Force or Consent as the Basis of American Government (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Force or Consent as the Basis of American GovernmentThe historical research upon which Force or Consent as the Basis of American Government is founded covers a period of ten years reading through the original sources upon which all statement of fact must rest if it is to have a rock foundation of truth. The general public neither has the time nor the taste for reading innumerable old letters and papers and must rely for its knowledge of the past on the statements of those who have done this reading. Any historian who neglects to consider all the evidence is as guilty as a judge would be who refused to hear both sides of a case. In order that the general public may not be deceived by quack historians - any account printed about the past is not necessarily history, for history is not history unless it is the truth - the great Universities of America and Europe have established graduate schools of history just as they have schools of law and medicine. The degree of Ph. D. Is conferred by the Universities on any person who has completed the study and research prescribed by the University authorities as evidence that the person is a qualified and not a quack historian. This is not to say that no one but a Ph. D. Can write true history, but it does mean that a Ph. D. Is more likely to be more accurate than one who has not received the rigid training of a great graduate school in writing accurate accounts - just as a trained physician is more certain to diagnose correctly a complicated disease than a practical nurse. It happens that the author of Force or Consent as the Basis of Ameri can Government is a qualified as distinguished by Colum bia University from a quack historian.The general public's opinion of Abraham Lincoln and the part he played in the Opening of the Civil War seems to' be largely the result of Republican propaganda. That is to say the Republican press has long and systematically held up Lincoln as the model of all perfection. As a matter of cold historical fact, Lincoln was a very shrewd politician. The fact that in 1860 both radical Abolitionists and conser vative Whigs voted for him on the basis of his statements which could be interpreted to mean policies friendly to both radicals and conservatives is the determining evidence that makes it necessary to classify Lincoln as a very shrewd politician. The conservatives would certainly not have voted for a John Brown Abolitionist and the Abolitionists would not vote for any one who was not an abolitionist. Nevertheless, Lincoln managed to have both groupsf - both conservatives and abolitionists - vote for him. 'and how did he manage to accomplish such a political miracle? By the politically shrewd expedient of making remarks which could be interpreted to [suit the tastes of both groups.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.