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Jewish World Review /Dec. 2, 1998 /13 Kislev, 5759
Walter Williams
The Civil War wasn't about slavery
THE PROBLEMS THAT LED TO THE CIVIL WAR are the same problems today ---- big, intrusive
government. The reason we don't face the specter of another Civil War is because today's
Americans don't have yesteryear's spirit of liberty and constitutional respect, and political
statesmanship is in short supply.
Actually, the war of 1861 was not a civil war. A civil war is a conflict between two or more
factions trying to take over a government. In 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis was
no more interested in taking over Washington than George Washington was interested in taking
over England in 1776. Like Washington, Davis was seeking independence. Therefore, the war of
1861 should be called "The War Between the States" or the "War for Southern Independence."
The more bitter southerner might call it the "War of Northern Aggression."
Statements from the time suggest otherwise. In President Lincoln's first inaugural address,
he said, "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."
During the
war, in an 1862 letter to the New York Daily Tribune editor Horace Greeley, Lincoln said, "My
paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or
destroy slavery." A recent article by Baltimore's Loyola College Professor Thomas DiLorenzo
titled "The Great Centralizer," in The Independent Review (Fall 1998), cites quotation after
quotation of similar northern sentiment about slavery.
Lincoln's intentions, as well as that of many northern politicians, were summarized by
Stephen Douglas during the presidential debates. Douglas accused Lincoln of wanting to
"impose on the nation a uniformity of local laws and institutions and a moral homogeneity
dictated by the central government" that "place at defiance the intentions of the republic's
founders." Douglas was right, and Lincoln's vision for our nation has now been accomplished
beyond anything he could have possibly dreamed.
A precursor for a War Between the States came in 1832, when South Carolina called a
convention to nullify tariff acts of 1828 and 1832, referred to as the "Tariffs of
Abominations." A compromise lowering the tariff was reached, averting secession and possibly
war. The North favored protective tariffs for their manufacturing industry. The South, which
exported agricultural products to and imported manufactured goods from Europe, favored free
trade and was hurt by the tariffs. Plus, a northern-dominated Congress enacted laws similar
to Britain's Navigation Acts to protect northern shipping interests.
Shortly after Lincoln's election, Congress passed the highly protectionist Morrill tariffs.
That's when the South seceded, setting up a new government. Their constitution was nearly
identical to the U.S. Constitution except that it outlawed protectionist tariffs, business
handouts and mandated a two-thirds majority vote for all spending measures.
The only good coming from the War Between the States was the abolition of slavery. The great
principle enunciated in the Declaration of Independence that "Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed" was overturned by
force of arms. By destroying the states' right to secession, Abraham Lincoln opened the door
to the kind of unconstrained, despotic, arrogant government we have today, something the
framers of the Constitution could not have possibly imagined.
States should again challenge Washington's unconstitutional acts through nullification. But
you tell me where we can find leaders with the love, courage and respect for our Constitution
like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and John C.
History books have misled today's Americans to believe the war was fought to free slaves.
Honest Abe
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