Book Review: “Fateful Lightning,” Allen C. Guelzo
Whenever a person frets that our nation is "more divided than ever," it is probably worth pointing out that about 150 years ago, our divisions were so deep that they led to a bloody civil war. Astonishingly, at that time, half of our nation decided to secede and form their own nation, with their own constitution and their own president. While slavery was certainly a major factor in the conflict, it was not the only catalyst at work. Many people in the north were just as racist as people in the south, so for them, it wasn't emancipation but the preservation of the union that was top of mind. (Even President Lincoln assured the South at one time that his aim was “not to interfere with slavery in the Southern states.” — p.158). If the south emerged victorious, thus permanently dividing the country, then every tyrannical king or dictator in the world at the time could gloat that the American experiment had failed.
So the war went on, and when it was over, the southern economy was devastated and 360,222 people were dead (a number almost certainly under-reported). In the north alone, probably 200,000 more soldiers died after the war from wounds and diseases incurred during the conflict. Similarly grievous was the fact that reconstruction efforts to ensure civil rights for African-Americans after the war met with one setback after another, causing some to wonder if the war's legacy was just to exchange one kind of slavery for another.
There is so much meat in this book to chew on. Allen Guelzo (a Christian who has been a frequent guest on Kevin DeYoung's podcast and is serving as an advisory member of the PCA's study committee on Christian Nationalism) doesn't give us a mere chronological unfolding of events, but takes slight detours to help us understand factors not normally considered, such as the role of the US Navy in the Civil War; the way soldiers' uniforms were designed; the effect the war had on the banking industry (which can make for some slow reading); and the plight of women, both those at home and those wanting to fight (some by pretending they were men!).
It is sadly true that slavery was supported by some Christians, including the famous Presbyterian Robert Lewis Dabney (who asserted that slavery was “perfectly lawful and right” — p.87), but nevertheless, it was Protestant evangelicalism that “formed the backbone” of much resistance to slavery (p.45), including the efforts of the famous evangelist Charles Finney, showing that even people with aberrant theology can get some things right.
During the hardest of times we sometimes see displayed the greatest of virtues. Of course there is much to admire in men like Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant, but there is also Thaddeus Stevens, who died after the war was over and asked to be buried in a segregated cemetery for African-American paupers. He wanted to illustrate in his death "the principles which I advocated through a long life, equality of man before his Creator." (p.504). It would be a long time before the vision of Lincoln, Grant and Stevens would start to become a reality.
