*Lincoln and Liberty (new material)

Recording by Curtis & Loretta: 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Hurrah for the choice of the nation,
Our chieftain so brave and so true,
We’ll go for the great reformation,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too!
We’ll go for the son of Kentucky,
The hero of Hoosierdom through,
The pride of the “Suckers” so lucky,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too!

They’ll find what by felling and mauling,
Our railmaker statesman can do;
For the people are everywhere calling
For Lincoln and Liberty too.
Then up with the banner so glorious,
The star-spangled red, white, and blue,
We’ll fight till our banner’s victorious,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too.

Our David’s good sling is unerring,
The Slavocrat’s giant he slew,
Then shout for the freedom preferring,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too.
We’ll go for the son of Kentucky,
The hero of Hoosierdom through,
The pride of the “Suckers” so lucky,
For Lincoln and Liberty, too.

Source: Tune is Rosin the Beau. The lyrics are from Irwin Silber’s Soldier Songs and Home-Front Ballads of the Civil War.

ADDENDUM: If you think this song is rather exaggerated, you should see some of the other campaign materials of the elections of 1860 and 1864. The Republicans used the tune of Stephen C. Foster’s “Camptown Races” as the melody for a direct attack on Senator Douglas:

Daguerreotype of Stephen A. Douglas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There’s an old plow “hoss” whose name is “Dug.”
Doo-dah, doo-dah,
He’s short and stout — a regular “plug,”
Oh! doo-day day.

Chorus:
We’re bound to work all night,
We’re bound to wrk all day,
I’ll bet my money on the “Lincoln hos,”
Who bets on Stephen A?

The “Little Plug” has had his day,
He’s out of the ring, by all fair play.

He tried his best on the Charleston track,
But couldn’t make time with his “Squatter Jack.”

The “Little Dug” can never win,
That Kansas job’s too much for him.

And so forth.

But there is worse. Consider “The Lincoln Catechism,” offered to the public by the Democratic Party in 1864. (Remember, always, that modern Democrats and modern Republicans have very little to do with their 1864 equivalents. Republicans were the more liberal party, the Democrats were the more conservative — and full of hate-mongers.)

This “Lincoln Catechism” was a series of questions designed to spread fear of Lincoln’s actions.

(From the first lesson.)

I.
What is the Constitution?
A compact with hell — now obsolete.

II.
By whom hath the Constitution been made obsolete?
By Abraham Africanus the First.

III.
To what end?
That his days may be long in office — and that he may make himself and his people the equal of the negroes.

IV.
What is a President?
A general agent for negroes.

V.
What is Congress?
A body organized for the purpose of taxing the people to buy negroes, and to make laws to protect the President from being punished for his crimes.

(From the second lesson.)

I.
What is the “habeas corpus?”
The power of the President to imprison whom he pleases, as long as he pleases.
[The right of Habeas Corpus guarantees protection from imprisonment without proper indictment and eventual trial. Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution states that “The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it.” Lincoln did suspend Habeas Corpus, probably more completely than was necessary, but his restrictions on political prisoners were certainly no worse than those attempted by more recent administrations — and were undertaken with stronger oversight by Congress and the judiciary.]

II.
What is Trial by Jury?
Trial by military commission.

III.
What is “security from unreasonable searches and seizures?”
The liability of a man’s house to be entered by any Provost Marshal who pleases.

(From the sixth lesson.)

IV.
What is a court of law?
A body of soldiers, appointed by a General to try civilians without law.

V.
What is a Bastile?
A Republican meeting-house, for the involuntary assembling of men who believe in the Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is.
[In other words, people who believed in a conservative view of the United States were imprisoned. There were, of course, no Bastiles in the United States.]

VIII.
What is a negro?
A white man with a black skin.

IX.
What is a white man?
A negro with a white skin.

X.
What will be the effect of amalgamation?
It is the doctrine of the Leagues [supporters of Black rights] that a superior race will spring from analgamation.

XI.
Is this according to science?
No, — science teaches that the progeny of amalgamation would die out, and become extinct after the fourth or fifth generation.
[In other words, if Blacks and Whites interbreed, the hybrids would die out. This of course is not science — it ignores hybrid vigour, and in fact it ignores the fact that slave owners often forcibly impregnated their female slaves. The offspring were perfectly fertile — as proved by the fact that there was a whole vocabulary referring to slaves who had a certain fraction of white blood. This is not science; it is simply a lie to try to gain votes.]

(Source: I’ve excerpted this from Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., Fred L. Israel, and William P. Hansen, editors, History of American Presidential Elections, Volume II, pp. 1214-1244).