By Garland Favorito



Nearly all Americans have been led to believe that the American states fought a "civil war" over control of the American government although the southern states had succeeded and wanted to separate from the federal government.

The War Between the States that occurred between 1861 and 1865 was not a civil war because prior to the actual start of the war, southern states had already peacefully succeeded. They established the Confederacy and its Constitution on March 11, 1861, in Montgomery Alabama. After Virginia succeeded, the capitol was chosen to be moved to Richmond on May 21, 1861.

The War Between the States was also not a civil war because southern states were not fighting to gain control of the federal government. They fought to continue their peaceful succession from the federal government after being invaded by it.

If the War Between the States was a civil war, Confederates would have likely invaded Washington D.C. immediately after they won the first battle of the war at Bull Run on July 18, 1861 at Manassas, Virginia. Confederate President, Jefferson Davis, refused to do this, initially choosing only to defend Southern territory.


Most Americans have been falsely led to believe that the war was fought over slavery in spite of facts that clearly indicate it was fought over principles upon which the American government was founded.

Historians generally agree that only about 15-20% of the southern population had slaves and common sense should tell anyone today that the other 80% of the population was not fighting and dying for the right of the minority to own slaves.

While there was much discussion about slavery in regards to federal legislation concerning the conditions upon which future states would be admitted to the union, there was no prominent federal legislation before the start of the war that would have removed slavery in the existing states, therefore, it was not the cause of war from either the Northern or Southern perspectives.

Sadly, what opposition that most Northern legislators had against slavery was not on moral grounds. Their desire was to avoid responsibility for returning runaway slaves as required by the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and to eliminate extra representation for the south. Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution allowed every five slaves to be counted as three people under the three fifths compromise of the 1787 Constitutional Convention.

President Lincoln claimed that the states had entered into a permanent non revocable contract to form the Union. He emphatically stated in his inaugural address that: "Plainly the central idea of secession is the essence of anarchy." There is no Constitutional support for such a claim. Nevertheless, Lincoln refused to accept the peaceful succession of any states and initiated what he called a "War of Rebellion" to force "rebels" back into the Union from which they succeeded.

Primary causes that Southerners were willing to fight and die for were to defend the invasion by the north, to affirm their right to succeed from the union, to maintain sovereign power that the states were granted over the federal government in the U.S. Constitution and to allow newly admitted states, not the federal government, determine how they would govern themselves.

President Lincoln’s emphatic desire was to "preserve the Union" while southerners wanted to preserve state’s rights and powers according to the 10th amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the Articles of Confederation, upon which the U.S. Constitution was based. That is why they were called the Union and Confederate armies, not slaveholder and free man armies.


Some Americans have been led to believe succession to be a form of treason that would justify the use of military force but the documents upon which America was founded do not corroborate that view.

The U.S. Constitution does not prohibit succession. Its 10th amendment grants any powers not specified to the states. It declares: "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The right of succession was expressly acknowledged in the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, itself a succession document from the British Government. It states: "That w henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government"."

Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution expressly prohibits a president from engaging in war without a declaration of war issued by the U.S. Congress. Article IX of the Articles of Confederation similarly stated that "The united States in congress shall never engage in a war unless the by the votes of the majority of the united States in congress assembled". No such declaration required under the U.S. Constitution was ever issued by Congress.

Article IX of the Articles of Confederation provided that the United States Congress assembled, "shall have the sole and determining right and power of determining on peace and war except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article". That article prohibited a state from engaging in war unless they were invaded, were the subject of a resolution of war or were in similar imminent danger.

Article IX of the Articles of Confederation further defined that: "The united States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting or that hereafter may arise between two or more States concerning boundary, jurisdiction or any other causes whatever""

Throughout much of the early 1800s, northern states frequently considered succession as their right and President Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, repeatedly and publicly acknowledged their right to peacefully succeed. Abraham Lincoln’s predecessor, James Buchanan, his entire cabinet and his Secretaries of War, John Floyd and Joseph Holt, refused to use military force to prevent succession. Only two of Lincoln’s cabinet members believed in the use of military force to prevent succession. They were Treasury Secretary, Salmon Chase and Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair, a co-founder of the Republican Party whose father edited the Washington Globe stood to profit from the prestige and power of preserving the Union" Even Alexander Hamilton, who led a charge at Yorktown that defeated the British and whose nationalistic government policies Lincoln eventually implemented by force, denounced the use of such force in Federalist Papers #81 and his 1787 Constitutional Convention speech.

Nevertheless, Abraham Lincoln decided to supplant the U.S. Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation and previous presidential precedents with unwritten "universal law" and "fundamental law" when he explained in the inaugural address that: " I hold that in contemplation of universal law and of the Constitution the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments"


Even some who agree that slavery was not the cause of the war still believe that it was the cause of succession for southern states. However this view is also contradicted by historical facts indicating it was taxation and principles of power that were the root of succession.

South Carolina had previously threatened to succeed when the Tariff of Abominations was issued in 1828. In response to the tariff, South Carolina issued an Ordinance of Nullification to declare the tariff unconstitutional and void in 1831. The ordinance was based on its sovereign right as one of the states that created the federal government. South Carolina demanded that if the tariff was not rectified in some manner, they would succeed. South Carolina had never formally threatened in a similar manner to succeed over any issue involving slavery. The result of South Carolina’s Nullification Proclamation was the 1833 Compromise Tariff Act that was co-authored by Vice President John Calhoun and signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, both South Carolinians.   It gradually reduced the tariff back to the 1816 levels of 20% over a ten year period. But in 1842, Congress passed a new tariff act that reset it to previous levels before it was lowered again in 1857.

On May 10, 1860, the Morrill Tax Act passed the U.S. House. It raised import tariffs by roughly 70% from their low 1857 rate of about 17%. The 1860 elections produced more new Republican legislators who were former Whigs committed to imposing higher selective tariffs. This included incoming President, Abraham Lincoln. At the time of succession, the act was assured passage in the Senate and did pass on February 20, 1861.

Many Northern legislators believed that they needed to implement higher import tariffs to protect northern industry. Southern legislators typically wanted freer trade so that they could get the same goods cheaper from Britain and Britain could buy more of its cotton in return. President Lincoln wanted to impose the new higher tariffs so that they could use funds collected primarily in the south to build federal infrastructure and help establish a federal government that would be superior to the states

A primary cause of succession by the southern states was the large percentage increase in protectionist tariffs that selectively applied taxes on goods imported into the country. The tariffs also protected certain industries and companies whose leaders had strong political connections. A majority of southerners believed that such tariffs used to build a supreme federal infrastructure and superior federal power that could impose conditions on states for admission to the Union would overthrow the principles upon which the country was founded.


Many Americans have been falsely led to believe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves during the war when he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. However, the proclamation did not actually free slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to Union states.   All slaves living in those states remained as slaves.

President Lincoln tried to apply the Emancipation Proclamation only to those states in the Confederacy. He no longer controlled, nor had any jurisdiction over them because they had succeeded. Thus, as expected, the proclamation was ignored in all those states to which it was supposed to apply. It was more of an unsuccessful attempt by Lincoln to incite a rebellion in the Confederacy and get foreign countries that supported the freer trade policies of the Confederacy to back the Union instead.

The Emancipation Proclamation was drafted on September 22, 1862 just three weeks after the Union army was defeated again on August 30 in the second battle of Manassas. It was used not to free blacks, but used as a feeble attempt to recruit black men into the Union army just when the Union Army was in jeopardy of collapsing.


Most Americans have been led to believe that Abraham Lincoln was strongly opposed to slavery but his in his home state of Illinois and as President, demonstrate that he favored the continuance of slavery, believed in superiority of the white race and even attempted to deport blacks to colonize then in foreign countries.

Abraham Lincoln’s own home state of Illinois and neighboring Indiana, which are referred to as "free" states by historians, actually prohibited all blacks, both free and slaves, from moving there. Blacks in the north were frequently denied rights, held as slaves, segregated from whites and were subject to violence just as much as or more as they were in the south.

As a lawyer in 1847, Lincoln represented a slave owner, Robert Matson, who attempted to have his part-time seasonal slaves returned to him. Mr. Lincoln argued the matter for him but lost the case in the Illinois Supreme Court.

In his 1858 debate with Stephen Douglas in Ottawa Illinois, Lincoln made his white supremacist views clear. He stated: "I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and black races. There is a physical difference between the two that will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality; and inasmuch as there becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong having the superior position"

As President in 1962, Lincoln appointed James Mitchell, former leader of the American Colonization Society as Commissioner of Emigration. Mr. Mitchell unsuccessfully attempted to export slaves to a variety of foreign countries with the help of Interior Secretary Caleb Smith, Senator Samuel Pomeroy and business man Bernard Kock.


Many Americans have been led to believe that Abraham Lincoln was a popular president although his administration was likely the most unpopular in American history.

Abraham Lincoln was the most unpopular president ever elected, garnering about 39% of the popular vote. Stephen Douglas of Lincoln’s home state, Illinois split the Democrat party vote with Vice President, John Breckinridge, who was a logical successor to James Buchanan. Lincoln’s opponents including Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, were strong state’s rights Constitutionalists.

Abraham Lincoln was a former Illinois leader of the unpopular Whig Party which had a life span of less than 25 years and became defunct 1856. He, like many other Whigs, joined the newly formed Republican Party which adopted many of the unpopular Whig platform planks.

The platform of the Whigs and new Republicans was based largely on the Hamiltonian platform of the Federalist Party which also collapsed around 1816 after four consecutive defeats by re-elected presidents, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.

The platform included a strong, federal government to be superior over the states, monopolistic central banking and protectionist import tariffs that could be used to fund infrastructure development. The tariffs could be established selectively to protect organizations and companies controlled by wealthy party supporters. 

The unpopular planks caused the demise of Whig and Federalist parties. Although those parties were never able to control Congress or re-elect a president, their platform planks were implemented by force under Lincoln and the new Republican Party that took office on March 4, 1861.


Most accounts contend that the war started when South Carolina fired upon Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861 even though the Union troops were warned in advance and there were no casualties.

South Carolina had peacefully succeeded on December 20, 1860 and immediately sent commissioners to Washington to negotiate terms for returning the then unmanned, Fort Sumpter. The terms would have included compensation for fortification improvements made by the federal government. Those improvements were made to the original South Carolina property that was ceded to the Union in 1828 for the purpose of defending the state. Then president, James Buchanan, did not officially receive the commissioners but Abraham Lincoln acknowledged the negotiations in an overstated comment during his second inaugural address. He said, regarding Washington, that: "Urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war–seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation"

For those who have never been there, Fort Sumpter is on an island in the middle of the inner harbor of Charleston. Political historians consistently ignore that once South Carolina succeeded; Fort Sumpter had no value to the Union but was critical to South Carolina in defending the city.

On December 27, 1860, Union Colonel Robert Anderson secretly moved his troops into Fort Sumter from Fort Moultrie. He feared that he could not defend Fort Moultrie against any potential attack as easily he could defend Fort Sumpter. Colonel Anderson, his garrison in South Carolina and their families were friends with, respected by, and partially supplied by families of the people of Charleston. Confederate General, P.G.T. Beauregard was the former student and teaching assistant of Colonel Anderson.

The move increased tensions in South Carolinians who believed that they were trying to negotiate in good faith for the return of the fort. Tensions further escalated when then president, James Buchanan, attempted once to reinforce the fort. South Carolina batteries fired at the supply ship, Star of the West, on January 9, 1861 and turned it back without casualties. Colonel Anderson believed that he would be ordered to evacuate the fort soon just as other Union forts were evacuated in other southern states such as Texas. He did not engage his guns at Fort Sumpter so as not to escalate the conflict further.

President Buchanan negotiated an agreement primarily with South Carolina legislators in the U.S. Congress that he would not reinforce or make any changes regarding forts there and the state would ensure that they would maintain the peace.   That agreement continued through the remainder of Buchanan’s presidency and Lincoln’s first month in office.

On April 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln personally insisted on reinforcing the fort in spite of the fact that General Winfield Scott had drawn up the evacuation orders. Colonel Anderson was also emphatic in correspondence that resupply efforts would fail because it would have to be repeated regularly and the supplies would have to be rowed to the fort and thus be vulnerable to any potential South Carolina fire.

But President Lincoln issued an order that day for a joint naval and civilian to send supplies and reinforcements to the fort. The expedition designated three vessels including the warship, USS Pawnee. For the civilian part of the expedition he relied upon, Gustavus Fox, the brother -"in-law of Postmaster General, Montgomery Blair. Blair was a co-founder of the Republican Party and his father edited the Washington Globe. He was by far the most outspoken person in the Lincoln cabinet in advocating the use of military force to prevent succession and his family stood to lose considerable prestige if southern states succeeded.

When South Carolina discovered the reinforcement effort was in progress, General Beauregard dispatched three aides on April 11 to request an immediate surrender of the fort.   Colonel Anderson had received messages from Washington officials that the fort would be evacuated anyway and he offered to surrender the fort as soon as his supplies ran out which would be three more days.

Since South Carolina did not have adequate naval capabilities to fight the U.S.S. Pawnee and prevent Lincoln from reinforcing the fort, General Beauregard had no choice but to fire on the fort on April 12 to force Anderson and his garrison out just before supplies and reinforcements arrived that day.

Colonel Anderson surrendered his troops in 24 hours without a single casualty. South Carolina facilitated the return of the troops to the union and even allowed them to fire salutes to the union when evacuating. While some mention that Union soldiers died at Fort Sumpter, historians unanimously agree that Private Daniel Hough and Private Ed Gallaway died in a salute firing accident upon evacuation.

In just a few days Lincoln’s action had triggered, the immediate succession of Virginia, Tennessee and Arkansas.   North Carolina followed in about two weeks. Officials of these states were in discussions with Secretary of State, William Seward, a former New York Senator, who narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Lincoln. He had worked continuously for compromises to avoid conflicts and convinced them, based on his own belief, that Lincoln would never take such an unnecessary action. After Seward was proven wrong, state officials who attended secession conventions realized that Lincoln would implement an agenda of federal supremacy that they believed was detrimental to the citizens.

Virginia Unionist, John Baldwin, personally warned Abraham Lincoln that Virginia would succeed from the Union within 48 hours if he attempted to reinforce Southern forts. At an April 17, 1861 succession convention, Virginia, one of the most powerful, populous and economically diverse states at the time, overwhelmingly voted to succeed just weeks after voting by a two to one margin to stay in the Union.

The shelling of Fort Sumpter caused virtually no casualties and both military leaders did all they could to minimize the conflict. However, some of the northern newspapers favored the new Whig based Republican platform and stood to benefit in prestige and power from it. These newspapers led some Northerners to believe that the conflict meant that the union was being threatened. This generated a false sense of patriotism and some temporary public support for military retaliation.

On April 15, 1861, Abraham Lincoln then issued a proclamation that stated: "The laws of the United States have been and are opposed in several States by combinations too powerful to be suppressed in the ordinary way, I therefore call for the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of 75,000, to suppress said combination and execute the laws"

The war then actually started on July 18, 1861, when Abraham Lincoln, against the will of General Scott and his military advisers, decided to invade Virginia. That state was actually a Union member at the time of the Fort Sumpter conflict. At the first battle of Bull Run in Manassas, there were over 4,000 casualties, the majority falling on the Union side.


Americans today have been led to believe that all northerners supported the war when many opposed an invasion of the southern states just to preserve the union. Thousands of Northern citizens, dozens of legislators and hundreds of publishers and editors acknowledged state’s rights, including the right of succession, and wanted a peaceful solution to the potential conflict.

On April 19, 1961 residents of Baltimore Md., in opposition to the looming invasion of the south attacked the 6th Massachusetts Infantry while it was on its way to Washington D.C. to receive its orders. Four members of the infantry were killed. The first act of aid described by Clara Barton, founder of the Red Cross, was helping the wounded infantry soldiers.

In New York during July 11-13, 1863, major riots and looting broke out in response to Lincoln’s attempt to draft Northerners and immigrants into the war through the signing of the Enrollment Conscription Act. Thousands were killed or injured since the militia had been called to Gettysburg and only the police were left to control the riots.

Lincoln’s waging of the war was so unpopular that even if his own general, George McClellan, who served as chief of the entire Union Army between November of 1861 and March of 1862, chose to run against him as a Democrat in the 1864 elections conducted by the Union.

To control public opinion Lincoln suspended habeas corpus on April 27, 1861 by violating the U.S. Constitution as cited by Chief Supreme Court Justice Roger Taney. He then imprisoned thousands of northern dissenters, the Maryland state legislature and hundreds of newspaper editors and publishers throughout the Northern states, including Francis Scott Key’s grandson

Ohio Senator Clement Vallandigham strongly replied to Abraham Lincoln’s State of the Union speech and cited his many unconstitutional policies. Five days later, on May 5, 1861, General Ambrose Burnside’s troops broke into his house at 2:30am and arrested him. Lincoln had him deported to the Confederacy and he later went to Canada. The Democrats in Ohio, home state to General Grant and General Sherman, were so upset by the move that they nominated him for Governor.


Americans have also been misled to believe that the U.S. Constitution is ambiguous on succession although many actions taken by Abraham Lincoln were blatantly unconstitutional.

The Lincoln administration declared war on the southern states in violation of Article I Section 8 that requires Congress to issue a declaration of war for such action. His invasion killed over 600,000 Americans on both sides of the battlefields and destroyed billions of dollars worth of undefended civilian property.

To fund the war, Lincoln signed, on August 5, 1861, the Revenue Act that implemented America’s first direct federal income tax on the citizens in violation of Article II Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution which states that: " Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers." The act was repealed in 1872. Direct federal Income taxes imposed upon Americans were found to be unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1895 prior to the time that the 16th amendment was allegedly ratified in 1913. No corresponding valid documents exist in state archives to show that 38 states ratified the amendment.

The Lincoln administration called up 75,000 temporary Union troops that were used to invade Virginia in violation of Article 1 Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits states to "engage in War, unless actually invaded, or in such imminent Danger as will not admit of delay" The southern states had peacefully succeeded and the northern states were in no imminent danger.

On March 3, 1863 Lincoln signed into law the Enrollment Act of Conscription that required citizens to be drafted military service in violation of the 5th amendment of the U.S. Constitution that states no person can: "" be deprived of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness without due process…" The act allowed for a $300 Commutation fee that could be paid by wealthy individuals to avoid service.

The Lincoln administration suspended free elections in the state of Maryland in violation of Article 1 Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution which prescribes that the time, place and manner for conducting elections is the jurisdiction of the state. He took these unprecedented actions in a desperate attempt to prevent Maryland from succeeding and thus isolating Washington D.C> between Maryland and Virginia.

The Lincoln administration suspended habeas corpus and arrested hundreds of newspaper editors or publishers who opposed the war. His action was a violation of Article I Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution which explicitly prohibits such action unless public safety requires it. The newspaper publishers and editors were not a threat to public safety.

The Lincoln administration imprisoned for years, hundreds of those newspaper editors and publishers who opposed the war thus violating 5th, 6th and 7th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. These require the presentment of an indictment, the right to confront witnesses, and a speedy trial by jury, These repeated actions also violated Article III Sections 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution which place all judicial power in the hands of the Supreme Court and explicitly state that: "The Trial of all Crimes, except in Cases of Impeachment, shall be by Jury";

The Lincoln administration prevented the imprisoned editors and journalists from exercising their right of free speech to oppose the war, thus violating the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution which prohibits "abridging the freedom of speech or of the press";

The Lincoln administration imprisoned thousands of Northerners who opposed a war thus violating again the 5th, 6th and 7th amendments of the U.S. Constitution. These require the presentment of an indictment, the right to confront witnesses, and a speedy trial by jury, The actions also violated Article III Sections 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution which place all judicial power in the hands of the Supreme Court and require a trial by jury;

The Lincoln administration imprisoned dozens of legislators from the Maryland House of Delegates in Fort Lafayette all to prevent Maryland from succeeding. This again violates the 5th, 6th and 7th amendments of the U.S. Constitution which require presentment of an indictment, the right to confront witnesses, and a speedy trial by jury. These actions also violate Article III Sections 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution which place all judicial power in the hands of the Supreme Court and require a trial by jury.;

On May 4, 1863 the Lincoln administration broke into the home of Ohio Congressman, Clement Vallandigham and arrested and deported him in violation of the 4th amendment of the U.S. Constitution which protects citizens against unreasonable search and seizure. These actions also violated the 5th, 6th and 7th amendments as well as Article III, Sections 1 and 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Vallandigham’s "crime" was exposing the Lincoln agenda in an earlier speech.

On April 19, 1861 Lincoln ordered a massive 500 ship naval blockade of southern harbors that he still considered as part of the Union. This is a violation of Article I Sections 8 and 9 of the U.S. Constitution which grant Congress the power to regulate commerce and state that: "No Preference shall be given by any Regulation of Commerce or Revenue to the Ports of one State over those of another "" Lincoln could not afford to have more American imports shifted into the south where they implemented freer trade and may refuse to collect duties for the Union.

On August 6, 1861 and July 17, 1862 Abraham Lincoln signed different Confiscation Acts that gave him the authority to seize any property anywhere in the states if it was deemed to be used against the Union. These acts violate the 5th amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which expressly prohibits such acts when it states: "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation".

Lincoln’s Union army occupied a variety of homes in the south during the last two years of the war without the consent of the owners. This is a violation of the 3rd amendment of the U.S. Constitution which states: "No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law."

The Lincoln administration orchestrated the creation of West Virginia from the territory of Virginia in violation of Article IV Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution which explicitly states that "n o new States shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State; nor … without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress"

The Lincoln administration attempted to negotiate treaties with foreign countries for the colonization of American slaves in violation of Article 2 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution that requires ""the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties"

The Lincoln administration failed to leave the legality question of succession in the hands of the judicial branch of the U.S. government thus violating Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution which states: "The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court"

Abraham Lincoln failed to uphold the oath taken upon his inauguration as required by Article II Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution. It requires the president to promise that: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Abraham Lincoln performed almost every egregious act that the Founding Fathers accused the King of England of performing when they composed the Declaration of Independence. Congress eventually passed several laws and Constitutional Amendments to protect the citizens against similar acts by future presidents. These include the Posse Comitatus Act that prevents a president from using the military against American citizens and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution that defines citizenship laws such as the right to equal protection and due process.


Stories say that Abraham Lincoln was given a nickname of "Honest Abe" based on his dealings with people in managing a country store. But as President, his confirmed quotes were diametrically opposed to the subsequent actions he took and document a completely opposite character.

In his 1860 inaugural address that referred to preserving the Union he stated: "In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence, and there shall be none unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the Government and to collect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the people anywhere" No violence or bloodshed was forced upon the federal authority.

In his 1860 inaugural address he stated: "Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension." History proved that there was most definitely a reasonable cause.

He also said: "That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any State or Territory, no matter what pretext, as among the gravest of crimes." After denouncing a lawless invasion as among the gravest of crimes Lincoln chose to invade Virginia.

Lincoln also falsely stated in his inaugural address that: "The Government will not assail you." Almost immediately after the inauguration the Lincoln administration began assailing war opponents in the north and just four months later, assailed the state of Virginia and the south.

In his April 15, 1861 proclamation Lincoln stated: The utmost care will be taken, consistent with the object, to avoid devastation, destruction or interference of peaceful citizens in any part of the country" The Lincoln administration eventually burned or destroyed   an estimated billion dollars of civilian and commercial property.

Perhaps no president has been more dishonest than "Abe" Lincoln about such critical matters as the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of his fellow countrymen.


Claims that Abraham Lincoln was instrumental in ending slavery have led some Americans to believe that he was a great humanitarian, although President Lincoln personally initiated a war against his fellow Americans that resulted in over 600,000 American deaths, roughly equivalent to the deaths suffered by Americans in all other wars combined.

To wage the war that was unpopular in the north, President Lincoln ignored the 7th Article of the Articles of Confederation that specified the states should supply forces and their legislatures should appoint officers. Instead he relied on federal conscripts and hundreds of thousands of ethnic immigrants as described by William Burton in the book "Melting Pot Soldiers, the Union’s Ethnic Regiment".

Union General, U.S. Grant, who went on to become the 18th President of the United States,   showed little regard for the lives of these men when he forced them to charge up the hills of Vicksburg and be killed by heavy fire from Confederates who were entrenched at the peaks to defend the city.

Northern Generals, Grant, Sheridan and Sherman operated ruthlessly under orders from Abraham Lincoln unlike Confederate General Lee, who respected civilian property and lives when he entered Maryland and Pennsylvania in an attempt to gain support from northerners and Europe while hoping to help free Maryland from the martial law imposed by Lincoln.

In the fall of 1864, General Grant ordered General Sheridan to enter the Shenandoah Valley and destroy or burn everything in sight including thousands of barns stocked with grain and hay, farms, civilian homes and heads of livestock. Defenseless women and children were left to face the winter homeless and without food.

In the fall of 1864 General Sherman, operating under orders from President Lincoln, made his infamous march to the sea in Georgia where his army killed, looted and burned its way to Savannah, Sherman confirmed his execution of Lincoln’s war policies in his blasphemous December 22, 1864 letter to Lincoln where he wrote: "I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah"


Most Americans have been falsely led to believe that Abraham Lincoln’s rationale for war was to end slavery even though that is provably false> Furthermore, Lincoln’s real motives for preserving the Union have rarely been analyzed.

Abraham Lincoln made it clear in his 1860 inaugural address that: "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."

President Lincoln further explained in his famous August 22, 1862 letter to New Your Tribune editor, Horace Greeley that: "My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it…"

Lincoln’s motive could not have been to abolish slavery because he did not begin to mention it in the context of the war until the 1863 proclamation. This was little more than an attempt to attract some black men into the depleted Union army, to justify extensive unconstitutional actions he took in waging war and to divert attention from conflicts between his policies and his inaugural address promises of preserving Constitutional rights of the people

While historians agree that his motive was to preserve the union, authors consistently fail to analyze why Abraham Lincoln would go to the extremes he did to achieve that objective. President L incoln instituted a horrible, bloody war against the south, another war on public opinion in the north and a third war against the principles upon which America was founded to protect its citizens from a tyrannical leader.

The only motive that would drive the President to such horrible extremes to "preserve the Union" was to implement the new national Republican Party platform of a superior federal government funded by direct income taxes on the people and selected tariffs. Such a platform would likely never have been adopted at the ballot box by popular vote of American citizens. It would also have been ruined if states had succeeded.


Many Americans have been led to believe that the most devastating war we have ever encountered was a necessary evil to make the county stronger and indirectly end slavery. Slavery was abolished after the war when the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution was passed in January of 1865 and ratified in December of 1865. However, slavery would have likely ended peacefully in the next decade or two just as it had in all other countries. If Lincoln followed a more conciliatory path urged by his military commanders, Secretary Seward and the vast majority of his other cabinet members, only five states would have succeeded. They may well have rejoined the Union by the turn on of the century. Even if they remained separate and there were northern, southern and western states of America, these alliances would have likely have formed the strongest countries on earth based on the strength of their unique constitutions. Thus, the war was unnecessary and the utter death and destruction that ensued could have easily been avoided.

America’s most devastating war was initiated solely by the decisions of President Lincoln. When faced with a difficult situation, he could have chosen a path of peace similar to that of Mikhail Gorbachev m who allowed the states of the former Soviet Union to declare their independence. Instead he chose an unconstitutional path of centralized government at any cost and is more readily compared by some today with Vladmir Lenin.

Abraham Lincoln drastically inverted the established American power order of people, states and federal government. That order was replaced a new order that is now first a federal government, then the states and lastly, the people. Ironically, this new order of power has forced all of us, regardless of color, to become slaves to a federal government that has grown beyond our control. As Lincoln himself explained in his inaugural address, many in the south anticipated what he would do and that is the real reason why they were willing to fight and die.

When it was over the actions of President Abraham Lincoln had resulted in:

a.  the death of Thomas Jefferson’s grandson, Thomas Garland Jefferson, at New Market

b.  a two year imprisonment without charges or a trial for editor, Francis Key Howard, grandson of the author of the Star Spangled Banner

c.  A Feb 6, 1862 attack on Fort Henry, which was commissioned in honor of Confederate senator Adolpus Gustavus Henry, grandson of Patrick Henry, who once prophetically uttered the phrase: "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"

All Americans lost some of their liberty and many Americans received death.

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