 The controversy which followed split the federation's membership.After the Civil War, William Breckinridge renounced the views that had led him to fight for the Confederacy and became an advocate of racial equality.The sooner Americans rid themselves of cruel racists in their midst, he said, "the sooner they will realize that their institutions are in no danger, their civilization is not at stake, and that their permanent and practical undisputed sway can not be overturned."