-By Warner Todd Huston
On August 24 of 1855, Abe Lincoln made another one of his arguments against slavery. But I’d dare say that the logic of his point works to defeat the left’s efforts to destroy freedom of religion today, too.
By 1855 Illinoisan Abraham Lincoln had firmly joined the anti-slave element of the Whig Party and he was already developing a reputation as an eloquent speaker against the “Peculiar Institution.”
In August he made the argument that having slavery in a nation that is supposed to believe in the freedom and equality of men is a contradiction that makes the belief in equality essentially a lie.
Here is how he once described the dichotomy between a nation that claims to value equality and a nation that supports slavery:
Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” Soon it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.” When it comes to this, I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty–to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Now, Lincoln did not mean that negroes were “just as smart” or just as good as white men. Even science at that time had the idea that black people were more bestial and not as smart as whites. Lincoln was a product of his time in that way (and this is what confuses people who don’t take time to learn the facts about Lincoln today).
What Lincoln meant is that according to the American ethos every man had the freedom to make their way in life according to their best abilities. And with people like Frederick Douglas proving that blacks could achieve well enough, the idea that they were beasts and not men was risible.
Therefore, he felt that supporting slavery was a clear violation of the American ethos.
And he was right.
But can we use this logic for our own times? Yes, we can. We can use his central logic for the freedom of religion argument. We can use it to defeat the freedom FROM religion crowd.
We might paraphrase it something like this:
We are rapidly falling away from our true, American ideals.. As a nation we began by declaring that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” We now practically read it “no religions are prohibited except Christianity.” Soon it will read “all religions are prohibited including Christians, Jews, and Muslims.” When it comes to this, I would prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty–to China, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
Lincoln’s “encroachment” style of logic can be used today as liberals in the federal government continue to restrict Christians. One has to wonder where it will end? Will liberals stop at merely destroying Christianity in the U.S. Or are they actually looking to destroy all religion?
Anyway, I just found it an interesting point.
Finally, before someone goes off on it, let me settle one question some out there may have on Lincoln’s devotion to ending slavery… YES, Lincoln WAS an anti-slavery guy. He abhorred it. Don’t give me that neo-Confederate crap that he “really didn’t care about slaves.”
There are literally hundreds of quotes from Lincoln that are anti-slavery and the quote I am going to discuss next is one of them–and it is one from long before he ran for president. So, if you are one of those fools trading in that hoary claim that Lincoln secretly didn’t care about slavery, peddle your lies somewhere else. It is impossible to question Lincoln’s hatred for slavery. To question it is to ignore literally hundreds of facts.
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“The only end of writing is to enable the reader better to enjoy life, or better to endure it.”
–Samuel Johnson
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Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago based freelance writer. He has been writing news, opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and before that wrote articles on U.S. history for several American history magazines. Huston is a featured writer for Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart News, and he appears on such sites as RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, Wizbang.com, and many, many others. Huston has also appeared on Fox News, Fox Business Network, CNN, and many local TV shows as well as numerous talk radio shows throughout the country.
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