-Caveat Lector-
Sno0wl wrote:
> I think that we fought a terrible and bloody Civil War to end
> slavery. And I doubt the suffragettes who fought for the women's vote
> thought the process was either reasonable or "peaceful."
The Civil War wasn't about slavery
by Walter E. Williams
THE PROBLEMS THAT LED TO THE CIVIL WAR are the same
problems today ---- big, intrusive government. The
reason we don't face the specter of another Civil
War is because today's Americans don't have
yesteryear's spirit of liberty and constitutional
respect, and political statesmanship is in short
supply.
Actually, the war of 1861 was not a civil war. A
civil war is a conflict between two or more factions
trying to take over a government. In 1861, Confederate
President Jefferson Davis was no more interested
in taking over Washington than George Washington
was interested in taking over England in 1776. Like
Washington, Davis was seeking independence. Therefore,
the war of 1861 should be called "The War Between
the States" or the "War for Southern Independence."
The more bitter southerner might call it the "War
of Northern Aggression."
History books have misled today's Americans to
believe the war was fought to free slaves.
Statements from the time suggest otherwise. In
President Lincoln's first inaugural address, he said,
"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to
interfere with the institution of slavery in the
states where it exists. I believe I have no lawful
right to do so."
During the war, in an 1862 letter to the New York
Daily Tribune editor Horace Greeley, Lincoln said,
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save
the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy
slavery." A recent article by Baltimore's Loyola
College Professor Thomas DiLorenzo titled "The Great
Centralizer," in The Independent Review (Fall 1998),
cites quotation after quotation of similar northern
sentiment about slavery.
Lincoln's intentions, as well as that of many northern
politicians, were summarized by Stephen Douglas during
the presidential debates. Douglas accused Lincoln of
wanting to "impose on the nation a uniformity of local
laws and institutions and a moral homogeneity dictated
by the central government" that "place at defiance
the intentions of the republic's founders." Douglas
was right, and Lincoln's vision for our nation has now
been accomplished beyond anything he could have
possibly dreamed.
A precursor for a War Between the States came in 1832,
when South Carolina called a convention to nullify
tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, referred to as the
"Tariffs of Abominations." A compromise lowering the
tariff was reached, averting secession and possibly
war. The North favored protective tariffs for their
manufacturing industry. The South, which exported
agricultural products to and imported manufactured
goods from Europe, favored free trade and was hurt by
the tariffs. Plus, a northern-dominated Congress enacted
laws similar to Britain's Navigation Acts to protect
northern shipping interests.
Shortly after Lincoln's election, Congress passed the
highly protectionist Morrill tariffs.
That's when the South seceded, setting up a new
government. Their constitution was nearly identical
to the U.S. Constitution except that it outlawed
protectionist tariffs, business handouts and mandated
a two-thirds majority vote for all spending measures.
The only good coming from the War Between the States
was the abolition of slavery. The great principle
enunciated in the Declaration of Independence that
"Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed" was
overturned by force of arms. By destroying the states'
right to secession, Abraham Lincoln opened the door
to the kind of unconstrained, despotic, arrogant
government we have today, something the framers of
the Constitution could not have possibly imagined.
States should again challenge Washington's
unconstitutional acts through nullification. But you
tell me where we can find leaders with the love,
courage and respect for our Constitution like Thomas
Jefferson, James Madison and John C. Calhoun.
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