Mike Whitney Interviews Paul Craig Roberts
Paul Craig Roberts– Before I answer the questions it needs to be clearly stated that my answers are not merely my opinion, but hard facts supported in the historical record. Like John Maynard Keynes, I like to keep my views in accordance with the facts. In the case of what is called “the Civil War,” the facts are clear enough.
Lincoln and the Republicans understood that the 2 March 1861 Morrill Tariff would result in secession of Southern states from the Union. On the same day in an effort to prevent secession, the Republicans passed and Lincoln endorsed the Corwin Amendment. The Corwin Amendment would have made it impossible for slavery to be abolished.
-Greg
There is much misunderstood and not known about the era, and about the events leading to, the War Between the States, that it is nearly impossible to have a cogent discussion. I'll look forward to reading this article; thanks for posting it.
ReplyDeleteMisunderstood, yes. Not known, not hardly.
DeleteA further consequence of the prevalent narrative of the War (I don't know enough to say whether it was an intended or unintended consequence) is the tight linkage that it created between the principle of States' Rights and Southern style chattel slavery. Which served to discredit States' Rights in the public mind. Which helped the Federal government accumulate power.
ReplyDeleteI say they had the right idea in sending them back to their homeland.
ReplyDeleteMadMarlin
Yep - It's a pity Lincoln was assassinated because he was contemplating returning all the Backs to Africa. Likely he would have succeeded in getting the rest of the country on board with the idea.
DeletePhil B
If I only had enough money to send half of the blacks to Africa, I would send them all halfway.
DeleteExcept it wasn't their homeland, any more than Europe is the "homeland" of white people. There's are some pretty big fucking differences between Spain, Scotland, Finland, Russia, and Greece (besides the climate). The cultural and linguistic differences between parts of Africa are even bigger, simply because Africa is huge. THIS was the only homeland any slave born here ever knew, the only culture, the only language. You would compound the crimes already done unto them and their ancestors, you would be willing to add yet another? That's ... mighty white of you.
DeleteYes Larry, I would happily send them all back. They can figure it out themselves. American Whites have given blacks every opportunity and they repay us with half the half the country’s murders.
DeleteAnd Native Americans would happily send your white ass back to your "homeland" of Europe. Maybe drop you in Moldova with what you can carry. Fair's fair, right?
DeleteIt's Democrat/Progressive policies since LBJ that's driven the destruction of the black family. Make sure to exile them, too, while you're at it, and at least do something positive. As it is, blacks murder far more blacks than anyone else, so why would you give a damn about their murder rate? You'd think you'd be happy at that.
This is exactly what I had read about several years ago. The war was about a tariff.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, my wife's ancestors were driven out of Georgia by the Northern army. They ended up resetting in Arkansas.
Don’t forget, Obama favored Keynes economic theories
ReplyDeleteThat is NOT how you spell Kenya
DeleteMost excellent article, appreciate the heads up. My lord, we have been indoctrinated for so long I cannot see the way out, or that a majority will expend the effort needed to wake up.
ReplyDeleteSouthern apologists have been peddling similar stories since 1865, it is still horseshit,. The first seven Southern States to secede specifically stated in the documents of secession that retaining slavery was a primary cause of their actions. Alexander Stephens, the Confederate Vice President, in his famous Cornerstone Speech clearly laid out retention of slavery as the main cause of secession. All of the historical revisionism of the last century and a half plus can't make these facts go away.
ReplyDeleteOle Abe himself supported maintaining slavery, as did various people in the north. Indeed, Delaware was amongst the last of the states to free their slaves, well after that hallowed holiday Juneteenth. Slavery was AN issue, not THE issue. All of the historical revisionism of the last century and a half plus can't make these facts go away.
DeleteHow do you account for slave holding Union states? There were several - read a book!
DeleteSlavery might have been the cause of secession, but it was not the cause of the war. The war started when Lincoln invaded the Southern Nation in order to keep the wealth of the South flowing into the coffers of the Yankee government. Lincoln started the war, and it wasn't because of slavery. If you support the Yankee government, you would have supported King George.
DeleteLincoln didn't support maintaining slavery. He was willing to leave it alone, which is hardly the same thing.
Delete"willing to leave it alone" is absolutely tacit support. Probably something we never sort out here, but was worth perusing the thoughts and comments.
DeleteHorseshit. For example, being a teetotaler who is willing to leave the alcohol trade alone is most assuredly NOT the same as supporting and pushing for Prohibition. Do you even hear yourself?
DeleteIllogical false equivalency. A teetotaler willing to leave alcohol use alone for others can be considered a tacit endorsement of alcohol use for those that choose to imbibe. Otherwise one would carry the torch for prohibition etc. Lincoln clearly indicated he was ok with slavery continuing as long as the union was "preserved". Horseshit indeed.
DeleteWTF are you going on about? A teetotaler that doesn't want to force Prohibition on everyone else is -- leaving them the fuck alone. They don't care enough about your sorry ass to try to force you not to drink. You know -- like almost all teetotalers in the country! You are the one pushing the logical fallacy of the false binary choice. There are more than two choices! A non-slave owner who doesn't want to force Aboltion on everyone else was -- LEAVING THEM THE FUCK ALONE. They didn't care enough to give a fuck. They are exactly congruent. Study logic.
DeleteI seperate the issue of slavery, which was / should still be a moral and economic issue, which generated much hostility in the decades prior to the Civil War, from the tariff issue, which I see as the reason that the War was necessary, and started when it did.
ReplyDeleteThe Federal government had much less direct power in 1860 than it had in 1866, as Federal revenue came ONLY from tariffs, import duties, and excise taxes on products like alcohol.
Most of the tariffs and duties were paid by the Southern States, which had an export-based economy, and also imported many products from Europe, in the ships which came for the cotton, tobacco, timber, and indigo, which were major Southern exports.
Then, as now, the governments had to put the interests of the moneyed class in terms thar their people would support, regardless of the facts.
Slavery was the bloody shirt waved by Northern newspapers to inflame their people, who otherwise would not fight to protect industrialists, while States Rights and self-determination were the Southern popularization of the issue of punitive 60% tariffs imposed by one section of the nation on another.
The division over slavery could have been lived with, as it was already becoming uneconomical in the South, though vast amounts of financial capital had been sunk in slaves, but the tariffs would have broken the economies of the Southern States in a year, and so, had to be resisted by secession and war.
John in Indy
Tariffs are paid on IMPORTS, not exports.
DeleteThe Morrill Act is something never taught in school, even when I was in school. But history belongs to the victorious. And the south lived under the victor’s boots heal for a hundred years, and still does in some respects. The R. E. Lee statue in Charlottesville has been melted down.
ReplyDeleteFunds being raised to sculpt another.
Deletehttps://leeridesagain.com/
DeleteWhen I was a teenager in the 70's I found a history book written over a number of years of 1863 to 1866 by a school teacher in Atlanta. She captured the civilian point of view from a Southern sympathizer.
ReplyDeleteDo you recall the book title or author? It sounds intresting.
DeleteJust finished The Real Lincoln. It is amazing how much effort the Lincoln Industrial Complex has gone to to hide the things that Lincoln did to the American people, The south, and the Constitution of These United States. He is directly responsible for the contemporary race relations.
ReplyDeleteI sure enjoyed reading the article and the opinions of others in here. I do tire of the bitch comments which seem to stem from one reader. Listening to others opinions, whether I agree or disagree, stimulates thought.
ReplyDeleteDon't beat around the bush, give us the name. I'll bet it's Anon.
DeleteI enjoy reading the articles on this site: https://www.charlestonathenaeumpress.com/
ReplyDeleteBy going to the blog tab and reading from the archives, it will give you a synopsis of all the books written on this subject.
No one has ever put forth a good reason why any of the poor white rednecks (the majority of the Southern population) would give their life to preserve slavery, an institution that served the elite, genteel, upper crust of Southern society. For that matter, why would (and they did) the slaves fight on the side of the Confederacy?
ReplyDelete