On September 14, 1874, ex-Confederate soldiers and their sympathizers, under the color of the White Leagues, staged an insurrection, over-throwing the state government of Louisiana. The group of more than 5,000 were an armed militia. They took control and for three days occupied the statehouse, the armory, and downtown New Orleans, which was the state capital at the time. They were able to do this by overwhelming the combined 2,500 members of the municipal police and state militia. The capital, and thus the state government, was rescued from the insurrectionists with the arrival of federal troops.
Although this was one of the most extreme examples, it illustrated the determination of those white supremacists to implement their belief that they had the right to rule no matter what the racial, political, or military circumstances were. The historical reality is that such groups as the White League and the KKK took to terrorism and armed violence so frequently that they “defeated” Reconstruction. It did not fail on its own nor did the northern politicians just give up on the idea. Reconstruction was defeated as the terrorists had their run in much of the south. Furthermore, by the time that the political compromise of 1877 was reached, the rebels had already regained political and economic control at the local levels across the South.
Almost as if to demonstrate that reality, ex-Confederates staged a coup d’etat in Wilmington, North Carolina, in November of 1898. Unlike their brothers in arms in New Orleans 24 years earlier, who went home and were never punished, the insurrectionists in North Carolina remained in office after the battle.
From the factual local endings of Reconstruction through the 1890s, the southern white leaders, who had driven both Black political office-holders and their northern sympathizers out of office and often out of the state, re-wrote their state constitutions in such ways as to perpetuate themselves in power for the next 75 years. As white so-called Christians whose ancestors had “owned” and ruled other people, they felt that they had the right to rule in their state and region. Thus, from the 1890s until the 1950s, their rule remained unchanged and virtually unchallenged.
It was for that reason that “all hell broke loose” with the Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. These descendants of the Battle of Liberty Place felt that they were being removed from the position of having the right to rule. Furthermore, matters soon escalated with passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1960, 1964, and 1965. Then, just as their forefathers nearly a century earlier, much of the white male population began resorting to armed violence and terrorism to hold onto power and what they felt was their right to rule.
Make no mistake about it, the idea of wealthy white men having the right to rule has always flourished under the guise of “states’ rights.” Going back to John C. Calhoun, slave-holders and segregationists have argued for states’ rights because states’ rights would enable them to overwhelm other people locally and to get their way in terms of having the right to rule. Therefore, when one fast-forwards to more modern times, it is easy to understand the appeal of political leaders like Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump in the old Confederacy. All of those were leaders who would enable the white supremacists to be white nationalists in their regions and spheres of influence.
If one remembers the spirit of the Battle of Liberty Place, he/she should not find it hard to believe, especially since the January 6, 2021, insurrection and numerous other threats, that Trump and his followers would do whatever they think is necessary to gain or remain in power. It should not be hard to realize that they would develop a Project 2025 to govern America, if Trump is elected in November. Yet, many have to be convinced of that truth. That document, Project 2025, like much of Trump’s rhetoric, is so socially dangerous and totally undemocratic until it is almost unbelievable. But do believe that they are that hell-bent on being in charge.
Project 2025, like the 1874 insurrection, would turn the clock back to the days when conservative white power was unchallenged. Project 2025 is designed to reassure wealthy white Christians –even if many are Christian in name only – that they have the right to rule. That is what they crave; it is in their spirit. For people of that mentality, democracy is of no value and has no place in their scheme of things if it means that because they are not the majority that they would not be the ones ruling society. They feel that they have a right to rule and are determined to do so.
