Nov 30 2008
DISTORTED HISTORY
Perhaps the greatest example of distorted history is how most people feel
that Abraham Lincoln was one of America’s greatest presidents. Most Americans
believe that President Lincoln was a great humanitarian who fought the Civil War in
order to free the slaves and preserve the Union. Why do Americans feel that way?
It’s because, American historians writing history with a view
toward enabling American students to feel good about their country have distorted
the facts to present president Lincoln as bigger than life and almost as righteous as
God or George Washington.
So badly have American history textbook authors distorted the facts concerning
Lincoln that Thomas J. Dilorenzo, in his book, The Real Lincoln, writes, Most of what
you know about Abraham Lincoln is false.
While most Americans think Lincoln was in favor of equality for all races, Dilorenzo
records a quote from one of Lincoln’s speeches as follows: The whole nation is
interested that the best use shall be made of these new territories. We want them for
the homes of free white people.
That quote never appears in any American history textbook, because the authors of
those books omit any facts that don’t present Lincoln as a champion of racial
equality. That would undermine their wish to promote the biggest lie of American
history—the idea that the Civil War was fought to free the slaves.
Further evidence shows that Lincoln was, like most of America’s founding fathers, a
white supremacist. That explains why slavery of the black man and the genocide of
the red man happened in a nation that claimed all men were created by God with
certain rights. Neither the black man nor the red man were considered to have been
created by Jesus Christ but the devil, hence the term red devils became a common
utterance in America’s early history.
Further proof that Lincoln was a white supremacist can be gleaned from the speech
Lincoln gave in the Lincoln-Douglas debate of 1858. “I have no purpose to introduce
political and social equality between the black and white races. There is a physical
difference between the two, which, in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their
living together upon the footing of perfect equality; and inasmuch as it becomes a
necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of
the race to which I belong have a superior position. I have never said anything to the
contrary.” Ibid, pg. 13.
Dilorenzo records further evidence that Lincoln wasn’t the champion of the black
man that many history textbook authors would have us believe, by writing, Lincoln
promised to support the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which obligated the federal
government to use its resources to return runaway slaves to their owners. Ibid, pg.
13.
I have heard Lincoln apologists address that issue by claiming Lincoln had to make
such a promise to win the presidential election. To that I would say that if it were
true, it supports Dilorenzo’s quote of economist Murray Rothbard, who said, “Lincoln
was a master politician, which means he was a consummate conniver, manipulator,
and liar.” Ibid, pg. 11. Such a reference would certainly be left out of history
textbooks, because the historians want to promote Lincoln as “Honest Abe.”
Saying that Lincoln fought the Civil War to free the slaves puts a more-attractive face
on the war than the truth, which is that Lincoln and the Republican party saw an
opportunity to put down state’s rights by branding the war for secession or Southern
independence as a war to free the slaves. Americans would feel much better about
such a war if they believed that America shed its blood to free slaves, which is more
in keeping with the noble idea that America is concerned about liberty.
The truth is that those who framed the Constitution gave rights to the states that
became known as state’s rights as a way to prevent an all-powerful, centralized,
federal government. The founding fathers studied what caused or enabled
governments to become tyrannical. The common denominator was that all
dictatorships had powerful, centralized, federal governments.
Their thinking was to create a union. States would be invited to join and, by so
doing, fulfill Jefferson’s dictum that Governments derive their right to govern by the
consent of the governed. It was understood that, as a state could give its consent to
be governed by the union, so it could withdraw that consent and leave the union.
To prove that is true, I have included a quote from the Declaration of
Independence:
To secure these rights [of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness],
Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent
of the governed…. Whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new
government.
Before the Civil War, Lincoln was in total agreement with that, as proven by
the following:
”Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right
to rise up and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them
better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right—a right which we hope and
believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole
people of an existing government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such
people, that can, may revolutionize, and make their own of so much of the territory
as they inhabit.”
Abraham Lincoln
January 12, 1848
From those quotes, we can say with certainty that the Constitution of the
United States granted the right of states to secede from the Union, and that Lincoln
gave lip service to agreeing to it publicly. Why did he say he was fighting the Civil
War to preserve the Union, when he agreed in public speeches that the Confederate
States had a constitutional right to secede from the Union?
We must either accept that he was a liar and deceived people to win the election,
which discredits any claim one may wish to promote him as Honest Abe, or he
secretly had a concealed motive for waging war against the Confederacy. I suggest
he was both.
Just as it is currently apparent that the American people were lied to concerning the
reasons for the Iraq war, wherein America went to war not because Iraq posed a threat
to the world or the US or to promote democracy in the region, it may well be that
America used the war on terror as a smokescreen to further American hegemony.
America has a war-driven economy. Iraq presented an opportunity to wage another
economically stimulating war, and to further American Neocoms whos believe
America should use our military power to spread christianity around the world. and to
fullfil the scripture “Go forth ,subdue the Earth and bring it under your
dominion”,Genesis 1:28
It isn’t the purpose of this blog to study the Civil War. It was mentioned as
another example of distorted history. By reading such history, most Americans, if
asked why the Civil War was fought, would say to preserve the Union and free the
slaves. Neither is true. Lincoln fought the Civil War to stop state’s rights. He used
the rationalization of preserving the Union as justification for the war. Freeing the
slaves and preserving the Union had nothing to do with it.
Lincoln apologists will point to the Emancipation Proclamation and say
proudly, “Lincoln freed the slaves.” The fact of history such people conveniently
overlook is that the Proclamation didn’t free any slaves where Lincoln had
jurisdiction.
Dilorenzo wrote:
At the same time, it is important to note that Lincoln’s Emancipation
Proclamation didn’t free a single slave. As described by James G. Randall and David
Donald in their epic, The Civil War and Reconstruction, The stereotyped picture of the
emancipator suddenly striking the shackles from millions of slaves by a stroke of the
presidential pen is altogether inaccurate. The Real Lincoln, pg. 35.
Lincoln maintained that the proclamation was merely a war measure, not an
attempt at genuine emancipation. Ibid, pg. 37
Dilorenzo speculates that the main objective for issuing the proclamation
was the hope of inciting a slave insurrection in the South, or at least the threat of
one, which would force the Confederation to withdraw troops from the front lines. At
the time of the proclamation, the North was losing the war.
The worst injustice such distorters of history have done is to invert history. They
presented Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, as someone who was a traitor
to the Constitution, when he was actually within his constitutional rights. Even
Lincoln attested, in a previous quote, that the Constitution permitted people to
withdraw their consent to be governed. Lincoln has been presented as a hero of the
Constitution. In reality, he betrayed it and the American Revolution. In the end, he
created the one thing the founding fathers feared—a powerful, centralized federal
government.
The modern Republican party constantly claims it is the party of the
Constitution and is for small, limited government. In reality, it’s the Republicans
who put the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, in the White House. He
went into office not to defend the Constitution but to betray it and establish an all-
powerful centralized government. That led to an increasingly larger and larger
American government. Bush, the most-recent Republican president, has created the
biggest government ever.
Why don’t the American people know that? It’s because of the distorted history in
American textbooks. Based on those books, Americans think they have the most-
righteous government in the world and thus have the moral high ground from which
to judge anyone else.
Most modern Americans believe Lincoln was one of the country’s greatest presidents.
In truth, he betrayed the Constitution, didn’t free the slaves, and started America
down the road to imperialism, leading to one of the world’s greatest genocides, that
of the Native Americans.
He was America’s worst president. Because of his inept statesmanship, he cost the
country over 600,000 lives and almost lost the Union. People know of Lincoln’s
many failures before he became president. Suddenly, historians would have us
believe that the man who’d been a colossal failure at almost everything he did was an
instant success when he became president. The truth is, he failed at being president,
too.
The Civil War was a tragic one, and Lincoln deserves a great deal of the blame. That
war was not only unconstitutional but unnecessary.
To show how not knowing true historical facts coupled with illogical
thinking can still effect modern-day conclusions, the day after labor day, 2007, John
McCain on a radio talk show made the following remarks concerning the difficult
decision Lincoln made concerning signing the Emancipation Proclamation. McCain
said, “It is reported that Lincoln made a pact with God that If God would grant the
union a victory in the war he would sign the Emancipation Proclamation into law.”
Presumably McCain and many modern-day Christians believe that this shows how
religious Lincoln was, and since the union did have a victory shortly after this alleged
pact Lincoln supposedly made with God shows that God was on the side of the
Union, and against slavery. Neither McCain nor those who see nothing wrong with
the idea of Lincoln making a pact with God shows that neither McCain or those that
cite the above reference understand Christianity.
Christianity does not teach that God is opened to being bribed into doing
something. If Lincoln entered into such a pact with God, it reveals that Lincoln in
effect said to God, “Look, I know it’s the right thing to do is to sign the Emancipation
Proclamation into law, but I am not going to do so until you grant the union a
victory.” Christians should universally reject this notion as not true, because it sets
the false example of God allowing himself to being manipulated by Man. If true it
would mean that God can be bribed!
Also, Lincoln admitted “The Emancipation Proclamation” was not intended
to free the slaves but was rather a ploy to insight a slave insurrection in the South in
hopes of causing the confederacy to withdraw troops from fighting Yankees.
Wouldn’t one logically think that God should have known that Lincoln was insincere
about freeing the slaves, so Lincoln was attempting to deceive God.
The idea that God wanted slavery abolished because the north won the war
is another example of illogical thinking. If God was against slavery, He had a funny
way of showing it. Although Jesus Christ walked amongst slaves, he never organized
a demonstration against slavery nor spoke of their liberation during his lifetime.
Also doesn’t it seem a little strange that if God was against slavery that when through
the writings of Paul, his apostle, God didn’t take the opportunity to instruct Paul to
tell Christians they should liberate their slaves?!! To the contrary Paul only gave
instructions on how slaves and masters are to treat each.other. These
scriptures would be accepted in any modern court house as evidence that God
approved of slavery! Indeed we can find scriptures in both the Old Testament and
The New Testament that both the Jewish God Yahweh and the Christian God Jesus
Christ who by the way according to christian teachings are one and the same,
condoned slavery as the following scriptures will attest:
”Both thy bondmen, and thy bond maids, which thou shalt have, shall be of
the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bond
maids” Leviticus 25:44( This verse does not endorse the idea that Judaism’s God
Yahweh, the father of Jesus Christ, or Jesus Christ himself, depending upon your
point of view, have been opposed to slavery. To the contrary, this verse has Yahweh
endorsing the practice of slavery but pointing out that the Israelites themselves are
not to be slaves — only the heathen or nonbelievers may be made slaves or kept as
slaves.
One might even quote Leviticus 25:46 as proof that God intended slavery to last
forever, which brings up the question how can Christians promote Christianity as a
religion that helped put an end to slavery in America by inspiring the Abolition
movement. “And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to
inherit them for a possession : They shall be your bondmen F O R E V E R” Leviticus
25:46
Some Christians might wish to point out that it is unfair to quote the Old
Testament, because Christianity is based upon The New Testament. Fair enough, so
let’s ask the question, is Ephesians in the New Testament? Since it is the following
scriptures does not reflect any change in God’s attitude concerning slavery which is
God-condoned slavery.
“Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear
and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eye service, as
men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart.
Ephesians 6:5 and 6 This is evidence that slavery is the will of God. It would appear
then Christianity can not be said to be in opposition to slavery which cast
dispersions on the belief that God inspired the abolitionist movement.
Doesn’t it seem a Little perplexing why God waited until just before the
Civil War to finally inspire the abolitionists movement? Wouldn’t God have been better
advised, if it were possible to advise God, that if he had inspired the early colonist
against slavery that the scourge of slavery would have been nipped in the bud instead
of waiting so long before inspiring a movement against slavery?
Is it not also true that many Christians believe that Thomas Jefferson was
inspired by God in writing the Declaration of Independence. If so then God believed
that governments derive their right to govern by the consent of the governed. If this
be true then in order for God to be consistent with this idea, He should have wanted
the confederacy to win the Civil War, for the confederacy was attempting to stand
upon the very same principle that God allegedly inspired Jefferson to proclaim! It
would be better not to proclaim that the side that wins a war does so because it is
God’s will.