Speaking Monday in South Carolina, Biden sought to connect the fallout of the Civil War with the aftermath of the 2020 election as he warned truth and basic freedoms would be at risk if Trumpwon another White House term. Biden drew comparisons between 2020 and the Civil War, when he said defeated Confederates could not accept defeat and instead embraced the “lost cause” that the war was about state’s rights, not slavery. That lie, he argued, brought on Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised and discriminated against Black people (The Hill).
“Now, we’re living in an era of a second lost cause,” Biden said. “Once again there are some in this country trying to turn loss into a lie. A lie which, if allowed to live, will once again bring terrible damage to this country. This time the lie is about the 2020 election.”
Editor’s Note: If anyone doubted the relative importance of slavery versus state’s rights in the creation of the Confederacy, the new Constitution of the South made matters worse. “Our new government is founded….. upon the great truth that the negro is not the equal of the white man. That slavery-subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.” 16
Considering the statements made by Southern leaders over the issue of slavery clouded the idea of states rights and its opposition to individual freedom.
