GOP Presidential candidate Nikki Haley acknowledged the Civil War was about slavery a day after not mentioning it when a voter asked her about the conflict.
Haley has vaulted herself into the number 2 position in the Republican primary after Donald Trump, Newsweek reported Wednesday citing a Rasmussen Reports survey of 792 likely Republican voters.
Haley made her comments at a campaign stop in New Hampshire where a voter asked her what led to the Civil War.
“I mean, I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are,” Time reported Haley said. “I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people.”
Most historians believe slavery was at the core of the Civil War. The voter who asked Haley the question was incredulous.
“In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery,” he said.
What do you want me to say about slavery?” she replied.
Today, the former UN Ambassador under Donald Trump and South Carolina governor today backtracked on her answer.
“Of course, the Civil War was about slavery,” ABC News reported Haley said Thursday in New Hampshire. “We know that. That’s unquestioned. Always the case. We know the Civil War was about slavery.”
She went on to further explain her answer on Wednesday.
“By the grace of God, we did the right thing and slavery is no more. But the lessons of what the bigger issue with the Civil War is that let’s not forget what came out of that, which is government’s role, individual liberties, freedom for every single person, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything you want to be without anyone in government getting in our way.”
President Joe Biden had a simple response to Haley’s comments-“It was about slavery.”
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