In an interview in 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump said he
wondered why the issues leading to the U.S. Civil War “could not have been
worked out” to prevent the republics from exiting the U.S.[1]
“People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why?”[2]
In particular, “People don’t ask . . . why was there the Civil War? Why could
that one not have been worked out?”[3]
The reigning assumption has been that President Lincoln could not have resolved
the dispute short of going to war. Trump then suggested that had President
Andrew Jackson been president rather than Lincoln, we “wouldn’t have had the
Civil War.”[4]
Aside from the point that Jackson was a Southerner, his feat in resolving the
Nullification Crisis without a shot being fired suggests that Trump had a
point; the war between the C.S.A. and U.S.A. could have been averted. More
importantly, the mentality that won
the war may not be as salubrious as we suppose.
The full essay is at "Presidents Jackson and Lincoln: Statescraft."
[1]
Jonathan Lemire, “Trump Makes
Puzzling Claim About Andrew Jackson, Civil War,” The Sacramento Bee, May 1, 2017.
[2]
Ibid.
[3]
Ibid.
[4]
Ibid.
