Posted on 02/13/2009 2:08:04 PM PST by hellbender
Though Lincoln has already been canonized by those who settle for partial histories, in the words of John Adams, "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
In our steadfast adherence to The Patriot Post's motto, Veritas Vos Liberabit ("the truth shall set you free"), and our mission to advocate for the restoration of constitutional limits on government, I am compelled to challenge our 16th president's iconic standing.
Lincoln is credited with being the greatest constitutional leader in history, having "preserved the Union," but his popular persona does not reconcile with the historical record. The constitutional federalism envisioned by our Founders and outlined by our Constitution's Bill of Rights was grossly violated by Abraham Lincoln. Arguably, he is responsible for the most grievous constitutional contravention in American history.
(Excerpt) Read more at link.patriotpost.us ...
Please read the linked article before you flame away.
“Property is the fruit of labor…property is desirable…is a positive good in
the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich,
and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who
is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and
build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe
from violence when built.”
Abraham Lincoln
Source: March 21, 1864 - Reply to New York Workingmen’s
Democratic Republican Association”.
We should give them reparations.
You would be shocked to learn how many left wingers don’t know that Lincoln was a Republican. When I tell them, they just stare at me..I tell them to look it up.
Abe: The original RINO
ping
Damn that Obama for not wearing a flag pin to show his love for the United States!
Damn that Lincoln for preserving the United States! /sarc
Everyone wants to claim Lincoln for his own. Overall, he kept the US strong and unified for its future role in the future as the final guarantor of peace in the world. If the US had had a somewhat hostile southern neighbor it would never have had the freedom of maneuverability to intervene in a timely and casualty-friendly manner in world affairs and dominate the 20th century so much.
And the inclusion of the south has kept the politics of the country right-ward even when the rest of the western world was going gonzo for socialism. Well until the election of Barry. Now we’re just running out the clock until the US is a socialist hellhole just like France.
I suspect you're right. Lincoln was complex and enigmatic. Obama is pure ego and arrogance.
The truth didn't make it past the third paragraph.
I think a communist hellhole like Cuba or Zimbabwe is even more likely.
CSPAN's BookTV and Lincoln 200 websites have much information and video on Lincoln.
An excellent recent BookTV program:
In Depth: Abraham Lincoln with authors: Edna Greene Medford and Frank Williams
Reading it now. Very good book.
U.S. intervention in Europe hasn't exactly been a brilliant success. Wilson got us into WW I, where our so-called Allies imposed a brutal peace on Germany which led directly to WW 2, which in turn saved Stalin and enslaved millions, leading directly to the Korean War, Vietnam War, Cuban missile crisis, etc.
Washington explicitly warned us not to get involved in the endless vendettas of the European powers.
Many historians fantasists argue that Southern states would likely have reunited with Northern states before the end of the 19th century had Lincoln allowed for a peaceful and constitutionally accorded caved in to unconstitutional secession.
Fixed it. The Confederate government was a government, not a collection of disgruntled guys meeting in basements. They got the war started to establish a country of their own in opposition to the United States. When was the last time a government ever decided to go out of business?
And even if the nation did eventually reunite, on whose terms would it have been? The secessionists' definitely. That would mean no civil rights laws, a Southern veto over legislation and no federal power to stand up to foreign governments.
Please understand, the rebel leaders weren't in favor of "the Constitution as it was." They were opposed to the Constitution of 1789 and to the results it could bring. They destroyed "the Old Republic" before Lincoln even got into the White House.
Just what is untruthful there.
The whole slavery issue, which is the most disastrous mistake in U.S. history, should have been dealt with decisively at the time of ratification of the Constitution. Sane and ethical leaders like VA's Washington (our real greatest President) wanted to phase out slavery, starting with an end to the slave trade and it's exclusion from new territories. The extreme Southern states refused to accept any restrictions. Why? For the same basic reason Jorge and others want amnesty for Hispanic illegals: Blacks could be made to do "the work white Americans wouldn't do." Land was nearly free and abundant, so each white could have his own farm. No white would work as serf on a malarial plantation. So in order that an elite could enjoy an aristocratic lifestyle on the backs of others and "generate wealth," slavery was allowed to continue. The result was example of what happens when short-term economic considerations and greed triumph over ethics and national interest.
If that's the case, then Obama must really be a fan of Jefferson Davis for his armed violence against southerners who did not step in line to the Confederate New Order with sufficient discipline. For example, Lincoln's actions get condemnation from the hooray for Dixie crowd for the imprisonment of suspected pro-Confederate bridge-burner John Merryman yet we never hear a word about Jefferson Davis's parallel order to hang on bridges the bodies of Merryman's southern Unionist counterparts. So many rhetorical tears over an imprisonment, yet so little concern for Jeff's Confederate hanging party. Such is the nature of the rabid Lincoln haters. A 20-20 eye armed with a microscope examining every deed of Lincoln and a Mr. Magoo eye blind to all the misdeeds of the Confederacy.
Partial truth is often no truth at all and to understand Lincoln's actions one must also honestly examine the nature of the threat he was up against.
The smashing and grabbing was done by Sherman’s looters.
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