US Civil War Retcon

I really liked this post on Anarchy in Your Head. "The US Civil War was fought over slavery!" was a historic retcon. The US Civil War was actually fought over taxes.

The Southern states were mostly agricultural. They did not want import/export tariffs on trade with Europe. The Northern states were mostly industrial. They wanted protective import/export tariffs. High tariffs forced the Southern states to sell their cotton to Northern factory owners, and buy goods from Northern factory owners.

President Lincoln's justification for fighting the US Civil War was "The Southern states aren't paying taxes. I'm going to use violence to force them to pay." He blockaded the ports to collect import/export tariffs. His army invasion was to collect other Federal taxes, including the capitation (equal tax per person).

Viewed this way, the Southern states were the heroes. They were refusing to pay unfairly high taxes. They withdrew their consent for a government that no longer represented them.

The Southern army made some severe tactical mistakes during the Civil War. They tried to aggressively invade the North, instead of defending their home territory. If the South had focused 100% on defense, then they probably would have won a war of attrition. One problem is that the Southern generals were pro-State brainwashed by military academies in the North.

Also not mentioned in "Anarchy in Your Head", President Lincoln arrested newspaper editors in the North who criticized the Civil War.

Once the Southern states walked out of Congress, there no longer was a quorum. If you take a strict literal interpretation of the Constitution, Congress and the President no longer had authority do anything. President Lincoln issued executive order #1, to get Congress back in session and keep the Federal government operating. His only other choice was to give up and go home.

"The US Constitution is a voluntary contract!" is a lie. The Southern states tried to withdraw their consent, but violence forced them to remain. The original Constitution was not ratified by an overwhelming popular vote. It only was ratified by a thin margin. In some states, multiple votes were required, it only passed by a thin majority, and some favors/threats occurred in order to secure ratification. There is no provision for individuals to directly ratify the Constitution or Amendments.

"Does a State have the right to withdraw consent for the Federal government?" was not settled by a careful debate of the issues. It was settled the way all important political issues are settled, with violence.

Most other countries abolished chattel slavery at the same time as the USA, without a civil war. Political insiders realized that tax slavery was more effective than chattel slavery. Give people their 40 acres and a mule! Via property taxes, the slaves don't own those 40 acres anyway! It makes no difference if they're paying huge taxes! The master gets his tribute, whether you're a tax slave or a chattel slave.

There's another interesting Civil War footnote. The 14th Amendment allegedly abolished slavery. The US Supreme Court has interpreted the 14th Amendment as allowing limited liability incorporation and corporate personhood. The Supreme Court has cited the 14th Amendment 10x more often to justify rights of corporations, compared with justifying the rights of individuals. Limited liability incorporation is evil. Limited liability incorporation allows State insiders to exert power and control wealth, without any accountability. The corporate executive/employee says "I'm just doing my job!", and that excuses almost all sorts of dishonest and negligent behavior.

Until 1861, the US Constitution was presumed to be a voluntary contract among sovereign states. This placed a limit on expansion of Federal government power. After the US Civil War, a lot of severe abuses started accelerating. For example, the National Bank Act, passed during the Civil War, encouraged dishonest behavior by the banksters. Combined with limited liability incorporation and other bad laws, crises were engineered which led to the creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913.

The US Civil War is one example where State schools act as brainwashing centers, rather than spreading the real truth. I feel cheated that I never heard about Lysander Spooner or Bastiat in school.