Character Analysis
More than anything, D.W. Griffith wants us to see Ben Cameron as a great heroic character and...it doesn't quite work out that way. From our modern perspective, Ben is a racist, the founder of a terrorist group, and an all-around schmuck.
Yeah, we're not fans.
In order to fully understand his character, however, we have look at both of these aspects: Griffith's original intention (blegh) and our drastically different modern perspective.
Ben The Boss
Basically, Ben is meant to represent the greatness of the South. For one, he's a war hero, earning the moniker of "the little Colonel" due to his heroic exploits. Some of these exploits are indeed heroic: at one point, he gives water to a Union soldier who has been wounded before leading a last ditch assault. This goodness earns him an ample amount of respect from the opposing forces and, in particular, his former friend Phil Stoneman.
After he gets captured, Ben lands in a military hospital where he meets Elsie, Phil's sister with whom Ben had fallen in love after seeing a photograph years ago—more than a little creepy. Their burgeoning romance is meant to represent the relationship between the North and South, along with the hope that both sides will find peace. This is amplified when Ben receives a pardon from Abraham Lincoln himself.
Of course, it's nowhere near that simple.
A Horrendous Hero
Things start getting weird when Ben returns home to the South.
Ben is used to being at the top of the social food chain, but now that the slaves have been freed and granted equal rights, he's not too happy at all. In fact, he flat out refuses to shake Silas Lynch's hand because he's biracial. This is a strange moment because Griffith clearly wants it to make Ben look awesome, but it just makes him seem like a racist turd from our perspective.
Regardless of our opinion, however, Ben's anger leads him to form the Ku Klux Klan. Again, there's a massive tension between Griffith's intention and our perspective in the twenty-first century. Led by Ben, the KKK embarks on a campaign to "terrorize" (the film actually uses that word) and intimidate the black residents of Piedmont. We have a hard time believing that anyone would find these actions defensible, but the reality is that many audiences cheered these scenes on.
That's scary.
His True Colors
Ben builds the KKK into a veritable army—an "invisible empire." The connotations of this are clear: Griffith is relating Ben and the Klan to old European feudal lords who deserve power because of their blood right, no matter how many atrocities they have to commit to retain it. For example, the KKK actively intimidates black people into not voting in Piedmont, despite complaining when the opposite happens to white people.
This is obviously hypocritical, but Ben's philosophy is that white people inherently deserve power over black people. It's an absurd and offensive belief, but one shared by many at the time of the film's release—and even by some today.
This can be uncomfortable to think about it, but it's probably the most important insight we can gain from The Birth of a Nation. Is it historically accurate? No way. Even still, the film provides an in-depth look at the racist ideology that has been a part of American society since its inception.
Ben's Timeline