Are Presidential Contenders Wrong to Admire Abraham Lincoln?

[jasongpeirce]

Are Presidential Contenders Wrong to Admire Abraham Lincoln?
http://www.voicesofliberty.com/article/presidential-contenders-wrong-admire-abraham-lincoln/

August 9, 2015—Coinciding with nationwide calls to ban the Confederate flag which have sparked calls to tear down the Jefferson Memorial and to remove the politically incorrect names of the likes of Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson from Democratic fundraisers, Politico’s Josh Zeitz is out with an article entitled “Is Jeb Bush Wrong to Admire James K. Polk? Sure he gave us Texas. But at what cost?”

Apparently, Republican presidential hopeful Jeb Bush made the mistake of praising Polk at a recent town hall event. In his article, Zeitz cautioned against the praise, because of the “dark consequences” of Polk’s actions which Zeitz asserts helped set the stage for the “most tumultuous period in American history” (Polk’s westward expansion raised the question of whether slavery should be permitted in the new territories, which stirred sectional partisanship over the issue in the lead-up to the Civil War).

Looking past Zietz’s article, the question is, if we’re playing the politically correct game of telling presidential contenders what former presidents they’re not allowed to admire, why stop with Polk? To varying degrees, the actions of every president from Washington to Lincoln had “dark consequences” foreshadowing the Civil War.

But perhaps Lincoln’s were the darkest. After all, Lincoln was the proximate cause of the Civil War, as he chose to wage war on the Southern states rather than recognize their right to secede from the union. Furthermore, in executing the war, Lincoln trampled on the Constitution, thoroughly trashed civil liberties, and as Dr. Gary North notes in reference to Sherman’s horrific scorching of Atlanta and march to the sea, Lincoln authorized the precedent-setting “modern war of terror on civilians.” Lincoln’s genocidal policies toward Native Americans are also believed by some historians to have inspired Hitler. Then there are Lincoln’s comments on race and colonization. In his books and articles, Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo provides perhaps the most incisive and sober accounts of Lincoln and his legacy.

Yet, Lincoln perennially tops the “most admired presidents list” and is regularly cited by historians, Republicans and Democrats alike as their favorite president.

For this reason, let’s examine a sprinkling of some of Lincoln’s consequentially dark words and actions, specifically in regards to race, and a la Zietz, ask ourselves if the 2016 presidential contenders would be “wrong” to admire him.

Here’s a sampling of Lincoln’s opinion of blacks (from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln):
• “I will to the very last stand by the law of this state (Illinois), which forbids the marrying of white people with Negroes.”
• “What I would most desire would be the separation of the white and black races.”
• “Senator Douglas remarked . . . that . . . this government was made for the white people and not for Negroes. Why, in point of fact, I think so too.”
• “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races… I, as well as Judge (Stephen) Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position.”
• “I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races… I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.”
• “Free them [black slaves] and make them politically and socially our equal? My own feelings will not admit of this . . . . We can not then make them equals.”
• “There is a natural disgust in the minds of nearly all white people, to the idea of an indiscriminate amalgamation of the white and black races.”
What about Lincoln and colonization? According to Phillip W. Magness and Sebastian N. Page in their book Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement For Black, Lincoln advocated colonization for African Americans throughout his presidency up until the point of his assassination. This means Lincoln wanted to deport all African Americans out of the country. His administration went so far as to inquire about purchasing colonies abroad to dump the deported, and the logistics of transportation.

Here are Lincoln’s own words on colonization (from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln):
• “Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and . . . favorable to . . . our interest, to transfer the African to his native clime (Africa).”
• “I have said that the separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation… such separation… must be affected by colonization.”
• “The place I am thinking about having for a colony is in Central America. It is nearer to us than Liberia.”
Lincoln also said this in his Address on Colonization to a Committee of Colored Men:
• “You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races . . . . This physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both,” and “affords a reason at least why we should be separated . . . . It is better for us both, therefore, to be separate.” (from Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writings)

Then there’s Lincoln’s apparent infatuation with the N-word. According to scholar and long-time Ebony magazine editor Lerone Bennett, Jr., in his book Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln’s White Dream, Lincoln was a huge fan of the N-word, and used it so frequently he often embarrassed those around him. Bennett also asserts that Lincoln was only interested in abolition to serve his political ambitions and the interests of those who put him in power. Furthermore, Bennett assigns the horrors blacks continued to suffer after the war and through Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era as part of Lincoln’s legacy.
(We’ve covered Lincoln’s legacy on liberty here, and his role in the Civil War.)

But back to the original question, if we’re going to play a politically correct game of telling our presidential contenders which former presidents they can and cannot admire, shouldn’t all of the former presidents be held to the same level of scrutiny?
Are presidential contenders “wrong” to admire Abraham Lincoln? Let us know what you think in the comments section.


Other sources:
Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, Tear Down That Monument!
Lia Mandelbaum, “Hitler’s Inspiration and Guide: The Native American Holocaust”
Dr. Gary North, Hiroshima: Lincoln’s Legacy to Civilians
Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, Was Hitler Inspired by Lincoln’s Army?
Dr. Thomas DiLorenzo, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Cover-Up Library and Museum
Related Articles: Rethinking Lincoln and Liberty: http://www.voicesofliberty.com/artic...y-8-questions/
The Confederate Flag, Civil War, Secession, and Today: http://www.voicesofliberty.com/artic...cession-today/

[Ronin Truth]

Most Lincoln admirers are just statists in love with the bogus Lincoln myth.

All they really think that they know about him, was learned in the gubmnt skool 8th grade social studies class.

[presence]

Most Lincoln admirers are just statists in love with the bogus Lincoln myth.

All they really think that they know about him, was learned in the gubmnt skool 8th grade social studies class.

kind of like the Christopher Columbus folkhero mythology?

[Ronin Truth]

kind of like the Christopher Columbus folkhero mythology?

Yep, pretty much. There's a whole bunch of them to debunk.


For some reasons, St. Paul springs to mind.