Who is an American?

Gov. Francis T. Nicholls

In the comments section in a news article about the State of North Carolina now disallowing the logo of the Sons of Confederate Veterans to be displayed on their vanity license plates, a young person referred to the Confederates as those who "fought against and killed Americans."  I pointed out the obvious that both sides fought against and killed Americans, that this is the nature of an interstate war, and that this same phenomenon happened in 1776.

Her reply was that the "Confederates chose to be on the opposite side of America.  They declared war on America.  They created [sic] to be Americans with that choice."  I believe autocorrect probably "corrected" her word "ceased."

I do find this narrative increasingly common, especially young people.  History, which is complex with various contours of culture and politics and economics - has been reduced to a couple multiple choice questions on a quiz, a simple "good guy/bad guy" dichotomy, and from there, has been retreaded to be a Maoist tool for ideological indoctrination.  While everyone uses history in a political way, the current paradigm is to completely upend not only the historiography but even the facts themselves in service to a larger Marxist interpretation.

This is the very idea of the Party controlling the future by controlling the past in George Orwell's 1984.

So who were the Americans in the conflict of 1861-1865?  I tried to draw analogies from history.

Was Julius Caesar a Roman when he crossed the Rubicon?  Were Pompey, Cato, and Cicero Romans?  How about Mark Antony?  Who were the Romans and who were not?

Who were the Greeks: the Spartans or the Athenians?

Who were the Russians: the Reds or the Whites?

The soldiers who supported Bonnie Prince Charlie in the '45 - were they Scots?

Was George Washington a Virginian when he took command of the Continental Army?

What nationality was John Brown?  And should we consider Red Cloud, Geronimo, Sitting Bull, and Chief Joseph - all of whom took up arms against the United States - to be American heroes?  

Wars have divided Ireland and Korea resulting in there being a ‘North’ and a ‘South’ to this very day. Maybe in your ethnographic and historiographical brilliance, you could tell us which are actually Irish and which are Koreans. 

So, I take it that the day before Brexit, the millions of people living in the UK were European.  But the next day, they weren’t?  What continent is the UK part of now?  And did they cease being European when the referendum was passed, or was it when they left the chamber, or was it when the arrangement took effect on Jan 1, 2021?  

When the Germans reunited after the Berlin Wall fell, both sides recognized each other as Germans. 

And you know what?  That same thing happened in 1865 among the Americans as well at Appomattox. 

There is irony in the young woman's FB profile.  It seems that she is a fairly recent graduate of Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, Louisiana. It was named for a former governor of Louisiana, Francis T. Nicholls (1834-1912).  By her understanding, Gov. Nicholls was not an American.  

He was a remarkable person with a long history of American public service.

Francis Nicholls was an 1855 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point.  He served in the Seminole War in Florida, resigned his commission, went back to school, and became an attorney.

When the War Between the States broke out, he accepted a commission as a captain in the infantry and fought at First Manassas.  He lost his left arm in the Shenandoah Valley campaign, but continued to serve.  In the course of time, he was promoted to brigadier general.  In subsequent battles, he lost his left foot and one of his eyes.  He continued to serve the army in a non-combatant role until the war's end.

After the war, he returned to practice law.  He ran for governor as a Democrat in 1876.  Although he won the election, the Republican Party controlled the election board and declared his opponent the winner.  This was overturned by Republican president Rutherford Hayes (who himself won a disputed  election that was decided along party lines in Congress) as part of the Compromise of 1877 that demilitarized the South.

Nicholls served as governor - in spite of his physical handicaps - from 1877-1880, and again from 1888-1892 - fighting corruption in the state government.  He chaired the 1879 state constitutional convention.  At the age of 58, he embarked on a new career.  From 1892-1911, Nicholls was the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court.

Several schools were named after Nicholls, including a girls' vocational school, a public high school, and the aforementioned Nicholl's State University - which began as a junior college.  A street in the French Quarter was named for him.

Francis Nicholls and his wife Caroline had seven children.

Was Governor and Chief Justice Nicholls an American?  I wonder what the graduates of Nicholls State University are taught - if anything - about their namesake.  Clearly, they don't do a very good job of teaching History.