Reality Check

Confederate forces opened fire on the federal garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor at 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861. After 34 hours of bombardment, Major Robert Anderson surrendered. No one was killed in the battle itself, but it ignited the bloodiest war in American history.

"The Confederacy fired on the US garrison of Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 opening the Civil War, which redefined American freedom."

— National Park Service, Fort Sumter

Every seceding state issued a declaration explaining why they left. These documents mention slavery dozens of times and tariffs rarely or never. Mississippi's declaration begins: 'Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.' They weren't hiding it.

"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery—the greatest material interest of the world."

— Mississippi Declaration of Secession, January 1861

Confederate batteries under General P.G.T. Beauregard fired the first shots at 4:30 AM on April 12, 1861. The Union garrison under Major Anderson had not fired a shot. Edmund Ruffin, a pro-slavery advocate, claimed to have fired one of the first shots and later killed himself after the Confederacy lost.

"Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War upon Federal troops at Fort Sumter at 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861."

— National Park Service, Fort Sumter History

Mississippi's Declaration of Secession centers entirely on slavery and mentions tariffs zero times. The very second sentence identifies their position as 'thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery.' Georgia's declaration mentions slavery-related terms over 80 times. These aren't interpretations—they're documented word counts.

"It has grown until it denies the right of property in slaves, and refuses protection to that right on the high seas, in the Territories, and wherever the government of the United States had jurisdiction."

— Mississippi Declaration of Secession

Andrew Johnson, Lincoln's Vice President, became the 17th President after Lincoln's assassination on April 15, 1865. Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat who had remained loyal to the Union, proved disastrous for Reconstruction. He pardoned Confederate leaders, opposed civil rights for freed slaves, and was impeached (though not removed) by Congress.

"This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men."

— Andrew Johnson, 1866

The Wilmington Insurrection of 1898 was the only successful coup d'etat in American history. A white supremacist mob overthrew the legitimately elected biracial city government, murdered an estimated 60-300 Black residents, and drove thousands more from the city. It marked the violent end of Black political power in North Carolina for generations.

"We will not live under these intolerable conditions. We will never surrender to a ragged raffle of negroes."

— Wilmington Declaration of White Independence, 1898

Strom Thurmond switched parties on September 16, 1964, specifically because the Democratic Party had passed the Civil Rights Act. Thurmond had run for president in 1948 as a segregationist Dixiecrat. His switch to the GOP signaled that the party of Lincoln was now the home for those opposing civil rights.

"The Democratic Party has abandoned the people... It has repudiated the Constitution of the United States. It is leading the evolution of our nation to a socialistic dictatorship."

— Strom Thurmond, announcing party switch, September 16, 1964

The Southern Strategy was a Republican electoral strategy to win white Southern voters by appealing to racism against African Americans. Nixon adviser Kevin Phillips outlined it in 1970. Lee Atwater later explained how it evolved from explicit racism to coded language. In 2005, RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman formally apologized for it.

"You start out in 1954 by saying, 'N----r, n----r, n----r.' By 1968 you can't say 'n----r'—that hurts you, backfires. So you say stuff like, uh, forced busing, states' rights, and all that stuff."

— Lee Atwater, Republican strategist, 1981 interview

In 1860, the white South voted Democratic and remained solidly Democratic for nearly 100 years. The shift began in 1948 with the Dixiecrat revolt, accelerated after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and was complete by the 1980s. Today, the former Confederate states are the most reliably Republican region in the country.

"From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don't need any more than that... The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans."

— Kevin Phillips, Nixon strategist, New York Times, May 17, 1970

The party realignment was gradual. It began with Thurmond's 1948 Dixiecrat campaign, gained momentum when Goldwater opposed the Civil Rights Act in 1964, was exploited by Nixon's Southern Strategy in 1968, and was solidified by Reagan in 1980. By the 1990s, the transformation was complete. It wasn't a single event—it was a generation of political change.

"Some Republicans gave up on winning the African American vote, looking the other way or trying to benefit politically from racial polarization. I am here today as the Republican chairman to tell you we were wrong."

— Ken Mehlman, RNC Chairman, NAACP Speech, 2005

In Shelby County v. Holder (2013), the Supreme Court struck down the formula used to determine which states needed federal approval before changing voting laws. Within hours of the decision, Texas announced a strict voter ID law. Within months, states across the former Confederacy enacted new voting restrictions. The decision effectively ended federal oversight of voting in states with histories of discrimination.

"Our country has changed, and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions."

— Chief Justice John Roberts, Shelby County v. Holder majority opinion, 2013