Abraham Lincoln as Statesman

American History ^ | April 2005 | Dinesh D'Souza

[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-

[rustbucket]

That's your evidence? A letter from US Congressman Henry May to the Governor about the threat to civil liberty and the usurpation of legislative powers? More power to Henry May. Where was your evidence about the newspaper editors?

[Ditto]

lincoln had them tortured,raped,abused & often murdered for "holding disloyal opinions" or in "preventative custody".

I fugured he would have had a few hundred boiled in oil too. Did he eat any babies that day?

You know, you could get a job with Al Jazera or Hezbula if you switched your Lincoln phobia over to the J-E-W-S

[stand watie]

EXACTLY!

the unionist lunatics on FR, with the exception of N-S (the damnyankees minister of propaganda), will accept NOTHING but idol worship of S. Abe, the clayfooted secular saint of damnyankeeland. they are BLINDED by propaganda & IGNORANT prejudice against the southland. NOTHING will change their opinion.

free dixie,sw

[stand watie]

YET ANOTHER stupid LIE!

aren't you tired of people laughing AT your ignorance??

free dixie,sw

[stand watie]

actually the percentage of slaveowners (despite your repeated LIE) was about 5-6% of BOTH northerners AND southerners.

free dixie,sw

[stand watie]

it's called FREE SPEECH & FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

free diixe,sw

[Little Ray]

Charley Reese is NOT a good source...

[harrym]

I once read in a Lincoln biography that every man in his cabinet was more qualified academically and socially to be president than he was but the one thing he brought to the game was that he could address problems without bringing his ego into the mix. A talent that has been sadly lacking in many successors to his office.

[Ditto]

You can't read either. I said households, not owners.

[Ditto]

Again, so what? More slaves went to Brazil. I knew that already, but what in the world does that have to do with the discussion?

[Non-Sequitur]

Read "What They Fought For: 1861-1865", by MCpherson.

Is that where the quote if from? Or just a suggestion on your part?

[Non-Sequitur]

As did the federal Constitution.

Not explicitly.

I'll put you down for a 'no' to the "that's your definition of 'larger, more intrusive government'" question.

No, the Davis regime was my defintion of a larger more intrusive government.

[Non-Sequitur]

I stated that lincoln violated various constitutional rights. You asked me to name some. I did.

I must have missed the part where you named some.

[Non-Sequitur]

That's your evidence? A letter from US Congressman Henry May to the Governor about the threat to civil liberty and the usurpation of legislative powers? More power to Henry May.

According to the OR that was only one of the papers in their posession. What evidence do you have that they were arrested becuase of their newspaper writings?

[Non-Sequitur]

it's called FREE SPEECH & FREEDOM OF THE PRESS.

It's called aiding the enemy.

[jonestown]

" --- Within a week almost every farm cabin and settlment in southern Minnesota was wiped out and most inhabitants murdered with devilish barbarities. -- "
25 Cinci kid

---

Your source is flawed... There were thousands of settlers in southern Minnesota at the time, [my great grandparents among them], and most never even saw a warparty.

Certainly, dozens of whites were killed, and hundreds were captives, but most of the action was limited to the [upper] Minnesota river valley.
[which I consider is in the western part of the State]
90 jones

---

More than 500 Americans died. 60 Dakota Souix died in the fighting that lasted 37 days.

---

Yes, it was probably our biggest indian uprising.

-- But the the fact remains, it is hyped up BS that:

"Within a week almost every farm cabin and settlment in southern Minnesota was wiped out and most inhabitants murdered with devilish barbarities. -- "

[rustbucket]

What evidence do you have that they were arrested becuase of their newspaper writings?

You forget that I'm familiar with your posting style.

If the newspaper people were arrested for the reasons you stated then the Feds could have charged them and brought them to trial. It didn't happen, so it implies the Feds didn't have evidence against the newspaper editors that would stand up in court. Case dismissed.

[Non-Sequitur]

You forget that I'm familiar with your posting style. As I am with yours. If the newspaper people were arrested for the reasons you stated then the Feds could have charged them and brought them to trial. It didn't happen, so it implies the Feds didn't have evidence against the newspaper editors that would stand up in court. Case dismissed. Just like that, huh?