By David O. Jones
An address given at Carnton Cemetery, Franklin, Tennessee
on the occasion of Confederate Memorial Day, 4 June 2000.
We are here today to remember the past. But our honoring of the brave men of the Confederacy falls short if we fail to understand their cause or refuse to continue to fight for the future for which they prayed, and bled and died.
The fight of the Confederacy was against invasion of their duly constituted nation and for independence and self-determination. Lincoln’s War permanently established an American empire defined by autocratic rule and economic centralization. It was called the “War of the Rebellion” by the U.S. government. If we had succeeded, it would have been called the Second American Revolution and the War for Southern Independence.
Abraham Lincoln’s actions in usurping the delegated powers in the U.S. Constitution is unparalleled in the history of Christendom. H.L.Mencken, wrote in 1931, “Lincoln has become one of our national deities and a realistic examination of him is thus no longer possible.” But our freedom demands that we take an honest look at our history, our leaders, and our actions.
The facts?
•Less than a week after his subterfuge in provoking an attack on Fort Sumter, Lincoln ordered the blockade of Southern ports
•April 21, he ordered the navy to buy five warships
•April 27, he started suspending the privilege of habeas corpus Soon thereafter he started shutting down newspapers
•May 3, he called for more troops
•September 12 & 13, all suspected Southern sympathizers in the Maryland state legislature were arrested along with other influential citizens, and were locked up in prison at Fort McHenry.
•In November all members of the federal armed forces voted in Maryland elections. Voters had to pass through platoons of Union soldiers. It was said of that event, “It was as perfect an act of despotism as can be conceived. It was a coup d’etat in every essential feature.”
Lincoln’s justification of his actions was that constitutional legislative powers applied to the commander in chief in difficult times. In fact, Lincoln had the audacity to inform Congress that he had the right to suspend the Constitution in order to save it. He also took the position that he had the final say on any Constitutional question, not the court, and his power to make such a determination was a higher power than the Supreme Court.
Lincoln usurped congressional and judicial power, and then with Congress’s blessing created an American gulag for an estimated 20,000 citizens who disagreed with him. It should be noted that by comparison, Mussolini is reported to have jailed only two thousand men.
The British press wrote, “It does seem the most monstrous of anomalies that a government founded on the ‘sacred right of insurrection’ should pretend to treat as traitors and rebels six or seven million people who withdrew from the Union, and merely asked to be let alone.”
Again the British press asked, “With what pretence of fairness can you Americans object to the secession of the Southern States when your nation was founded on secession from the British Empire?”
But when the Chicago Times editorialized, “We then repeat the question as to what adequate motive we have for inaugurating a civil war?” In a short time, a military officer arrived at the newspaper, shut it down and sealed its presses. Eventually over 300 northern newspapers would be closed by Union troops and the journalists who dared question Lincoln’s actions were jailed.
Charles Dickens concluded, ”The Northern onslaught upon slavery was no more than a piece of specious humbug designed to conceal its desire for economic control of the Southern states.” And later he wrote, “Union means so many millions a year lost to the South; secession means the loss of the same millions to the North.”
Preserving the Union was so important economically and for the perceived destiny of the American nation that the country as a whole didn’t seem to mind if Lincoln pushed the Constitution aside, ignored its checks and balances, and assumed the role and power of a Roman consul, a virtual dictator for the duration of his life.
Our freedom demands that we take an honest look at our history, our leaders, and our actions. Journalist Tom Brokaw in a recent question and answer period following a speech promoting his book on the “Greatest Generation” dodged a question about whether the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan was a war crime because of the massive civilian casualties. We can’t afford to dodge the questionable actions of our national government. A pledge to a flag does not make it all right.
We can ill afford to ignore the facts. Nor can we justify the facts and pretend that all is well now. We have fought the Spanish-American War, two World Wars, and in Korea and Vietnam as a united Union and have many honourable Southern veterans. But there are questions.
•Question: The sinking of the Maine prompted the Spanish war, but wasn’t that probably an accident blown out of proportion by leadership to achieve desired political ends?
•Question: It is widely agreed that U.S. code breakers had already intercepted Japanese intensions to bomb Pearl Harbor, but why did our leadership allow the military base to be destroyed without warning?
•Question: The Gulf of Tonkin incident which prompted greater activity in Vietnam was challenged almost from the moment it happened.
Were our leaders honest? We can ill afford to ignore the facts. Nor can we justify the facts and pretend that all is well now, because the world will not let us forget. Just this last year, at a news conference with President Clinton (8 April 1999), Chinese premier Zhu Rongii, responded to questions about China’s use of force upon Taiwan. The Communist Chinese premier said, “Abraham Lincoln, in order to maintain the unity of the United States … resorted to the use of force … so, I think Abraham Lincoln, president, is a model, is an example.”
Charles Adams in his recently published book, When in the Course of Human Events, on page 1 writes, “With the Civil War, America failed the world as well as itself.”
The fight of the Confederacy was against invasion and for independence and self-determination. Today our fight is against total intrusion into our lives and for independence and self-determination.
The Constitution survived Lincoln’s War, but not as originally intended by the founding fathers and not as conceived of during pre-war years. The war to preserve the Union turned out to be a war that destroyed it. People today have no idea of the real dangers to American society that were on the line, and few realize just how fortunate succeeding generations are that the military despotism that plagued the land for over five years did not last forever. The consequences of Lincoln’s War afflict us every day.
Southerners had a cause—independence and repelling an invading foreign army—a just cause like the American War for Independence in 1776. But Northerners had no such noble cause. “Preserving the Union” can be translated into conquering the South and imposing Northern will on the Southern people.
During the War for Southern Independence, the London Times wrote, ”If Northerners…had peaceably allowed the seceders to depart, the result might fairly have been quoted as illustrating the advantages of Democracy, but when Republicans put empire above liberty, and resorted to political oppression and war…It was clear that nature at Washington was precisely the same as nature at St. Petersburg…Democracy broke down. …when it was upheld, [it was done] like any other Empire, by force of arms.”
We are quick to be trite in saying of our form of government, “It may not be perfect, but it’s the best the world has ever known.” Is that really true? In the twentieth century, when over a hundred new nations have come into being, most often from Europe’s colonial empires, American democratic forms have not been adopted—it has been British parliamentary government that swept over the globe. The world in turmoil understands the despotism which is possible from an unfettered executive, and the nations of the world who gain their freedom do not wish to visit that despotism upon themselves.
The American empire managed out of Washington, DC is dying, gasping its last breaths. It is grasping for life by sending troops around the world to prove that Big Brother still exists even though there isn’t one in Moscow anymore. There is no proverb more true than that a man without authority will attempt to exert control. It is also true of our national government. As it has lost respect and authority not only from its own citizenry but also lost it around the world, it will attempt to exert even greater control.
We must stand with our fallen brothers of a century ago and denounce every action of the U.S. government which seeks to impose the will of a minority upon others, whether it is in Bosnia or Bethesda. We must fight against total intrusion into our lives and for independence and self-determination. We must fight for a future of freedom for our children and our grandchildren.
About the Author: David O. Jones is headmaster of Heritage Covenant Schools and an ordained Christian minister. He is the current (2010) chairman of the Perry County (Tennessee) Chamber of Commerce and is also chairman of the Tennessee League of the South.
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