Free Republic

On 6 November 1860, the six-year-old Republican Party elected its first president. During the tense crisis months that followed – the “secession winter” of 1860–61 – practically all observers believed that Lincoln and the Republicans would begin attacking slavery as soon as they took power. Democrats in the North blamed the Republican Party for the entire sectional crisis. They accused Republicans of plotting to circumvent the Constitutional prohibition against direct federal attacks on slavery. Republicans would instead allegedly try to squeeze slavery to death indirectly, by abolishing it in the territories and in Washington DC, suppressing it in the high seas, and refusing federal...

Jerry Conrady and his wife have been fighting to be able to continue to safely shoot on their own rural property. This is their story in their own words, why it should matter to you, and how you can help. Lincoln County is attacking Oregon residents’ rights to shoot on private property. If Lincoln County wins the repercussions for shooters in the State of Oregon will be staggering. Every county will be able to use the following cases as precedent to require anyone on private property to obtain a condition use permit before discharging a firearm. Your support is needed....

On this day in 1861, Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agreed to impose a 3 percent tax on annual incomes over $800.

Secret Message in Lincoln’s Pocketwatch, 1861 ‘In 2009 the Smithsonian found a “secret” message engraved in Abraham Lincoln’s watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C. ‘In an interview with The New York Times April 30, 1906, 84-year-old Jonathan Dillon recalled he was working for M.W. Galt and Co. on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where he was repairing Lincoln’s watch. The owner of the shop announced that the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon reported that he unscrewed the dial of the watch,...

"...An “emancipation proclamation” is how he will have his servants such as Andrea Mitchell and David Gregory spin this recent declaration. They are working tirelessly at NBC; just last week they had another of their weekend anchor/propagandists actually comparing Jeremiah Wright to FREDERICK DOUGLASS! So what is his "end game"? Why does he continue to methodically manufacture these specious Lincoln "equivalencies"? When observed within the context of his agenda, this could reasonably be interpreted as ANOTHER part of the equation to eventually force secession and foment civil war..."

The title, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," guarantees about 15 good minutes. Just on the strength and novelty of the gimmick - combining the real details of Lincoln's life with a secret antivampire history - the movie was bound to command a certain absurd appeal. The trick was in getting audiences past those 15 minutes, and that's what the movie does. Based on the novel by Seth Grahame-Smith, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" is a money-making stunt that its author - who also wrote the screenplay - wisely decided to treat with seriousness, or at least an attitude of seriousness. Instead of...

Progressivism is the belief that America needs to move or “progress” beyond the principles of the American Founding. Organized politically more than a hundred years ago, Progressivism insists upon flexibility in political forms unbound by fixed and universal principles. Progressives hold that human nature is malleable and that society is perfectible. Affirming the inexorable, positive march of history, Progressives see the need for unelected experts who would supervise a vast administration of government. Progressivism is rooted in the philosophy of European thinkers, most notably the German philosopher G.W.F. Hegel. Progressivism takes its name from a faith in “historical progress.” According...

Abraham Lincoln’s fidelity to the Declaration of Independence is equally a fidelity to the Constitution. The Constitution takes its moral life from the principles of liberty and equality, and was created to serve those principles. We are divided as a nation today, as in Lincoln’s time, because we have severed the connection between these two documents. Lincoln’s “Fragment on the Constitution and the Union” contains the central theme of Lincoln’s life and work. Drawing upon biblical language, Lincoln describes the Declaration of Independence as an “apple of gold,” and the Constitution as the “frame of silver” around it. We cannot...

Would Abraham Lincoln be a Republican or Democrat today? President Obama seems to think he'd be a Democrat, as Obama suggested today that his green energy spending better reflects Lincoln's domestic agenda than the proposals of the Republican presidential candidates. Obama opened his speech in Chicago today with a crack about the long Republican primary. "Apparently, things haven’t quite wrapped up on the other side. So there is actually some interest in the primary that we have here on Tuesday," Obama said to laughter. "And my message to all the candidates is, 'Welcome to the Land of Lincoln', because I'm...

The almost criminally smarmy "President," following his pointless insult of Rutherford B. Hayes yesterday, had this to say this morning in Chicago: "My message to all the candidates is 'welcome to the Land of Lincoln.' Maybe some Lincoln will rub off on them while they're here." What. A. Jerk.

A retired US Marine officer with whom I corresponded asked, "What type of crisis do you think will cause the intellectual right to form a critical mass - if that is even possible?" I wrote back, "Lincoln's Second Inaugural is chiseled on the wall of his monument, and he said all that needs to be said. If they won't take it from Lincoln, why would they take it from us?" But it's Lincoln's birthday, and it's time for another try. Abraham Lincoln is America's least popular president. It seems odd to say this given the near-deification of a man who...

There is nothing more irritating to a warrior-poet than an unwillingness to debate. If speech is troubling, or blatantly false, or amateurish, then it will fall of its own weight. I don’t need, and I suspect a majority of truthseekers don’t want, an administrator hovering above the public forum deciding which issues are too controversial for polite company. The Civil War has become untouchable, unless you agree with the standard arguments. 1. Lincoln was a god among men. 2. The South was evil. 3. Union is the ultimate goal of the American experiment. 4. The Federal government’s design trumps the...

What if our 16th president’s plight was not to abolish slavery, but to hunt down the vampires who killed his mother and grandfather? And what if he leads troops into battle wielding an axe, better to sever the heads of undead vampires with? That is the premise of this summer’s “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.” (Yes, really.)

It is common knowledge that more books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, our 16th President, than any other figure except Jesus Christ. With so much archeological attention directed toward him it is unlikely that much new factual material will surface about Mr. Lincoln. When taken as a whole, the in-depth forensic examinations of his writings, relationships, lineage, marriage, religion (or supposed lack thereof), evidence a complex and brilliant identity. An interesting phenomenon of the last twenty years, however, has been to place a contemporary lens over Lincoln. In recent writings, Lincoln has been gay, depressed, and now even a...

Republicans gathered in St. Joseph Saturday night regarded differences within their party not as fractiousness but a sign of good health leading to this year’s elections. Gathered at the annual Buchanan County Lincoln-Reagan Dinner at the St. Joseph Country Club, GOP officeholders and office-seekers called the party energized statewide and nationally. The fact that so many races have produced hard-fought primaries only means a broader base of support for the general elections against Democrats, they said. Missouri U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt said primaries prove a testing ground for candidates at all levels. “I think we’ll see that in the (U.S.)...

Timeless words...written 149 years ago but could have been penned yesterday, but not by the current Imposter-in-Chief: "Insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and...

Full Title: Last check for $800 Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is discovered after 150 years (and it's now worth $25,000) A personal check that Abraham Lincoln wrote the day before he was assassinated is among those that were rediscovered by an Ohio bank. The Plain Dealer in Cleveland reports that 70 checks were found in a vault at Huntington Bank's Columbus headquarters, including checks signed by George Washington, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Thomas Edison. Some are being displayed at branches throughout the state. The Lincoln check had been made out to 'self' for $800.

Huntington Bank discovers original checks signed by Lincoln, Washington, Edison, Twain and others (photo gallery) President Abraham Lincoln made out this First National Bank printed check to "self" for $800 on April 13, 1865, two days before he died. BROOKLYN -- Dozens of personal checks -- some 150 to 200 years old and signed by the likes of Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, George Washington and Thomas Edison - have been unearthed by Huntington Bank. Some of the historic checks, all signed by U.S. presidents, were unveiled Tuesday and are on display at Huntington's newest branch in Brooklyn. The display is...

Obama is certainly the most arrogant president in American history. This clip from the end of the entire 60 Minutes Obama interview didn't make it on air.

....He always has to try to be somebody *else*...? He's tried to "culture vulture" Kennedy, Lincoln, MLK, Roosevelt, and anyone *else* he thinks he can steal the Mojo of...He's a Nowhere Man...a phoney. He not a genuine article. and neither are those who sing his praises. What a phony!