It's interesting that some Lincoln detractors include conservatives, including Charley Reese (who says the nation would have been much, much better if The Confederacy had won the war).
I don't buy the Lincoln-bashing. While it's true he wasn't perfect, he came to power at the most difficult time in American history, and rose to the occasion with intelligence, modesty, and faith that's inspiring.
I spent the better part of my life thinking Lincoln was a great president. I am no longer as convinced as I once was. I am a firm believer in state's righs. I believe the federal government is here to protect the states from invasion, conduct trade policy and little else. What the federal government is today, is probably the best damnation of Lincoln there could be. With stronger states, we wouldn't be in as big a mess as we are today. Lincoln set the state for the federal supremacy.
I'm not convinced of this, but it is definately a point I ponder from time to time.
Shelby Foote isn't any kind of knee jerk Northern sympathizer, yet is convinced that Lincoln was an extremely intelligent pragmatist.
I have always been curious regarding Lincoln haters. I wonder what they think was his goal. Was it a worth while goal? If yes, how else could he have succeeded?
Well said! Abe Lincoln, as a mortal man, made mistakes. Putting Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac being one of the big ones. He was still a great American.
I am not aware of the "off-switch" that lincoln found to the Constitution. In many acts, he ignored Constitutional restraints on federal power. How so? And to further that egregious behavior, though this is not lincoln's fault per se, modern-day power hungry Centralizers and Collectivists use lincoln's extra-constitutional acts as precedent!! Some will argue that subsuming the Constitutional restraints on central power is exactly what lincoln was about.
Charley Reese is NOT a good source...