Let's be clear...the South was fighting tyranny

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonell’s proclamation, deeming April as Confederate History Month, and the ensuing furor over that decision, gives us an opportunity to learn the actual history of the Civil War, and the truth about Abraham Lincoln.

President Lincoln, who is often referred to by politically correct historians as the best and certainly the most important U.S. President, wielded power in a fashion never seen before nor since. The fact that he died as a martyr is why history has viewed him in such a kind, albeit sanitized light.

During the Civil War, Lincoln continuously circumvented the law and in many cases suspended the Constitution altogether. In doing so, Lincoln denied the rights of the citizens he was sworn to protect. He suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus, closed courts by force, and arrested citizens and elected officials without cause. Lincoln also raised troops without the consent of Congress, and closed-down newspapers whose writers voiced and disagreement with his policies.

Lincoln's troops razed the South and doomed to poverty, generations of Southerners for many years to come. General Sherman's “March to the Sea” was nothing more than a marauding rampage filled with robbery, rape, and murder. These men were less soldiers on a military mission and more common thugs on a crime spree. Northern armies brought war to women, children, and privately held property as a matter of official policy, rather than as so-called “collateral damage.”

Lincoln ordered the arrest of Baltimore police chief George P. Kane, police commissioner Charles Howard, as well as fellow commissioners: William H. Gatchell, John W. Davis, and Charles D. Hinks.

Baltimore Mayor George W. Brown was arrested and sent to Fort McHenry. The men were incarcerated because they dared to publicly disagree with Lincoln and refused to carry-out the President's tyrannical orders.

Baltimore was placed under federal control and a military police force was formed to enforce martial law.

Both the continents of Europe and South America ended the practice of slavery, and unlike the United States government, they did so without killing 600,000 of their own citizens. The shameful practice of slavery could have and would have been ended in this country, without ever firing a shot.

Contrary to popular belief (as perpetuated by government schools), slavery was a national institution, it was not unique to the South. Upon his inauguration, Lincoln could have freed the slaves in the Northern states which would have put severe diplomatic pressure on the South. However, Lincoln, besides being a tyrant was also an incredible hypocrite.

Lincoln's multitude of personal letters show his outright disgust for the black man and his truly racist views.

Consider a few rarely spoken facts:

-Northern General U.S. Grant continued to hold a slave for nearly a year after the war. In fact, it took an act of Congress to finally free the man from Grant's possession.

-Northern General Tecumseh Sherman was arrested many times for brutally abusing several of his slaves.

Conversely, Confederate General Robert E. Lee freed all of his slaves prior to the start of the war. That act by the military leader of the South speaks to the fact, that at least for the Confederacy, the war was truly about states' rights and a rebellion against tyranny, not a defense of slavery.

-In an 1858 speech in Charleston, IL, Lincoln said: “I am not now, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social or political equality of the white and black races. I am not now nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor of intermarriages with white people. There is a physical difference between the white and the black races which will forever forbid the two races living together on social or political equality. There must be a position of superior and inferior, and I am in favor of assigning the superior position to the white man.”

-In a letter to New York Tribune editor, Horace Greeley, Lincoln wrote: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it.”

For President Lincoln, the war was much less about freeing oppressed blacks and much more about the federal government exerting complete control over all citizens. Lincoln's actions were a direct assault upon the wishes of our founding fathers.

I believe that had Lincoln survived his second term--his place in this nation's history would be seen in a much different light. Furthermore, had the Civil War ended with a different outcome, Lincoln and many of his generals would have been deservedly tried as war criminals.

Of course, the victors write the history books--even when they tell lies.