A Libertarian Gallop Through American History

Some American History is not covered at all in history books. Four of these ignored stories are: 1) in 1798 a law passed making it a crime to say unkind words about anyone in the US government, other than the vice president, who at the time was Jefferson.

Jefferson and James Madison proposed that each state had the power to void a bad law (nullification). This essential idea was the Principles of ’98. It is not mentioned; 2) the story that all businessmen are evil and that government has to step in and save consumers. J.D. Rockefeller turned guck oil into essential kerosene to light homes and made it affordable to all. He developed three hundred separate products out of the guck; 3) Andrew Carnegie made everybody better off by efficiently making steel cheaper. We are told that big business engages in predatory pricing, making big profits by having driven competition out. However, you won’t find any real examples of this. Entrepreneurs dive into the gaps wherever profits are created. Herbert Dow produced bromine cheaply.  A German cartel told Dow he could not sell in Europe. The Germans tried to put him out of business, but Dow out smarted them; 4) the Great Depression lasted for year after year with no growth, yet the textbooks say thanks to the US government we got out of the depression.  One policy introduced was to help farmers. The government did this by destroying ten million acres of cotton so the remaining farmers could get more for cotton. Then they killed six million pigs, while people were hungry. Then the government paid farmers not to produce. This has been applied to oranges and sugar. It was a failed program.

You will never hear about these happenings because the gatekeepers of education have an agenda of government is good, private producers are bad.

Presented to homeschool parents and students on 29 September 2006 at the Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama.