Nikki Haley, asked what caused the Civil War, leaves out slavery. It’s not the first time

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Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate, faced a question from a New Hampshire voter regarding the causes of the Civil War, and notably omitted any mention of slavery in her response, leaving the voter “astonished.”

During a town hall event in Berlin, New Hampshire, where the Civil War’s first shots were fired in her home state of South Carolina, Haley chose to discuss the role of government, emphasizing the “freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”

When the voter pressed for a more direct answer, Haley delved into a more detailed explanation involving government, individual freedom, and capitalism. However, the questioner expressed disappointment, remarking that it was astonishing in the year 2023 for her not to mention slavery in her response.

Haley’s campaign, which has been competing for a distant second place to Donald Trump in the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on her answer. Meanwhile, the campaign of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, another contender for the nomination, shared the video of the exchange on social media with the comment “Yikes.”

Haley has faced questions regarding the origins of the Civil War and its heritage in the past, particularly during her 2010 campaign for governor. At that time, she described the war as a conflict between two sides seeking “tradition” and “change” and defended the Confederate flag as non-racist. However, following a mass shooting in 2015, she called for the flag’s removal from the Statehouse grounds, citing its misuse by the shooter and acknowledging its association with sacrifice and heritage.

It’s worth noting that South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession, the 1860 proclamation outlining the state’s reasons for seceding from the Union, explicitly mentions slavery in its opening sentence and cites “increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery” as a reason for secession.

In response to Haley’s recent comments, Christale Spain, the first Black woman to chair South Carolina’s Democratic Party, characterized her response as “vile but unsurprising,” highlighting Haley’s previous stance on the Confederate flag and her alignment with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Jaime Harrison, current chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also criticized Haley’s response, recalling her past statements about the Confederate flag during her tenure as governor.

For more information, you can contact Meg Kinnard at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.

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More about Civil War Controversy

• Nikki Haley’s Campaign
• South Carolina’s Ordinance of Secession
• Controversy Over Nikki Haley’s Civil War Response
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• Ron DeSantis’s Campaign
• Christale Spain’s Post
• Jaime Harrison’s Post