The
Cause of the Civil War and its Impact on American Freedoms, Liberties, and
Rights
It
is a common misconception that with the end of the American Civil War came
freedom from slavery and American prosperity for all. The truth is that with
the end of the Civil War came a silent, little-known war that still rages to
this day. I will describe the cause of the Civil War and, through the use of
historical facts, propose the case that Lincoln was a dictator and that America
has been enslaved for over a century.
Many
think that the sole cause of the Civil War was slavery. Granted, slavery ended
up playing a big role after the start of the War Between the States, but it was
definitely not the cause. Slavery was not even mentioned as a reason for
southern rebellion until 18 months after the start of the war. Truthfully,
slavery in the southern states was not as prominent as some would like to
believe. Only twenty-five percent of the Southern United States owned slaves
and not only were slaves the property of southerners, but also of northerners.
In fact, many northern states admonished abolition. Many of these states
established black codes, just as did the southerners, which withheld blacks
certain liberties and rights. Several newspapers in the North contained white
supremacy opinions. The Philadelphia
Daily News, on November 22, 1860, stated, “It is neither for the good of
the colored race nor of our own that they should continue to dwell among us to
any considerable extent. The two races can never exist in conjunction except as
superior and inferior… The African is naturally the inferior race” (Perkins, 1964,
p. 425). The Michigan Republican, in
1861 said, “This government was made for the benefit of the white race… and not
for Negroes” (Perkins, 1964, p. 499). The Daily
Chicago Times said, “evil and nothing but evil, has ever followed in the
track of this hideous monster, abolition…Let the slave alone-send him back to
his master where he belongs” (Perkins, 1964, p. 431). Several other popular
northern papers said similar things when talking about slaves and the abolition
of slavery. Lincoln was also opposed to freedom for slaves and wanted them to
stay in slavery. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union,
and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union
without freeing any slave I would do it…” (Lincoln, 1862). Lincoln’s secretary
of state 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”
(Randall and Donald, 1969, p. 381). The New
York World said, somewhat sarcastically, “The President has purposely made
the proclamation inoperative in all places where we have gained a military
footing which makes the slaves accessible. He has proclaimed emancipation only
where he has notoriously no power to execute it. The exemption of the
accessible parts of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia renders the proclamation
not merely futile, but ridiculous” (Perkins, 1964, p. 438).
The
cause of the war was actually just the reaction between states trying to keep
their rights and the President trying to keep the Union. The government started
telling the states what they could and could not do which the states highly
opposed and regarded as far reaching government rule. The states that reacted
to this the most was the southern states including South Carolina, Texas,
Missouri, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana, who decided to
secede from the Union and form their own independent governments. With the
sudden massive secession of states from the Union, Lincoln became determined to
keep the Union together.
Was
the war necessary? It depends. The war was necessary to keep the Union
together, albeit very unnecessary for America and the abolishment of slavery.
At the end of the war we had a casualty and debt rate far surmountable to any
other war previous. There were 620,000 deaths as a result and a debt rate over
41 percent higher than it was previous. Many countries in Central and South
America abolished slavery peacefully in the 1800’s, during the same time period
as the Civil War. The war was not only unnecessary but also unconstitutional
because each state has its own government, constitution, laws, and flag, and
had every right to secede if they so wished. “The Union was formed by the
voluntary agreement of the States; and in uniting together they have not
forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one
and the same people. If one of the states chooses to withdraw from the compact,
it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so, and the Federal
Government would have no means of maintaining its claims either by force or
right” (de Tocqueville, 1945, p. 381).
Lincoln
is believed to be one of the best presidents in U.S. history by Americans
across the nation. However, when one fully researches Lincoln’s actions and the
laws he instituted, one can easily come to the conclusion that Lincoln was
neither great nor a president, in the meaning of the term, but rather a
dictator self-appointed. A dictator is defined as, “a person exercising
absolute power, especially a ruler who has absolute unrestricted control…”
(Dictionary.com, 2014). A dictator rules a country with absolute control, and
in America a president who refuses to abide by the Constitution and the limits
it places upon him is no longer a president but instead is a tyrant. It is not
a secret to many that Lincoln was a dictator. “Dictatorship played a decisive
role in the North’s successful effort to maintain the Union by force of
arms…one man was the government of the United States…Lincoln was a great
dictator…This great constitutional dictator was self-appointed” (Rossiter,
1948). Other such historians like James Ford Rhodes and James G. Randall, as
well as many others, expressed similar views. Lincoln “launched an invasion of
the South without consulting Congress, as required by the Constitution;
declared martial law; blockaded the Southern ports; suspended the writ of
habeas corpus; imprisoned thousands of Northern citizens without trial;
arrested and imprisoned newspaper publishers who were critical of him; censored
all telegraph communication; nationalized the railroads;… ordered Federal
troops to interfere with elections in the North by intimidating Democratic
voters;… confiscated private property and firearms; and effectively gutted the
ninth and tenth amendments to the Constitution” completely trampling over it
and ridding us the rights provided to every American citizen (DiLorenzo, 2003,
p. 131-132). He also instated “war powers” which he supposedly took from the
presidential oath dictated by the Constitution which says, in part, “take care
that the laws be faithfully executed… to preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States” (p. 134). This simply directs the President
to make sure that the laws are written, passed, and abided by in the way in
which they should be and to keep the Constitution protected. It says nothing
about the federal government declaring war on its own states or states that
have seceded. If anything, it gives the states the right to declare war on the
federal government when the federal government starts encroaching on the
sovereign states rights. Lincoln declared martial law on Congress and on most
of the states in America and he suspended the writ of habeas corpus. Martial
law is “the law applied in occupied territory by the military authority of the
occupying power” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). Although it is said that martial law
is only temporary and only lasts as long as the war, martial law can actually
continue indefinitely (Merriam-Webster, 2014). In the Lieber code it states
that martial law only ceases with a special proclamation made by the
Commander-in-Chief or by special mention in the peace treaty at the end of the
war (Lieber Code, Article 2). During the Civil War there was no proclamation
ending martial law as Lincoln was assassinated before he could. Because
Lincoln, acting as Commander-in-Chief, and every Commander-in-Chief after him
has not issued a proclamation relieving American citizens from the rule and
authority brought by martial law, we are still under its power today. What does
this mean? This means that the government has the legal means to commandeer
American citizen’s land, food, food-related resources (i.e. cattle, livestock),
and basically anything they want. Martial law also takes away all civil
liberties granted to Americans through the Constitution. “Eighty-five years
after the Independence of the United States, seven southern nation states of
America walked out of the Second Session of the thirty-sixth Congress on March
27, 1861. In so doing, the Constitutional due process quorum necessary for
Congress to vote was lost and Congress was adjourned sine die, or ‘without day’.
This meant that there was no lawful quorum to set a specific day and time to
reconvene which, according to Roberts Rules of Order, dissolved Congress…
Lincoln’s second Executive Order of April 1861 called Congress back into
session days later, but not under the lawful authority, or lawful due process,
of the constitution… Lincoln called Congress into session under authority of
martial law. Since April of 1861, ‘Congress’ has not met based on lawful due
process” (Epperly, 2009). Because Congress was dissolved, they had no legal
power to convene or to pass laws. Therefore, Abraham Lincoln started writing
the executive order. Since Lincoln never suspended the current authority of
martial law, Congress, as well as the states in America, has lost their rights.
Today, Congress convening is basically a large-scale production put on for the
benefit, or rather hurt, of the American people. If we have lost our freedoms,
liberties, and rights, provided to us in the Constitution of the United States
of America, due to one man, why would we worship him as much as we do today,
let alone revere him as the greatest president in American history?
What
we should be fighting against now is what we fought against in the American
Revolution: “taxation without representation.” We are paying taxes to a corrupt
government with dictators as its leaders. Our so-called presidents supposedly
elected “by the people for the people” are doing good for the country’s
citizens as did Hitler to the Jews! They have lied to the American people for
over a century about what really happened before, during, and right after the
Civil War without even the blink of an eye. America’s “leaders” do not protect
their citizens, but rather, lead us blindly to the slaughter. Lincoln has been
known for his eloquent speeches and quotes, one of the most famous being, “A
house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot
endure, permanently half slave and half free… It will become all one thing or
all the other” (Lincoln, 1858). I guess Mr. Lincoln decided to make us all the
same: Slaves to our own government. As the 16th President of the
United States of America, Abraham Lincoln wrapped himself in the “Red, White,
and Blue” portraying the appearance of a humble “Honest Abe” which couldn’t be
further from the truth. Instead of being the greatest president in all of
American history, as he is still regarded to this day, Lincoln had become one
of the worst president’s America had ever seen. Perhaps this of Lincoln’s
infamous quotes is the reigning truth, “In saving the Union, I have destroyed
the Republic,” which is America, the assumed “land of the free” (Lincoln,
1863).
References
Dictator.
2014 In Dictionary.com Retrieved April 19, 2014, From dictionary.reference.com/browse/dictator+?s=t
DiLorenzo, T. J. (2003). Was
Lincoln a Dictator?. The Real
Lincoln: A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War (). New York: Three Rivers Press.
Epperly, G. (2009, August
16). Memorandum of Law on the Name. familyguardian.org.
Retrieved April 19, 2014, from http://famguardian.org/Subjects/LawAndGovt/Articles/MemLawOnTheName.htm
Lincoln, A., & Lieber,
F. (2008, January 1). General Orders No. 100 : The Lieber Code . Yale Law School. Retrieved
April 15, 2014, from http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/lieber.asp
Lincoln, A., “Letter to Horace
Greeley, August 22, 1862,” in Abraham
Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings, ed. Roy Basler (New York: Da Capo
Press, 1946), p. 652
Martial Law. 2014 In
Merriam-Webster.com Retrieved April 19, 2014, From http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/martial%20law
Martin, I. C. (2008). A
House Divided. The Quotable
American Civil War ().
Guilford: The Lyons Press.
Perkins, H. (1964). Northern Editorials on Secession.
Gloucester, Massachusetts: Peter Smith.
Randall, J. G., &
Donald, D. (1969). The Civil
War and Reconstruction. Lexington, Massachusetts: D.C. Heath.
Rossiter, C. (1948). Constitutional Dictator. New
York: Harcourt Brace.
Tocqueville, A. d. (1835). Democracy in America. New
Rochelle, New York: Arlington House.
For Freedom and the Republic!
Carrie Preston
