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March 27, 2025 |
| Lincoln's Guilt | ||
This is an email I sent to representative Chip Roy.
I need to make you aware of the situation that our country is in.
Abraham Lincoln was one of our greatest presidents – no one doubts that. He was also the cause of the Civil War. His strong desire to preserve the Union caused him to believe secession was unconstitutional. I think it is clear that he took actions intended to provoke the Confederates into war. Without those actions, there would not have been a war.
His actions, and the belief behind them, are at odds with modern thought such the UN declaration affirming the right of all peoples to self-determination.
Lincoln's belief was also highly hypocritical, seeing that the founding fathers had broken away from a country only "four score and seven years" before.
There was no constitutional basis for his belief. I'm no historian, but my understanding of the period after the war is that some people didn't feel good about what had been done. An effort was made to find a legal basis, and the Supreme Court of that time came up with one that would be struck down in our time if it was reviewed.
I'm coming at this from a theological perspective. I want to draw your attention to something Jesus says.
Woe to you Scribes and Pharisees, phonies, who build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the tombs of the righteous! 30 And you say, "If we had been in the days of our forefathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets." 31 Therefore you testify against yourselves that you are the children of those who murdered the prophets. (Matthew 23:29-36)
The Scribes and Pharisees were making and adorning memorials to people who were slain while saying that horrible things were done to them that they would never do. Jesus' point is that guilt falls on those who do that.
I'm sure you see where I'm going. We are in the same situation with Lincoln.
Additionally, looking toward the future, when states may secede and the federal government may threaten them with violence, would they not be hypocrites for claiming that was unjust? Without having called out Lincoln for his actions, would those states deserve anything better?