Tyranny And Treachery: Lincoln’s War and the Ravages of Reconstruction
This woeful period must never be forgotten or weakened in the minds of Southerners! It should also never be forgiven.
The American Civil War era and the subsequent Reconstruction period stand as one of the most contentious and controversial episodes in U.S. history. This bygone era, marked by extensive corruption and aggressive political maneuvering by the Union government, forever altered the landscape of the Southern United States. Abraham Lincoln’s War on the South did not simply aim to “preserve the Union”; it set the stage for an era plagued by graft, deceit, and a disregard for Constitutional integrity—a chapter that must remain etched in Southern memory evermore!
The appointment of William G. “Parson” Brownlow as governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 exemplified the Union’s ruthless imposition on the South. Brownlow ominously declared his support for another war on the South, boldly stating: “I am one who believes the war has ended too soon. We have whipped the rebels, but not enough… They will not, and ought not to, leave one rebel fence-rail, outhouse, one dwelling, in the eleven seceded states. As for the rebel population, let them be exterminated.” Brownlow’s words reflect the cruel and vindictive mindset embraced by many Union leaders during Reconstruction.
The Reconstruction Act of 1867 epitomizes the Union’s legal contortions and flagrant disregard for Constitutional sanctity. This Act audaciously declared that Southern States were not part of the Union, despite the Union’s wartime insistence that States could not legally Secede. President Lincoln’s assertion that Secession was Constitutionally invalid clashes with the reality of imposing military rule and dictating terms of reentry, revealing a stark hypocrisy glaringly ignored by…