L. Neil Smith's

THE LIBERTARIAN ENTERPRISE

Number 145, October 29, 2001

War and Death

Exclusive to TLE

Born in liberty 19 April 1775; Died 9 July 1868

A recent issue of The Libertarian Enterprise included the following dateline: "October 22, 2001 ... I Hear America Dying."

Sorry, guys. That isn't the sound of America dying. That's decompositional gas built up in the lungs, being released as one jackbooted thug after another treads on the body.

America as a concept of free people living in harmony is alive and well. As a constitutionally limited republic suitable for governing a free people, the USA is dead. It is now suffering the indignities of the descendants of the maniacs who killed it.

In recognizing the significance of the United States, it is appropriate to find words for the tombstone. I'd like to put forward an argument for birth date and death date. During the course of this argument, the body of this essay will constitute an obituary, which should help in the grieving process. At the end, a brief epitaph.

Born in Liberty

The birth of the USA as a country has as much to do with events on 19 April 1775 as it does with any other time. On that date, in battles at Lexington and Concord, the Sons of Liberty and their friends opposed with deadly force the attempt by British troops to seize their weapons. A few months later, the Continental Congress declared the independence which was already the subject of open warfare. In 1781, the British forces under Cornwallis, cut off on land by French, US and militia troops, and cut off on the sea by French and US navy vessels, surrendered. The date of 19 October 1781, when Cornwallis accepted terms and surrendered, is less meritorious, since additional battles at sea took place for some time thereafter. The Treaty of Paris in 1783 provided formal recognition of the new country.

The dark forces opposed to liberty saw within the nascent country a huge territory, a potentially powerful government, endless opportunities for wealth without working including special privileges and government contract fraud, and a certain tendency by an athletic minority to gung ho enthusiasm. They wanted to rule it, but to do so, its traditions of individual freedom had to be eviscerated.

They didn't take long to get started.

Shay Leads Revolutionary War Veterans

In 1786, in the beautiful Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, where I've spent many happy days, trouble was brewing. High taxes, high litigation fees, and unreasonable state legislation were driving farmers and tradesmen into poverty. The men who fought nobly and valiantly in the War of the Revolution were no longer content with their situation. Daniel Shays led them in armed insurrection. His revolt was brutally suppressed. However, it was a contributing factor in the demise of the Articles of Confederation, the first constitutional government of the USA.

In 1787, a new constitution was proposed. It gave the national government many powers avoided by the revolutionaries in framing the Articles of Confederation. There were national powers of taxation, eminent domain, and significant monetary power. With a bill of rights to secure all powers not granted to the federal government to the states or people, and to identify and guarantee important individual liberties, the new constitution was ratified over the warnings of patriots like Patrick Henry, who feared its consolidating features.

Congress Opens a Bank

Though this new constitution made no provision for a national bank, Congress acted to create one. The First Bank of the United States opened for business in 1791, with two million of its $10 million in capital subscribed by the USA federal government (paid in from customs duties collected). For amusement, the Bank then lent the USA government $2 million. Much of the rest of the funding of the bank was subscribed by foreign investors, especially in Britain.

Shortly thereafter, the Whiskey Rebellion was undertaken by more Western farmers, tired of paying high taxes. (Surely the abandonment of the Articles of Confederation, which promised a "perpetual union" but were in fact seceded from by all thirteen original states before they acceded to the new constitution, should have provided the strong central government necessary to prevent such rebellions? Apparently not.) That rebellion was also brutally suppressed.

The Warfare State