After coming under fire for omitting to name slavery as a motive during a town hall meeting, Republican nominee for president Nikki Haley claims the US Civil War was about slavery.
On Wednesday, a voter in New Hampshire questioned her about the origins of the conflict.
She seemed surprised by the topic and did not mention slavery in her answer.
“I believe that the fundamental structure of governance was the driving force behind the Civil War. The liberties and the limits of human ability,” she remarked.
The voter who posed the query swiftly criticized her comments. He called it “astonishing” that, in 2023, she responded without bringing up the subject of slavery.
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Ms. Haley answered.
But on Thursday, the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador admitted it as a contributing factor after receiving backlash on social media.
She said to CNN, “Of course slavery was a factor in the Civil War.”
“We are aware of that. The simple aspect of it is that. What I meant to say was, how does it apply to us now? For us now, it’s all about independence. That was the main purpose of that.
Ms. Haley asserted that the voter was a “Democrat plant” in an interview with the radio station The Pulse of New Hampshire on Thursday.
The Berlin, New Hampshire engagement on Wednesday was a part of Ms. Haley’s effort to gain support from the public ahead of the state’s early Republican primary voting.
In recent weeks, Ms. Haley has risen in opinion polls.
Early in January, she will take her first test at the Iowa Caucuses. She is much behind former President Donald Trump, but she is tied with another well-known opponent, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Several Democrats, including President Joe Biden, chastised Ms. Haley for her remarks in New Hampshire. On what was once Twitter, he shared a video of her conversation along with the statement, “It was about slavery.”
Republicans who oppose her in politics also capitalized on the situation. “Yikes” is how one person described her remarks in a video posted by Mr. DeSantis’ campaign account.
Many civil rights experts also expressed their opinions, stating that the struggle against slavery was a major factor in the outbreak of the Civil War.
Being the first state to secede during the Civil War, Ms. Haley has already been questioned about the matter as the former governor of the state of South Carolina.
She characterized the Civil War as a struggle between two factions fighting for “tradition versus change” when she was a candidate for governor in 2010.
After decades of escalating hostility over the subject of slavery and the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, who was categorically against slavery, the northern and southern states engaged in the Civil War, which lasted from 1861 to 1865.