Posted on 03/10/2009 3:15:49 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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 his name, the date and a message for the ages: "The first gun is fired. Slavery is dead. Thank God we have a President who at least will try."
He then closed it up and sent it back to the White House. Lincoln never knew of the message. Dillon died in 1907.
The watch, meanwhile, was handed down and eventually given to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958. It didn't run anymore. No one had pried open the inner workings in ages. The old watchmaker's tale was just that.
And then Douglas Stiles, Dillon's great-great grandson, alerted Smithsonian officials to the family legend last month. He was a real-estate attorney in Waukegan, Ill., he explained. He'd heard the legend around the dinner table as a kid, but had just discovered a New York Times article from 1906, quoting Dillon as telling the story himself.
Truth? Lore?
This morning, in a small conference room on the first floor of Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, officials decided to find out.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Dickens’ opinions on the matter should not count for much. Patriotic Americans have never appreciated know-it-all foreigners butting into America’s internal affairs. Of course the term “patriotic Americans” does not include the Confederates who would have welcomed any sort of European invasion if it would have allowed them to keep their precious institution of slavery.
None of that has anything to do with the thread, you didn’t read the article and made a stupid sounding post.
_________
Hmmm, insulting again. Imagine that.
The end.
Lincoln fought to preserve the REVENUES (aka tariffs). Secession was due to the desire for self-government, as Lincoln was elected without receiving a single Southern vote. The remainder of the seceding states withdrew from the union AFTER Lincoln declared war on the South and demanded troops from each of the remaining states. Those governors correctly believed that the purpose of their militias was not to wage war on sister states.
The evidence is clear on both counts.
He lives! Good to see you here 4CJ - it’s been a while
Way cool.
No Confederates wished for a European invasion, they fought against an invader. Those desirous of European invasion would have included the past governors of Massachusetts and Connecticut who refused to call up their militia in response to President Madison's and Congress' request for militia.
Gov. Caleb Strong received the following from the War Department,
July 21, 1812.“Patriotic Americans?” I think not.Sir,
By information received from Major General Dearborn, it appears that the detachments from the militia of Massachusetts for the defence of the maritime frontier, required by him under the authority of the President, by virtue of the act of the 10th of April, 1812, have not been marched to the several stations assigned them. [emphasis mine]
It’s not a North or South thing. Any New Englander who would stand by and allow our nation to be invaded was just as traitorous as any slavery-loving Confederate who earnestly desired a European army to arrive to kill their fellow Americans.
What's wrong with that? That was his Constitutional duty. That's what the southerners agreed to when they ratified the Constitution. Yankees didn't have a problem with collection at Northern ports. What made the rebs so special other than the universal desire for special treatment by spoiled brats?
Secession was due to the desire for self-government, as Lincoln was elected without receiving a single Southern vote.
If the rebs were really principled champions of self-government it seems ironic that they fought so hard against the right of self government for their slaves. The contradictions of the political Confederacy are a constant source of amusement.
The remainder of the seceding states withdrew from the union AFTER Lincoln declared war on the South and demanded troops from each of the remaining states
States Rights considerations undoubtedly had a bigger role in Upper South secession along with typical cheap Confederate fraud and the ever present appeal for slavery. But the thing would have never got started if the Deep South idiots had not abandoned all political common sense in an effort to safeguard their beloved institution of slavery-the cornerstone of the Confederacy.
But Lincoln recruiting/employing Hessians/foreigners to do the same is a saint, right?
Please cite the Southerners in question.
Because that's ALL the Lincoln was concerned with. In his 1st inaugural speech he stated that the South could leave, no troops would be sent to coerce her. But if the MONEY was not received - it was WAR!!!
LINCOLN: Show me the MONEY!!!!!
If the rebs were really principled champions of self-government it seems ironic that they fought so hard against the right of self government for their slaves.
Which explains why the US Constitution (ratified by EVERY Yankee state) protected slavery? Why Lincoln stated that the fugitive laws would be upheld, and explains why all those Yankees sailed to Africa to purchase them right?
But the thing would have never got started if the Deep South idiots had not abandoned all political common sense in an effort to safeguard their beloved institution of slavery-the cornerstone of the Confederacy.
Nonsense. The NORTH refused to lower tariffs (they raised them to their highest levels), and refused to abide by the Constitution regarding slavery. Congress, without confederate representatives in attendence, refused to compromise on anything. The Constitution was a legal agreement which yankees disregarded for decades. The South simply had enough of yankee hypocrisy.
That was HIS priority, not preserving the Union.
Money was Lincoln's SOLE priority.
"Where hostility to the United States in any interior locality shall be so great and universal as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the Government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating and so nearly impracticable withal that I deem it better to forego for the time the uses of such offices. The mails, unless repelled, will continue to be furnished in all parts of the Union."
Actually it was all about appointing judges and delivering the mail.
LINCOLN: Neither rain nor sleet or snow nor rebellious local yokels shall stay these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. It's the post office motto, look it up.
It's nice to know that, in these uncertain times, there are still certainties we can cling to. The sun will come up tomorrow. The media will be biased. And 4CJ will misquote Lincoln and make up Lincoln quotes when it suits his purpose. What Lincoln actually said on that Valentine's Day in Pennsylvania was:
"It is often said that the tariff is the specialty of Pennsylvania. Assuming that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the tariff question must be as durable as the government itself-- It is a question of national house-keeping-- It is to the government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the family-- Ever-varying circumstances will require frequent modifications, as to amounts needed, and sources of supply-- So far there is little difference of opinion among the people-- It is as to whether, and how far, duties on imports, shall be adjusted to favor home production in the home market, that controversy begins-- One party insists that such adjustment oppresses one class for the advantage of another; while the other party argues that with all its incidents, and in the long run, all classes are benefitted. In the Chicago Platform there is a plank upon this subject, which should be a general law, to the incoming administration. We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason to believe we would, when they gave us their votes-- That plank is as I now read-
"That, while providing revenue for the support of the general government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these imports as to encourage the development of the industrial interests of the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges, which secures to the workingmen liberal wages, to agriculture remunerative prices, to mechanics and manufacturers an adequate award for their skill, labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence."
As with all general propositions, doubtless there will be shades of difference in construing this-- I have, by no means, a thoroughly matured judgment upon this subject -- especially as to details-- Some general ideas are about all-- I have long thought that to produce any necessary article at home, which can be made of as good quality, and with as little labor at home as abroad, would better be made at home, at least by the difference of the carrying from abroad-- In such case, the carrying is demonstrably a dead loss of labor-- -- For instance, labor being the true standard of value, is it not plain, that if equal labor get a bar of rail-road bar of iron out of a mine in England, and another out of a mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down in a track at home, cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least by the cost of carriage-- If there be a present cause why one can be both made and carried, cheaper in money-price, than the other can be made without carrying, that cause is an unnatural, and injurious one, and ought, gradually, if not rapidly, to be removed--
The condition of the Treasury at this time would seem to render an early revision of the tariff indispensable-- The Morill bill, now pending before congress may, or may not become a law--I am not posted as to it's particular provisions; but if they are generally satisfactory, and the bill shall now pass, there will be an end for the present-- If, however, it shall not pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one of the most pressing and important, for the next congress--By the constitution, the executive may recommend measures which he may think proper; and he may veto those he thinks improper; and it is supposed he may add to these, certain indirect influences to affect the action of congress-- My political education strongly inclines me against any a very free use of any of these means, by the Executive, to control the legislation of the country-- As a rule, I think it better that congress should originate, as well as perfect its measures, without external bias-- I therefore would rather recommend to every gentleman who knows he is to be a member of the next congress, to take an enlarged view, and post himself as thoroughly as possible, so as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the tariff, as shall produce a sufficient revenue, and in in its other bearings, so far as possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country & classes of the people--
Positively war mongering </sarcasm>
http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-today/11336-tojo-s-teeth-message.html
His own words at the time were wrote down. He did not predict anything concerning slavery whatsoever. Deal with it.
We can surmise the repairman was prone to vandalism of other's property and of stretching the truth to fit an agenda.
15 Feb, same speech, 3 paragraphs earlier, you’ll see the text. No misquote, no lies. But we can count on you to make up lies, eh?
"Get a Patek Philippe."
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