Colonial Williamsburg brings to life
the people of Virginia before the American Revolution. The geographic proximity
of the Yorktown battlefield and Jamestown settlement provides a sketch of
English colonization up to and including the American Revolution. Not too far
away, the siege works around Petersburg, and the Appomattox Courthouse speak of
a later century and another war. Aside from the lifestyles of the
pre-revolutionary colonists, the tension in the revolutionary era begs a
fundamental question.
When do values and circumstances drive
us to a potentially catastrophic rebellion against an unjust status quo? What
injustices justify rejection of existing governance? Were the founding fathers
justified in rebellion against Great Britain? Were the Confederate States
justified in leaving the Union? On a spiritual plane, was Satan’s rebellion
against and rejection of God’s authority justifiable? (I speak as if insane.)
Every would-be rebel must address this.
Justification of rebellion must ultimately rest on moral grounds. When is better the
enemy of good enough in a moral dimension? Resistance to Nazi Germany seems a
clear example of a government legitimizing its opposition by brazenly embracing
and practicing evil. The legitimate functions of government are to protect its
citizens and enable them to flourish. A completely illegitimate policy of
government is anything that benefits the governing officials and their cronies
at the expense of its citizens.
The U.S. Civil War (a.k.a. The War
Between The States) was a military stand-off for two years, giving the
advantage to the Confederacy. If the Northern states could not defeat them
outright, the Southern states expected them to give up the fight, de facto recognition
of their departure from the United States. The tide seems to have turned after
President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
Initially, the war was fought to preserve the Union, but after this date, the
Union was on record that freedom of enslaved people would be one of the
outcomes of the war. After the enormous losses of troops and battles with no
gain in two battles at Bull Run, the peninsular campaign, the battle of
Fredericksburg and so forth, the battle at Gettysburg in July 1863 seems to
have marked the tide turning.
There is probably a gray area in the
spectrum of government morality, but somewhere there is a line which, if
crossed, removes the legitimacy of that government. Had the British government
of the colonies crossed that line in 1776? This is not part of the Williamsburg
experience. It is worthwhile to take the 150 mile drive to Appomattox
Courthouse, to ponder the contrast between rebellions that succeeded and
failed, and their moral underpinning. It may be that the moral do not always
succeed in armed conflict, but if there is justice on earth as there is in
heaven, this author hopes they would. There will be no moral ambiguity or
uncertainty in that final battle, when Jesus will completely eradicate evil on
earth.
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