America will never come right until it gets right with Lincoln. He was not a saint who saved the Union and freed the slaves. He was a pathologically ambitious man who stumbled into the bloodiest war in American history, freed the slaves in the most destructive possible way, and cost the lives of many Northerners by his bad military decisions. He did not save the Union but turned America into an empire with an unappealable central authority, with crony capitalism installed as its predominant feature of government.
Now I don’t mind if you like Lincoln and are happy with what he did and regard his deviousness as great statesmanship. But let’s cut out the sainthood bit which distorts our understanding of our national history with false righteousness.
Lincoln is not unlike some of our leading politicians of today.
Amen. Lincoln did not invade the South because of slavery. He and his Congress (3 months after he’d started the War without consulting them) were explicit in stating that. 700,000 dead and the South impoverished for many decades…to prevent an amicable divorce.
And it should be added that the constitutional/ historical understanding prior to that point was that the union was a voluntary association from which states had the right to secede.
Exactly right, Triad. The New England states considered secession more than once, encouraged by none other than Gouvernor Morris, the Constitutional Convention delegate responsible for the exact wording of the Constitution.
A federation of States autonomous outside the federal designated duties (foreign affairs, ensuring regular commerce amongst the states) would make for an infinitely less abusive federal government than we endure today.
I agree, J.Sobran. That sounds somewhat like the original Articles of Confederation we had prior to 1789 that did not last; but we could likely improve upon that structure. It would be a whole lot better than we have now.