Posted on 12/29/2003 12:42:13 PM PST by Aurelius
In the December 29, 2003, issue of The Weekly Standard, senior editor Andrew Ferguson discusses the controversy surrounding the new Lincoln statue that was erected in Richmond, Virginia, last April. Ferguson makes a weak attempt to appear objective by mentioning a few of the reasons why there were objections to the statue; but upon close reading of his piece it is evident that he fails miserably in explaining to his readers why the Lincoln statue was so controversial.
Coming from the premier neocon magazine, it may seem shocking to some that Ferguson actually mentions a few of the well-documented criticisms of Lincoln: During his lifetime he was "one of the least popular presidents the country has ever known"; he was either an agnostic or, more likely, an atheist despite his prolific use of Scripture in his political speeches; and every minister in Springfield, Illinois, opposed his election.
I have received numerous emails expressing great surprise at such "objectivity" coming from the Standard. But in fact Ferguson’s "objectivity" is only a pretense. He claims to have spent months researching the article, and these three trivial facts are all that he could come up with in terms of criticisms of Lincoln. If he would have spent a little time surveying some of the mainstream history on Lincoln by David Donald, James G. Randall, and others, he would have come across the following well-documented facts about Lincoln:
He was a consummate politician who spoke out of both sides of his mouth, saying one thing to one audience and the opposite to another.
He was adamantly opposed to racial equality, actually using the words "superior and inferior" to describe the "appropriate" relation between the white and black races.
He opposed giving blacks the right to vote, to serve on juries, or to intermarry with whites.
He supported the legal rights of slave owners and pledged his support of a constitutional amendment that would have prohibited the federal government from ever interfering with Southern slavery.
He was a mercantilist and a political tool of corrupt Northern business interests.
He was a railroad industry lobbyist who championed corporate welfare.
He once represented a slave owner in a case in which he sought to recover his runaway slaves. Lincoln lost the case and the slaves gained their freedom.
He advocated sending all blacks back to Africa, Central America, or Haiti – anywhere but the U.S.
He proposed strengthening the Fugitive Slave Law.
He opposed the extension of slavery into the territories so that "free white people" would not have to associate with blacks or compete with them for jobs.
He opposed black citizenship in Illinois and supported the state’s constitution which prohibited the emigration of black people into the state.
He was the head of the Illinois Colonization Society, which advocated the use of state tax dollars to deport the small number of free blacks that resided within the state.
He nullified the early emancipation of slaves in Missouri and Georgia early in the war.
He sent troops to New York City to put down a draft riot by shooting hundreds of them in the streets.
He was an enemy of free-market capitalism.
He started a war over tax collection that ended up killing 620,000 Americans and wounding and maiming even more.
He conjured up the spectacular lie that no such thing as state sovereignty ever existed to "justify" his invasion and conquest of the Southern states.
He refused to meet with Confederate peace commissioners before the war to work out a peaceful compromise.
He provoked the upper South – Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas and Tennessee – to secede by launching a military invasion of their sister states.
He supported economic interventionism through protectionist tariffs, corporate welfare, and central banking that would plunder one section of the country (the South) for the benefit of his Northern political supporters.
He started a war without the consent of Congress; illegally declared martial law; illegally blockaded Southern ports; illegally suspended habeas corpus and arrested tens of thousands of political opponents; illegally orchestrated the secession of West Virginia; shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers and imprisoned their editors and owners; deported the most outspoken member of the Democratic Party opposition, Congressman Clement L. Vallandigham of Ohio; confiscated private property, including firearms; ignored the Ninth and Tenth Amendments; tolerated the arrest of ministers who refused to publicly pray for him; arrested duly elected members of the Maryland legislature as well as Congressman Henry May of Baltimore; and supported a law that indemnified federal officials from all of these illegal acts.
He orchestrated the rigging of Northern elections. Introduced the slavery of conscription and income taxation.
Censored all telegraph communication.
Waged war on civilians by having his armies bomb Southern cities and destroy or steal crops, livestock and private property throughout the South.
Created an enormous political patronage system that survives today.
Allowed the unjust mass execution of Sioux Indians in Minnesota.
Destroyed the system of federalism and states’ rights that was created by the founding fathers, thereby destroying the voluntary union.
Promoted generals for their willingness to use troops as cannon fodder.
Created an internal revenue bureaucracy that has never diminished in size and power.
These are just a few examples of Lincoln’s tyrannical behavior that have been well documented for decades by mainstream, pro-Lincoln scholars but which were completely ignored by Ferguson. He ignored them despite the fact that they are the main reason why there was a controversy over the Lincoln statue in Richmond – supposedly the subject of his long-winded and rambling piece.
Another thing that Ferguson did not pick up on is that a "Lincoln scholar," such as the ones he witnessed at the speakers’ podium during the unveiling of the statue (former Mario Cuomo speech writer Harold Holzer, former LBJ speech writer William Lee Miller, and Ronald C. White, dean of a San Francisco theological seminary), earn such a designation by dreaming up creative excuses for the above-mentioned acts of tyranny.
For example, no one has concocted more excuses for Lincolnian tyranny than Harry Jaffa. In his latest book on Lincoln he says such things as, "Negroes have voting rights and serve on juries today owing in large measure to the fact that Lincoln in the 1850s disavowed any intention to make them voters or jurors." The literature on Lincoln is filled with thousands upon thousands of lame excuses like this for every one of the above-mentioned acts of tyranny. That is how one comes to be celebrated as a "Lincoln scholar."
To his credit, Ferguson does mention one example of what he calls the "baloney" of Lincoln scholarship. One tall tale about Lincoln that was fabricated by Northern preachers and newspapers after the war, and which is often repeated verbatim by "Lincoln scholars," is that when Lincoln toured Richmond in early April of 1865 a black man supposedly approached him, dropped to his knees, and said: "Bress de Lord, dere is the great messiah!" "I know dat I am free, for I seen Father Abraham, Glory, Hallelujah!"
According to the myth, Lincoln, who never joined a church, never became a Believer, scoffed at Scripture to his friends, and was an infamous dirty joke teller, responded by saying: "Don’t kneel to me . . . You must kneel to God only, and thank Him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy. I am but God’s humble instrument . . . "
Ferguson correctly observes that he is not exactly going out on a limb to conclude that this ludicrous story, "recorded with stenographic precision, is baloney."
Unfortunately, Ferguson drops all pretenses of objectivity in his discussion of the "Lincoln Reconsidered" conference that I organized last spring in Richmond (which was sponsored by LewRockwell.com). In the computer printout of his article he devotes 26 lines to a discussion of how shabby the John Marshall Hotel, the site of the conference, was (unlike Ferguson, we were not subsidized by Rupert Murdoch); 45 lines to a discussion he had about the conference with an anonymous and eccentric sounding man whom he gives the name "Robert"; 34 lines to the atmosphere of his lunch at a Subway sandwich shop during the conference lunch break; and a mere 24 lines to what was discussed by the six scholarly speakers at our all-day conference, which was followed by a 90-minute Q&A session before an audience of more than 300.
The purpose of the conference was to shed some light to the public as to why not everyone thought that a statue of Lincoln was appropriate in Richmond. Ferguson claims that one purpose of his article is to explain exactly this. If so, he does a grossly incompetent job, for the only coverage he gives to the conference is a couple of paragraphs about some of the remarks made by Professors Donald Livingston and Clyde Wilson. He says nothing of my remarks, or of any of the other speakers, or of the extremely stimulating 90 minute Q&A session.
Worse yet, Ferguson repeats some of the lies that have been spread around about my book, The Real Lincoln, by some of my more rabid and dishonest critics, such as Thomas Krannawitter and MacKubin Thomas Owens. For example, Ferguson writes that I cite Lincoln’s numerous white supremacist statements but ignore his more pleasant-sounding statements about equality and his opposition (in principle at least) to slavery. This is simply untrue. I quote Lincoln as calling slavery a "monstrous injustice" in my book. Had Ferguson actually read the relevant chapter of my book instead of relying on the hatchet jobs done on the book by the likes of Krannawitter and Owens, he would not have repeated this lie.
He is correct, however, in stating that I believe that Lincoln was sincere in his white supremacist beliefs but not so sincere with his talk of equality. I came to this conclusion based on Lincoln’s actions, not merely the words in his political speeches. He promised to support Southern slavery through the Fugitive Slave Act, supported a constitutional amendment to assure that Southern slavery would have existed long past his own lifetime, advocated "colonization" or deportation of blacks, denied that blacks should ever be given basic citizenship rights, etc. No believer in natural rights and equality could advocate such things. I explain this in my book, and explained it in public at the Richmond conference in response to a question from the audience. Ferguson was in the audience at the time, for in his article he writes of his discussions with fellow attendees after it was over.
A second lie about The Real Lincoln that Ferguson repeats is that the book is a compilation of "all the anti-Lincoln literature" of the past century. Again, if Ferguson had read the book instead of relying on lies about the book that have been spread by other neocons, he would not have made this charge. In my chapter on secession, for example, I invoke the words of Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, and Tocqueville, among others, who can hardly be said to have been "anti-Lincoln." I even quote Lincoln himself, who spoke in support of the right of secession in an 1848 speech during his one term in Congress.
In the chapter on the "Lincoln Dictatorship" I rely heavily on the work of James G. Randall, who James McPherson calls "the preeminent Lincoln scholar of the last generation." I also make use of Dean Sprague’s book, Freedom Under Lincoln, which concludes with a chapter entitled "Lincoln the Humanitarian."
In the chapter entitled "Waging War on Civilians" I rely on scholarly works by Mark Grimsley and a number of Sherman biographers, none of whom is anti-Lincoln. Ferguson obviously did not bother to read my book before commenting on it.
He also cites only one negative review of my book by a man who teaches history at a junior college, but ignores positive reviews by Gene Epstein of Barron’s magazine, syndicated columnists Walter Williams, Paul Craig Roberts and Joseph Sobran, Foundation for Economic Education president Richard Ebeling, David Gordon of the Mises Review, Ilana Mercer of WorldNetDaily, and others.
In another lame attempt to portray the conference attendees as somehow unbalanced, Ferguson describes some literature that was apparently being handed out or sold in the lobby of the hotel by people who were not associated with the conference. On the other hand, he does not mention the serious, scholarly publications that were for sale at the conference registration table, including such Mises Institute publications as The Costs of War and Reassessing the Presidency, edited by John V. Denson, and Secession, State and Liberty, edited by David Gordon. I have no idea who the people were who were handing out pamphlets in the lobby of the hotel, but it is clear that Ferguson devoted space in his article to a description of their pamphlets, and not the above-mentioned Mises Institute books, because he wanted to present to his readers a less-than-accurate image of what went on at the conference.
Because of these gross biases and omissions, Andrew Ferguson and The Weekly Standard have failed to inform their readers of why the Lincoln statue in Richmond was so controversial that it made international news last spring.
But the people of Richmond don't want it; it is a slap in the face and meant as such.
I read the Weekly Standard article. Based on that alone (and it was a pretty even-handed article) it seemed that there were several viewpoints in Richmond as to whether or not the statute should be put up. The city leaders, including the business community, were in favor of the Tredegar renovation and the statue.
I suppose if a Standard editor did a story on Harriet Tubman the author would raise a fuss if the economic impact of European intervention in the war wasn't discussed.
This guy is a putz. He's a Civil War (or War of Northern Aggression, if you prefer) Absolutist. He will not allow discussion of any aspect of the period or its players without total discussion of the period and its players.
Since when do a bunch of white neo-secessionist rabble presume to speak for the people of Richmond?
it is a slap in the face and meant as such.
Put some ice on it, LOSer.
You must sell ice. I'm afraid you'll have to try to drum up business elsewhere.
I saw a History Channel "classroom" show yesterday that called Lincoln a "northern abolitionist."
Even if people today were to think his ideas look funny, his ideas were much advanced for his time.
DiLorenzo and the neo-reb loonies want to trick people with their anti-Lincoln screed.
Walt
"I confess that I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down down, and caught, and carried back to their stripes and unwarranted toils; but I bite my lip and keep quiet. In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip, on a Steam Boat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were, on board, ten or a dozen slaves, shackled together with irons. That sight was a continual torment to me; and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio, or any other slave-border. It is hardly fair for you to assume, that I have no such interest in a thing which has, and continually exercises, the power of making me miserable. You ought rather to appreciate how much the great body of the Northern people do crucify their feelings, in order to maintain their loyalty to the Constitution and the Union."
8/24/54
"If A can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B. -- why not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A.?
-- You say A. is a white, and B. is black. It is --color--, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be the slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly? -- You mean the whites are --intellectually-- the superiors of the blacks, and therefore, have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of --interest--; and, if you can make it your --interest--, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you."
1854
"I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black 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, having the superior position.
I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. [Loud cheers.] I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects---certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man."
August, 1858
That is the issue that will continue this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -right and wrong- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You toil and work and earn bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.
Reply, seventh and last joint debate, Alton, Illinois [October 15, 1858]
"I do not expect the Union to be dissolved--I do not expect the house to fall--But I do expect it will cease to be divided. Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is the course of ultimate extinctioon; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new--North as well as South. Have we no tendency towards the latter condition?"
1858
"The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society. And yet they are denied, and evaded, with no small show of success. One dashingly calls them "glittering generalities"; another bluntly calls them "self evident lies"; and still others insidiously argue that they only apply to "superior races."
These expressions, differing in form, are identical in object and effect. -- the supplanting the principles of free government, and restoring those of classification, caste, and legitimacy. They would delight a convocation of crowned heads, plotting against the people. They are the van-guard -- the miners and sappers -- of returning despotism.
We must repulse them, or they will subjugate us. This is a world of compensations; and he that would -be- no slave, must consent to --have-- no slave. Those that deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves, and under a just God cannot long retain it."
3/1/59
"But to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I suppose that you do not. ....peace does not appear as distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to worth the keeping in all future time. It will have then been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. And then, there will be some black men, who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great consumation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, have strove to hinder it. Still let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us dilligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result."
8/23/63
"I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel...
In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the Nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God."
4/4/64
"it is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers."
4/11/65
sources: "Abraham Lincoln, Mystic Chords of Memory" published by the Book of the Month Club, 1984 and:
"Lincoln, Speeches and Writings, 1859-65, Libray of the Americas, Don E. Fehrenbacher, ed. 1989
Lincoln was a great and good hearted man who came to believe that all Americans deserved the rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. Attempts to besmirch his reputation will always founder on the historical record.
Walt
"...peace does not appear as distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to worth the keeping in all future time. It will have then been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. And then, there will be some black men, who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet they have helped mankind on to this great consumation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, have strove to hinder it."
A. Lincoln
8/23/63
"When you give the Negro these rights," he [Lincoln] said, "when you put a gun in his hands, it prophesies something more: it foretells that he is to have the full enjoyment of his liberty and his manhood
...By the close of the war, Lincoln was reccomending commissioning black officers in the regiments, and one actually rose to become a major before it was over. At the end of 1863, more than a hundred thousand had enlisted in the United States Colored Troops, and in his message to Congress the president reported, "So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any." When some suggested in August 1864 that the Union ought to offer to help return runaway slaves to their masters as a condition for the South's laying down its arms, Lincoln refused even to consider the question.
--"Lincoln's Men" pp 163-64 by William C. Davis
Also:
"I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others that some of the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us some of most important successes, believe the emancipation policy and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt the rebellion, and that at least one of those important successes could not have been achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers....I submit these opinions as being entitled to some weight against the objections, often urged, that emancipation, and arming the blacks, are unwise as military measures, and were not adopted, as such, in good faith. You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you then, exclusively to save the Union... negroes, like other people act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive--even the promise of freedom. And the promise, being made, must be kept....
"it is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers."
4/11/65
Lincoln had been setting the stage for equal rights for at least a year -- as you well know.
Private
General Hunter
Executive Mansion
Washington D.C. April 1, 1863
My dear Sir:
I am glad to see the accounts of your colored force at Jacksonville, Florida. I see the enemy are driving at them fiercely, as is to be expected. It is mportant to the enemy that such a force shall not take shape, and grow, and thrive, in the south; and in precisely the same proportion, it is important to us that it shall. Hence the utmost caution and viglilance is necessary on our part. The enemy will make extra efforts to destroy them; and we should do the same to perserve and increase them.
Yours truly
A. Lincoln
_________________________________________________________
Hon. Andrew Johnson
Executive Mansion,
My dear Sir:
Washington, March 26. 1863.
I am told you have at least thought of raising a negro military force. In my opinion the country now needs no specific thing so much as some man of your ability, and position, to go to this work. When I speak of your position, I mean that of an eminent citizen of a slave-state, and himself a slave- holder. The colored population is the great available and yet unavailed of, force for restoring the Union. The bare sight of fifty thousand armed, and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi, would end the rebellion at once. And who doubts that we can present that sight, if we but take hold in earnest? If you have been thinking of it please do not dismiss the thought.
Yours truly
______________________________________________
Major General Banks Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 19, 1863.
My dear Sir,
Hon. Daniel Ullmann, with a commission of Brigadier General, and two or three hundred other gentlemen as officers, goes to your department and reports to you, for the purpose of rising a colored brigade. To now avail ourselves of this element of force, is veri important, if not indispensable. I therefore will thank you to help Gen. Ullmann forward with his undertaking, as much, and as rapidly, as you can; and also to cany the general object beyond his particular organization if you find it practicable. The necessity of this is palpable if,as I understand, you are now unable to effect anything with your present force; and which force is soon to be greatly diminished by the expiration of terms of service, as well as by ordinary causes. I shall be very glad if you will take hold of the matter in earnest. You will receive from the Department a regular order upon this subject.
Yours truly
_________________________________________________________________
Private
March 13, 1864
Executive Mansion
Washington
Hon. Michael Hahn
My dear sir,
I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first free-state Governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a convention which among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest for your private consideration, whther some of the colored people may not be let in -- as for instance the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewll of liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.
Yours truly
-------------------------------------
Executive Mansion,
My dear General Grant:
Washington, August 9, 1863.
I see by a despatch of yours that you incline quite strongly towards an expedition against Mobile. This would appear tempting to me also, were it not that in view of recent events in Mexico, I am greatly impressed with the importance of re-establishing the national authority in Western Texas as soon as possible. I am not making an order, however. That I leave, for the present at least, to the General-in-Chief.
A word upon another subject. Gen. Thomas has gone again to the Mississippi Valley, with the view of raising colored troops. I have no reason to doubt that you are doing what you reasonably can upon the same subject. l believe it is a resource which, if vigorously applied now. will soon close the contest. It works doubly, weakening the enemy and strengthening us. We were not fully ripe for it until the river was opened. Now, I think at least a hundred thousand can, and ought to be rapidly organized along it's shores, relieving all the white troops to serve elsewhere.
Mr. Dana understands you as believing that the emancipa- tion proclamation has helped some in your military operations. I am very glad if this is so. Did you receive a short letter from me, dated the 9th, of July? Yours very truly
__________________________________________
Lincoln meant to expand equal rights to black soldiers because his inate sense of justice could allow no less.
Lincoln was -not- a white separatist any more than he was a white supremacist.
Walt
The "people" of Richmond don't want it? Try a handful of neo-confederate anti-American fanatics who to this day still want to split the country in two.
Tom DiLorenzo is beyond nuts.
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