President Lincoln has been all but deified in America, with a god-like
giant statue at a Parthenon-like
memorial in Washington. Generations of
school children have been indoctrinated with the story that “Honest Abe”
Lincoln is a national hero who saved the Union and fought a noble war
to end slavery, and that the “evil” Southern states seceded from the
Union to protect slavery. This is the Yankee myth of history, written
and promulgated by Northerners, and it is a complete falsity. It was
produced and entrenched in the culture in large part to gloss over the
terrible war crimes committed by Union soldiers in the War Between the
States, as well as Lincoln’s violations of the law, his shredding of the
Constitution, and other reprehensible acts. It has been very effective
in keeping the average American ignorant of the real causes of the war,
and the real nature, character and record of Lincoln. Let us look at
some unpleasant facts.
In his first inaugural address, Lincoln stated clearly that (1) he had
no legal authority to interfere with slavery where it existed, (2) that
he had no inclination or intention to do so even if he had the legal
authority, (3) that he would enforce the Fugitive Slave Act, returning
runaway slaves escaping to the North to their masters in the South, and
(4) that he fully supported the Thirteenth Amendment then being debated
in Congress which would protect slavery in perpetuity and was
irrevocable. He later famously stated, “Do not paint me with the
Abolitionist brush.”
Although there was some opposition to slavery in the country, the
government was willing to concede everything the South wanted regarding
slavery to keep it in the Union. Given all these facts, the idea that
the South seceded to protect slavery is as absurd as the idea that
Lincoln fought the war to end slavery. Lincoln himself said in a famous
letter after the war began that his sole purpose was to save the Union,
and not to either save or end slavery; that if he could save the Union
without freeing a single slave, he would. Nothing could be clearer.
For decades before the war, the South, through harsh tariffs, had been
supplying about 85% of the country’s revenue, nearly all of which was
being spent in the North to boost its economy, build manufacturing,
infrastructure, railroads, canals, etc. With the passage of the 47%
Morrill Tariff the final nail was in the coffin. The South did not
secede to protect slavery, although certainly they wished to protect it;
they seceded over a dispute about unfair taxation, an oppressive
Federal government, and the right to separate from that oppression and
be governed “by consent”, exactly the same issues over which the
Founding Fathers fought the Revolutionary War. When a member of
Lincoln’s cabinet suggested he let the South go in peace, Lincoln
famously replied, “Let the South go? Where, then, would we get our
revenue!” He then launched a brutal, empirical war to keep the free and
sovereign states, by force of arms, in the Union they had created and
voluntarily joined, and then voluntarily left. This began his reign of
terror.
Read the rest here:
The Terrible Truth About Abraham Lincoln and the Confederate War | Snap out of it, America!
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