What did Nikki Haley say about the Civil War? Slavery controversy explained as Presidential hopeful faces online wrath

On Wednesday, December 27, Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley attended the New Hampshire Town Hall, where she was asked by one of the members of the audience, “What was the cause of the United States Civil War?”

Without once mentioning the word “slavery,” which happens to be the real answer, Nikki Haley said that the Civil War was about “how the government was gonna run; and the freedoms of what people could and couldn’t do.”

In the wake of botching her response, she earned severe backlash from the masses as well as other GOP Presidential candidates including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

However, within less than 12 hours, Nikki Haley told during a radio interview with Jack Heath, “I’m from the South, of course, I know it’s [American Civil War] about slavery,” trying to clear the air. Unfortunately, that did not stop people from calling her out online.

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Exploring, in brief, what Nikki Haley said about the American Civil War

On Wednesday, GOP Presidential potential Nikki Haley was at the New Hampshire Town Hall in Berlin, which was one of the five events in the state, ahead of the 2024 election.

There, she was asked by an individual from the crowd what the cause of the U.S. Civil War was, to which she said that it was about the government interfering with people’s freedoms and rights.

Having said this, she addressed the person who asked her the question and demanded to know what he thought was the cause. To this, the man responded, “I am not running for President.” This is when the former South Carolina Governor continued by saying:

“I think it always comes down to the role of government. We need to have capitalism, we need to have economic freedom, we need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals can have liberties, so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do, or be anything they wanna be without the government getting in the way.”

She also added that the Civil War was about demanding that the government secure the rights of the people, something she always stood by. When the questioner said that standing in 2023, it was “astonishing” that a Presidential candidate could answer a Civil War-related question without mentioning the term “slavery,” Haley asked, “What do you want me to say about slavery?”

The man replied by saying, “You answered my questions!” which is when Nikki said, “Next question,” and earned applause from the audience.

What’s interesting is that the questioner, who later identified himself as Patrick, told the reporters outside the Town Hall that his question was “pretty fundamental and frankly pretty easy,” as reported by CNN.

He also added that somebody else asked the same question to Nikki Haley when she was in the race to become the Governor of South Carolina. He saw it in a video online where Haley reportedly answered in a similar manner, which prompted him to repeat the question, now that she was running for President.

“I was just curious if she would answer it any different[ly],” Patrick added.

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“She is everything we can’t stand”: Nikki Haley faces backlash for not mentioning slavery as the cause of the Civil War

Nikki Haley’s discourse on the cause of the American Civil War during the New Hampshire Town Hall recently has garnered severe traction online, with many slamming her.

In the wake of this, she issued a clarification about her remarks on the Civil War, on the morning radio show The Pulse with Jack Heath on Thursday, December 28. She said she was from the South and knew what was what.

“I mean, of course, the Civil War was about slavery… I want to nip it in the bud. Yes, we know the Civil War was about slavery. But more than that, what’s the lesson in all this? That freedom matters and individual rights and liberties matter for all people. That’s the blessing of America,” she stated.

Nikki Haley also mentioned that slavery was a “stain” on the USA which they never wanted to “re-live” or let anyone “take those freedoms away again.” She further claimed that the questioner at the New Hampshire Town Hall was a “Democrat plant,” to get her off-track. Following this, the backlash doubled. Here are some of the criticisms from the comment section of @CollinRugg’s tweet.

Besides public backlash, Nikki Haley was also called out by her colleagues and opponents. For instance, President Joe Biden shared the Town Hall video on his official X account and wrote, “It was about slavery.”

Likewise, Ron DeSantis’ spokesperson Andrew Romeo took to X and said Nikki Haley’s comments and clarification were both “embarrassing,” and that the “Democrats would eat her lunch,” if she couldn’t handle such basic questions as the Civil War.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who spoke at the New Hampshire Town Hall the next day also condemned Haley for not mentioning slavery and pointed out that Nikki was “unwilling to offend anyone by telling the truth.”

Interestingly, this is not the first time Nikki Haley has been the face of controversy. Once, she described the Civil War as two sides battling for different values, traditions, and change.

Earlier this year, the former United Nations ambassador was slammed for being anti-abortion and praising Donald Trump and seeking to be his Vice President. She also faced wrath when she defended South Carolina’s rights to secede from the USA, the state’s Confederate History Month, and the flag, during a 2010 interview.