Origins of the Republican Party and Economic Roots of the Civil War
Last edited Sun Nov 9, 2014, 05:18 AM - Edit history (1)
Perhaps some would be interested in learning more about the opposition party.
This is my quick take. A lively thread might teach us something useful in the struggle.
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Origins of the Republican Party
Civil War history is not my forte. So playing fast and shallow with my opinion ... Conventional wisdom says the Civil War was about slavery. But that was a sideshow, albeit a very moral one. In "Rule by Secrecy" author Jim Marrs clearly states that Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was a timely political move to prevent Russia (***see corrections in thread below***), with its troops in Mexico City, and Britain with its Atlantic Fleet doing business with the South, from entering the conflict on the side of the Confederacy. Neither power could politically weather a European storm on the side of slavery.
Fort Sumter was not about slavery. It was an economic event, after the deep South's endurance of 40 years of heavy U.S. tariffs on northern manufactured goods, raising costs to the south. Succession had been threatened before, it just wasn't organized or widespread, it was a state by state event.
The roots to understanding all this is in the creation of the Republican Party. Northern lawyers for manufacturers and railroads wanted protectionism and needed a front man for the new political party. Abe Lincoln was a railroad lawyer paid 4 figure fees to defend railroads, a huge sum in those days. He was given prime acreage in Iowa (but don't quote me), gifts that would launch ethics investigations today. And Lincoln was a gifted mind. He could talk eloquently about freedom and opportunity. To the masses, it sounded like civil rights, jobs, and prosperity. His business backers knew it was about profits and monopoly. Exploitation and enslavement to the system was not yet in the lexicon.
That's what sets the rules for society. Little groups of lawyers. Antitrust? Free markets? Marketing and pricing? Inheritance taxes? Tax code loopholes? Tax code complexity? (Blame the tax lawyers). Somehow these exploitative rules are never removed and rarely simplified. Only business seems wealthy enough to challenge the tax code and buy political influence to reduce regulations.
If you take nothing else away from this diatribe, search and learn the origins of the creation of the Republican Party. Lincoln was the first political front man, whether he was in on it, or not. Within 20 years, Jay Gould and that bunch were playing with gold and money, influence that reached into the Grant administration.
Think, people, think. Exploitation is about to wratchet up a few notches in 2015. The 1% are reaping the rewards and motivating with the stick.
I strongly recommend Thomas DiLorenzo's The Real Lincoln
And this article:
http://archive.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo53.html
and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Blaine
bucolic_frolic
(43,128 posts)"The popular notion that the Republican Party's early leaders were Selfless Humanitarians is as big a lie as has ever been told."
http://archive.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo53.html
Response to bucolic_frolic (Reply #1)
Odin2005 This message was self-deleted by its author.
bucolic_frolic
(43,128 posts)Episode 8 of James Burke's historic "The Day The Universe Changed"
Episode 8 is "Fit to Rule"
The introduction of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution undermines the concept of divine creation while providing a rationale for both capitalism and communism.
It is no longer available on Youtube, they seem to have pulled it after everyone realized something or other.
See if you don't recognize a few lovelies in there.
Response to bucolic_frolic (Original post)
Odin2005 This message was self-deleted by its author.
happyslug
(14,779 posts)The US Federal Government was allied with the Russians. The South was allied with England and France. In fact the Russian Fleet was based in Northern Cities and California during the US Civil War with standing orders to follow US Navy Orders if Britain to France intervened in the US Civil War.
http://historygallery.com/prints/PunchLincoln/1863czar/1863czar.htm
http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1983-4/delehaye.htm
http://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1935-05/visit-russian-squadrons-1863
bucolic_frolic
(43,128 posts)I just looked it up in Marrs' book. The British had troops in Canada too.
And the French leader was Napoleon III, the period known as the Second Mexican Empire.
The Habsburgs had a brief rule 1964-67. Emperor Maximilian was executed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_intervention_in_Mexico
That's what I get for writing something from memory and not checking current sources.
Thanks!