Essentially, Lincoln was basically the opposite of his hero status.
Civil war was not to free the slaves but to prevent the South from seceding due to the North behaving remarkably like the Britain the colonies had fought to break free from, as was their constitutional right. The Constitution was basically suspended to fight the war, with Lincoln as dictator.
Opponents (particularly, Northern publishers critical of Lincoln's policies) were jailed without due process (papers closed).
Lincoln was for big government 100% and it had already caused economic failure in Illinois but he didn't care, wanted to take his policies national.
He was a horrible racist - he wanted all the blacks sent back, or at least to central/south America.
The war against the south was brutal and violated war conventions (I forget what the one prior to the Geneva Convention was called, but they were in fact in place) - it was total and wrecked everything/ruined civilians/agriculture etc - big reason the South was behind the North economically until a century later and industry started moving in.
Those fighting for the South (such as General Lee who turned down fighting for the North) were generally fighting for their states. At the time, states still had a much higher level of status/power vs the federal gov't - this war and Lincoln of course changed that and basically cemented things toward the out of control federal government we have now.
I think those are the main points, may be missing a couple. Regarding reviewers (I like posting Goodreads when possible vs sending people to Amazon) that say he contradicts the entire body of Lincoln work and doesn't cite sources etc - well history is written by the winners and we here are particularly aware of how THAT works, and as for the citations, he heavily cites everything including the racist Lincoln quotes.
Thanks for the summary. It definitely sounds like the book is a counter narrative to what we have learned about Lincoln and history.
I think counter arguments/histories are important because it helps with discernment, opens the mind, and provides new perspectives.
I won't know if I will agree with the book until I read it. While I have an open mind, I already know my inherent bias is making the assumption that the author is a southern secessionist supporter that believed the South was right and the north was wrong.
While I grew up believing the north was righteous and the south was stuck in their slave ways, I also understand that many of the things I believed in are not true. I used to believe the federal government was altruistic and was focused on the health, safety, and survival of our country. Laugh Out F-ing Loud!
Maybe that was true at some point in time, but now I doubt it. Our Founding Father's greatest fear when they created our country 246 years ago was an all powerful centralized government. They new it would lead to tyranny over the people. The reason they declared our independence as a new nation was to break free from tyrannical rule. I think we can all comfortably understand how right they were.
Probably the single most important thing we can do to try and save our country is swing power as forcefully as possible back to the states. The place power should reside. Actually, the power should swing back to We The People, but starting with the states is a good first step to minimize federal control.
I applaud Florida and Texas in these regards. These are Southern States, so I do believe the South has it right when taking on the federal government.
Every time I've visited Texas, I've always left impressed with the clear message everyone always sends which is basically, "We aren't a state, we are the Republic of Texas."
If every state realized they are, in fact, individual countries, as our founders intended, we could take back control from DC much faster than people realize.
At the time of our Founding, "states" meant countries. This is why international politicians and negotiators are called statesman, and why we refer to national leaders as heads of state. The United States could realistically be called The United Countries of America. Every state has its own constitution. Every state has its own sovereignty. The only powers granted to the federal government are those explicitly granted to the federal government via the US Constitution. The federal government was created by the states, the states were not created by the federal government.
Part of the Great Awakening needs to include learning and understanding how our government was designed and how it is supposed to work, according to our Founding principles.
DC knows this could be the death of DC as they know it, and this is why they want to destroy our nation's history. They want to rewrite it so people forget where the true power lies in our nation.
I went into the book having sort of read a few internet columns/blogs on the matter and thinking yeah this might be interesting/substantiate these claims, pull it all together etc.
Within a chapter I was like AND HOW. I mean totally jaw-dropping. I am of the firm opinion that Lincoln should be blown off Mt Rushmore now.
Essentially, Lincoln was basically the opposite of his hero status.
Civil war was not to free the slaves but to prevent the South from seceding due to the North behaving remarkably like the Britain the colonies had fought to break free from, as was their constitutional right. The Constitution was basically suspended to fight the war, with Lincoln as dictator.
Opponents (particularly, Northern publishers critical of Lincoln's policies) were jailed without due process (papers closed).
Lincoln was for big government 100% and it had already caused economic failure in Illinois but he didn't care, wanted to take his policies national.
He was a horrible racist - he wanted all the blacks sent back, or at least to central/south America.
The war against the south was brutal and violated war conventions (I forget what the one prior to the Geneva Convention was called, but they were in fact in place) - it was total and wrecked everything/ruined civilians/agriculture etc - big reason the South was behind the North economically until a century later and industry started moving in.
Those fighting for the South (such as General Lee who turned down fighting for the North) were generally fighting for their states. At the time, states still had a much higher level of status/power vs the federal gov't - this war and Lincoln of course changed that and basically cemented things toward the out of control federal government we have now.
I think those are the main points, may be missing a couple. Regarding reviewers (I like posting Goodreads when possible vs sending people to Amazon) that say he contradicts the entire body of Lincoln work and doesn't cite sources etc - well history is written by the winners and we here are particularly aware of how THAT works, and as for the citations, he heavily cites everything including the racist Lincoln quotes.
Thanks for the summary. It definitely sounds like the book is a counter narrative to what we have learned about Lincoln and history.
I think counter arguments/histories are important because it helps with discernment, opens the mind, and provides new perspectives.
I won't know if I will agree with the book until I read it. While I have an open mind, I already know my inherent bias is making the assumption that the author is a southern secessionist supporter that believed the South was right and the north was wrong.
While I grew up believing the north was righteous and the south was stuck in their slave ways, I also understand that many of the things I believed in are not true. I used to believe the federal government was altruistic and was focused on the health, safety, and survival of our country. Laugh Out F-ing Loud!
Maybe that was true at some point in time, but now I doubt it. Our Founding Father's greatest fear when they created our country 246 years ago was an all powerful centralized government. They new it would lead to tyranny over the people. The reason they declared our independence as a new nation was to break free from tyrannical rule. I think we can all comfortably understand how right they were.
Probably the single most important thing we can do to try and save our country is swing power as forcefully as possible back to the states. The place power should reside. Actually, the power should swing back to We The People, but starting with the states is a good first step to minimize federal control.
I applaud Florida and Texas in these regards. These are Southern States, so I do believe the South has it right when taking on the federal government.
Every time I've visited Texas, I've always left impressed with the clear message everyone always sends which is basically, "We aren't a state, we are the Republic of Texas."
If every state realized they are, in fact, individual countries, as our founders intended, we could take back control from DC much faster than people realize.
At the time of our Founding, "states" meant countries. This is why international politicians and negotiators are called statesman, and why we refer to national leaders as heads of state. The United States could realistically be called The United Countries of America. Every state has its own constitution. Every state has its own sovereignty. The only powers granted to the federal government are those explicitly granted to the federal government via the US Constitution. The federal government was created by the states, the states were not created by the federal government.
Part of the Great Awakening needs to include learning and understanding how our government was designed and how it is supposed to work, according to our Founding principles.
DC knows this could be the death of DC as they know it, and this is why they want to destroy our nation's history. They want to rewrite it so people forget where the true power lies in our nation.
Is there a book or something you would recommend to learn more about this?
Here are some of my favorites on the history of the United States:
A Patriot's Guide to the History of the United States, by Larry Schweikart
The Politically Incorrect Guide to the American Revolution, Larry Schweikart
Books that Matter: The Federalist Papers, Joseph Hoffmann
The Founding Father's Guide to the Constitution, Brion McClanahan
America's Founding Fathers, Allen Guelzo
I went into the book having sort of read a few internet columns/blogs on the matter and thinking yeah this might be interesting/substantiate these claims, pull it all together etc.
Within a chapter I was like AND HOW. I mean totally jaw-dropping. I am of the firm opinion that Lincoln should be blown off Mt Rushmore now.
I will check it out. Thanks for sharing u/PepeSee 👈🏻