The Lincoln Revisionism and the Libertarian Re-imagination of American Political Economy

This paper argues that through the historical narrative of the Lincoln revisionism, libertarians envision an alternative decentralized political economy. With the historical narrative, they reject federal-led national economic development and expansionist foreign policies, but advocated a state-led, decentralized political economy modeled after the deregulation and free-market systems of the South, which have shown high economic growth since the 1970s. Libertarians imagined a community that appropriates the medieval feudal order―a space where the Austrian School’s theory of the free market, in which individuals rather than the state act as the primary subjects of power and economic decision-making, could be realized. Their aspirations are now being manifested within the realm of the internet “cloud.” By examining the past, present, and future presented by the Lincoln revisionism, this study provides a case study of the politicization of historical narratives.