A New Historical “Interpretation” for Arlington House

Arlington House, The Robert E. Lee Memorial has undergone a major restoration and according to Kevin Levin, a new historical “interpretation” is also underway. The new interpretation is meant to give more prominence to the roughly 100 slaves that are part of the Arlington House history. The restoration included the slave quarters.

Ensuring the history of the slaves on the plantation is told and learning about some of them is right and is an important part of our heritage. The same is true for Monticello and Montpelier if it does not become the major story. The only other concern is one of historic accuracy or bias as in some cases with history, we cannot always be certain.

According to Mr. Levin, the new interpretation the National Park Service is implementing is being framed by the following bullet points or “non-negotiables”. Below is only a partial list containing the statements that are most problematic for me.

• Slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War.
• The reason why the Confederacy went to war was the preservation of the institution of chattel slavery. This may differ from the individual reason why some men enlisted to fight for the Confederacy.
• The term “loyal slave” is irrelevant because enslaved people did not have a choice.
• Race was used as a justification for chattel slavery in the United States.
• Visitors will be heard but Confederate-supporting ideas (e.g. the myth of the Lost Cause) won’t be validated because they contradict the ideals of this site.

The intent of this essay is not to address these statements other than to point out that each of these is indeed an “interpretation”, and many modern and credentialed historians have made fact and historically based arguments that refute each of them. If all this is true, The National Park Service is quickly becoming a conduit of the political perspective of the nationalist elites.