Posted on 02/05/2005 6:30:51 PM PST by quidnunc
The key to understanding Lincoln's Philosophy of Statesmanship is that he always sought the meeting point between what was right in theory and what could be achieved in practice.
Most Americans — including most historians — regard Abraham Lincoln as the nation's greatest president. But in recent years powerful movements have gathered, both on the political right and the left, to condemn Lincoln as a flawed and even wicked man.
For both camps, the debunking of Lincoln usually begins with an exposé of the "Lincoln myth," which is well described in William Lee Miller's 2002 book Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography. How odd it is, Miller writes, that an "unschooled" politician "from the raw frontier villages of Illinois and Indiana" could become such a great president. "He was the myth made real," Miller writes, "rising from an actual Kentucky cabin made of actual Kentucky logs all the way to the actual White House."
Lincoln's critics have done us all a service by showing that the actual author of the myth is Abraham Lincoln himself. It was Lincoln who, over the years, carefully crafted the public image of himself as Log Cabin Lincoln, Honest Abe and the rest of it. Asked to describe his early life, Lincoln answered, "the short and simple annals of the poor," referring to Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard." Lincoln disclaimed great aspirations for himself, noting that if people did not vote for him, he would return to obscurity, for he was, after all, used to disappointments.
-snip-
(Excerpt) Read more at historynet.com ...
But what you forget to mention, rusty, is that the men were not arrested because of their newspaper policy. They were arrested because they corresponded with and offered aid to the Davis regime. OR, Vol. II, Series II, pp 795-796
I disagree that the "Republic" has not been destroyed. I would argue that we no longer live under a Constitutional Republic as it was founded, rather we live under a centralized form of government beyond which I cannot describe except to say exercise of raw power.
Not to mention explicitly protecting slavery and slave imports.
That's your definition of 'larger, more intrusive government'?
That constitution did not stop Davis from nationalizing industries, seizing private property without compensation, imposing conscription and income taxes, extending the enlistment of state regiments for the duration of the war, and forcing the civilian population to obtain travel documents to travel within states or from state to state. Is that your idea of limited government and states rights?
And to my complete amusement.
It was a nation at war.
Southern reality is an unatributed quote? Southron myth, more like it.
free dixie,sw
You certainly can pick nits well.
!!!!!!!
As was the Union. Does that then excuse Lincoln from the vast catalog of crimes that the southron contingent accuse him of?
It's called putting things in context, something that the southron contingent really, really hate. The gentlemen in question were in contact with leaders of the rebellion. They offered, in writing, support for that rebellion. They were arrested for that, not because of anything they did in their roles as journalists which is what had been alleged. Can you honestly say that Union supporters under similar circumstances in Richmond would have met with a different fate, all other things being equal?
lincoln was NOTHING but a cheap,schemiong politician, no different than wee willie klintoon.
free dixie,sw
BTW. Slavery after 1808 was considered piracy with automatic sizure of the ship (like drug running today) and the death sentance for the Captain! The US Navy captured many slave ships over the years and in all but one instance, the Captain was not hung. The one exception was in the early 1860s when a American flagged ship was caught off the coast of Africa. Abraham Lincoln had the Captain hung!
BTW. I can only assume you are retreating to the standard fall back position that "The Yankees Were Worse --- They Made the Poor Southerners Buy All Those Slaves". I can only ask, even if that's true, what the hell does that have to do with the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln?
All other things are never equal. I stated that lincoln violated various constitutional rights. You asked me to name some. I did.
there were NO desertions from the 1st Mounted Cherokee Rifles until well after mid-1862, though there were some soldiers between MAR '61 & APR '62,who were granted AUTHORIZED LEAVE to go home to take care of family & to farm.
TRUTH trumps damnyankee LIES, each & every time.
free dixie,sw
As did the federal Constitution.
I'll put you down for a 'no' to the "that's your definition of 'larger, more intrusive government'" question.
Read "What They Fought For: 1861-1865", by MCpherson.
Call the Cherokee Nation and tell them they are a pack of damn yankee liars then. It's from their history.
lincoln had them tortured,raped,abused & often murdered for "holding disloyal opinions" or in "preventative custody".
ANY excuse to silence dissent was good enough for lincoln & his coven of thugs.
free dixie,sw
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.