Free Republic

Today is of course the birthday of America's greatest president, Abraham Lincoln. As a politician and as president, Lincoln was a profound student of the Constitution and constitutional history. Perhaps most important, Lincoln was America's indispensable teacher of the moral ground of political freedom at the exact moment when the country was on the threshold of abandoning what he called its "ancient faith" that all men are created equal. In 1858 Lincoln attained national prominence in the Republican Party as the result of the contest for the Senate seat held by Stephen Douglas. It was Lincoln's losing campaign against Douglas...

Tyrant of Liberia is captured in border raid By Katharine Houreld in Monrovia and Alec Russell in Washington (Filed: 30/03/2006) Charles Taylor, once one of Africa's most murderous dictators, was arrested last night after two days on the run and handed over to United Nations officials to face trial for war crimes. The capture of the former Liberian president on the Cameroon/Nigeria border was greeted with delight in his homeland. Charles Taylor: Arrested Taylor was flown there briefly before being taken to a jail in neighbouring Sierra Leone where he faces multiple charges for crimes against humanity. His arrest followed...

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...