Comments on: November 19, 1863 – Today the Gettysburg Address was delivered

By: Ahsan

Ahsan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:55:41 +0000

Excellent timing, Ashok. I’m currently reading Team of Rivals – Stanton has just been made War Secretary. It has been most enlightening to read about the origins of the Republican party.

I will finish the book and return to your post.
.-= Ahsan´s last blog ..Notes on Public Desire =-.

By: thag

thag — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:05:00 +0000

@ J. Stephen Conn: You are right about one thing: if we take the South’s self-determination to be their self-interest, one could not doubt that the South considered any one thing more holy than that interest.

I’m pretty sick of hearing about the “War of Northern Aggression,” considering that the Jefferson Davis was ‘inaugurated’ before Lincoln ever set foot in office, and the first seven states made their secession in April of 1860.

And at any rate, let’s talk just a little bit about “self-determination.” How about the Fugitive Slave Act? What was that, but the thrusting of Southern interest upon all citizens Northern and otherwise, who were in effect turned into dog-catchers catching human beings? Recall incidents such as President Pierce’s letting loose of federal troops to catch runaway slaves in Boston; the list goes on and on.

By: J. Stephen Conn

J. Stephen Conn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:04:39 +0000

I memorized the Gettysburg Address when I was a kid growing up in the public schools of Tennessee and assumed the things it said were true. That’s when I was a child.

Looking back, from the perspective of having studied American history for more than sixty years, I realize how false Lincoln’s speech really was. Dishonest Abe Lincoln was a master of political spin, whose words were the polar opposite of his deeds. Government of the people, by the people and for the people was exactly the thing he was trying to crush in his unconstitutional and brutal attack on the Confederate nation.

Lincoln’s words are a mockery when one considers that he held 13,000 northern political prisoners, without trial or due process of law – just because they disagreed with his illegal war.

Famous American writer H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), said of the Gettysburg Address: “The doctrine is simply this: that the Union soldiers who died at Gettysburg sacrificed their lives to the cause of self-determination – that government of the people, by the people, for the people should not perish from the earth. It is difficult to imagine anything more untrue. The Union soldiers in the battle actually fought against self-determination; it was the Confederates who fought for the right of their people to govern themselves.”