Regarding Abraham Lincoln and True Liberty

Here is a letter I wrote in response to an article in which the author heeped mounds of praise onto Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was a tyrant and in my opinion, the worst president this country has ever had. The article follows my letter. It was written (or at least published by) Chuck Missler of Koinonia House (www.khouse.org).


Dear Mr. Missler,


Greetings. I am a recipient of your K-house Enews Updates via email. Though I am not an adherent to any organized religion, I usually appreciate your view on things and I feel it adds to a better understanding of various current events. However, I must take umbrage with an article regarding Abraham Lincoln in your most recent email. I am unsure if you personally write these pieces or this particular one, but as you are the founder of Koinonia House I will address this letter to you.


As a disclaimer, I must admit that I do not hold the office of president in very high esteem. I have a personal list of the “worst presidents in history” but cannot muster enough good to create a list of the “best presidents in history” (except perhaps William Henry Harrison who did not have the opportunity to defy his oath of office). As for my list of worst presidents, Abraham Lincoln is on top of the list (FDR is number two and George W. Bush is number three). The criteria I use to determine their placements are twofold: what they have done to the cause of liberty, and how badly they ignored their oath to uphold the U.S. Constitution. The article in question gives a brief history of Lincoln’s life, of which I have no objection. However, the article claims Lincoln to be a great man because he abolished slavery, protected the Union, and loved true liberty. I am writing to say that all of these statements are absolutely incorrect.


The writer of the article makes it sound as if Lincoln loved liberty so much he wanted it spread to all races of mankind, but this is not so. Even in his first inaugural speech Lincoln stated “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” He goes on to say that fugitive slaves should be returned to their owners; and that his real problem with the south was their refusal to pay a certain tax. (http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html) Even the famed Emancipation Proclamation was a farce. It was nothing more than an executive order freeing the slaves in the Confederacy, not the Union. Not only was this just futile since Lincoln did not control the Confederacy, it was hypocritical as well.


Regarding the protection of the Union; how was that pro-liberty? The states entered a voluntary contract with the federal government which hinged on the federal government obeying the U.S. Constitution. The federal government broke the deal by interfering with state’s rights guaranteed by the 10th Amendment. Instead of letting the Confederacy voluntarily break ties with the Union, Lincoln sent in troops and forced them back into the agreement. Because Lincoln did not allow the southern states the liberty to secede, he directly caused the deaths of countless lives.


I am not a racist who supports slavery—on the contrary—I am an historian who happens to know that the war of northern aggression was fought over money (tariffs) and state’s rights. Because of Lincoln the federal government has become the behemoth it is today. Gee thanks Lincoln. I remember attending organized schools and hearing the praises of Abraham Lincoln, fortunately, as an adult I have learned to ignore what I was taught and search for the truth myself.


Regarding the truth about Abraham Lincoln I recommend you visit this website http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo-arch.html. But regarding the issue of liberty I continue with this:


You postulate that liberty today has been turned into license. License is defined as an excess of liberty or freedom. How is that a bad thing? Can there really ever be too much freedom? If so, who decides when there is enough freedom? Me? You? The government? Perhaps the pope? I want all the liberty I can have, and I want everyone else to have all the liberty they can have. I want more and more liberty, if it were possible I would like to OD on liberty. Liberty is the freedom to do as I choose, but I must in turn, be responsible enough to stifle that liberty with respect for others. My liberty does not allow me to trample on the liberty of another. Thus you are somewhat correct and somewhat incorrect regarding your claim that abuse of liberty has brought about various societal ills. I perceive that you believe liberty is not the freedom to live one’s life as they choose, but as you, the government, or society in general believe is appropriate. For instance, if I choose to partake in cannabis, you would no doubt refuse me that liberty, even though I hurt no one other than myself (some studies show otherwise though) with such an action. If this is so, than your concept of liberty is completely different than its true meaning. True liberty would allow me to partake in any substance, activity, or thought I choose to regardless of society’s opinions, government’s rules or scriptural tenants. For example, I consume alcoholic beverages, but my parents do not due to religious beliefs. In my home I will imbibe as I so desire, but in their home I will not. Do I think their prohibition is silly? Of course I do, but they are free to be prohibitionists, and I am free to be an imbiber. Abuse of liberty happens when someone impairs the liberty of another. If I were to think you have far too much freedom of religion and move to inhibit it, you would cry foul, as you should. However, when others take part in behavior you feel to be improper you push for laws, regulations, licenses, or even war. The “Golden Rule” is the ultimate rule in a world of true liberty.


But singing the praises of a tyrant such as Lincoln only proves my theory that you truly do not hold liberty in the same esteem as I do.


Thank you for your time.


Sincerely,

Matthew Evans




ON LIBERTY: HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRESIDENT LINCOLN


On February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln was born in a one-room cabin in Kentucky. On the 200th anniversary of his birth, we remember the lanky self-taught lawyer who hated slavery, who pressed forward until he finally attained the highest office in the country – just in time for the bloodiest war in US history. But, even more, we remember the greatness of that man who loved true liberty, who dreamed in his day "of a place and time where America will once again be seen as the last, best hope on earth."


There are many things that can be said about Abraham Lincoln. He lost his mother when he was nine, and two of his four sons died before he did. He stood at the helm of America while it was torn in two, and he not only protected the Union, but managed to emancipate the slaves in the process. Yet, it was not just his humble beginnings or his ability to overcome personal tragedy that made Lincoln remarkable. Nor did the abolition of slavery or the survival of the United States alone make him a great man. Abraham Lincoln was a great man because of what he believed in and what he stood for. He was not only about the business of preserving a collection of states under one federal government. He was a man determined to protect America to be the haven for true liberty that that Founders intended it to be.


In his 1861 address at Independence Hall, which he described as, "a wholly unprepared speech" Lincoln said the following:
"I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here, and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who achieved that Independence. I have often inquired of myself what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together.


"It was not the mere matter of the separation of the Colonies from the motherland; but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world, for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence."
Lincoln loved liberty. He loved true liberty in its good old-fashioned sense. Today the concept of liberty has been kidnapped, and the word has become a euphemism for humans to do whatever they like without legal repercussions. Liberty does not mean a blank check for immorality. True liberty is lifting "the weight" of tyranny, freeing men to govern themselves and take responsibility for themselves as men and not as slaves. The freedom of the black man was representative of the very freedom that all Americans embraced in the Declaration of Independence. No longer would they be called "boy" - told what to do and how to do it. They would henceforth be men, fully responsible for their own lives. That's true liberty. It is the same with spiritual liberty. By the blood of Jesus Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit working in us, we are no longer slaves to sin. In fact, we are no longer under the letter of the Law. Yet, our freedom is one in which we serve God in holiness out of love, pushing closer to the heart of God than the Law could ever lead us. It is never a freedom that condones license to sin, but one in which we walk with God as sons and daughters.


"Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." -2 Corinthians 3:17
"For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another." -Galatians 5:13


But liberty is never free. It always comes with a price. In the case of our spiritual liberty, the only begotten Son of God was slaughtered on a Roman cross to win our freedom. In the case of America, our freedom was also bought with the blood of our forefathers. And it is now protected only with vigilance.


Our precious liberty is in danger of being taken away. Men (and women) who have abused their freedoms have brought financial destruction on the nation and the entire world. Men (and women) who have abused their social freedoms have torn apart the family, brought children into single family homes, and have spread disease, violence, substance abuse and crime. As we have replaced liberty with license, proving ourselves children instead of men, our government has stepped in to hold our hands; we're in serious danger of losing the very freedoms we love.
We are in the midst of another great civil war. This time it's a war of ideas and of values. It's a war that threatens to destroy us just as certainly as the war Lincoln faced nearly 150 years ago. His words from the Gettysburg Address seem just as fitting now as they were then:
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live…The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.


"It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."


That says it.


Happy 200th Birthday Abraham Lincoln. We're grateful to God for your tremendous service to America. May we not fail those who bled for us by treating their sacrifices as little in value. May we treat our freedoms with great regard, walking not as spoiled children but as righteous men. And may we fight so that this nation can have a new birth of freedom; one in which we truly behave as one nation under God.