The Essential Rothbard - Ludwig von Mises Institute

The Essential Rothbard 61
followed Locke in holding that the State should be confined
to the protection of man’s natural rights, he saw clearly that
actual states had not originated in this way or for this purpose.
Instead, they had been born in naked conquest and
plunder. 154
By contrast, he agrees with Richard Henry Lee that Benjamin
Franklin was a “wicked old man.” 155
Rothbard did not address nineteenth century American history
in as much detail as the colonial period; but his illuminating article,
“Origins of the Welfare State in America” offers a key to his
interpretation of this period. 156 He argues that the welfare state
cannot be traced to the labor movement. Rather, Yankee postmillennial
pietists led the way to statist social reform. They were the
product of the Second Great Awakening, led by Charles Finney.
Believing that Christ would not return to earth until the world was
reformed, they sought to regenerate the social order through state
coercion.
After only a few years of agitation, it was clear to these new
Protestants that the Kingdom of God on Earth could only be
established by government, which was required to bolster the
salvation of individuals by stamping out occasions for sin. 157
Among the main sins to be combated were drinking (“Demon
Rum”) and “any activities on the Sabbath except praying and reading
the Bible.” The postmillennial pietists strongly opposed the
Catholic Church; the public school movement in large part was an
attempt to “Protestantize” the children of Catholic immigrants.
This group was largely concentrated in New England. “The
concentration of the new statists in Yankee areas was nothing short
of remarkable.” 158 They soon came to embrace big government
154
Ibid., p. 137.
155
Ibid., p. 360.
156
Journal of Libertarian Studies 12, no. 2 (Fall, 1996): 193–229.
157 Ibid., p. 199.
158 Ibid., p. 200.