Jim DeMint, former South Carolina Congressman and Head of the Heritage Foundation seeks to rewrite the Civil War narrative. He stated that the Federal Government and President Lincoln did not have anything to do with freeing the slaves. Instead, he states that it was the U.S. Constitution and good Christians who helped end slavery. DeMint does not mention that some white Christians used the Bible as justification for slavery, nor does he mention that the U.S. Constitution did not recognize African slaves as being citizens. Here is a portion of his comments:
“Well, the reason that the slaves were eventually freed was the Constitution. It was like the conscience of the American people. Unfortunately, there were some court decisions like Dred Scott and others that defined some people as property; but the Constitution kept calling us back to ‘all men are created equal’ and we have inalienable rights in the minds of God. But a lot of the move to free the slaves came from the people; it did not come from the federal government. It came from a growing movement among the people, particularly people of faith, that [slavery] was wrong. People like Wilberforce, who persisted for years because of his faith and because of his love for people. So no liberal is going to win a debate that big government freed the slaves. In fact, it was Abraham Lincoln, the very first Republican, who took this on as a cause and a lot of it was based on a love in his heart that comes from God.”
The entire conversation can be found at rightwingwatch.org
