[Leaning Right]

Jeff Davis was a USA patriot to 1861, and a CSA patriot thereafter.

True. But would you call Benedict Arnold a USA patriot to 1780, and a British patriot thereafter?

Should the word "traitor" not be applied?

[Ohioan]

Calling the heroes of our sister States "traitors," because they sought to dissolve a relationship freely entered into, when they believed that the Federal Government that administered that relationship would no longer treat them fairly, does not help rally American Conservatives to a common cause, today.

Benedict Arnold did not challenge the compact, still in formation, when he betrayed the Continental Army. He betrayed it by stealth, in the middle of the War, for personal benefit. If you want a comparison, look at someone like Quisling in Norway (the Norwegian Socialist) who used stealth to invite the German Socialists in, while those who trusted him slept. Jefferson Davis, honorably, resigned from the Senate, when Mississippi seceded, and explained his reason in a brief, to the point address.

Jefferson Davis behaved with honor, as did Robert E. Lee. Benedict Arnold, like Quisling--and like those trying to betray America into a World Government, today--behaved with total dishonor.

William Flax