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Conservatives And Republicans Must Reclaim Memorial Day

In the face of the Far Left’s attempts to rewrite American history through the now-discredited 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory, Republicans and conservatives must reclaim the key dates and events in American history and there is no better place to start than Memorial Day 2021.

Memorial Day was created not as a “holiday” or an excuse for corporate merchants to advertise sales, but as a solemn commemoration of the dead of both sides in the American Civil War.


In that context Memorial Day commemorates a number of constitutional conservative values, not the least of which is the inviolability of the Constitution itself.


What the Civil War decided, and Memorial Day commemorates, is that the Constitution is the unbreakable bond holding the United States together. The Constitution, rather than ties of race or language, is what unites the United States – and Americans are prepared at the enormous shedding of blood to defend that Constitution against assaults from without and within.


When the oath officers of our military and civil government take when they are commissioned states they will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against “all enemies, foreign and domestic” it means up to and including fighting a war that cost as many as 750,000 lives.


So, preserving the Constitution is perhaps the most important conservative value Memorial Day commemorates.


Conversely, Memorial Day also commemorates the terrible cost of war and preserves for the education of future generations the lesson learned by our ancestors that war can only be the ultimate resort of the state when all other means of preserving itself have failed.


In his May 30, 1868 Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery Congressman, later President, James Garfield said “I am oppressed with a sense of the impropriety of uttering words on this occasion. If silence is ever golden, it must be here, beside the graves of fifteen thousand men, whose lives were more significant than speech, and whose death was a poem the music of which can never be sung.”


Garfield, one of our most underestimated Presidents, knew what he was talking about because he knew war; he served as a major general in the Union Army during the Civil War, and fought in the battles of Middle Creek, Shiloh, and Chickamauga.


Memorial Day, as originally conceived as “Decoration Day” in Garfield’s time was much less a day of jingoistic patriotism and much more a day of remembering the terrible cost of war. It is worth noting that back when the original purpose of Memorial Day was fresh in the minds of Americans, it seems that politicians and elected officials were not nearly so quick to advocate the use of military force.


And avoiding the cost of war – in lives and treasure – is a conservative value too often obfuscated by alleged “conservatives” such as Rep. Liz Cheney and other members of the DC War Party.


And Memorial Day is also a good day for Republicans to reclaim their heritage as the revolutionary party that preserved the Union and, in the process, freed the slaves and fulfilled the promise of the Declaration of Independence that all men are created equal and that they are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”


The Far Left and Democrats should also not be allowed to hide from the fact that it was the Democratic Party that defended slavery and sought to extend it westward in the years leading to the Civil War. And it was Democrats who brought forward the resolutions of succession in the state legislatures of the slave states – no Republican voted to preserve slavery or sunder the Union – it was all the doing of Democrats.


And there is another value commemorated by Memorial Day that Democrats and the Far Left are trying to denigrate – the post-Civil War healing of the country.


Memorial Day does not distinguish between the Union and Confederate dead in toting up the cost of war. Unlike Independence Day or Veterans Day it does not rest upon the date of any battle or act of the government – and the date was specifically chosen to avoid such associations.


Finally, there is one other value that we should commemorate on Memorial Day – the acts the former combatants undertook to assist in the healing of the Nation.


When Lee surrendered at Appomattox he also signed a parole document swearing upon his honor not to bear arms against the United States or to “tender aid to its enemies.” Lee’s surrender and his immediate parole were essential in preventing the Civil War from continuing as a destructive guerilla war that would have continued to rend the country indefinitely.


General Grant’s terms provided that all officers and men were to be pardoned, and they would be sent home with their private property - most important, the horses, which could be used for a late spring planting. Officers would keep their sidearms, and Lee’s starving men would be given Union rations.


General Grant told his officers, “The war is over. The Rebels are our countrymen again.” Although scattered resistance continued for several weeks, for all practical purposes the Civil War had come to an end.*


This good will toward the defeated Confederates was crucial to the healing of our country – and it was reciprocated by such notable Confederate figures as Generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet.


When Congress ordered the drafting of new constitutions in the former Confederate states and disgruntled southerners contemplated a boycott of the system, Lee announced that it was "the duty of the [southern] people to accept the situation fully" and that every man should not only "prepare himself to vote" but also "prepare his friends, white and colored, to vote and to vote rightly."**


Lee's code of personal conduct demanded submission to federal authority. With characteristic self-discipline, he put the past behind him and moved forward. Longstreet returned to serve his reunited country as a soldier, diplomat, and civil servant. Many southerners proved willing to follow the examples of Lee and Longstreet and through them the United States was not only reunited, but rebuilt into the preeminent military and economic power it is today.


When Democrats and their allies in the Far Left media attempt to divide Americans along the lines of race, ethnicity and economics we conservatives and Republicans should take ownership of Memorial Day as the day that commemorates how we defeated them in 1865 and our inspiration to defeat them again in 2021.


George Rasley, Editor of ConservativeHQ.com served on the Indiana – Tennessee Civil War Commission. His ancestor Rep. Joseph H. DeFreese sponsored the post-Civil War legislation to readmit Tennessee to the Union and many in his family fought with distinction on the Union side in the Civil War.




  • Memorial Day

  • Conservatives

  • Republicans

  • 1619 Project

  • Critical Race Theory

  • American History

  • Constitution

  • U.S. Military

  • General Lee surrender

550 views15 comments

15 Comments


Charles Wilkins
Charles Wilkins
Jun 01, 2021

The China sea belongs to China, because it has their name? Taiwan, belongs to China because they speak Chinese? Hongkong belongs to China, because Britain gave it back to them? China caused the virus, cause that’s what they do? The Chinese Military wants to invest in our trade secrets, this is why they have spies all over our Country? Communist China is our friend, this is why they gave us, the Biden family two hundred million dollars commission contract, because were such great guys? China uses slave labor, tortures all religions except what their State controls? What’s wrong with Biden’s China Policy? Chinese military, trying to kill our dollar, steal all our military secrets, C’mon man, just a difference in…

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rosie16
rosie16
May 29, 2021

I don't believe Memorial Day is about the Constitution. Rather, I believe that it is a day to celebrate those who gave their lives for whatever THEY believed they were fighting for.

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kenmarx
May 28, 2021

As an aside since this story is about the men who sacrificed their lives in the Civil War, Lee was a great leader. He had the option of leading the federal forces or joining with the people of his state on the side of the rebellion. That couldn't have been an easy choice. One wonders what his future would have been if he'd been on the winning side. Our entire history might be different.

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Jay Robison
Jay Robison
May 29, 2021
Replying to

Keep it relevant. Rosie16 mentioned nothing about the reasons the Civil War was fought, which were numerous, and your opinion is only worth 💩.

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Charles Wilkins
Charles Wilkins
May 28, 2021

Marxism on the rise with Biden: Biden Delays revamp of Trump's blacklist for China Investments linked to the Chinese military? The China sea belongs to China, because it has their name? Taiwan, belongs to China because they speak Chinese? Hongkong belongs to China, because Britain gave it back to them? China caused the virus, cause that's what they do? The Chinese Military wants to invest in our trade secrets, this is why they have spies all over our Country? Communist China is our friend, this is why they gave the Biden family two hundred million dollars, because were such great guys? China uses slave labor, tortures all religions except what the State controls? What's wrong with Biden's China Policy? Chinese…

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Jay Robison
Jay Robison
May 28, 2021
Replying to

Only in your leftist warped opinion.

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josefthek
josefthek
May 28, 2021

I 'member when Trump called the U.S. military "a bunch of dopes and babies."

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rosie16
rosie16
May 29, 2021
Replying to

Actually he said it about the top military brass. And he said it to the faces of Joint Chiefs Gen. Joseph Dunford, then-Defense Secretary James Mattis, and other military officials at a 2017 meeting...at least, that's the story as told by a couple of hacks from Pravda on the Potomac, the WaPo. Can't say I disagree, considering what passes for leadership in the military these days. But considering that you thought it was about the troops tells a lot more about you than about Trump. For shame!!!...and on Memorial Day...

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