We should not honor secessionists

I noted in The Post and Courier of Feb. 13 that the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum Board of Directors deferred a decision on a monument recognizing the signers of our state's Ordinance of Secession until their March meeting. The monument has the predictably strong support of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, as well as that of a group of lawmakers that includes state Sen. Robert Ford and state Rep. Tim Scott. The monument also has its share of concerned opponents, and I'd like to associate myself with those opponents.

I've always had a fondness for Patriots Point. When my sons were younger and my family lived in Columbia, our trips to Charleston included a stop at Patriots Point to explore the ships and planes on display, precious artifacts that represent America's commitment to freedom. Patriots Point also enables me to personally reflect on the valor of my father and uncles who served their country during World War II, even though their country treated them as second class citizens. Their patriotism outweighed that inequitable treatment, and they defended America.

While I cannot embrace the heritage of those whose ancestors fought for the Confederate States of America, I respect their right to honor and hold their ancestors dear, and to see that they are appropriately remembered. Patriots Point, however, is not an appropriate place for a monument to those who started that war. The essence of patriotism is devoted love, support and defense of one's country, and the exhibits at Patriots Point recognize those who devotedly loved, supported and defended the United States of America.

The 170 South Carolinians who signed the Ordinance of Secession nearly 150 years ago didn't do so to express their devoted love, support and defense of the United States of America. The document's stated intent was to "dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other states united with her under the compact entitled, 'The Constitution of the United States of America.' " The first stated cause of secession accompanying that document says, "The people of the State of South Carolina, in Convention assembled, on the 26th day of April, A.D., 1852, declared that the frequent violations of the Constitution of the United States, by the Federal Government, and its encroachments upon the reserved rights of the States, fully justified this State in then withdrawing from the Federal Union; but in deference to the opinions and wishes of the other slaveholding States, she forbore at that time to exercise this right."

The stated causes also included the election of a new President and Congressional majority party, saying, "On the 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States. The guaranties of the Constitution will then no longer exist; the equal rights of the States will be lost. The slaveholding States will no longer have the power of self-government, or self-protection, and the Federal Government will have become their enemy."

Those who signed the Ordinance of Secession did not affirm their love or support for or their commitment to defend the United States of America. They withdrew from the Union and established a separate nation -- the Confederate States of America. That made them not American patriots, but traitors who turned their backs on America and whose new nation sent troops to engage in warfare against the United States of America.

Our state will rightfully commemorate the Civil War's sesquicentennial in many ways, because that war is a complex part of South Carolina and American history. That celebration should include the recognition of those who started that war in an appropriate context and venue, but Patriot's Point is not the appropriate context or venue.

A monument to traitors who deserted and fought against their former country in a place set aside to recognize American patriots would be a gross insult to the lives and valor of those who fought for and who still love, support and defend the United States of America.