The failure to hold Confederate leaders accountable after the Civil War set a precedent that continues to shape American politics.

Forgiveness was offered not as reconciliation with the enslaved millions who suffered, but with the very men who led a rebellion to preserve slavery. That choice — to extend amnesty to traitors while abandoning Reconstruction — created a tradition of impunity that has repeated across American history.

From Robert E. Lee’s rehabilitation as a national hero to Donald Trump’s survival of two impeachments and the aftermath of January 6, the United States has repeatedly chosen to protect elites who defy democratic order rather than confront them with consequences for their treason.

In 1865, when the Union had the opportunity to dismantle the power of the slavehol

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