Socialism in America - Part 1

When anyone looks at the words of our Founding Fathers, they cannot help but be surprised at how far America has moved away from our founding and towards a socialist state. When did it happen? And what's more curious, how did Americans come to accept this change? I have decided to split American history into several distinct stages in an effort to document this tragic change.

The States' Rights Era

This time period existed between our founding until around the 1830s. Just reading the words of our Founders in The 5,000 Year Leap, you will be amazed at how small they wanted the federal government. Our nation was founded with the belief of self-determination and you only need to read our founding documents to realize this. So this era included many instances of people and states refusing to be bullied by the federal government, with some significant examples.

In 1786, Shay's Rebellion occurred in New England. Heavy debt plagued our new nation and the small farmer felt the brunt of the pressure. Debtor's Courts were confiscating the possessions of farmers that could not pay their high property taxes. People were threatened with additional fees and even prison. Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolution, believed this was against the freedom that he had fought for. Before anyone knew it, over 9,000 men in New England had taken arms against the courts, using force to shut them down. The farmers hoped that local paper currency could be issued to help ease the burden, yet that would increase inflation and grow debt. In 1787, while marching towards an arsenal in MA, the militia fired their cannons at the rebelling farmers, killing 4 and wounding 20. The rebellion was over and left a divided Nation in it's wake. Samuel Adams said, “Rebellion against a king may be pardoned, or lightly punished, but the man who dares to rebel against the laws of a republic ought to suffer death.” Meanwhile, Thomas Jefferson said, "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government. God forbid that we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion."

In 1794, the Whiskey Rebellion occurred in western parts of most states south of New York. In order to pay for the national debt, the government in 1791 placed a higher tax on alcohol distillers. Small distillers were taxed higher than larger distilleries, plus this tax was only payable with cash - which was rare to have on the western frontier. People protested by not paying the tax or going so far as to engage in violent protest. Tax collectors were beaten, tarred-and-feathered, or tortured. In western Pennsylvania, angry protesters marched to a collector's property, got into a gunfight with him and his slaves, and burned his house to the ground. They stole mail from a postal carrier in order to find the location of others that might be supporting the tax. Believing the tax would be going to a federal government that didn't represent them, the rebels were prepared to fight a full-sized rebellion before President Washington sent 13,000 militia to stop the fighting.

Another significant event of this era is the Nullification Crisis. The nation did not have a federal income tax and still paid for itself through tariffs, business taxes, and state taxation instead. Therefore, whenever the nation wanted to pay for it’s spending, they raised the tariffs. As a state that depended on trade, South Carolina was against a high tariff since it would hurt its economy. After a period of Congressional battles that went nowhere, South Carolina voted and decided that the US tariffs from 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and declared them null and void. President Andrew Jackson, believing the federal government had more power than the states, promised military action against South Carolina. Tension grew on both sides, with Congress passing a resolution authorizing force against SC. Before war could break out, a new, lower tariff was passed by Congress. SC removed its nullification order and agreed to pay the new tariff.

Did you notice how high federal taxes were the cause of these issues?

The Centralization Era

This period of American history occurred from the 1830s until around the 1890s. During this time period, federal power continued to grow as society turned against the evil of slavery. President Lincoln sought to increase the power of the federal government to levels never before seen. Lincoln was determined to federalize the railroads, raise the national tariff, centralize the banking industry through a national paper currency, and to halt the spread of slavery. Never before had a president of the United States looked at the people and said, “You’re not allowed to move to another state.” The rich politicians of the South feared the end of slavery and the regular citizen of the South feared a massive, anti-Southern federal government paid for by massive Southern taxes. In States’ Rights’ last gasp, the South declared their independence.

During the War Between the States, the Constitution was ignored. War protesters and Southern sympathizers were thrown into jail and their right to a trial by jury was revoked. Newspapers were closed down, and Lincoln even threatened to imprison the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for speaking out against Lincoln's abuse of power.

Regardless of how noble black emancipation is, from the viewpoint of Constitutional history, this is where the Centralization Era is in full force. The military of the United States was used to force the federal government’s will upon the people. In a nation that declared that government only ruled with the consent of the people, this same nation was being taught the contrary – if the federal government thinks it’s right, it doesn’t matter what the people want. Billions of dollars were spent causing billions of dollars in damages. Over 600,000 men died and another million were wounded in order to enforce federal policies.

For five years, the South was ruled as an occupied territory, divided into several military districts and controlled by military governors. Congress, filled with radicals that believed the States should be punished because of their belief in States’ Rights, required the South reach certain benchmarks in order to end its occupation. Instead of changing the hearts of men, the US government decided to force its will down everyone’s throats. White farms were confiscated and given to freed slaves. States were forced to pass new federal laws, change their state laws, state constitutions, and even state flags. In doing so, racist resentment grew throughout the South and the free black was punished due to this federal intrusion for over 100 years.

The Southern occupation ended in 1870, but the damage had been done: The federal government was not going to tolerate what it viewed as state-level insubordination.