As I sat eating supper on New Years eve I could
hear the sound of fireworks gong off across the street from where we live. Some
folks in the South set off fireworks to celebrate the advent of the new
year. When we lived in West
Virginia several years ago they used to go out at midnight and shoot their guns
into the air.
But, as I listened to the fireworks going off tonight the thought
crossed my mind that hear is a little noise, a little flash when the
firecrackers exploded – and then nothing. It just so happened that while eating
supper I was reading a day-old copy of the area newspaper, I never buy it new if
I can get yesterday’s copy for nothing as it’s not worth the price they charge.
There was an article in it about the Emancipation Proclamation which the sainted
Abraham Lincoln made much ado about 150 years ago this New Year’s day. Reading
about the Proclamation and hearing the nearby fireworks gave me cause to reflect
on how like the fireworks, the Proclamation was q big “flash in the pan” that
really did nothing----certainly not what its adherents today claim. Many who
have been told about the Proclamation have been misinformed that with it
”Lincoln freeing the slaves.” This is the sort of historical legerdermain that
has been passed along to us as children through what passes for history books in
schools.
authority to do, the Confederate States at that time being a separate country.
Interestingly, those slave states that, by hook or by crook, had to remain in
the Union----Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri----had no slaves reed
in them. Neither did any of the parts of the Sates that had been captured by
Union forces. So what it all amounted to is that Lincoln freed slaves in states
he had no authority to free them in and left them in bondage in states where he
had some authority. But then this was typical of Lincoln as it is with just
about all of today’s same type of politicians. Propaganda and publicity is the
name of the game—a big flash and then—no one ever freed a slave anywhere at
anytime and had he been able to do so he probably would have taken some time
figuring some angle to have him shipped to Africa or the West Indies or
someplace—any place outside of the United States.
At any rate the article I read over supper was written by a Brett
Zongker for the Associate Press where in part it stated: “Lincoln issued his
preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September after the Battle of Antietam,
announcing that if rebel states did not cease fighting and rejoin the Union by
January 1, 1863, all slaves in rebellious states or parts of states would be
declared free from this day forward.” That’s an amazing statement. From his
wording I would guess that, for example ths state of Tennessee stopped fighting
and rejoined the Union by Januay1, 1863 then she would have gotten to keep her
slaves intact and they would not have ben free anymore than were the slaves in
the Union state of Kentucky free.
You have to ask yourself what kind of “emancipation” is that ? Is
that the kind of “emancipation proclamation” worth all the fuss they have made
of it over the years that, and I realize at this point, some will argue with me
and say that Lincoln had to make a start somewhere and this is what he did.
Well, if he wanted to make a start somewhere then why not free the slaves in
Maryland, which was in the Union, albeit somewhat reluctantly, as Lincoln had
ordered the state legislators jailed so they could not vote for Maryland to
secede. The truth is that Lincoln had no interest in emancipating slaves but he
did have a major interest in promoting propaganda that would keep either Great
Britain or France from giving aid to the Confederate States and a piece of prime
propaganda material like this proclamation might just do the trick. I don’t
know about France, but lots of folks in Great Britain caught on to what this
was all about and some of their comments were interesting. Lincoln didn’t fool
the emancipation proclamation that really emancipated no
one.
I expect in the coming days we will be treated to all manner of
pro-Lincoln propaganda about how he as the “great emancipator” freed the slaves,
saved the Union (which he actually destroyed ) and infused the entire world with
“peace and light.” The fact that is administration and the early Republican
Party actually paved the way for socialists and communists to really gain a
foothold in this country (read Lincoln’s Marxists, Pelican Publishing Co. ) will
never be touched upon. All you will ever hear about are his great efforts at
emancipation for the slaves which, were, in the end all blow and no
show.
Thanks to Terry “Beetle” Bailey for sending this along so
everyone could read and learn a bit
more
about the “great
emancipator”.