Jamie Kelso’s March 1st podcast brought to my attention the article “Andrew Johnson Reconsidered”, which was published in the March 1998 issue of Wilmot Robertson’s Instauration.
Though Johnson’s oratory was noted for its style, the substance was equally impressive. An outspoken man, to put it mildly, today he would be consigned to the ranks of the insensitive at best or the bigoted at worst. Some of his most amusing outbursts were downright racist. In terms of bombast, he could have given any black preacher a run for his money. Of a pro-black voting rights bill, he said:
It would place every splay-footed, bandy-shanked, hump-backed, thick-lipped, flat-nosed, woolly headed, ebon-colored Negro in the country upon an equality with the poor white man.
His racial philosophy left little room for interpretation:
This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men …. This whole vast continent is destined to fall under the control of the Anglo-Saxon race-the governing and self-governing race.
His reasons for feeling as he did are well-documented:
[The] black race of Africa were inferior to the white man in point of intellect-better calculated in physical structure to undergo drudgery and hardship-standing, as they do, many degrees lower in the scale of gradation that expressed, the relative relation between God and all that he had created than the white man.
The following statement, made in 1866, cannot be easily dismissed today, 135 years after Negro emancipation:
The peculiar qualities which should characterize any people who are fit to decide upon the management of public affairs for a great state have seldom been combined. It is the glory of white men to know that they have had these qualities in sufficient measure to build upon this continent a great political fabric and to preserve its stability for more than ninety years, while in every other part of the world all similar experiments have failed. But if any thing can be proved by known facts, if all reasoning upon evidence is not abandoned, it must be acknowledged that in the progress of nations Negroes have shown less capacity for government than any other race or people. No independent government of any form has ever been successful in their hands. On the contrary, wherever they have been left to their own devices they have shown a constant tendency to relapse into barbarism.
Johnson didn’t mince words about the Negro problem. Even though there wasn’t much of a Jewish problem in the U.S. in those days, he was not loath to speak up whenever a Hebrew was in need of a dressing-down. Florida’s David Levy Yulee, the first Jew to serve in the U.S. Senate, was berated as a “contemptible little Jew.” Of Louisiana Senator Judah Benjamin (later to become Attorney General, Secretary of War and ultimately Secretary of State in the Confederacy), Johnson said, “There’s another Jew –that miserable Benjamin! He looks on a country and a government as he would on a suit of old clothes. He sold out the old one; and he would sell out the new if he could in so doing make two or three million.” Benjamin was further lambasted as being of “that tribe that parted the garments of our Savior and for his vesture cast lots.” In pre-ADL days, however, such bold comments were not career killers. Of course, if we had speeches like that in Congress today, C-Span would be a real ratings puller.
As a baseborn white, Johnson instinctively distrusted the Southern planter class, which wielded so much power in western and central Tennessee. Johnson represented the mountainous, eastern part of the state, where the residents tended towards yeomanry. He found that no matter how high he rose in politics, no matter how prosperous he was in his private life, he was never accepted by his “betters.” His particular brand of populism may have been inspired as much by his own experience as by his reverence for the Constitution:
The aristocracy in this district know that I am for the people….They know that I love and desire the approbation of the freemen of this State….The fact of a farmer or mechanic stepping out of the field or shop into an office of distinction and profit, is particularly offensive to an up start, swelled headed, iron heeled, bobtailed aristocracy, who infest all of our little towns and villages, who are too lazy and proud to work for a livlihood [sic], and are afraid to steal.
Though easier said than done, his recommendations for a robust republic still resonate:
I want no rabble here on one hand, and I want no aristocracy on the other. Lop off the aristocracy at one end, and the rabble at the other, and all will be well with the republic.
His antipathy to the plantation aristocracy was not just class envy. Johnson blamed it for fanning the flames of secession for its own benefit-certainly not for the benefit of the poor whites who formed the core of his constituency and had to bear the brunt of battle after secession.
I am for a government based on and ruled by industrious, free white citizens, and conducted in conformity with their wants, and not a slave aristocracy. I am for this government above all earthly possessions, and if it perish I do not want to survive it. I am for it though slavery be struck from existence and Africa be swept from the balance of the world … .If you persist in forcing this issue of slavery against the government, I say, in the face of heaven, give me my government and let the Negro go!
In other words, the welfare of the country is more important than the status of the Negro, be he slave or free man. In Johnson’s time, as in our own, too many people of influence and power have these priorities reversed.
It isn’t clear from the article which of Johnson’s quotes came before, during, or after his term as president in the wake of America’s most fratricidal, uncivil war. At the very least readers today can see that 90-odd years after Thomas Jefferson asserted the “self-evident truth” that “all men are created equal” there were still White leaders at the very top who believed Whites could and should govern Whites “to ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”. You know, the kind of thing recent US presidents believe about jews.
OD’s back up.
1.) Johnson, ardent Racialist, was the only Senator from a seceded state that remained in the US Senate, that is to say who sided with the Union.
2.) Lincoln made this man vice-president.
Neither of those things would have happened if the Union cause were radically pro-black, punitively anti-Southern-white, both of which are sometimes alleged.
The compliations of Lincoln quotes, calling for deportation of blacks and so forth, are also valuable in this way.
Echoing Johnson’s racialist attitudes were most Northerners of the era, too.
Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens had proposed a bill to redistribute white land to ex-slaves. The bill failed miserably. In a speech before the rump-Congress (“rump”: no ex-CSA delegates yet), Representative Chandler of New York — speaking for the voting majority — echoes Johnson’s racialist attitudes.
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[Rep. Chandler:] “Sir, the dominion of this continent belongs to the white man. He formed the nations which now extend across it. He developed the civilization which those nations protect and adorn. His is the mastery, and you might as well seek to check this planet in its course around the sun as to curb the white man in his dominion in America. The white race is fulfilling the destiny of their race and the law of their God. This bill from this point of view is too feeble to deserve but a passing notice.”
After hearing Mr. Chandler’s presentation, the House then voted to let the bill die that day, never to be reconsidered. Thus ended Thaddeus Stevens mad dream for social re-engineering. He himself would lie dead less than a year later.
Source
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Tanstaafl, I apologize for this in advance —
Anonymous wrote:
OD’s back up.
Not that I have seen. OccidentalDissent.com still displays the “Down for Maintenance”, a euphemism Hunter Wallace has used before for “indefinite down time” for weeks or months.
The apparent final post was titled, ominously,
Threats. Does anyone know the contents of this post?
OD was up for at least a few minutes just before I posted the statement that OD is back up.
The entry entitled ‘Threats’ wasn’t up there, but there was a comment by Hunter explaining that the site was taken down temporarily because he was receiving threats.
Before it went into “Maintenance Mode”, a commenter named iceman had outed the real names of people over at thephora.net in the OD comments, along with addresses, phone numbers, etc.
Before it went into “Maintenance Mode”, a commenter named iceman had outed the real names of people over at thephora.net in the OD comments, along with addresses, phone numbers, etc.
But isnt this something Hunter Wallace was also accused of himself?
This was discussed at majorityrights.com last year.
HW himself showed up and failed to even address the most serious allegation, preferring to focus on a secondary matter.
For me, after that, HW & OD were damaged goods. 10ft pole territory.
I move we elect a new king who will destroy the bankster oligarchy. We have no voice in government today anyway; the banksters pillage and rape at will. Soon we will be reduced to total serfdom — that is, those of us still alive (see: Holodomor and Russian revolutions). We’ve nothing to lose.
I just now saw similar thoughts to mine in CWNY’s latest post, “In the Face of the Whirlwind.” Here they are, delivered in CWNY’s characteristically uplifting style:
http://cambriawillnotyield.blogspot.com/
Matt Johnson and Hans-Hermann Hoppe also have positive things to say about monarchy. Matt Johnson’s 1-hr audio lectures at voice of reason are very intesting:
http://reasonradionetwork.com/programs/the-orthodox-nationalist
I’ve only read reviews of Hoppe’s book, Democracy, the God that Failed
For me, after that, HW & OD were damaged goods. 10ft pole territory.
I see the trolls are coming out. I regret broaching the subject of OD.
…
Re Rusty Mason, is your comment about oligarchs a general one or in some way related to Andrew Johnson? I cannot figure out a connection.
hailtoyou,
I guess I’m a bit off topic in a way. Lately my thoughts are on moving way up the food chain as I’m tired of the RedTeam-BlueTeam game and all connected with it. We have a right to live in an ethnically homogenous society, free from all liberal/bankster control. I appreciate the history lessons, but I’m more interested just now in trying to come up with real solutions, big and small. Sorry for the non-sequiter.
Rusty,
Now that I think of it — and maybe you didn’t even intend this — but there is a connection between what you wrote (“destroy the bankster oligarchy”) and President Johnson’s populist views.
See here
Before it went into “Maintenance Mode”, a commenter named iceman had outed the real names of people over at thephora.net in the OD comments, along with addresses, phone numbers, etc.
But isnt this something Hunter Wallace was also accused of himself?
Hunter Wallace/Fade set up an entire forum to phish for passwords of White nationalists. He doesn’t dispute that – there are copies of posts from a secret forum he made talking about it, and also talking about “sowing discord” among WNs more generally. Despite all this, he still has many supporters. There is literally nothing HW could do to sully his reputation in the eyes of these people.
I move we elect a new king who will destroy the bankster oligarchy.
In addition to Hoppe’s excellent book, you might want to read Belloc’s biographies of Charles I and II, in which Belloc states discusses the period “in which the great struggle between Monarchy and Rule of the Rich was being fought out all over Europe”. Tawney’s Religion and the Rise of Capitalism is agreat book that provides a background for these issues.
The Anon troll posting at 3/17/2011 08:29:00 AM is spreading defamation, presumably because he was one of the parties in one or more squabbles 5 years ago or more, that no one else cares about. Why hold a petty personal grudge so much later? HW does not go around trolling you, whoever you are (AFAIK), so why not just led sleeping dogs lie.
Admittedly, a valid criticism of HW is that he allows his ego to get in the way too often. Through his “career” in various online circles, he has developed a number of personal enemies, some small number of whom have maintained a campaign of trolling for years. I don’t understand why HW attracts these kinds of people.
BTW, Occidental Dissent is back online.
I was a fan of HW & OD. I too read of these accusations regarding The Phora. I had never heard of The Phora before btw. I didnt pay much attention frankly.
Until…
This surfaced at MR, along with discussion of HW and his problems with someone called Greg Johnson at The Occidental Quarterly HW then appeared in the thread.
HW vehemently denied accuasations regarding Greg Johnson and TOQ but The Phora allegations? The more serious issue IMHO. He never even mentioned them. Not even to dismiss them out of hand.
Sorry, but after that I couldnt see him in the same light.
Forgot to add – Im not some enemy that HW has picked up years ago, Im just going by his failure to make even the slightest nod toward these issues.
Btw Hail, like your site.
I’m a long-time reader and correspondent/poster on Laura Wood’s blog. When she sticks to her strength–criticizing feminism and its effects on society–she is excellent. I had noticed that she tends to defer to Auster. The recent posts you note in your blog confirmed this. She only sporadically posts on racial issues at all. In fact, as I mentioned, her raison d’etre is refuting feminism.
I appreciate her blog because, unlike Auster, she is actually a true Christian.
[Side note: I know that you, TANSTAAFL, don’t care about this as much as I do, but Auster’s pseudo-Christianity irks me to no end. He once said on his blog that he “considers himself” a “Traditional Anglican” but that, as there is no Traditional Anglican parish in N.Y.C., he doesn’t attend Sunday services. Thus, he’s about as “Christian” as Obama.].
Don’t let Wood’s deference to Auster deter you from the overall excellence of her blog. I don’t know why he retains some “veto power” over her, but it is quite uncharacteristic of her.
I don’t want to reveal to much about myself, but let me just say that I can distinguish a good arguer from a bad one. Laura Wood knows how to argue. She has a first-rate mind. She is pugnacious and razor-sharp in the precision of her arguments–somewhat paradoxically for a “Thinking Housewife” one might think.
I am sure her politically-correct response to the Jew-question shows just how powerful the Jewish influence on public discourse is.
I’ve been watching Fade the Butcher/Prozium/Hunter Wallace online for at least a decade now (since the original Phora – not the current one). He doesn’t know me and I don’t post on his sites, so this isn’t a personal thing for me, just an observation. And a fair warning to those of you who don’t know the history.
The accusations of phishing passwords are well supported and are not some kind of “trolling” by internet enemies of HW. Fade/Hunter’s long track record of sowing deliberate discord amongst whoever he is dealing with (white nationalists or whoever) and generally acting as a drama queen are well known.
His fantasy life (pretending to be things he is not or do things he has not done) are well known, as was his apparent mental breakdown for a while during his late Prozium phase (note the drug reference). At one point Prozium was either off his meds and babbling incoherently, or someone hacked into his account – but there’s good reason to think that Prozium was literally off of his meds for a while.
Anyone who trusts or even tries to deal honestly with Fade/Prozium/HW gets burned eventually. Don’t say you haven’t been warned. You are dealing with a mentally unstable, but high functioning sociopath.
by their fruits you will know them, I didn’t know the history, and I’ll take your warning seriously.