Notes Concerning the Authors
Walter Donald (Donnie) Kennedy authored “Myths of American Slavery” and teamed with his brother James Ronald (Ron) to write the equally popular “The South was Right” and “Why Not Freedom!” Al Benson Jr. is the editor and publisher of the “Copperhead Chronicle” and has written numerous articles expressing the Southern and conservative perspective.
Our Review
The Lincoln administration’s War against Southern Independence sought not only to defeat the South militarily but also to destroy the constitutional concept of “state sovereignty” in favor of a powerful central government to which the former sovereign states would be forever subservient. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels among others knew their version of a socialist utopia could only be implemented by such a strong centralized government and lauded Lincoln’s efforts to subjugate the Southern states. For the socialist “reformers” who fled Europe after the unsuccessful revolutions of the 1840s the Union cause was a natural magnet. For example, socialist refugees Carl Schurz and Franz Sigel became Union generals with Schurz later becoming a senator and secretary of the interior. Newspaperman Horace Greeley, a socialist advocate, hired Karl Marx to contribute articles in the New York Tribune. Charles A. Dana, a strident communist, not only became an assistant editor for Greeley but also served as assistant secretary of war for Lincoln. Readers will be surprised by the early and influential impact these and many other ideologues had in the destruction of government based on consent of the governed and traditional values in American culture.
Availability of this Book
We suggest Amazon or the publisher Pelican. The 2011 issue of this book is easier to obtain than the original 2007 version.
PJK