George W. Bush and Abraham Lincoln
Libertarian Girl is blogging about George Bush's inaugural address and makes this statement:
Sorry, but that is revisionist history. Besides it is the "hate-America leftists" that claim it was about slavery. Slavery was nothing but a pretext for war and an effort by the North to villify the South. The actual cause for the war was states rights. Like so much else in this country, just because you were taught a lie in school doesn't make it true.
Here are some of the myths about the issue with the correct facts:
1. Slavery was a "Southern" institution.
(Actually, most of the slave trade was conducted by Northerners, and Northerners owned slaves too.
2. Slavery was an attempt solely by the white race to subjugate the black race.
(Actually, slave owners were white, black, AND red, and slaves themselves were black, white, AND red).
3. The Civil war was waged by the Northerners to defeat slavery, and the Southerners were motivated solely by a desire to protect slavery.
(Actually, slavery was not the major cause of the war on either side. "States rights" indeed were the major issue; slavery was merely the trigger issue.)
4. The Northern Abolitionists were motivated by goodwill toward blacks.
(Actually, anti-black sentiment and racism was much more widespread in the North than in the South. Slavery was abolished in the North not because of any moral superiority, but primarily because whites wanted to protect jobs for white laborers.)
5. Abraham Lincoln, the "Great Emancipator," was a friend of the black race.
(Actually, Lincoln was a racist who believed (and publicly stated this belief) in the superiority of the white race. Lincoln trampled on the Constitution, going so far as to have his political enemies arrested without warrants of any sort, and held in jail without allowing them legal counsel as guaranteed by the Constitution.)
From a speech by Steve Wilkins:
Rev Steve Wilkins is the pastor of the Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, Louisiana, and serves on the national board of the League of the South.
Libertarian Girl quoted George Bush's speech thus:
Abraham Lincoln and the Northern States denied the freedom to secede from the Union to the Southern States. The war was over states rights. Bluster about slavery does not change that but it certainly covers up the reality. The attack on our manner of government and way of life has been ongoing.
The South Was Right!
Myths of American Slavery
In 1865, Lincoln addressed only half the nation, which was fighting a war against the other half. The purpose of the war was to free the slaves. (Despite what hate-America leftists say, the Civil War was about slavery.)
Sorry, but that is revisionist history. Besides it is the "hate-America leftists" that claim it was about slavery. Slavery was nothing but a pretext for war and an effort by the North to villify the South. The actual cause for the war was states rights. Like so much else in this country, just because you were taught a lie in school doesn't make it true.
Here are some of the myths about the issue with the correct facts:
1. Slavery was a "Southern" institution.
(Actually, most of the slave trade was conducted by Northerners, and Northerners owned slaves too.
2. Slavery was an attempt solely by the white race to subjugate the black race.
(Actually, slave owners were white, black, AND red, and slaves themselves were black, white, AND red).
3. The Civil war was waged by the Northerners to defeat slavery, and the Southerners were motivated solely by a desire to protect slavery.
(Actually, slavery was not the major cause of the war on either side. "States rights" indeed were the major issue; slavery was merely the trigger issue.)
4. The Northern Abolitionists were motivated by goodwill toward blacks.
(Actually, anti-black sentiment and racism was much more widespread in the North than in the South. Slavery was abolished in the North not because of any moral superiority, but primarily because whites wanted to protect jobs for white laborers.)
5. Abraham Lincoln, the "Great Emancipator," was a friend of the black race.
(Actually, Lincoln was a racist who believed (and publicly stated this belief) in the superiority of the white race. Lincoln trampled on the Constitution, going so far as to have his political enemies arrested without warrants of any sort, and held in jail without allowing them legal counsel as guaranteed by the Constitution.)
From a speech by Steve Wilkins:
Slavery, so far from being the cause of the war, was merely the pretext for revolution. As Prussian military theorist, Carl Von Clausewitz once stated, ‘War is the pursuit of political goals by other means.’ There was seldom a more successful revolution. The old Constitutional Republic was destroyed and an octopus‑like centralized government took its place.
James McPherson has noted, ‘The war marked the transition of the United States to a singular noun. The ‘Union' became the nation, and Americans now rarely speak of their Union except in an historical sense.’ This is a significant change. Our speech reflects this. Before 1865 the accepted usage was ‘The United States are,’ but since that time it has been ‘The United States is.’ We are no longer a union of confederated states, but a nation where the individual integrity and political sovereignty of the states is denied.
Thus, the old federal republic in which the national government rarely touched the average citizen except through the post‑office is now dead and has been replaced by centralized bureaucracy which seeks to control every action. What we call liberty, our forefathers called slavery.
Rev Steve Wilkins is the pastor of the Auburn Avenue Presbyterian Church in Monroe, Louisiana, and serves on the national board of the League of the South.
Libertarian Girl quoted George Bush's speech thus:
The rulers of outlaw regimes can know that we still believe as Abraham Lincoln did: "Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves; and, under the rule of a just God, cannot long retain it."
Abraham Lincoln and the Northern States denied the freedom to secede from the Union to the Southern States. The war was over states rights. Bluster about slavery does not change that but it certainly covers up the reality. The attack on our manner of government and way of life has been ongoing.
The South Was Right!
Myths of American Slavery
posted by Old Blind Dog | 2:28 PM
3 Comments:
The Declaration of Independence says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed;”
Now exactly how is slavery justified? Yes the South wanted “states rights”, they wanted the right to continue slavery, to continue to deny the unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to black slaves. Isn’t the protection of those rights the very reason our government exits?
The answer to your question is here and here.
And there is more info here.
Slavery was an issue at the time the revolutionary war, but the founders were realists. They recognized that they could not hope to fight and win a war against England unless they were united, so the opponents of slavery set their opposition aside for the cause of independence. Likewise after they had gained independence, the realists recognized that the newly independent colonies had to stick together to survive, and buried the issue of slavery, writing support for it into the constitution.
As time passed and the US became more secure, the opponents of slavery became more vocal. Yes the Civil War was about states rights, but the state right that the South was concerned about was the right to continue slavery. The population in the North was growing much faster than in the South, it had become clear that eventually the Northern anti-slavery forces would bring this issue to a head, and the states of the Confederacy simply decided to preempt any attempt to abolish slavery.
There were other cultural and economic issues as well, but slavery was the big, irreconcilable issue.
It is true that the Declaration of Independence is not a legal document, but it is a statement of the moral principals upon which this country was founded, and it is very difficult to reconcile slavery with those moral principals, although many of the authors of the declaration where in fact slave owners. The founders simply decided to ignore that issue for a time in the name of unity.
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