Liberty and American Civilization

1. Lincoln's Tariff War

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The War to Prevent Southern Independence is the more proper title for the Civil War. The South did not want to take over DC or the North. There exists a vitriolic Lincoln Cult who cannot countenance that Lincoln might have been motivated by money and power in engaging in the Tariff dispute which began in 1824. The Tariffs amounted to a triple tax on Southerners. All the benefits went to Northern manufacturers. By the1880s the average tariff was in the 45% range. Ninety percent of all Federal revenue was financed by the tariff. Lincoln said he would invade the South if they did not pay the tax. The naval blockade of the Southern port was because of the tariff. The tariff was an important cause of the war.

No serious historian would say that the Southern states were invaded for the purpose of freeing slaves; the war was about destroying any secession movement.

Lecture 1 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

2. Abraham Lincoln and the Triumph of Mercantilism in America

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Alexander Hamilton wanted the colonies to be just like Britain, but without a king. He pushed mercantilism in America by arguing that public debt was positive and central banking was necessary.

High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods, are an almost universal feature of mercantilist policy. Yet it was just that system that the colonists had rejected by seceding from Britain. The goal of mercantilist economic policies was to build up the state and benefit a small group of elite merchants and government bureaucrats.

Murray Rothbard, representing the Austrian School of economics, describes it this way:

Mercantilism, which reached its height in the Europe of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, was a system of statism which employed economic fallacy to build up a structure of imperial state power, as well as special subsidy and monopolistic privilege to individuals or groups favored by the state. Thus, mercantilism held exports should be encouraged by the government and imports discouraged.

Lecture 2 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

3. Lincoln vs. the Constitution

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Tue, 06 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

There is no provision in the US Constitution allowing for a dictator. Yet, Lincoln was one. He suspended habeas corpus. Any disagreement with Lincoln was treated as treason. Political prisoners were everywhere, including the mayor of Baltimore.

Three hundred newspapers were shut down. All telegraph communication was censored. Railroads were nationalized. Federal troops were ordered to interfere with elections. Lincoln deported his critics for saying such things in the House of Representatives as “Lincoln spoke with a forked tongue, …the administration is wicked and cunning,…and the purpose of the war was national banks, public debt, high tariffs, and strong government.”

Lecture 3 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

4. The Classical Liberal States' Rights Tradition

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

States’ Rights have been ignored or misrepresented. Thomas Jefferson was an originator of States’ Rights. Citizens of a state ought to have sovereignty – dual sovereignty. Government was merely to protect the lives, liberty and property of citizens.

The central government was always considered the biggest threat to freedom. The Alien and Sedition Act was a censorship law. The Kentucky Resolve, and later the Virginia Resolve, declared that citizens should have some control over their central government. When government has a monopoly of power, people cannot be free.

Lecture 4 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

5. The Revolution of 1913

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

In 1913, economics and liberty collided when the Federal Reserve Bank was created, the 15th Amendment created the income tax, and the 17th Amendment instituted direct election of Senators.

The proponents of the central bank hoped to nationalize as much as possible all interests to be subordinate to the central government. The Fed and the Income Tax made possible America’s entry into world wars

Lecture 5 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

6. Protectionist Origins of Antitrust

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The myth of antitrust, the myth of the New Deal and labor union myths are three economic fallacies. All three declare that government must save capitalism from itself.

The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed to fight supposed rampant cartelization practices in the 1880s. Despite bold statements, there existed no evidence of rampant monopolies. The so called antitrust law was a fig-leaf. The real monopoly had been created by tariffs. Antitrust is a protection racket.

Lecture 6 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

7. The Myth of Natural Monopoly

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

This second myth about market failure is again a call for interventionism and support for bigger government. Natural monopolies don’t exist. The theory was made up after the fact. The only monopolies existing are those propped up by government privilege.

It took the economics profession about sixty years to look closely at the facts behind regulated monopolies like AT&T and competition.

Lecture 7 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

8. Labor Market Superstitions

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

There are labor market myths and there are labor union myths. The biggest myth is that capitalists always exploit the working class. Basic economics about marginal productivity theory contradicts this. Examples abound in all areas.

Lecture 8 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

9. The Truth about the Great Depression

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

The interventionist myth is that Federal meddling in domestic or foreign economics can make anything better. Instead, meddling produced the American Great Depression. Doing nothing with a depression in 1920 produced resolution within eighteen months. Nobody hears of the depression of 1920-21.

Herbert Hoover put into place almost all of the New Deal policies that are blamed on FDR. FDR continued and deepened Hoover’s disastrous programs. They thought the depression was caused by low prices and believed that high prices would cure it. So, they raised prices. They raised tariffs. The Great Depression did not end until the Federal budget in absolute dollars was reduced by two-thirds.

Decades of high pork barrel spending were answering to ordinary politics, not to concern for alleviating any poverty.

Lecture 9 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.

10. Is Voluntary Government Possible?

Thomas J. DiLorenzo — Sat, 10 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500

Walter Block and Tom DiLorenzo have looked at Constitutional Economics, and determined that politics are not just another market. There is only a curious analogy to the public choice approach. Social contract theory has been used as an excuse for all types of state intervention.

Just because we do not all commit mass suicide does not demonstrate that we have all consented to some social contract. The origin of commonwealth was force and violence. The state is economic exploitation of the majority tax-payers by one ruling tax-eating group within government. Government is force. Submission to force is hardly voluntary.

Lecture 10 of 10 from the Steven Berger Seminar: Thomas DiLorenzo on Liberty and American Civilization.