he lauded Jackson, the populist president whom he and his staff have cited as a role model. He suggested that if Jackson had been president "a little afterwards, y'all wouldn't accept had the Civil War."

"He was really aroused that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War. He said, 'There's no reason for this,'" Trump continued. Jackson died in 1845. The Civil State of war began in 1861.

Late Mon, after a day of incredulous news coverage, Trump took to Twitter to dilate his message and seemingly stress that he did in fact know when Jackson died, writing: "President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, saw it coming and was angry. Would never have allow information technology happen!"

Jackson was a slave-holding plantation owner. Some historians practise credit him with preserving the full Union when Due south Carolina threatened to secede in the 1830s over an individual state's ability to void federal tariffs. Just that controversy, known as the "Nullification Crunch," was non about slavery, and the eventual compromise that preserved states' rights did little to alter the nation's path to the War Betwixt u.s.a..

"Even Andrew Jackson, were he alive, could non take solved the problem," Foner said. "The state of affairs in 1861 was far more dire than in the 1830s during the Nullification Crunch."

The Civil War was decades in the making, stemming from disputes between the North and Southward about slavery and whether the spousal relationship or the individual states had more than ability. The question over the expansion of slavery into new Western territories simmered for decades and Southern leaders threatened secession if anti-slavery candidate Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860.

After Lincoln won without carrying a single Southern state, Southern leaders believed their rights were imperiled and seceded, forming the Amalgamated States of America. War erupted soon afterward every bit the North fought to go along the nation together. The disharmonize lasted four years.

The White House did not answer to requests for an explanation of Trump's reasoning. His comments on the Civil War drew swift criticism from some civil rights groups and Democrats, including Rep. Barbara Lee of California who tweeted "President Trump doesn't understand the Civil War. It's considering my ancestors and millions of others were enslaved."

This is far from the offset time that Trump expressed a muddled view on American history.

Trump, during an African-American history month event, seemed to imply that the 19th century abolitionist Frederick Douglass was yet alive. Trump said in Feb that Douglass "is an example of somebody who's done an amazing chore and is getting recognized more than and more, I notice."

While justifying his argument for a border wall with Mexico, Trump said last week that human trafficking is "a problem that'southward probably worse than any fourth dimension in the history of this world," a claim that seemed to omit the African slave trade.

Trump, prompted past his primary strategist Steve Bannon, embraced the legacy of Jackson presently afterward his election.

The White House has eagerly drawn parallels between the two men, particularly between Trump's success with working-form voters and how Jackson fashioned himself equally a champion of the common human being against a political organisation that favored the rich and powerful. Trump paid tribute to Jackson, known equally "Old Hickory," by visiting Jackson's grave in Tennessee in March.

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Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/world/trump-on-civil-war-why-couldnt-they-have-worked-that-out-4636470/

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