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From: "M.A. Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <Recipient list suppressed>
Subject: Stealing an Election
Date: Wednesday, December 27, 2000 1:05 AM
~~for educational purposes only~~
[Title 17 U.S.C. section 107]
Stealing an Election
by Joseph Sobran
Both the major parties have been accusing each
other of trying to "steal" the presidential
election in Florida. But this mess is a clean
process indeed compared to one that occurred
in Maryland in 1861.
In May 1861 the Civil War was already raging.
President Abraham Lincoln called on Maryland
to send four regiments to fight for the Union
cause. But the state was bitterly divided over
the war.
Most Marylanders didn't want their state to
secede, but neither did they favor war. It is
widely forgotten that a large body of American
opinion held that the Confederate States had
every right to secede from the Union and
thought they should be allowed to go in peace.
But to Lincoln, this view was "treason." By
Lincoln's definition, most Americans, not just
Southerners, probably qualified as traitors.
The Maryland state legislature replied to
Lincoln's summons for troops with a resolution
condemning the war as "unconstitutional and
repugnant to civilization," adding that "for
the sake of humanity we are for peace and
reconciliation, and solemnly protest against
this war, and will take no part in it." The
legislature also called "the present military
occupation of Maryland" a "flagrant violation
of the Constitution."
Lincoln was infuriated. He sent informers to
determine which members of the legislature
were "disloyal" i.e., opposed to war. On
the night of September 12 he had federal
troops arrest dozens of legislators and other
prominent citizens (including the mayor of
Baltimore and a Maryland congressman) he
suspected of Southern sympathies. Since
Lincoln had also suspended the right of
habeas corpus, he claimed the power to arrest
anyone arbitrarily, without specific charges
and without a trial. When the chief justice
of the United States, Roger Taney, had ruled
that Lincoln had no constitutional power to
do this, Lincoln had not only ignored the
ruling but ordered Taney's arrest too! (If he
had gone through with this outrage, he might
well have been impeached and removed from
office.)
Having depleted the Maryland legislature,
Lincoln moved to refill it with reliable
Unionists. He stationed thousands of federal
troops in the state and used them to crush
dissent. As the historian Charles Adams writes
in his book When in the Course of Human Events
(Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2000):
"In November there was an election, and to make
sure only Union people were elected, all members
of the Federal armed forces voted, even though
they were not residents of the state. At the
voting booths, other voters had to pass through
platoons of Union soldiers who had bayonets
affixed to their rifles." Southern sympathizers
attempting to vote were arrested.
By such means Lincoln got the legislature he
wanted. "Democratic government ceased in Maryland
for the duration of the war," Adams notes. So
much for "government of the people, by the
people, for the people," which, you'll recall,
would "perish from the earth" if the Union lost.
Lincoln's devotion to his avowed principles may
be measured by such practices, which showed the
cynicism behind his gorgeous rhetoric.
The legend of Lincoln's humanitarianism and love
of freedom will not withstand an examination of
his brutal wartime tactics, which shocked
civilized Europe. The cruelty of the Union armies
as they invaded the South is well known. What is
less well known is how the Union terrorized itself.
Across the North Lincoln authorized tens of
thousands of arbitrary arrests and shut down
hundreds of newspapers for criticizing his war.
His military governors sometimes ordered hangings,
without trial, for minor offenses. Mere suspicion
of disloyalty very broadly defined was enough
to expose the individual to danger from his own
government. It was a genuine reign of terror, an
era of government by hysteria. The Constitution
was effectively suspended.
Defenders of Lincoln and the Union cause contend
that the Constitution doesn 't authorize states to
secede. Actually, the Constitution says nothing
about secession; it doesn't authorize it, and it
doesn't forbid it.
But neither does the Constitution authorize its
own abrogation for the purpose of resisting
secession. It remains binding on the federal
government, including the president, at all
times, even during war and insurrection.
Lincoln argued in effect that the Constitution
could be saved only if he could violate it. It
was, and remains, a shabby argument; but it was,
and remains, successful propaganda.
Forwarded for info and discussion from the New Paradigms Discussion List,
not necessarily endorsed by:
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