Honest Abe My Ass
I firmly believe that Abraham Lincoln was the first of the modern American politician. Promising everything to everyone with no real intent of delivering any of it to anyone. He wanted to preserve peace in the union by calling up volunteer troops. The reason Fort Sumter was fired upon by the Confederacy was because Lincoln (contrary to promises) was trying to resupply it by sea. The Emancipation Proclimation was a political ploy to rally the abolitionists to the war. In effect it only freed slaves that he had no power to free, the ones in southern territories, territories that were now a seperate nation. A nation with its own government, its own laws, and its own president. The document did not, however, free any slaves in the north, the only place he had the actual power to do so.
Abe was also a man of fickle alliances. Show of hands, How many of you out there knew that Andrew Johnson was not Lincoln's first Vice President. Hannibal Hamlin was. They didn't agree on a few things including the war, so a change was made.
Commanders of the Army of the Potomac changed almost yearly. Everyone remembers Grant, the man who finally fed enough poor union boys into the grinder to stop Lee, but what about the timid McClellan, or the union general at Gettysburg: Mead?
I know I have failed to convince many of you, especially those north of the line, but maybe this will help.
July 1, 1862. Congress gave the go ahead to the tax-centric Revenue Act, the legislation that became, you guessed it, income tax. Lincoln signed it into law to finance his invasion of the southern states. Originally a three percent tax on incomes of $600 to $10,000 and five percent on incomes above 10k, was collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Now the Internal Revenue Service takes 30+% of my money every payday, and God forbid they decide that you owe them more, then they screw up your life, charge you interest, and dare you to fight them. Thanks Abe.
Side Note: One year ago today was the very first post of Dead Dog Walkin'. It was
a picture of the design of one of my tattoos, and a little welcome. Thanks for
hanging around.
Labels: History
posted by K-nine @ 01:01
4 Voices Raised
4 Comments:
Amen... looking forward to lunch at Exposé
"The document did not, however, free any slaves in the north, the only place he had the actual power to do so."
Well that's true but trivial. Document's don't free people, people free people. What the emancipation proclamation did was set forth a policy that lots of people in blue uniforms then carried out; freeing people numbering in the millions.
Happy Birthday K9.
'Neck
Thanks, 'Neck. It's been an interesting year, to say the least. Tons 'o fun though.
on the other note:
"Well that's true but trivial. Document's don't free people, people free people. What the emancipation proclamation did was set forth a policy that lots of people in blue uniforms then carried out; freeing people numbering in the millions."
As a matter of policy I'm not in favor of slavery, in any form. It was more a point that he was duplicitous in doing it. Abe was actually a "removist". He believed all people of African decent should have been gathered up and shipped back to Africa.
Off the record I also believe that had he not been killed the "reconstruction" probably would have been more of an actual reconstruction than "payback to those damn rebels". Johnson was weak, and allowed his administration to wreak havoc that has continued to plague the south for 140 years.
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