150 Years of Lies

The “Emancipation proclamation” turned 150 today, and the news media is making a big deal out of it. President Obama was at a ceremony with the U.S. Postal Service, in which they unveiled a new “forever stamp” commemorating Lincoln’s order, which became effective on January 1, 1863.

These Lincoln hagiographers and sycophants should go back and read the actual text. They would note that the proclamation was meant as a wartime measure to break the South, not a benevolent act to free the oppressed. They would see that the only slaves freed were those held in bondage by the Confederacy, which is to say those Lincoln and his army had no control over. The slaves held in Federally-controlled territory, the ones Lincoln could have actually done something for, were left in their chains. It would also do them some good to consider the necessity of the 13th Amendment. If, as we’re told, Lincoln freed the slaves, what was the purpose of that Amendment?

It might also be of use for the Cult of Lincoln members to read some of his earlier speeches, namely his first inagural address, in which he defends the institution of slavery. The only commendable outcome of the War Between the States was the end of slavery, but it was entirely unecessary to kill 750,000 people and destroy the voluntary nature of the union to accomplish that end.