Marenco
05-12-2013, 07:27 PM
Spooner's Fiery Attack on Lincolnite Hypocrisy
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
In an earlier article entitled "Abolitionist Defends the South" I described how the famous Massachusetts abolitionist, Lysander Spooner, excoriated the Lincoln regime for destroying the voluntary union of the founders, waging an unnecessary war, and above all else, failing to end slavery peacefully as all other nations where slavery existed in the nineteenth century had done. Spooner said these things in his 1870 essay, No Treason. I recently discovered, however, that his criticisms of the Lincoln regime were even harsher at the beginning of the war! The great libertarian icon was a fierce and steadfast opponent of Lincoln and the Republican Party cabal from the very beginning. (Thanks to Phil Magness for bringing this to my attention.)
If one searches through the collected papers of Spooner one will find a January 22, 1860 letter to William Seward, who was to become Lincoln's secretary of state and enforcer of the secret police force that would imprison tens of thousands of Northern political dissenters once habeas corpus was (illegally) suspended.
Like other Republicans, Seward had spent the previous decade bloviating about what a great champion of "liberty" he was, but Spooner saw through his transparent political rhetoric. Actions speak louder than words, and Spooner understood that the actions of Seward, Lincoln, and the rest blatantly belied their sweet-sounding odes to liberty.
Spooner's letter to Seward starts out with a fireball of a sentence, speaking of "evidence of your [Seward's] unfaithfulness to freedom" and a pledge to "embarrass the plans of the Chases, and Sumners, and Wilsons, and Hales, and the other jesuitical leaders of the Republican Party, who profess that they can aid liberty, without injuring slavery." (Spooner's use of the word "jesuitical" is telling: it means "crafty and equivocating.")
At this point in time, the U.S. House of Representatives was about to pass a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting the federal government from ever interfering with southern slavery. This "first Thirteenth Amendment" eventually passed both the House and Senate, dominated by Republicans, and Lincoln himself pledged his support for it in his first inaugural address. Despite all of the "anti-slavery" rhetoric by Lincoln, Seward, and others, these actions proved to Spooner that these men were all quite diabolical liars, connivers, and political manipulators. He excoriated them for believing that they could "ride into power on the two horses of Liberty and Slavery." In his letter he literally called Seward and all the rest of the Republican cabal "double-faced demagogues."
For More: http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo87.html
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
In an earlier article entitled "Abolitionist Defends the South" I described how the famous Massachusetts abolitionist, Lysander Spooner, excoriated the Lincoln regime for destroying the voluntary union of the founders, waging an unnecessary war, and above all else, failing to end slavery peacefully as all other nations where slavery existed in the nineteenth century had done. Spooner said these things in his 1870 essay, No Treason. I recently discovered, however, that his criticisms of the Lincoln regime were even harsher at the beginning of the war! The great libertarian icon was a fierce and steadfast opponent of Lincoln and the Republican Party cabal from the very beginning. (Thanks to Phil Magness for bringing this to my attention.)
If one searches through the collected papers of Spooner one will find a January 22, 1860 letter to William Seward, who was to become Lincoln's secretary of state and enforcer of the secret police force that would imprison tens of thousands of Northern political dissenters once habeas corpus was (illegally) suspended.
Like other Republicans, Seward had spent the previous decade bloviating about what a great champion of "liberty" he was, but Spooner saw through his transparent political rhetoric. Actions speak louder than words, and Spooner understood that the actions of Seward, Lincoln, and the rest blatantly belied their sweet-sounding odes to liberty.
Spooner's letter to Seward starts out with a fireball of a sentence, speaking of "evidence of your [Seward's] unfaithfulness to freedom" and a pledge to "embarrass the plans of the Chases, and Sumners, and Wilsons, and Hales, and the other jesuitical leaders of the Republican Party, who profess that they can aid liberty, without injuring slavery." (Spooner's use of the word "jesuitical" is telling: it means "crafty and equivocating.")
At this point in time, the U.S. House of Representatives was about to pass a proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting the federal government from ever interfering with southern slavery. This "first Thirteenth Amendment" eventually passed both the House and Senate, dominated by Republicans, and Lincoln himself pledged his support for it in his first inaugural address. Despite all of the "anti-slavery" rhetoric by Lincoln, Seward, and others, these actions proved to Spooner that these men were all quite diabolical liars, connivers, and political manipulators. He excoriated them for believing that they could "ride into power on the two horses of Liberty and Slavery." In his letter he literally called Seward and all the rest of the Republican cabal "double-faced demagogues."
For More: http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo87.html