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Today is the 144th anniversary of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was shot by actor John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865, just days after the end of the Civil War. Lincoln died the following morning at a home across the street from the theater where he was carried. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head just below the left ear. The video above relives the details of the awful day. The video below goes more in depth about the assassin, John Wilkes Booth, and the plot to assassinate Lincoln...

John Wilkes Booth shoots President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford's Theater in Washington. Five days earlier, Confederate General Robert E. Lee had surrendered his army to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. The war was nearly over, although there were still Confederate forces yet to surrender. The president had recently visited the captured Rebel capital of Richmond, and now Lincoln sought a relaxing evening by attending a production of Our American Cousin starring Laura Keene. Ford's Theater, seven blocks from the White House, was crammed with people trying to catch a glimpse of Grant, who...

Video .. Tea Party in Lincoln Nebraska on April 11, 2009

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (Ark.) on Monday became the first Senate Democrat to oppose the card-check bill heavily backed by unions. In a statement, Lincoln pledged to vote against legislation formally known as the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), which would allow workers to organize into unions more easily. She said she could not vote for the bill in its current form. The decision represents a bit of a turnaround for Lincoln, who voted to proceed to a debate on card check in 2007. The statement on Monday indicated she would not support efforts to bring it up for consideration. “I...

So, given the evidence thus far regarding The Case of Barack Obama, which is it? Is our president a messiah, a reincarnated Lincoln, or something less? Well, given the beliefs that make up the American Ethos, the great majority of citizens recoil from the politician-as-messiah business, however it is finessed, for example, by Ezra Klein, associate editor of the Web’s American Prospect (a font of “Liberal Intelligence”) and author of the following magnificent example of the unintelligible drivel that underlies so much of “perfectly rational” liberal “thought.” He [Obama] is not the Word made flesh, but the triumph of word...

The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatable...

Yep. They are hitting a girl (who deserved it).

We often hear how Southerners promoted "Lost Cause mythology" after the war in defending their history (which all Nations involved in war do to one extent or another). But how often do we hear those same critics discuss "Holy Cause mythology" and how many Northerners embellished Lincoln's record and glorified his persona in defense of their history. . .

Here is Lincoln Historian Keya Morgan talking about a newly discovered photograph of President Abraham Lincoln standing in front of the White House that may be one of the last photos ever taken of America's 16th President. The photo is a candid shot of Lincoln walking in front of the White House, and in the video the photo is marked to show Lincoln's height of around 6'4" tall. . . . . . (Watch Video)

For nearly 150 years, Abraham Lincoln's pocket watch has been rumored to carry a secret message, supposedly written by an Irish immigrant and watchmaker named Jonathan Dillon. Dillon, working in a D.C. watch repair shop in 1861, told family members that he -- by incredible happenstance -- had been repairing Lincoln's watch when news came that Fort Sumter had been attacked in South Carolina. It was the opening salvo of what became the Civil War. Dillon told his children (and, half a century later, a reporter for the New York Times) that he opened the watch's inner workings and scrawled...

WASHINGTON -- Key Senate Democrats are wavering in their support of legislation that would give more power to labor unions, dealing a setback to labor's top priority as businesses warn of the damage the bill would cause. A woman wears a model house on her head during a rally in Washington to support the "Employee Free Choice Act." The battle over the "Employee Free Choice Act" -- expected to be introduced Tuesday -- is seen as a power struggle among labor unions and businesses, as well as a test of whether moderate Democrats and Republicans will push back on Democratic...

It's an AP story, so I'll paraphrase the first paragraph. U.S. Grant's great-great-grandson found what appears to be a picture of Lincoln standing in front of the White House in 1865. It could be the last picture of him taken before he was killed.

Inspired by the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama is considering appointing a "team of rivals" to his cabinet - if rumors about the nomination of Hillary Clinton to be secretary of state are true. But there's more mythology than history in the idea that Lincoln showed exceptional political skill in offering cabinet positions to the men he had beaten in the race for the 1860 Republican nomination. For one thing, there was nothing new in what Lincoln did. By tradition, presidents-elect reserved a cabinet position, often secretary of state, for the leading rival in their party. John Quincy...

March 3, 2009 O'Reilly doesn't get it O'reilly doesn't get it. He's telling Brit Hume that the market pulling back 1,200% must be shaking him up... the American people may turn against him...” O'Reilly doesn't get the fact that Hussein doesn't CARE. The media have not yet gotten what I've been saying for many months – he WANTS to tear it down. He WANTS to destroy our economy. He WANTS to tear apart our country. It is not a coincidence that he, from the day he declared his candidacy, has been setting himself up before the nation as a form...

The American Left has always had difficulty reconciling itself to Abraham Lincoln. As the Great Emancipator, Lincoln ought to be a winning candidate for the Great Progressive as well. But Lincoln was a tardy and cautious Emancipator. And the goal he looked for beyond emancipation was a nation of entrepreneurial strivers, operating under a government which kept itself strictly to the rule of doing only “for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves in their separate, and individual capacities.” It comes as a...

Obama seems to like to compare himself with Abraham Lincoln. This forum is replete with ample evidence that the two men have nothing in common. The 'victors' of the last election intend to write history to suite their tastes but in reading some of the quotes attributed to Abraham Lincoln, I am reassured that history, in time, will catch Obama in full daylight, with all of his weaknesses, and none of the similarities to Lincoln that he is trying to synthesize. When it does, the MSN will long be in it's grave just as none of easilty recall to mind...

A student at Miami University has discovered what experts say is a fingerprint belonging to Abraham Lincoln from nearly 150 years ago. Lydia Smith, a first-year psychology major from Granville, Ohio, was transcribing a letter written by Lincoln on Oct. 5, 1863, for a class project when she noticed a smudge that she suspected could be the 16th president’s thumbprint. Lincoln historians have confirmed the print. A student at Miami University has discovered what experts say is a fingerprint belonging to Abraham Lincoln from nearly 150 years ago. The Papers of Abraham Lincoln, a project of the Illinois Historic Preservation...

Darwinism as Religion in a Holy War Feb 19, 2009 — It might be expected that media attention on Darwin would be exceptionally high this month because of his bicentennial, but some of it seems downright religious. The adulation he has been receiving is almost embarrassing sometimes. It is only exceeded by the righteous indignation frequently expressed against intelligent design. In any other context, the fighting words of the Darwinians would be described as hate speech. Here are some recent examples: 1. Shrine to Darwin:...

William Jackson was a slave in the home of Confederate president Jefferson Davis during the Civil War. It turns out he was also a spy for the Union Army, providing key secrets to the North about the Confederacy. William Jackson, a slave, listened closely to Jefferson Davis' conversations and leaked them to the North. Jackson was Davis' house servant and personal coachman. He learned high-level details about Confederate battle plans and movements because Davis saw him as a "piece of furniture" -- not a human, according to Ken Dagler, author of "Black Dispatches," which explores espionage by America's slaves.

WHY WE DON'T CELEBRATE 'HISTORIANS DAY'February 18, 2009Being gracious winners, this week, liberals howled with delight at George Bush for coming in seventh-to-last in a historians' ranking of the presidents from best to worst. This was pretty shocking. Most liberals can't even name seven U.S. presidents. Being ranked one of the worst presidents by "historians" is like being called "anti-American" by the Nation magazine. And by "historian," I mean a former member of the Weather Underground, who is subsidized by the taxpayer to engage in left-wing political activism in a cushy university job. So congratulations, George Bush! Whenever history professors...

One of the most fascinating characters in American history was undoubtedly President Abraham Lincoln. In addition to his many contributions to our history,  connections between Lincoln and the supernatural were maintained throughout his life, and some say beyond it. Much has been made of Lincoln’s prophetic dreams and of his belief in the spirit world and of course, of the hauntings which are said to be connected to his home in Springfield and his mysterious tomb. Stories have also been told of his belief in the spirit world and for our purposes here, that is what I wish to focus...

Governor shares lessons from ‘Honest Abe,’ boasts Alaskans’ work ethic By Mary Beth Smetzer Published Sunday, February 15, 2009 FAIRBANKS — In keeping with the Lincoln Bicentennial theme, Gov. Sarah Palin was introduced with a revised, Alaska version of the Gettysburg Address at Saturday night’s Lincoln Day Dinner hosted by Fairbanks Republican Women. “Two score and five years ago,” intoned moderator Ralph Seekins to a capacity crowd in the Edgewater Room at the Princess Riverside Lodge, instantly perking up the ears of people familiar with the real address. And as Seekins humorously transposed the words to fit the Republican governor,...

(Feb. 14) - It's no surprise to see Abraham Lincoln, the man who held the nation together when it was on the brink of collapse, atop the list of greatest American presidents. But many other presidents are judged far differently by experts than by the general public. Bill Clinton left office with a high approval rating, but a panel of writers who focus on US politics and foreign affairs at the Times, a British publication, considered him mediocre. The president who passed progressive legislation but who saddled himself with the Monica Lewinsky scandal landed at number 23. As panelist Ben...

Arriving by train in Washington, D.C., Lewis Lehrman wore a soft old brown hat and carried one piece of luggage, a canvas duffel bag that he’s owned for so long that several times his wife has sent it back to the manufacturer to have the handles replaced. For lunch he wanted to go somewhere simple, for a sandwich, though several of the District’s finest restaurants were but a few steps away. He does not talk much about Rite Aid, Morgan Stanley, or his current investment business, but lights up at the mention of Abraham Lincoln, about whom he has just...

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 13, 2009 – Many people know Abraham Lincoln as the 16th American president or the man who brought an end to slavery. But not many know of his military service. Abraham Lincoln, who is considered by many historians and political scientists to be the greatest U.S. president, was born 200 years ago yesterday in a one-room Kentucky log cabin. “Honest Abe” was the real thing -- a self-educated man of the people who rose to greatness, guiding the country through the long and bloody Civil War that marked his presidency. Many historians believe the outcome of the...

Though Lincoln has already been canonized by those who settle for partial histories, in the words of John Adams, "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." In our steadfast adherence to The Patriot Post's motto, Veritas Vos Liberabit ("the truth shall set you free"), and our mission to advocate for the restoration of constitutional limits on government, I am compelled to challenge our 16th president's iconic standing. Lincoln is credited with being the greatest constitutional leader in history, having "preserved...

I don't know what they teach in U.S. history classes today. But back in the middle of the last century, when I was in elementary school, there was absolutely no question about how we were to regard Abraham Lincoln. We were taught to feel a reverence bordering on awe for Honest Abe, the Great Emancipator, the eloquent martyr who saved the Republic. We were required to memorize the Gettysburg Address. And if we were lucky enough to join a field trip to our nation's capitol, one of the most significant events was our visit to the Lincoln Memorial. (A few...

The minting of 4 new Lincoln cents has got the anti-penny crowd in an uproar - complete with civil disobedience calling for the end of penny use. They're vexed at the "zinc lobby."

Abraham Lincoln ... Great president 46.6% Greatest president 53.4%

Today, on the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, both our self-important president and the still-fawning liberal mainstream media used the day to continue the meme that Obama is the modern-day incarnation of the 16th president. Yet for the rest of us back on Planet Earth, it is clear that both Obama and the media could not be more hopelessly wrong. The truth is Abraham Lincoln and our president-with-the-media-encouraged-messiah-complex could not have been more different. And to give us a proper history lesson on this day, here’s El Rushbo from today’s show: RUSH: … Like a lot of politicians do, [Obama]...

Here is a video montage of the tribute to President Abraham Lincoln that took place today in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol. The ceremony marked the 200th Anniversary of Lincoln's birth on February 12, 1809. . . . . . (Watch Video)

You saw the title and thought my first words would be "but I can't." Well... it's true that I can't. But I would love to someday. That is, if Obama -- like Lincoln -- has a change of heart that leads to an evolution of his beliefs. A transformation that grants rights to the last remaining class of people whose liberties are being denied: The preborn. On the 200th anniversary of his birth, one might not remember that Lincoln at one time was not in favor of ending slavery. Although partly due to his support of state sovereignty, uncharacteristically (to...

President Barack Obama spoke today at a special ceremony in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol to honor the 200th Anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky. . . . . (Watch Video)

There is a long tradition of appropriating the legacy of Abraham Lincoln in the service of causes and ideas which have nothing to do with the 16th president. Given the historic nature of Barack Obama’s election to the presidency, it was understandable that the name of Lincoln would be taken in vain rather often as the 44th president took office. But as we celebrate today the 200th anniversary of the Great Emancipator’s birth, this lamentable trend of conscripting Lincoln’s memory into the service of Obama continues.

Presidential parallels Join CNN's Soledad O'Brien on Lincoln's birthday for a network-wide look "From Lincoln to Obama." All day today, on CNN.

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, February 12, 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama (L) shakes hands after speaking at the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, February 12, 2009. From L-R are: Obama, Speaker of House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, Senator Richard Durbin, and Senator Jim Bunning. With a statue of Abraham Lincoln peering, President Barack Obama smiles in the Rotunda on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009, while attending a Congressional ceremony celebrating Abraham...

Here is video of actor Sam Waterston reading President Abraham Lincoln's "Emancipation Proclamation" which was signed on January 1, 1863, officially freeing the slaves, though the Civil War would rage on for over two more years. Waterston's reading is part of the celebration of Lincoln's birthday today, which is also the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. . . . . . (Watch Video)

Every time a newspaper or magazine announces that it is taking a survey to determine who Americans regard as their greatest president, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Abraham Lincoln will wind up at the top, perhaps sharing space with George Washington. Oddly, Lincoln was probably one of the least-well-prepared presidents we have ever elected: he had no administrative or managerial experience whatsoever. He had served one term as a Representative in Congress in 1848, but he had never been a cabinet officer or a governor or even mayor of Springfield. And to the dismay of those who tried...

Here is video of actor Sam Waterston reading President Abraham Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," which Lincoln delivered at Gettsburg, Pennsylvania on November 19, 1863. Waterston's reading is in observance of Lincoln's birthday today, which is also the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. . . . . (Watch Video)

by Edward Hudgins February 12, 2009 -- Of the two famous men born on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln is the one known as a political liberator. But the other man, Charles Darwin, also deserves recognition on the bicentennial of his birth for his own form of Emancipation Proclamation. Darwin’s Origin of Species was published in 1859 and set forth the thesis that the various kinds of living organisms were not fixed and eternal but, rather, evolved from other, often less complex organisms over millions of years. In the century and a half that followed, this discovery has had a...

by Edward Hudgins February 12, 2009 -- Of the two famous men born on February 12, 1809, Abraham Lincoln is the one known as a political liberator. But the other man, Charles Darwin, also deserves recognition on the bicentennial of his birth for his own form of Emancipation Proclamation. Darwin’s Origin of Species was published in 1859 and set forth the thesis that the various kinds of living organisms were not fixed and eternal but, rather, evolved from other, often less complex organisms over millions of years. In the century and a half that followed, this discovery has had a...

Thursday (Feb. 12) we will celebrate the 200th birthdays of both Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin. The parallels in their lives provide valuable insight for the Presbyterian Church USA, which embarks this week on a major process of inquiry into the place of gay marriage and civil unions in the church and in the country. The parallels in Lincoln's and Darwin's lives are also useful for the rest of a nation, which remains as bitterly divided over issues of homosexuality as we are about creation and evolution, and as we once were over human slavery. Lincoln and Darwin were two...

These last 20 or so years has seen a bifurcated treatment of Abraham Lincoln. There are the enthusiasts and hagiographers that still revere him as the best that America has to offer -- the proverbial great emancipator, Father Abraham. Then there is a second stream, enthusiasts of another sort, viewing the Civil War president in the opposite manner. That second group are the Lincoln haters. Those such as Thomas DiLorenzo, the sort that calls Lincoln a criminal and despot, and Henry Louis Gates Jr., the sort that castigates Honest Abe as an unremitting racist, have been joined by a small...

Three weeks and two days ago our community organizers and voter fraud operatives brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Socialism, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created to be subservient to their government.

In September 1862, Otto von Bismarck, the new prime minister of Prussia, went to the Prussian Chamber of Deputies to confront the Budget Committee. His face still sunburned from a trip to the south of France, he urged the lawmakers not to waste time in political debate while Germany remained ununited. “It is not to Prussia’s liberalism that Germany looks,” he said, “but to its power. . . . It is not by means of speeches and majority resolutions that the great issues of the day will be decided—that was the great mistake of 1848 and 1849—but by Eisen und...

Every time a newspaper or magazine announces that it is taking a survey to determine who Americans regard as their greatest president, it is almost a foregone conclusion that Abraham Lincoln will wind up at the top, perhaps sharing space with George Washington. Oddly, Lincoln was probably one of the least-well-prepared presidents we have ever elected: he had no administrative or managerial experience whatsoever. He had served one term as a Representative in Congress in 1848, but he had never been a cabinet officer or a governor or even mayor of Springfield. And to the dismay of those who tried...

Still busily sweeping up little piles of Blagojevich around the capital. We’re facing a bad economy, startling unemployment statistics and a bleak outlook for maybe at least a year or so. But we still find time to worry about some lady with octuplets, whether Jessica Simpson wears mom jeans and a Yankee known as A-Roid. Most of us still have jobs, roofs over our heads, the general trappings of suburbia surrounding us. Although we stand in admiration of him today, I doubt that the railsplitter is weeping for us on the 200th anniversary of his birth. Things were a tad...

It is both their 200th birthdays today. Charles Darwin: February 12, 1809 – April 19, 1882 Abraham Lincoln: February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865 Liberal Google picks Darwin:

This is the 200th birthday of the first Republican to win a national election, Abraham Lincoln. It is good for Republicans today to remember Lincoln, not to be antiquarians, but to learn from his principled defense of the Constitution.By becoming students of Lincoln, Republicans can win elections and would deserve to win by helping America recover its constitutional source of strength and vitality. The greatest political crisis America faces today is neither the recession nor Islamic terrorism; it's not health care, education, immigration or abortion. It is that the United States Constitution has become largely irrelevant to our politics and...

PRINCETON, NJ -- Less than a month into Barack Obama's presidency, Obama's desire to emulate Abraham Lincoln can be found in his speeches, his bipartisan gestures, and his "team of rivals" approach to picking a cabinet. But Lincoln is not matchless as Americans' pick for the nation's greatest president. Given a list of five presidents to choose from, Americans are as likely to name John Kennedy as Lincoln (22% each), while 24% choose Ronald Reagan.