Free Republic

Decades ago, the distinguished Lincoln biographer David Herbert Donald coined the phrase “getting right with Lincoln” to describe the impulse people feel to appropriate Lincoln for their own political agendas. Anyone who has watched Barack Obama, who as a senator wrote an essay for Time magazine entitled “What I See in Lincoln’s Eyes” and swore the oath of office as president on Lincoln’s Bible, will be familiar with the phenomenon. Democrats like to claim Lincoln as, in effect, the first Big Government liberal, while Republicans tout him as the founder of their party. But the reflex identified by Donald isn’t...

8 things to think about as we mark the conflict's 150th anniversary. Some ring strong: of course the end of slavery, perhaps the worst disgrace in the nation's history. And the 620,000 ancestors lost. Other vestiges have weakened with the passage of time but are no less legacies of the four horrific, heroic years that shaped us as one nation. Here are eight ways the Civil War indelibly changed us and how we live: 1. We have ambulances and hospitals. The Civil War began during medieval medicine's last gasp and ended at the dawn of modern medicine. Each side entered...

It can only be replaced by something else that's different entirely. That's what's happening now.I've acknowledged that this is a losing fight so long as the Christian church continues to allow the culture to be ceded a totally godless element...note that it's not the wrong side of the fight.Found at Super Conservative.

Lincoln Laments at Gettysburg: Biblical Creation and Civil War Insights by James J. S. Johnson, J.D., Th.D. * Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.1 These words spoken by Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago allude to America’s Declaration of Independence. In that foundational document, the colonial declarants proclaimed a creation-based view of human liberty: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable...

Tony Kushner, the screenwriter behind the Oscar nominated movie 'Lincoln,' compared Barack Obama to the 16th president and called the defeat of Mitt Romney a "rejection" of the "Reagan era ideology" that leads to a "frightening" path of "psychotic individualism." Appearing on Thursday's edition of PBS's Charlie Rose show the openly gay playwright called Obama's evolution on same-sex marriage "Lincolnian" and roasted Ronald Reagan, Romney and the Tea Party: (VIDEO AT LINK) TONY KUSHNER: So you have people like these Tea Party people protesting government and then asked if they really want to give up their Social Security payments. And...

...Did he exert features of moral grandeur and heroism necessary to steer the country through its deepest political crisis? Or was he an aspiring tyrant, especially in his use of executive power? A recent example of how not to think about Lincoln’s leadership comes from the historian and television commentator Doris Goodwin. Goodwin wrote a book called “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” showing how Lincoln drew his cabinet from his personal and political competitors. In a subsequent discussion of Lincoln’s leadership titled “The 10 Qualities That Made Lincoln Great... If all of these sound a little...

The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.

In January 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a remarkable confession. He was, he told a senator, more worried about “the fire in the rear” than he was about the Confederates to his front... Disgusted Republicans termed them “Copperheads,” after the poisonous snake... By January 1863, their assaults on Lincoln, combined with the poor performance of the armies, were taking a toll on civilian morale. Midwesterners spoke openly about seceding and establishing another new country or aligning with the Confederate States of America. Lincoln’s critics were harsh, uncompromising and relentless. They said Lincoln was a tyrant, bent on amassing power and ruining...

One of my personal favorite pieces was this Obama/Lincoln/LifeLock parody from 2010. It seemed too perfect to me, Obama the identity thief. It's still a point the left continues to harp on, and it deserves to be ridiculed.

I’m sure most of us have read the so-called comparison of Lincoln and Kennedy, but did you ever consider the relationship between Obama and Lincoln? You might be surprised. Parallels of Abraham Lincoln and Barack Hussein Obama: 1. Lincoln placed his hand on the Bible for his inauguration. Obama used the same Bible. 2. Lincoln came from Illinois. Obama comes from Illinois. 3. Lincoln served in the Illinois Legislature. Obama served in the Illinois Legislature. 4. Lincoln had very little experience before becoming President. Obama had very little experience before becoming President. 5. Lincoln rode the train from Philadelphia to...

Since the 16th of November, the National Weather Service has been reporting that a mysterious “beam of interruption” in Lincoln, Illinois has been screwing with it’s radar. A quick glance at one of their Doppler images and it’s easy to see that something is shooting through the state, but as of now the meteorologists can only guess at the cause. Is it visual evidence of some kind of HAARP mind control? A targeting beam from an intergalactic destroyer? Maybe, but there could also be a much more mundane explanation. “We’re not sure what it is yet,” meteorologist Llyle Barker, told...

Abraham Lincoln's spiritual beliefs are notoriously difficult to pin down. It's a source of endless debate for historians trying to reconcile Lincoln's words and actions into a coherent faith. Tony Kushner, for his part, does not portray the sixteenth president as a religious man at all in his screenplay for the recent blockbuster Lincoln. Kushner alters the historical record, though, in his one direct reference to Lincoln's faith. Near the end of the film, Kushner has Lincoln tell his wife that with the war over, he wishes to visit Jerusalem, the place "where David and Solomon walked." Yet in the...

Before he left the Dallas Cowboys to come home again, Jon Kitna had one request of the two principals who run Lincoln High School: Give me your worst students. The other teachers told him to stop. This was last February and it was going to be hard enough to teach three algebra classes in the middle of a semester. He was two months gone from an NFL career that went for 16 years, after all. Yes, this was his old high school, the one where he was a star quarterback in the early 1990s, but didn’t the new football coach...

“Anyone who embarks on a study of Abraham Lincoln … must first come to terms with the Lincoln myth. The effort to penetrate the crust of legend that surrounds Lincoln … is both a formidable and intimidating task. Lincoln, it seems, requires special considerations that are denied to other figures.” — Robert W. Johannsen Lincoln, the South, and Slavery Indeed, it would not seem a safe time to critique the wisdom, motivations, and character of Abraham Lincoln. Steven Spielberg’s reverential motion picture epic Lincoln fills screens across America. The public increasingly accepts him as America’s greatest leader. Academics from the...

Rep. Allen West was finally forced to concede a couple weeks back, and his currently wrapping up his term --- but he's said that he'll continue to look for ways to serve the country, I don't think we've seen the last of him. Real Clear has the audio: MARTIN: So what’s next for you?WEST: Look, you know, God closes a door so that he can open up greater doors. I will continue to, you know, stand up and fight for this country. That’s my goal. I have two daughters, 19 and 16, and I want to make sure that they...

Burly-and-bearded country singer Trace Adkins ruffled all the usual feathers and bruised all the usual feelings when he dared to wear a Confederate battle flag earpiece in full view of gasping national TV viewers while singing “The Christmas Song” in the Yankee stronghold of Rockefeller Center on November 28. Adkins, who belches out such venerable neo-country chestnuts as “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk” and “Brown Chicken, Brown Cow,” was subjected to the predictably rage-stroking vilification that comes whenever anyone suggests that the American South has ever been anything beyond a rancid cultural cesspool of lynching, incest, bestiality, racism, toothlessness, retardation, and yes,...

Steven Spielberg’s film LINCOLN clearly takes the politically correct, Northern view of Lincoln and wraps it up in the shroud of the moral fight against slavery. Thus, it decides mostly to focus on Lincoln’s fight in January 1865 to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, which outlawed slavery in the United States and its territories. Though the portrayal of this fight has its nuances, it doesn’t include the extensive evidence suggesting that Lincoln could be an ambitious, secretive tyrant. It also excludes such facts that, just before the Civil War began, President Lincoln had actually expressed support for a Thirteenth Amendment to...

I'm conservative/libertarian. My family are all Obama 'Rats/moochers/OWS types. We had just watched the movie "Lincoln". I opined that it was good (and unusual) to see a Hollywood movie cast middle-aged, white, male Republicans in a favorable light. Yes, of course, the conversation immediately became about race. A few of my family said that at some point in history Republicans became and Democrats and vise-versa. I thought my head was going to explode. I am a huge fan of history and absorb it - especially the civil war. But I had never heard this before. Should I buy more duct...

Everett Stadig recuperating in the hospital after being shoved and breaking his hip. Photo courtesy of Everett Stadig. Denver, Colo., Nov 21, 2012 / 04:49 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The arrest of a prominent Denver relator who allegedly assaulted a senior citizen collecting signatures for a pro-life petition has lead to new developments in three unsolved rape cases. “Were it not for Mr. Costello’s arrest at the grocery store in July, there would have been no new leads, and there would have been no charges filed in connection with these three unsolved sexual assaults,� Lynn Kimbrough of the Denver District...

With only a limited theatrical release last week, Steven Spielberg’s latest work of imaginative fiction is scheduled for wide release today. I know Hollywood plays fast and loose with history, but when they go out of their way to get the wallpaper in Lincoln’s office exactly right, and use a recording of his actual watch as the sound effect for his movie watch, but pay little deference to his actual statements or opinions… something must be said. People are seriously calling the Lincoln movie a “much needed civics lesson.” In reality it’s essentially a 2.5 hour courtroom drama about slavery...

Have any fellow FReepers seen this movie yet? If so, what did you think and would you recommend it?

Henry Clay Cochrane traveled thousands of miles around the world as a Marine in the mid- to late 1800s. But it was probably one of his shortest military journeys early in his career that made him famous. The Chester native earned the title of brigadier general after his Marine career ended. But his big moment in history came just as that career was starting. Cochrane was just 21 when he was one of 13 men selected to ride on a train from Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg with President Abraham Lincoln in November 1863. Cochrane was on hand when Lincoln delivered...

New Movie Propagates Lincoln Historical Myths If you are planning to see the new, Steven Spielberg directed, Lincoln movie you might want to invest in an accurate history book instead. While it is successfully dramatic, the movie rehashes several 150 year old myths about the Lincoln presidency and America’s most horrible war. First, to the movie’s credit, the script avoids a key, blatant lie that is currently being taught throughout American public schools today. The script focuses correctly on explaining how slaves were freed by the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, not the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation did...

Abraham Lincoln is returning to the White House tomorrow – Lincoln the movie that is. The White House press office announced today that President Barack Obama will be hosting “cast and crew members” from the Steven Spielberg-directed film for a screening at the Executive Mansion on Thursday evening. DreamWorks had no comment on the screening. However, Deadline has learned that Spielberg, DreamWorks co-Chair and CEO Stacey Snider, producer Kathleen Kennedy as well as actors Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, Gloria Reuben and Tommy Lee Jones will all be there with the President and First Lady. Day Lewis plays the 16th...

The Abraham Lincoln of popular perception is a mythological figure. He has little to do with the actual 16th president.

Lincoln Assassination Eyewitness appears on television's "I've Got a Secret" on February 9, 1956. On a 1956 game show, a man appeared who had been present at Ford's Theatre on the night of April 14, 1865. (Note: Link over to the YouTube site provided to watch this amazing historical video.)

To audience laughter, Spielberg said he had deliberately sought to avoid such entanglements by asking for a release date after the elections. "Lincoln" is due for limited release November 9 and timed for the Hollywood awards season. "Don't let this political football play back and forth," the Oscar-winning director said he urged distributors, noting the "confusing" aspect in the film that shows how U.S. political parties back in Lincoln's time "traded political places over the last 150 years." In contrast to today, the Republican party to which Lincoln belonged was founded by anti-slavery activists and Republicans were often tagged "radicals."

Less than a month after reopening, the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is full of algae, a sea of green overshadowing the nearly two-year, $34 million renovation of the famous site. [snip] “This is a direct consequence of the fact that this is a green project,” Johnson said. “The conditions are pretty good for algae, once it gets in there.”

The Time Abraham Lincoln and a Political Rival Almost Dueled on an Island Exactly 170 years ago today, the Mississippi River levee in Alton, Illinois, was crammed full of spectators awaiting the results of a highly anticipated duel — a smackdown between Abraham Lincoln and political rival James Shields. Only one man could emerge victorious. Onlookers held their breath in suspense as they spotted a boat approaching with a blood-soaked body draped over the bow. It had all started where so many skirmishes do: the Illinois state legislature. Though at the time Lincoln was a Whig and Shields was a...

. . . the truth is, academia and the educational establishment believe they are allowed to have their heroes - whether it's expressed by teacher's unions celebrating with an image of Che Guevera emblazoned on a t-shirt while marching in protest with communists, or whether it's expressed with giddiness over a Hollywood Lincoln movie that's not even been released yet, that kind of "celebratory" history is just fine and dandy. Am I the only one who sees the double-standards? Perhaps these folks view themselves as so intellectually and morally superior to the rest of us that they view their "celebratory"...

Thanks to one of my Facebook friends, I was just today alerted to the interview Romney gave CBS news on 8/27/2012. The video is here. In the interview, Romney says, "My position has been clear throughout this campaign. I'm in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother." The health of the mother exception is universally recognized by authentic pro-lifers as a loophole you can drive Roe v. Wade through. Then Romney makes the following statement, clearly putting an end to any notion that he is pro-life in...

On 6 November 1860, the six-year-old Republican Party elected its first president. During the tense crisis months that followed – the “secession winter” of 1860–61 – practically all observers believed that Lincoln and the Republicans would begin attacking slavery as soon as they took power. Democrats in the North blamed the Republican Party for the entire sectional crisis. They accused Republicans of plotting to circumvent the Constitutional prohibition against direct federal attacks on slavery. Republicans would instead allegedly try to squeeze slavery to death indirectly, by abolishing it in the territories and in Washington DC, suppressing it in the high seas, and refusing federal...

Jerry Conrady and his wife have been fighting to be able to continue to safely shoot on their own rural property. This is their story in their own words, why it should matter to you, and how you can help. Lincoln County is attacking Oregon residents’ rights to shoot on private property. If Lincoln County wins the repercussions for shooters in the State of Oregon will be staggering. Every county will be able to use the following cases as precedent to require anyone on private property to obtain a condition use permit before discharging a firearm. Your support is needed....

On this day in 1861, Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.

Secret Message in Lincoln’s Pocketwatch, 1861 ‘In 2009 the Smithsonian found a “secret” message engraved in Abraham Lincoln’s watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C. ‘In an interview with The New York Times April 30, 1906, 84-year-old Jonathan Dillon recalled he was working for M.W. Galt and Co. on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where he was repairing Lincoln’s watch. The owner of the shop announced that the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon reported that he unscrewed the dial of the watch,...

"...An “emancipation proclamation” is how he will have his servants such as Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory spin this recent declaration. They are working tirelessly at NBC; just last week they had another of their weekend anchor/propagandists actually comparing Jeremiah Wright to FREDERICK DOUGLASS! So what is his "end game"? Why does he continue to methodically manufacture these specious Lincoln "equivalencies"? When observed within the context of his agenda, this could reasonably be interpreted as ANOTHER part of the equation to eventually force secession and foment civil war..."

The title, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," guarantees about 15 good minutes. Just on the strength and novelty of the gimmick - combining the real details of Lincoln's life with a secret antivampire history - the movie was bound to command a certain absurd appeal. The trick was in getting audiences past those 15 minutes, and that's what the movie does. Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a money-making stunt that its author - who also wrote the screenplay - wisely decided to treat with seriousness, or at least an attitude of seriousness. Instead of...

Progressivism is the belief that America needs to move or “progress” beyond the principles of the American Founding. Organized politically more than a hundred years ago, Progressivism insists upon flexibility in political forms unbound by fixed and universal principles. Progressives hold that human nature is malleable and that society is perfectible. Affirming the inexorable, positive march of history, Progressives see the need for unelected experts who would supervise a vast administration of government. Progressivism is rooted in the philosophy of European thinkers, most notably the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. Progressivism takes its name from a faith in “historical progress.” According...

Abraham Lincoln’s fidelity to the Declaration of Independence is equally a fidelity to the Constitution. The Constitution takes its moral life from the principles of liberty and equality, and was created to serve those principles. We are divided as a nation today, as in Lincoln’s time, because we have severed the connection between these two documents. Lincoln’s “Fragment on the Constitution and the Union” contains the central theme of Lincoln’s life and work. Drawing upon biblical language, Lincoln describes the Declaration of Independence as an “apple of gold,” and the Constitution as the “frame of silver” around it. We cannot...

Would Abraham Lincoln be a Republican or Democrat today? President Obama seems to think he'd be a Democrat, as Obama suggested today that his green energy spending better reflects Lincoln's domestic agenda than the proposals of the Republican presidential candidates. Obama opened his speech in Chicago today with a crack about the long Republican primary. "Apparently, things haven’t quite wrapped up on the other side. So there is actually some interest in the primary that we have here on Tuesday," Obama said to laughter. "And my message to all the candidates is, 'Welcome to the Land of Lincoln', because I'm...

The almost criminally smarmy "President," following his pointless insult of Rutherford B. Hayes yesterday, had this to say this morning in Chicago: "My message to all the candidates is 'welcome to the Land of Lincoln.' Maybe some Lincoln will rub off on them while they're here." What. A. Jerk.

A retired US Marine officer with whom I corresponded asked, "What type of crisis do you think will cause the intellectual right to form a critical mass - if that is even possible?" I wrote back, "Lincoln's Second Inaugural is chiseled on the wall of his monument, and he said all that needs to be said. If they won't take it from Lincoln, why would they take it from us?" But it's Lincoln's birthday, and it's time for another try. Abraham Lincoln is America's least popular president. It seems odd to say this given the near-deification of a man who...

There is nothing more irritating to a warrior-poet than an unwillingness to debate. If speech is troubling, or blatantly false, or amateurish, then it will fall of its own weight. I don’t need, and I suspect a majority of truthseekers don’t want, an administrator hovering above the public forum deciding which issues are too controversial for polite company. The Civil War has become untouchable, unless you agree with the standard arguments. 1. Lincoln was a god among men. 2. The South was evil. 3. Union is the ultimate goal of the American experiment. 4. The Federal government’s design trumps the...

What if our 16th president’s plight was not to abolish slavery, but to hunt down the vampires who killed his mother and grandfather? And what if he leads troops into battle wielding an axe, better to sever the heads of undead vampires with? That is the premise of this summer’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” (Yes, really.)

It is common knowledge that more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, than any other figure except Jesus Christ. With so much archeological attention directed toward him it is unlikely that much new factual material will surface about Mr. Lincoln. When taken as a whole, the in-depth forensic examinations of his writings, relationships, lineage, marriage, religion (or supposed lack thereof), evidence a complex and brilliant identity. An interesting phenomenon of the last twenty years, however, has been to place a contemporary lens over Lincoln. In recent writings, Lincoln has been gay, depressed, and now even a...

Republicans gathered in St. Joseph Saturday night regarded differences within their party not as fractiousness but a sign of good health leading to this year’s elections. Gathered at the annual Buchanan County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at the St. Joseph Country Club, GOP officeholders and office-seekers called the party energized statewide and nationally. The fact that so many races have produced hard-fought primaries only means a broader base of support for the general elections against Democrats, they said. Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said primaries prove a testing ground for candidates at all levels. “I think we’ll see that in the (U.S.)...

Timeless words...written 149 years ago but could have been penned yesterday, but not by the current Imposter-in-Chief: "Insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and...

Full Title: Last check for $800 Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is discovered after 150 years (and it's now worth $25,000) A personal check that Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is among those that were rediscovered by an Ohio bank. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports that 70 checks were found in a vault at Huntington Bank's Columbus headquarters, including checks signed by George Washington, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Thomas Edison. Some are being displayed at branches throughout the state. The Lincoln check had been made out to 'self' for $800.

Huntington Bank discovers original checks signed by Lincoln, Washington, Edison, Twain and others (photo gallery) President Abraham Lincoln made out this First National Bank printed check to "self" for $800 on April 13, 1865, two days before he died. BROOKLYN -- Dozens of personal checks -- some 150 to 200 years old and signed by the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, George Washington and Thomas Edison - have been unearthed by Huntington Bank. Some of the historic checks, all signed by U.S. presidents, were unveiled Tuesday and are on display at Huntington's newest branch in Brooklyn. The display is...

Obama is certainly the most arrogant president in American history. This clip from the end of the entire 60 Minutes Obama interview didn't make it on air.