by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
- He was a consummate politician who spoke out of both sides of his mouth, saying one thing to one audience and the opposite to another.
- He was adamantly opposed to racial equality, actually using the words "superior and inferior" to describe the "appropriate" relation between the white and black races.
- He opposed giving blacks the right to vote, to serve on juries, or to intermarry with whites.
- He supported the legal rights of slave owners and pledged his support of a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited the federal government from ever interfering with Southern slavery.
- He was a mercantilist and a political tool of corrupt Northern business interests.
- He was a railroad industry lobbyist who championed corporate welfare.
- He once represented a slave owner in a case in which he sought to recover his runaway slaves. Lincoln lost the case and the slaves gained their freedom.
- He advocated sending all blacks back to Africa, Central America, or Haiti – anywhere but the U.S.
- He proposed strengthening the Fugitive Slave Law.
- He opposed the extension of slavery into the territories so that "free white people" would not have to associate with blacks or compete with them for jobs.
- He opposed black citizenship in Illinois and supported the state’s constitution which prohibited the emigration of black people into the state.
- He was the head of the Illinois Colonization Society, which advocated the use of state tax dollars to deport the small number of free blacks that resided within the state.
- He nullified the early emancipation of slaves in Missouri and Georgia early in the war.
- He sent troops to New York City to put down a draft riot by shooting hundreds of them in the streets.
- He was an enemy of free-market capitalism.
- He started a war over tax collection that ended up killing 620,000 Americans and wounding and maiming even more.
- He conjured up the spectacular lie that no such thing as state sovereignty ever existed to "justify" his invasion and conquest of the Southern states.
- He refused to meet with Confederate peace commissioners before the war to work out a peaceful compromise.
- He provoked the upper South – Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee – to secede by launching a military invasion of their sister states.
- He supported economic interventionism through protectionist tariffs, corporate welfare, and central banking that would plunder one section of the country (the South) for the benefit of his Northern political supporters.
- He started a war without the consent of Congress; illegally declared martial law; illegally blockaded Southern ports; illegally suspended habeas corpus and arrested tens of thousands of political opponents; illegally orchestrated the secession of West Virginia; shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers and imprisoned their editors and owners; deported the most outspoken member of the Democratic Party opposition, Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio; confiscated private property, including firearms; ignored the Ninth and Tenth Amendments; tolerated the arrest of ministers who refused to publicly pray for him; arrested duly elected members of the Maryland legislature as well as Congressman Henry May of Baltimore; and supported a law that indemnified federal officials from all of these illegal acts.
- He orchestrated the rigging of Northern elections.
- Introduced the slavery of conscription and income taxation.
- Censored all telegraph communication.
- Waged war on civilians by having his armies bomb Southern cities and destroy or steal crops, livestock and private property throughout the South.
- Created an enormous political patronage system that survives today.
- Allowed the unjust mass execution of Sioux Indians in Minnesota.
- Destroyed the system of federalism and states’ rights that was created by the founding fathers, thereby destroying the voluntary union.
- Promoted generals for their willingness to use troops as cannon fodder.
- Created an internal revenue bureaucracy that has never diminished in size and power.
In spite of all that, he's considered to be Mr. Wonderful by almost all Americans, thanks to Yankee propaganda. And to threaten their cherished myths by learning historical fact is utterly repugnant to them.
WTF?. I clicked on the blue link over the last paragraph, which led to a post from 2003? I`ll read it when I have LESS Bourbon intake. Dunno Man,,,,but I will check it out before forming an opinion. Pretty deep
ReplyDeleteBe careful of anything from Lew Rockwell. Not sure about some of those items, down near the bottom he seems to go way off track.
ReplyDeleteF'rinstance:
Allowed the unjust mass execution of Sioux Indians in Minnesota.
The Santee Sioux massacred hundreds of whites in Minnesota to the point it required a major campaign by the Union Army taking 2 years to chase them and beat them. Some historians think that, and not the campaign in 1876, is the real Great Sioux War.
Promoted generals for their willingness to use troops as cannon fodder.
Which ones? Grant? Kilpatrick?
The ones who won, he promoted. Sherman, Sheridan, Custer, Mackenzie.
Can't argue with that.
Waged war on civilians by having his armies bomb Southern cities
We had B-17s in 1864?
Created an internal revenue bureaucracy that has never diminished in size and power.
We were 50 years without it IIRC between 1865 and 1913.
Bombs don't have to drop from above. Ask the Israelis. Ask Boston.
DeleteBut I think there were a few dropped from hot air balloons, if not in that war, then in another in Europe, perhaps.
DiLorenzo is an honest historian who does his research - especially since he knows everyone who worships Lincoln and his actions want to deny the kind of man Lincoln really was. DiLorenzo has written a number of article about him, including one about the war being fought over the loss of revenue from the South when they decided to separate after the tariffs on Southern goods were tripled. "Lincoln's Tariff War". http://mises.org/article.aspx?control=952
And Democrats favorably compared Lincoln with John F. Kennedy as twins separated by time but not policy.
ReplyDeleteThat is good advice Scott. I did not click the "blue link", but I do think this is an older essay. Regardless, I did not read anything I thought I could refute. James in Albany sends me good information. I like to post some of the Lincoln, slavery, and war issues because it does stimulate good conversation. Thanks for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteThis author needs to read up on the Draft Riots. They may have started out as a legitimate protest (most of the "protestors" were what today we'd call gangbangers, and the draft probably was just a pretext), but they quickly became a straight-up race riot and lynchfest, and the "protestors" killed over a hundred people (including children) for the crime of being black. They also burned hundreds of buildings, destroyed millions of dollars worth of property, tortured and murdered any police, soldiers, and "respectable" people who fell into their hands, and were on the way to taking over the city when the troops came in on the third day of rioting and restored order. (The riots lasted five days. The police were greatly outnumbered and mainly relied on nightsticks; the soldiers brought in cannon.) The entire story makes horrific reading. (And Lincoln was responding to urgent requests from the Mayor of New York City and the Governor of New York. He had zero authority over the troops in New York during the riots; they were under local command.)
ReplyDelete