The heritage, the very existence, of the Confederacy is now under attack by self-serving factions whose sole purpose is to rewrite history and discredit the South and the memory of the soldiers who fought for The Cause. As such, Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest SCV Camp 469 is determined to do our part to bring to light the truth about such issues as the flag, slavery and hate groups. Each month will feature a pertinent question with an answer based on fact, not twisted half-truths.
QUESTION: Was Abraham Lincoln Truly the Great Emancipator?
ANSWER: Read the following quotes by Lincoln and judge for yourself
When asked, "Why not let the South go in peace?"
Lincoln replied: "I can't let them go. Who would pay for the
government?"
In order to coalesce the forces in the North, Lincoln had to stage an
incident to inflame the populace, which he did. The firing on Sumter was, by his own admission, a setup for just such action. Lincoln was aware that
provisioning Sumter could provoke a war.
Lincoln's letter to Gustavus Fox on 1 May, 1861, makes it clear that he
was pleased by the result of the firing on Ft Sumter... "You and I both anticipated that the cause of the country would be advanced by making
the attempt to provision Ft Sumter, even if it should fail; and it is no small consolation now to feel that our anticipation is justified by the
result."
Abraham Lincoln said the following on September 18, 1858 in a speech in
Charleston, Illinois:
"I will say, then, that 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 [applause]: that 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; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." -- Reply by Abraham Lincoln to Stephen A. Douglas in the first joint debate, Ottowa, IL; 21 Aug 1858
"I have never seen to my knowledge a man, woman, or child who was in favor of producing a perfect equality, social or political, between Negroes and white men." Opening speech, fourth joint debate with Douglas, Charleston, IL; 18 Sep 1858
"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the
right to rise up and shake off the existing government and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, a most sacred right, which
we hope and believe is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government, may choose
to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much territory as they inhabit." -- Abraham
Lincoln
"I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the
institution of slavery." - First Inaugural Address
"I am a little uneasy about the abolishment of slavery in this District
(of Columbia)." - To Horace Greeley
"If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it." -
To Horace Greeley
"What then will become of my tariff?" - Abraham Lincoln to Virginia
compromise delegation, March 1861.
On August 14, 1862, Lincoln received a deputation of free Negroes at
the White House to which he said, "But for your race there could not be war... It is better for us both, therefore, to be
separated". He advocated colonization in Central America and promised them help in carrying out
the project.
"What I would most desire would be the separation of the white and
black races." From a speech in Springfield, IL; 17 July 1858
"Such separation ... must be effected by colonization ... to transfer the
African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be." - From a speech delivered in Springfield, IL; 26 June,
1857
"The [Emancipation] proclamation has no constitutional or legal
justification except as a war measure." - Letter to Sec. of Treas. Salmon P. Chase; 3 Sep 1863
"The suspension of the habeas corpus was for the purpose that men may
be arrested and held in prison who cannot be proved guilty of any defined crime."
"Arrests," wrote President Lincoln to that Albany committee of
Democrats, "are not made so much for what has been done as for what might be done.
The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered (by arrest,
imprisonment, or death) he is sure to help the enemy."
Under Lincoln's definition, silence became an act of treason.
"Much more, if a man talks ambiguously, talks with 'buts' and 'ifs' and
'ands' he cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered (by imprisonment or death) this man will actively commit treason. Arbitrary arrests are not
made for the treason defined in the Constitution, but to prevent treason."
Lincoln supported his home state's law, passed in 1853, forbidding
blacks to move to Illinois. The Illinois state constitution, adopted in 1848, called
for laws to "effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this state."
Lincoln blamed blacks for the Civil War, telling them, "But for your
race among us there could not be a war, although many men engaged on either side
do not care for you one way or another."
Lincoln claimed that "the people of Mexico are most decidedly a race of
mongrels. I understand that there is not more than one person there out of eight who is pure white."
Repeatedly over the course of his career, Lincoln urged that American
blacks be sent to Africa or elsewhere.
In 1854, Lincoln declared his "first impulse would be to free all the
slaves, and send them to Liberia - to their own native land." In 1860, Lincoln called for the "emancipation and deportation" of slaves.
And, while prosecuting the war to "free the slaves," Lincoln said: "I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly
favor colonization...in congenial climes, and with people of their own blood and race." Annual message to Congress; 1 Dec 1862
In his State of the Union addresses as president, he twice called for
the deportation of blacks. In 1865, in the last days of his life, Lincoln said of blacks, "I believe it would be better to export them all to some
fertile country with a good climate, which they could have to themselves."
The following is a quote from the London Spectator, dated October 1, 1862 concerning the Emancipation Proclamation:
"The principle [of the Proclamation] is not that a human being cannot justly own another, but that he cannot own him unless he is loyal to the United States government."
The following post was taken from Newsmax.com by John R. Lynch, a member of the John B. Hood SCV Camp 1208 in Los Angeles, CA
"....more and more people are recognizing Lincoln and his unholy war as the beginning of the end for America. The intentionally-misnamed American Civil War was the first, most fundamental, and most significant assault upon state sovereignty by big government in our nation's history. To be more precise, it was the event that first "rewrote," or re-interpreted, the Constitution in such a way that it became an instrument of tyranny, rather than freedom. Far from what we've been taught, the understanding of the Constitution that prevailed in America after the war was entirely at odds with the understanding of the framers in the beginning. (As an indication, look in vain for quotations from the framers in any of Lincoln's writings. They're simply not there.) Thus, if it took some time for conditions to develop to the point where the tyrants waiting in the wings were ready to move (the "conditions" being, mostly, the deaths of those old enough to remember what the Constitution really said and meant), it nevertheless set the stage for them and provided an incalculable service by silencing and impoverishing that great part of America that had been faithful to the Constitution of their fathers."
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