In an earlier thread I read of an assertion by Di Lorenzo that "nearly every speech from 1854 to 1859, Lincoln described his desire for Whig/Mercantilist economic policy".
If Lincoln did so, then I can look forward to Mssrs. Ferrer, Jaffa, and Quackenbush's hari-kiri. If Lincoln did not do so, then Di Lorenzo had better have some other compelling evidence (votes in Congress, letters, legal cases etc.) to support his assertions.
These threads have been enlightening and entertaining (mostly). I have learned much from the debates. Most certainly is that Mr. McPherson must wear knee-pads as much as Di Lorenzo loves shotguns.
If Lincoln did so, then I can look forward to Mssrs. Ferrier, Jaffa, and Quackenbush's hari-kiri. If Lincoln did not do so, then Di Lorenzo had better have some other compelling evidence (votes in Congress, letters, legal cases etc.) to support his assertions.
My father, God rest his soul, was at the Japanese surrender in '45, and our family has a Samurai sword. It won't be needed.
The speeches are almost obsessively about slavery in the Territories, "Popular Sovereignty," the principles of the Declaration, and the like. There is no trace of a secret Whiggish ambition in the letters. That is not to say that he changed his economic views, just that they were not high on his, or the country's mind in the '50's. Kansas, John Brown, the Fugitive slave law, Abolition, the Territories, and, in short, slavery, were. Also, to a lesser degree,immigration, Catholicism, and Temperance [alcohol]
Lincoln was not serving in a legislature, Federal or State, in this period, [he resigned a seat, prior to the session, in the IL state house in order to be a candidate for the '54 US Senate seat] though Dilorenzo falsely states he was a "member of the Illinois legislature in 1857." This was the period of his legal career, and the demise of the Whigs and his work organizing the new Republican Party, esp.after 1856.
I am less sure of the range of legal cases he took, though they are said to have covered the gamut, and the mores of the bar at the time called for a firm adherence to the case of one's client, whatever ones politics might have been.
Thanks for your post,and your kind words about the discussion here.
Richard F.