The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History Mises Institute

Fischer’s book Albion’s Seed described four British folkways into the colonies.  The four were Puritans to New England, aristocrats to Virginia, Quakers to Pennsylvania, and borderland immigrants to Appalachian backcountry.

As of 1790, all original thirteen colonies had ratified the Constitution. Four clauses have caused great trouble ever since: The War Powers Clause; The Commerce Clause; The Necessary and Proper Clause; and, The General Welfare Clause.

1798 was an important year. The Principles of ’98 influenced all of American history. The Alien and Sedition Acts and the Kentucky Resolutions revealed these principles.

Lysander Spooner in the antebellum period has been overlooked. He was a radical abolitionist lawyer. He wrote The Unconstitutionality of Slavery. William Lloyd Garrison felt the Constitution was a bloody pro-slavery compact.

States had the right to secede. The War Between the States was not launched to free slaves. Lincoln believed that whites were superior and favored the deportation of freed slaves. The South was for free trade; the North wanted protectionism.

Secession is a progressive, not a reactionary force. It is civilized. Jefferson Davis argued that because secession is not mentioned in the Constitution it is retained by the states under the Tenth Amendment. Thomas Jefferson said that the time for separation had not yet come.