Liberty by Force or Liberty by Example Part 3 of 3 Alright, so let’s go back to the thought “what if slavery didn’t exist at all in the South?” If slavery didn’t exist in the south at all I am absolutely certain that violent hostilities would still have surfaced in the form of a war at one time or another between the people of the North and the South. Often people consider the oppressive taxation to be a major cause if not the overall immediate cause of the war. I tend to agree with them. To improve upon the intentional corruption sponsored by industry and special interests the federal government cherry picked economic favorites. So I’m sure to many whom have not read the Constitution of the Confederate States of America that this will come as a shock almost as intense as the Confederacy’s attempts to slow down and end slavery. Article 1, Sec. 8 The Congress shall have power- (I) To lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises for revenue, necessary to pay the debts, provide for the common defense, and carry on the Government of the Confederate States; but no bounties shall be granted from the Treasury; nor shall any duties or taxes on importations from foreign nations be laid to promote or foster any branch of industry; and all duties, imposts, and excises shall be uniform throughout the Confederate States. How about that!?! Could that be any clearer to those seeking to lobby government for special financial privileges? I know that other sources will surface that seem to contradict the legitimacy of such rulings. However, the fact remains that the intent behind these laws remains. If a law is written to prevent the importation of slaves, goods, or imposes a tax on them then the intent is to stop or hinder the exchange or acquisition of such things in question. The fact that the Northern leadership intended to coerce Southern consumers into purchasing goods that were more expensive is something that must not be overlooked. The fact that force was used through the perversion of law is wrong despite any associated noble intent. If the abolition of slavery were truly important to the war hawks of the North then they would seek to purchase agricultural goods elsewhere beyond Southern fields. If their sentiment were genuine they would willingly eat the extra expense as a matter of principle. The Southern States stood on principle when they gave the federal government more than four months to make a decision concerning their illegal armed forces in Southern territories. The Southern people stood on principle when their Confederate president demanded only defensive tactics despite the hardships it would bring. The Southern leadership stood on principle when it argued that it must be allowed the same means to abolish slavery as did the North which maintain such practices. In some cases the label of slave was merely changed to lifetime apprentice. (I believe it was New Jersey or New Hampshire law that did this.) The South, even with the taint of slavery, held higher moral ground than the North did in that conflict. Given time, should the South have been let go peacefully, the two nations may have been the greatest of allies. The separation of the United States into two separate unions of republics would have shown the world what liberty was all about. The economic strength that might have been enjoyed by these two super powers may very well have dwarfed anything to come over the next thousand years. This could have been the shared beacon on the hill that Ronald Reagan often spoke about. Sadly we won’t know because a handful of ungrateful, ignorant, perversely greedy, selfish, and intellectually lazy people in control of the Union government decided it would be better for their pockets to encourage further subjugation of a people already struggling with their own morals. But how much were the Southern people really struggling? With the leadership of men such as Robert E. Lee I can only imagine that they struggled no more than the people of the North. The only reason the evil of the North overcame the good of the North is because of political trickery concerning a little fort in South Carolinian waters. This deception distracted the Northern good long enough for the laws to be perverted in favor of an excuse for the common good. The survival of the Union government was put ahead of the ideals which form the Union in the first place. That was the deception and yet today we still fall for the idea of nothing better than serving the greater good! If we truly wanted to serve the greater good we would lead by example; and our example would be exercising our minds to gain the skill of critical thinking. With that skill we can lead by example with logic, reason, and voluntarism. Of course doing so will justify our defenses through nonaggression. End Part 3 Follow this link for part two: https://facebook/410525655692416/posts/510023449075969 Follow this link for part one: https://facebook/410525655692416/posts/510022539076060 -HvsP ~~~ #History #Politics #CriticalThinking #CivilWar #Taxation #Voluntarism #nonaggression #Logic #Reason
Posted on: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 16:22:52 +0000
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