Heritage of
Savagery
January 6, 2000
Through no
fault of their own, most Americans study American history in
school. This is why they have so many misconceptions about American
history.
One of these misconceptions is that the
Civil War was a noble struggle against slavery and that Abraham Lincoln
finally abolished slavery with the Emancipation Proclamation.
If you accept this mythology, you have to
wonder why some previous president didnt just abolish slavery
with a stroke of the presidential pen. In fact, Lincoln knew he had no such
power; he merely claimed the power, as commander in chief of the armed
forces, to strip rebels of their property. So he announced that slaves in
the rebellious states were to be released.
Some observers gibed that Lincoln had
freed all the slaves over whom he had no authority, while doing nothing
for those over whom he did have authority. But this is to misunderstand
what Lincoln thought he had authority to do, since he claimed authority
over the rebel states. In his view, there had been no legal
secession from the Union, and the so-called Confederate States were still
subject to the United States.
Europe was shocked by Lincolns
brutal treatment of the South, which violated traditional rules of
civilized warfare, according to which civilians and their property were to
be spared any molestation. But in Lincolns view, citizens of the
Confederate States who were loyal to the Confederacy werent
entitled to any such exemption. They were all rebels and
traitors to the United States and could be justly treated as
criminals.
Idealizers of Lincoln have blamed the
brutality of the war on generals like William Tecumseh Sherman and
Philip Sheridan, who devastated civilian areas, destroying crops and
property. But they were merely executing Lincolns policy, with his
full approval. Responsibility for Shermans March to the Sea and
Sheridans Shenandoah Valley campaign rested with Lincoln.
By Lincolns Manichaean logic, it
could have been much worse. Since most of the people of the South were
guilty of the crimes of rebellion and treason, millions of them could have
been executed after the war. But that would have been too much even for
Lincoln.
The South, much more attuned to
European culture than the North, had assumed that Lincoln would be
inhibited by the rules of civilized warfare. They underestimated the factor
and the fanatical logic of Northern ideology, according to which the holy
end of preserving the Union justified nearly any means of
subduing rebels.
When Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox, many
war-crazed Northerners were furious that Lee wasnt arrested,
tried, and executed as a traitor. But Grant, to his credit, still adhered in
part to the old code of honor. He had given his word to Lee, whom he deeply
respected, and he kept it. The Southern officers and soldiers were allowed
to go home in peace.
But the idea that the Southern cause was
evil died hard. The harsh Northern occupation of the South during the
Reconstruction period remains a shameful memory.
Jefferson Davis, the gallant president of the Confederacy, was arrested,
shackled, and cruelly imprisoned on charges of treason (and, absurdly,
conspiring to murder Lincoln) for two years, but eventually the charges
were dropped and he was never brought to trial. An outstanding lawyer, he
would probably have won acquittal and dealt the North a severe propaganda
blow.
Even now, the Norths Manichaean
view of the Civil War survives, as witness the fury the Confederate flag
still arouses. The United States formed some savage habits during that
war which have unfortunately proved permanent. During World War II,
Franklin Roosevelt dispensed with all principles of civilized warfare by
terror-bombing German and Japanese cities, developing the first nuclear
weapons, and demanding unconditional surrender.
Today Roosevelt is honored as a hero for
his conduct of that war, just as Lincoln is honored for winning the Civil
War and ending slavery. Many rank them as our two greatest
presidents, though they not only lowered the level of civilization but
destroyed the constitutional balance of powers between the federal
government and the states.
One of the dangers of winning wars is
that the victors may be seduced by their own propaganda as we
have been.
Joseph Sobran
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