Is Lincoln's Legacy A Myth?

I have been obsessed with the Civil War lately. I believe that everything we hear and read about history is propaganda. I am amazed that I attended public schools in Tennessee and Utah, and that all I got was Northern propaganda. I was taught that the South was treasonous, and that “Honest” Abe was the best president ever. Here is what I have learned as of late, from the propaganda I have been reading.

The South’s desire to be free from the North stemmed largely from the fact that the individual taxpayer in the South was paying twice as much in Federal taxes (through tariffs) as the individual taxpayer in the North, with Federal spending mostly benefiting the North.

It is not treasonous to seek secession. It is actually a constitutional right, and the greatest check a state has on central government. Massachusetts had threatened to secede over the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson told them it was their right if they wished to secede.

The war was not about slavery. The abolitionist party only made up 1% of the US population. Lincoln said in a public letter to Horace Greeley, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union."

The preeminent abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison said, “President Lincoln… [has] not a drop of anti-slavery blood in his veins." Lincoln never wanted freed slaves to coexist with whites. His plan had always been to ship them back to Africa, or send them to Central America. He issued his plan to a group of black ministers and said, “It is better for us both to be separated, for the good of mankind.”

In his 1861 inaugural address, Lincoln said, “I have no purpose to interfere with slavery. I believe I have no lawful right to do so….”

The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Confederate regions. It was so specific that it excluded counties occupied by the Union in seceding states. Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward said, “We show our sympathy with slavery by emancipating slaves where we cannot reach them and holding them in bondage where we can set them free.”

In response to the Emancipation Proclamation General Hooker (Union officer) said, “A large element of the army would never have embarked in the war had they anticipated this action of the government.” One entire regiment from Illinois subsequently disbanded.

It is very clear to me the war was not about the morality of slavery. To me Lincoln was one of the worst presidents ever. It really depends on you political ideology. If you like a large central government, and a powerful executive branch you may excuse all his acts in observance of the “greater good”. I am not trying to change your ideology; I just think people should be aware of what Lincoln really did during the Civil War, and that he did it because he was a Hamiltonian*.

• Lincoln was a mercantilist, not a capitalist. He believed in a strong central government, high protective tariffs and internal subsidies. He believed that Federal law should prohibit importing anything that is domestically produced.
• In his first inaugural address Lincoln promised to wage war on any state that refused to collect tariff revenue. Over 90% of Federal tax revenue came from tariffs (over half paid by the South), and the Union could not afford to lose that revenue to the Confederacy.
• Lincoln was the first President to sign off on an income tax. He also approved a federally-issued currency, and taxed all state-issued currencies to eliminate competition.
  
• Lincoln’s forces violated the 3 major rules set up by the Geneva Convention in 1863. These rules are all punishable by death or imprisonment
• Lincoln supporters praise him as a military genius and that he micromanaged the North’s war efforts, yet they deny that he had anything to do with the destruction of southern civilization (estimated 50,000 civilian deaths). Even churches were torched while their ministers were imprisoned for “not saying prayers for Abraham Lincoln.”
• In blockading southern ports Lincoln was in violation of international law. He went so far as to prohibit drugs and medicine from being shipped to the south.
• Lincoln had 14,000 opponents arrested without warrants and without telling them what laws they had offended. Among the arrested were 30 legislators (MD), a congressman (OH), and newspaper editors.
• Official order from Lincoln to General Dix, May 18, 1864…”You will take possession by military force of the printing establishments of the New York World and Journal of Commerce and prohibit any further publication thereof…you are therefore commanded forthwith to arrest and imprison…the editors, proprietors and publishers of the aforesaid newspapers.”
• Lincoln usurped congressional power by suspending writs of Habeas Corpus for the arrested. When challenged by Chief Justice Taney on the matter, Lincoln had a warrant issued for Taney’s arrest, but was never carried out.
• The Constitution requires that a state consents before a new state can be made from its territory. Lincoln recognized the new state of West Virginia, without permission from Virginia. This gave his party and the Union 2 more votes in the senate, and 1 more state on their side in the ratification process.

Lincoln violated the constitution in many different ways. He fought a war that led to the deaths of 600,000+ Americans so that we could preserve the Union. Is the Union worth 600,000 deaths? History books sweeten it by maintaining that it was the moral duty of the North to wage this war and free the slaves, but anybody informed and honest with himself knows that this was never their objective.

Renowned economist Walter Williams said it best when he stated, "Lincoln would be more appropriately known, not as the 'Great Emancipator', but as the Great Centralizer."

* Federalist. Lincoln worshipped Alexander Hamilton and Daniel Webster. He was mentored by Henry Clay. The Federalists and their ideology lost as their party dissolved. They attempted a comeback and called themselves Whigs. Lincoln was a Whig until they went out of fashion. He took his defeated beliefs to the Republican party. He was their nominee because he was viewed as the "least anti-slavery".