Top Five Libertarian War Heroes Who Fought for America
by Aya Katz
“What should we do about Aleppo?” That was the question of the day for Gary Johnson yesterday. The answer is: absolutely nothing. We should stay out of it, if by “we,” we mean the government of the United States. However, that does not necessarily mean that Americans, as individuals, cannot do something to help.
Have you noticed that Democrats are all anti-war, except when the war is politically correct? They’re always chanting “give peace a chance,” except that they love the Civil War and World War II and any war in some third-world country where we are being Big Brother and saving the “exploited” from oppression. On the other hand, Republicans are all against “nation-building,” and they tend to espouse non-interventionism — unless there happens to be oil under the ground in the nation they are “re-building” after a forced regime change.
Do you know what the libertarian position is on war for any purpose other than defense? It’s the same as the libertarian position on charity: do it privately, at your own expense. Libertarians are not against helping other people gain freedom from oppressive governments. We just frown upon forcing our neighbors to go to war, either through conscription or taxation. If you want to go help someone who is in trouble in a foreign country though, you should be able to go forth and do good. As Lord Byron put it: “When a man has no freedom to fight for at home, let him battle for that of his neighbors. Let him think on the glory of Greece and of Rome, and get knocked on his head for his labors!”
Here is a list of the top five people who did just that and helped America gain its freedom or pursue its interests at their own expense:
5. Marquis de Lafayette
Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette was a Frenchman with no obligation to help the British Colonists to rebel against their King over a matter of a trifling little tax. But because Marquis de Lafayette liked the political ideals of the Founding Fathers, as he decided to come over and give them a hand. He was nineteen years old when he volunteered to serve in the Continental Army, and he was appointed a Major General. Wounded at the Battle of Brandywine, Lafayette served with distinction in the Battle of Rhode Island and in 1781, troops under his command were instrumental in blocking the British forces under Cornwallis, enabling the Siege of Yorktown.
4. Aaron Burr
Burr had served with distinction in the Revolutionary War as a young man. He was known for his bravery in carrying the body of General Richard Montgomery to safety after he fell in battle in Quebec. He served on George Washington’s staff, put down a rebellion at Valley Forge, and took part in the Battle of Monmouth.
After serving one term as Vice President of the United States under Thomas Jefferson, Burr decided to mount a private expedition to help liberate Mexico from Spain. Unfortunately, he was betrayed by the Spanish spy General James Wilkinson, who accused him of treason, and Jefferson, believing this, had Burr arrested and confiscated all his boats and arms. After Burr was found not guilty of treason, but guilty only of violating the Neutrality Act, because he mounted a private war against Spain. The United States government never returned the private arms that had been looted from Burr. Despite Burr’s failure to conquer Mexico, all the subsequent American filibusters who went on to liberate Texas were following in his footsteps. Texas would never have become an American state had it not first become the Republic of Texas in contravention of the Neutrality Act.
3. Jean Laffite
Jean Laffite was a smuggler operating in Louisiana during the War of 1812. He was also a privateer, looting British ships and selling the goods for profit. In all his activities, he was helpful to American citizens, though the United States government wanted to put a halt to his operations. Laffite sold tax-free goods. He fought the British on the high seas, when the U.S. was at war with them. He provided military assistance when needed, but he was not operating at government expense. Despite an offer from the British, Laffite shared key information about the British fleet with the American government, only to have his own base raided and his property confiscated by Commodore Patterson of the American Navy. Despite such shabby treatment, Laffite donated flints and gun powder from his own stores to General Jackson’s forces during the Battle of New Orleans. He also provided his own trained artillerymen in defense of the city. Both Andrew Jackson and Jean Laffite are known as heroes of the Battle of New Orleans. But while Jackson went around curtailing the civil liberties of citizens and confiscating their weapons under martial law, Jean Laffite freely gave his own property and military service to save the city he loved. Laffite was a libertarian war hero!
After the United States government refused to return the ships and goods they had confiscated during the Patterson-Ross raid, Lafitte went on to found an anti-Spanish stronghold in Galveston. Despite the fact that the American government forced Laffite out of Galveston so that Spain could take over the territory under the Adams-Onis treaty, Texas was not destined to remain in Spanish hands. The spirit of rebellion that flouted the Neutrality Act was alive and well, and new men rose up to walk in the footsteps of Burr and Laffite.
2. Davy Crockett
Davy Crockett is known as “The King of Wild Frontier,” but he had no claims to monarchy. He served in Congress, where he vehemently opposed the policies of President Andrew Jackson, and was a vocal opponent of the Indian Removal Act. When he was not re-elected to Congress in 1835, Crockett left to join the Texas Revolution in the then-State of “Tejas,” under Mexico. There, he joined the army of revolutionaries, where Anglo-Americans fought side by side with Hispanics like Antonio Menchaca, all of whom were determined to liberate Texas from Mexico. Each man who fought was promised 4,600 acres of land as a payment for his service. They were adventurers, and they acted with their own individual self-interest in mind, but they did not embroil the American government in their private little war.
Davy Crockett died defending the Alamo, and he is known as a Texas war hero. However, technically, what he did violated the same Neutrality Act that was used against Aaron Burr.
1. Sam Houston
Sam Houston was instrumental in liberating Texas from Mexico. His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, where he was the commanding general, is what won the Republic of Texas its freedom from Mexico. One of the shortest battles in military history, it lasted only 18 minutes.
Like Davy Crockett, Sam Houston opposed Andrew Jackson’s abuses of the Cherokee Nation. In 1830 and 1833, Houston went to Washington D.C. to expose the frauds that U.S. government agents had committed against the Cherokee. After getting into trouble for beating one of these agents with a hickory stick, Houston was fined $500.00 and left for Mexico without paying the fine. His lawyer at the trial was Francis Scott Key. Houston’s second wife was a member of the Cherokee nation.
After securing Texas its independence, Sam Houston was elected President of the Republic of Texas in 1836 and again in 1841. When Texas was annexed in 1845 by the United States, Houston served as a U..S. Congressman, and as governor of Texas from 1859 to 1861. He opposed secession and would not swear an oath to the Confederacy.
Sam Houston was a good man, but like Burr and Crockett, he did violate the Neutrality Act. If he had not, the great State of Texas may never have come to be part of the Union.
Whenever somebody suggests that the United States ought to go to war in order to help save foreign nationals from oppression by their government, we should instead encourage them to campaign to repeal the Neutrality Act and to then volunteer at their own expense to help others abroad. That is the American way. It is also the only possible libertarian response. Remind them of the great contributions of Marquis de Lafayette, Aaron Burr, Jean Laffite, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston. Tell them to put their money where their mouth is, but to keep the government out of it.