[Peace-discuss] A Perspective

[Chuck Minne]

From: 
The American Gulag
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

 

.....Lincoln certainly did unconstitutionally suspend habeas corpus. But the tens of thousands of Northern citizens who were imprisoned without due process by the Lincoln administration (as many as 38,000 by one estimate in the Columbia Law Journal) were overwhelmingly plain citizens from all walks of life who simply expressed doubt over the administration’s unconstitutional and despotic policies, including the shutting down of more than 300 opposition newspapers and the mass arrest of political dissenters by the military. Tens of thousands of Northern political prisoners spent months in a series of gulags, such as Fort Lafayette in New York Harbor, which came to be known as "the American Bastille."

The Lincoln administration cast a very wide net indeed in rounding up any and all political opponents in the Northern states. Anyone overheard questioning virtually anything the administration had done, let alone publishing critical articles or editorials in newspapers, could land in prison without any due process. In fact, Lincoln himself even argued that those who simply remained silent and did not actively support his administration should also be subject to imprisonment. In his own words:

The man who stands by and says nothing when the peril of his Government is discussed cannot be misunderstood. If not hindered, he is sure to help the enemy; much more if he talks ambiguously – talks for his country with "buts" and "ifs" and "ands." (Collected Works of Lincoln, vol. 6, pp. 264–265.)

 

The whole article can be seen at:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/dilorenzo/dilorenzo79.html

 

In “A Peoples’ History” Zinn says much the same about Lincoln.

 

I suspect that Bush would love to do what Lincoln did, but things have obviously progressed to the point where he could not get away with it now – maybe the good old days weren’t.

 

 



Now tell me again, just how did Iraq threaten my freedom? Oh,I get it,the same way Granada,Panama,Haiti,Nicaragua,The Sudan,Afghanistan,Lybia,and our other targets did! Right.Right......."The first casualty of war is the truth." Sir Winston Churchill....."Patriotism is supporting your country all the time and your government when it deserves it."--Mark Twain......My Web Site ..... ClickMeToo


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