President Donald Trump recently pondered the history of our nation in an interview with the Washington Examiner. He wondered, “Why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?” He then went on to praise former President Andrew Jackson, saying “[Jackson] had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw with regard to the Civil War, he said, ‘There’s no reason for this.’”

In summary, this inquisitive moment of the president shows his absolute disregard for U.S. history and for the history of his job. First, Jackson died in 1845, 16 years before the start of the Civil War. So, no, Jackson was not angry about the Civil War. In fact, Jackson was a slaveholder and would have supported the westward expansion of slavery.

Secondly, Jackson did not have a big heart. He was responsible for sending the Cherokees on a forced march, known as the Trail of Tears. Of the 16,000 Cherokees sent on the march, 4,000 are thought to have perished.

Why did the Civil War happen? This question is asked in every single history class from elementary school to college. Trump has proven he is not smarter than a fifth-grader. Any fifth-grader will give a clear answer, though that answer that may depend on the region of the U.S. that they call home.

To answer his question, the Civil War was caused by white supremacy. No, the rallying cry of states’ rights, as employed in the Revolutionary War, was not the reason. Instead of trying to interpret their reasons for leaving the Union, let’s look at what the South said about secession.

In South Carolina’s declaration of secession, they cite an “increasing hostility” to “the institution of slavery” by the northern states. Former Georgia Gov. Joseph Brown, prior to secession, said, “The negro is in no sense of the term his equal,” compared to the white laborer. “He belongs to the only true aristocracy, the race of white men.”

Brown believes that not only would the destruction of slavery ruin his finances, but ruin white equality. Their philosophy was that even if a white man didn’t own land and was dirt poor, he was still better than some black slave.

The “peculiar institution” of the South controlled their economy and society. Freedom to slave owners meant the freedom to abuse and exploit another human being, while not laboring themselves. This never could have been “worked out,” as I’m sure the president thinks it could have. The northern and southern definitions of freedom were on a collision course that left over 600,000 Americans dead.

So, Mr. Trump, to answer your question, the Civil War was caused by slavery. That answer has not changed and will not change. A more important question to ask is, what are the effects of the Civil War?

The Confederacy lives on in some places. Recently, New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu took down a Confederate obelisk under the cover of nightfall, with the workers wearing masks and bulletproof jackets, guarded by police snipers for their safety. The obelisk honored the Battle of Liberty Place, when the Crescent City White League died trying to overthrow the New Orleans government after the war.

Another repercussion of the war felt today: racism. It manifests itself in police brutality and the disproportionate incarceration of black men. Some of the most powerful government officials today, like Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reinforce racial inequality.

Sessions said aloud he thought the Ku Klux Klan was “OK until I found out they smoked pot.” This “joke,” as he calls it, cost him a federal judgeship in 1986. In no way should the Klan, a group responsible for the lynching and intimidation of blacks, be joked about.

If a war could ever be justified, it’s the Civil War. The explicit racism in the South had to be confronted, just as it has to be confronted in our society today.

Nicholas Walker is a freshman majoring in biomedical engineering.