Lincoln site

The official launch of the National Park Service's Lincoln Memorial Interactive site in honor of the 146th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address is now up. Whether you love visiting the Memorial in person or are hoping to get there soon, this stunning site will bring you even closer to this beloved landmark.

To see the site, visit http://www.nps.gov/featurecontent/ncr/linc/interactive/deploy/index.htm#/

Finished, a key book review!!!!

For the 200th Anniv. of Lincoln's birth I chose to purchase and read A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White Jr. In my youth I read the late David Herbert Donald's Lincoln and actually felt that it was the one and only true biography of our 16th President. I will pay David Donald what he deserves, his book will always be the best biography of Lincoln but White's book is a close second. It is a wonderful examination about the life of Lincoln and it has a bit of something for both beginners and Lincoln experts.

White liberally shares photographs, maps, illustrations, documents, even signatures of key characters. Unlike many history/biography books, these are not confined to a few glossy pages in the middle of the book, but appear frequently throughout the text. I like this because it allows the reader to see what he is talking about without having to flip to a specific section of the book reserved for photos. The bibliography is amazing and this book could serve people looking to research the life and time of Lincoln. Ronald White Jr.'s research is as good as anyone could ask for.

Like most Lincoln biographies the first half of the book deals with his early life, his times as a leglislator, lawyer and family man. The second half deals with his presidency with White providing you just enough details in both sections (700+ pages) without bogging the reader down with too many details. He finds time to analyze Lincoln's inagural addresses, the Gettysburg Address and other key speeches. He balances Lincolns home life with Mary and his sons versus his political and law career. White even talks about Lincoln's highs and lows as our nation's Commander in Chief. In short, White's A. Lincoln provides great detail without sacrificing the larger picture.

My only disappointment, though it may have been not included because of the books length was the assassination plot by John Wilkes booth and Lincoln's funeral. One can't fault White though because the book itself might have went over 1,000 pages if it was included.

Another good thing about White's biography is it stays true to the facts that we know about Lincoln. So many books recently have focused on his depression, his possibly homosexuality and other generatic things that avoid painting Lincoln as a hero. Lets face it, Abraham Lincoln is a hero and this book lets everybody know that Abraham Lincoln is one of the greatest men to ever call himself an American. White himself sets it up on the books first page when he states "He signed his name `A. Lincoln.' A visitor to Abraham Lincoln's Springfield, Illinois, home at Eighth and Jackson would find `A. Lincoln' in silvered Roman characters affixed to an octagonal blue plate on the front door. All throughout his life, people sought to complete the A - to define Lincoln, to label or libel him. Immediately after his death and continuing to the present, Americans have tried to explain the nation's most revered president. A. Lincoln continues to fascinate us because he eludes simple definitions and final judgments." White is pointing out to his readers that the search for Lincoln goes on and that his book is one step in an important process that paints a clearer picture of Abraham Lincoln.

David Herbert Donald dies.....we will miss you man

I copied this from a news webpage, the link that cites my source follows

BOSTON, May 19 (UPI) -- David Herbert Donald, a Harvard professor emeritus who won two Pulitzer Prizes for biography, has died in Boston at 88.

Donald died Sunday, the Boston Globe reported.

A native of Mississippi and graduate of Millsaps College in Jackson, Donald came north to Illinois for graduate school. He specialized in the history of the United States during the Civil War and the period immediately before and after and in the life of Abraham Lincoln.

Donald's first book was on Lincoln's law partner and at his death he was working on a study of John Quincy Adams' years as an abolitionist congressman.

In 1960, Donald won a Pulitzer for "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War." His second book, 27 years later, was for "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe," a biography of the North Carolina novelist.

Donald received many other honors for his work. In 2005, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum in Springfield, Ill., awarded him the first David Herbert Donald Prize for excellence in Lincoln studies.

Appropriately, Donald lived on Lincoln Road in Lincoln, Mass., and is to be buried in Lincoln Cemetery. He told interviewers he picked the town for its excellent school system, not its name.


© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This article was taken from http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/05/19/David-Donald-historian-of-Lincoln-dies/UPI-11651242763148/

David Herbert Donald (1920-2009) wrote or edited almost twenty books, most of them about the Civil War Era. His book "Lincoln" (1995) was on the New York Times bestseller list for fourteen weeks and won numerous awards. He was twice awarded the Pulitzer Prize in biography, for "Charles Sumner and the Coming of the Civil War" (1960) and "Look Homeward: A Life of Thomas Wolfe" (1987). His other books are "Lincoln's Herndon: A Biography" (1948), "Divided We Fought: A Pictorial History of the War, 1861-1865" (ed., 1952), "Inside Lincoln's Cabinet: The Civil War Diaries of Salmon P. Chase" (ed., 1954), "Lincoln Reconsidered: Essays on the Civil War Era" (1956), "Why the North Won the Civil War: Six Authoratative Views on the Economic, Military, Diplomatic, Social, and Political Reasons Behind the Confederacy's Defeat" (ed., 1960), "The Civil War and Reconstruction" (with J.G. Randall, 1961), "Diary of Charles Francis Adams" (edited with his wife, Aida Donald, 1964), "The Politics of Reconstruction, 1863-1867" (1965), "Charles Sumner and the Rights of Man" (1970), "Gone for a Soldier: The Civil War Memoirs of Private Alfred Bellard" (ed., 1975), "The Great Republic: A History of the American People" (with co-authors, 1977), "Liberty and Union: The Crisis of Popular Government, 1830-1890" (1978), "Charles Sumner" (1996), and "Lincoln at Home: Two Glimpses of Abraham Lincoln's Family Life" (1999). Mr. Donald was the principal historical adviser and commentator for the 1992 documentary series "Lincoln" and for the 2000 television series "A House Divided: Abraham and Mary Lincoln."

Did Lincoln have Cancer

Dr. John Soto may get a chance to prove his theory that Lincoln would have possibly died of cancer during his second term if he wasn't assassinated. Sotos has long theorized that Lincoln had MENIIB, a fatal cancer gene. A Civil War museum in Philidelphia possesses a strip of a pillowcase stained with Lincoln's blood. The pillow is from the Peterson House, where Lincoln lay suffering from the wounds of the assassination. The museum is called the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library.

The museum's board of directors voted unanimously to possibly answer the question of Lincoln's mortality once and for all. Museum President Eric Schmincke says "we do not want to damage it to the point that it doesn't exist anymore." Now, the museum says it will find the right experts to extract a few delicate fibers from the pillowcase that may hold an unwritten chapter of American history.

Soto has developed some proof for his hypothesis. In his book Physical Lincoln, Soto has used photographs and other evidence that proves his theory to a point. Now he is seeking that final bit of evidence.

Here is the link to Soto's website and book.


http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/05/05/national/main4991725.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4991725

A great gift

An old college professor of mine contacted me via email the other day and offered me the 1953 set of "The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln." I want to thank Dr. Danziger for this gift which has found a new home in my hands. I have already delved into the works and found some classic speeches, letters and drafts of speeches that made Lincoln one of the greatest and most overlooked writers in American history.

Mary Lincoln's lost brothers, brothers-in-law, etc

Mary Lincoln's brother George R.C. Todd and her half-brothers Alexander Todd, David Todd, and Samuel Todd all fought in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Alexander Todd was killed at Baton Rouge.
Samuel Todd was killed in the Battle of Shiloh.
David Todd was wounded at Vicksburg.
Her half-sister Emilie Helm's husband was a Confederate general killed at Chickamauga.
The husbands of her half-sisters, Martha White and Elodie Dawson were ardent supporters of the Confederacy.

Lincoln's Last Photo????????????????

The following message related to the above photo is related to the Associated Press

This detail of a March 6, 1865 photo by Henry F. Warren, provided by the Collection Keya Morgan/LincolnImages.com, shows the White House with several figures standing in front of it. Photography collector Keya Morgan says the photo is the only known photograph of Lincoln standing in front of the White House, and the first photo ever to have been taken of a President in front of the White House. Morgan added the 6'4 to reference which figure he believes in Abraham Lincoln.
(AP Photo/Collection of Keya Morgan, LincolnImages.com)

Lincoln meets Obama via cartoon

I found this today, its really funny.




Expect a forgotten generals blogger shortly. I haven't posted one in ages and all of my readers have been begging for them.

Lincoln: the Ultimate American Icon/Myth

W.E.B. Dubois once remarked that Lincoln was "brave enough to be inconsistent." Fredrick Douglas once said that Lincoln “began by playing Pharaoh” but “ended by playing Moses.” In 1922 H.L. Mencken remarked "Lincoln becomes the American solar myth, the chief butt of American credulity and sentimentality." He later wrote "But meanwhile the varnishers and veneerers have been busily converting Abe into a plaster saint, thus marking hum fit for adoration in the Y.M.C.A.’s. All the popular pictures of him show him in his robes of state, and wearing an expression fit for a man about to be hanged. There is, so far as I know, not a single portrait of him showing him smiling—and yet he must have cackled a good deal, first and last: who ever heard of a storyteller who didn’t? Worse, there is an obvious effort to pump all his human weaknesses out of him, an obvious effort to pump all his human weaknesses out of him, and so leave him a mere moral apparition, a sort of amalgam of John Wesley and the Holy Ghost." The point is that Lincoln has become that ultimate icon, the person that everybody American leader has to speak about, act like and so forth.

I noticed that President Obama gave a speech for the Lincoln Bicentennial in Springfield on Feb. 12. I once read that people claim that Lincoln is their representative for any and everything. For example, gay rights activists use Lincoln as an icon and claim that he was gay. Both Republicans and Democrats use Lincoln as they symbol but if Lincoln was living today he might be an Independent. Yes, the independents have used Lincoln as a symbol in the past. Insurance companies and even cleaning companies have used his name to evoke consumer confidence and reliability. Communist groups and other social groups that do not have a major voice in the majority have used Lincoln as their icon. After reading Obama's speech I was fascinated that he mentioned a few other Presidents when he said:

"Lincoln understood what Washington understood when he led farmers and craftsmen and shopkeepers to rise up against an empire. What Roosevelt understood when he lifted us from Depression, built an arsenal of democracy, created the largest middle-class in history with the GI Bill. It's what Kennedy understood when he sent us to the moon."

Notice that Obama doesn't mention Washington (A Federalist) or Reagan? The mere mention of other famous Presidential Democrats places Lincoln with them rather than at home with his fellow Republicans. Lincoln is an icon, a symbol that everyone wishes to use to justify that they are in the right. Too bad the old man couldn't speak up for himself. I wonder how he would feel about the past few presidents like Bush or Obama's big-time spending bill? Hey I can be biased but at least I mentioned presidents from both parties.

The full text of Obama's speech is here

Other sources:

H.L. Mencken's article on Lincoln is here

Great Lincoln line

I found this while searching Lincoln news articles today.

As Lincoln traveled via train to Washington D.C. in 1861 his transportation made several key stops along the way. One of these was in Painesville, Ohio which is located just east of Cleveland.

"I have stepped out upon this platform that I may see you and that you may see me," President-elect Abraham Lincoln announced when his inaugural train steamed into tiny Painesville, Ohio, on a chill February morning in 1861. "And in the arrangement," he quipped to the curious crowd lining the tracks, "I have the best of the bargain." Lincoln was commenting on his "beautiful face" and Lincoln expert Harold Holtzer wrote an excellent article detailing this at the U.S. News.

Historians have given Lincoln credit for understanding the power of the photograph and using it to catapult him to elected office. Some claim that this insight goes as far back as when Lincoln was running for the U.S. House of Representatives. Despite his opinions on his own beauty he was willing to have himself photographed and so many photographs of Lincoln have been uncovered since his death that one can see the effects that the war and deaths in the family had on him from 1861 to '62 to '63 to '64 '65.


After reading the article I did not realize that author Nathaniel Hawthrone called Lincoln "the homeliest man I ever saw." Lincoln could always find humor in his "beauty". Once he quipped to a person painting his portrait "It is allowed to be ugly in this world, but not as ugly as I am." Truth be told Abraham Lincoln was no beauty, he did not possess the dapper elegence of John Kennedy or the bearing of George Washington but he was our greatest president and he will always be our greatest president.

Source:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/history/2009/02/13/abraham-lincoln-from-homely-to-heroic.html

Whose that man?

Self-made
Emanicipator
Stepson
Martyr
Legislator
President
Jokester
Philosopher
Wrestler
Fighter
Penpal
Commander-in-Chief
Poor Kid
Home owner
Icon
Regular guy
Hero
Underdog
Yankee
Beanpole
Dreamer
Patriot
Debater
Competitor
Trooper
Lawyer
Bookworm
Railsplitter
Worrywort
Thinker
Poet
Romantic
Inventor
Naturalist
Orator
Role Model
Self-educated
believer
Go-getter
Citizen
Honest
Storyteller
Dad
Son
Boy
Animal Lover
Lottle Brither
Leader
Store Clerk
Husband

All of those maxims describe Abraham Lincoln.

Happy Birthday Father Abraham

Abraham Lincoln was born 200 years ago today on Feb. 12, 1809. Personally, I could not allow this important day to pass without blogging about it. I've been recently reading the new biography of our 16th president which was published a few weeks back. To celebrate Lincoln's birthday I am writing here some interesting facts about Lincoln. I am using White's new book as my source.

On May 7, 1833 Abraham Lincoln was appointed as the postmaster of New Salem. Lincoln earned twenty-five to thirty dollars a year.

Just before Lincoln boarded a train to assume his first elected seat in 1834 he stopped by the house of Coleman Smoot. Mr. Smoot was a prosperous farmer in the New Salem region and his influence and support helped Lincoln get elected to the Illinois legislature. "did you vote for me?" Lincoln asked Smoot. Smoot told him "I did." Lincoln replied "You must loan me money to by a suitable clothing for I want to make a decent appearance in the legislature." Smoot then had to loan him two hundred dollars. Lincoln promised to pay it back, took the cash and purchased the first suit that he ever owned.

By the age of eighteen Abraham Lincoln lost both his mother and his only living sibling, as sister named Sarah.

So much has been written about Abraham Lincoln that he can be referred to as a icon or even a myth. Lincoln himself may have left us the perfect poem for our need to read about Lincoln. Lincoln was a poor mans poet and here is the statement:

"Abraham Lincoln is my nam
And with my pen I wrote the same
I wrote both hast and speed
And left it here for fools to read."

Happy Birthday Father Abraham. I am one of many fools who always wants to learn more about you.

Source:

White, Ronald C. A. Lincoln. New York: Random House, 2009.

10 little known facts about Abraham Lincoln

A great link depicts the 10 things that you didn't know about Abraham Lincoln.

10 Things You Didn't Know About Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln was the first president born beyond the original 13 states
Posted February 10, 2009
1. Born in Kentucky in 1809, Abraham Lincoln was the first president born beyond the boundaries of the original 13 states.

2. Lincoln worked as a ferry operator and a flatboat pilot before entering the world of politics.

3. In 1849, Lincoln obtained Patent No. 6,469 on a device that was designed to keep boats afloat when they passed over a sandbar or entered shallow water; to this day, he is the only president to hold a patent.

4. Lincoln was the first president to sport a beard; he began to grow his beard shortly after his election in 1860, when supporters and advisers suggested that facial hair would soften his somewhat harsh appearance.

5. The Lincoln family shared the White House with several unusual pets, including two goats named Nanny and Nanko. The Lincolns also had a dog named Fido whom they left in Illinois after the presidential victory in 1860 because they were worried that the long train ride to Washington would be too difficult and frightening for him.

6. A turkey was sent to the White House for a holiday dinner in 1863, and Lincoln's son Tad pleaded that it not be executed. Lincoln issued "an order of reprieve," sparing the turkey's life.

7. Lincoln was the first president to lie in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

8. In 1876, a group of men tried to remove Lincoln's body from Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Ill., and hold it for a large ransom.

9. The Lincoln Bedroom was never a bedroom in Lincoln's time; it was an office where Lincoln met with cabinet members and signed the Emancipation Proclamation. The room still contains a few pieces of office furniture from Lincoln's time along with a handwritten copy of the Gettysburg Address.

10. Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks, was a distant relative of Tom Hanks, making the president and the actor fourth cousins, four times removed.

Sources:

Facts About the Presidents (H. W. Wilson Co.)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
New York Post
Chicago Tribune
National Park Service
Time magazine
More News
Lincoln's Great Awakening
Lincoln's Lessons for Barack Obama

Lincoln movie and the actor who will play him

Coming soon.net published a interview with actor Liam Neeson who is scheduled to play Lincoln in a Steven Spielburg directed epic. He even claimed to be an "educated" person on Lincoln's life because he claims to have read over twenty books on our 16th President. Neeson has also done his research. He claims to have read key speeches and letters and has had a complete tour of Fords Theatre which included a physical examination of many Lincoln artifacts.

"I've been there. I've been to Washington, I've held his wallet, I've said a prayer on the Bible he was inaugurated on. Still ongoing… there's an extraordinary Lincoln bicentennial committee, a place I go to in Washington. I got to know this guy Michael Bishop who's the co-chair. He gave me access to all this Lincoln stuff. I read his personal letters and stood on the stage at Ford's Theater." Liam Neeson.

This is good news. Neeson is perfect because of his easy going voice, tall/lanky figure and thin face. I cannot wait for this. Stay tuned I will continue to publish more about this upcoming film.

Abraham Lincoln and Captain Kirk? "Lincolns" appearance on Star Trek

It is rare that a fictional tv series is able to capture the full hearted feelings of a important historical personality. The original Star Trek tv show was able to capture the essence of Abraham Lincoln on one of its episodes. I have been a Star Trek fan since 1986 and have enjoyed the show from Kirk to Picard.....sorry I am not a fan of Deep Space Nine, Voyager or Enterprise (the other three Star Trek tv series).

During the original Star Trek third season Lincoln made an appearence in the episode "The Savage Curtain" which first aired on tv on March 7, 1969. In the show Captain James T. Kirk (played by William Shatner) and Mr. Spock (played by Lenard Nimoy) are forced to fight alongside such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln of Earth and Surak of Vulcan by aliens who want to understand the concepts of "good" and "evil." The Enterprise is surprised to detect life signs coming from an apparently lifeless planet. During the ensuing investigation, an image of Abraham Lincoln appears on the viewscreen.

"Captain’s log, stardate 5906.4. Who or what has been beamed aboard our vessel? An alien who has changed himself into this form? An illusion? I cannot conceive it possible that Abraham Lincoln could have actually been reincarnated. And yet his kindness, his gentle wisdom, his humor, everything about him is so right."
Lincoln makes a brief tour of the ship, then invites Kirk and Spock to beam down to a thousand-kilometer Earth-like region that suddenly appears on the sensors. Kirk seems all too ready to admire the "illusion," whereas McCoy and Scotty insist that the whole affair is a setup to lure Kirk and Spock to their deaths on the planet's deadly surface. Kirk and Spock accept the invitation, and discover themselves locked in a mortal combat of good versus evil, with the good represented by themselves, Lincoln, and Surak (the legendary Vulcan philosophical leader), and evil represented by four archetypes, including Kahless, founder of the Klingon Empire; Zora of Tiburon; ancient human conqueror Genghis Khan, and the charismatic but thoroughly despicable 21st century tyrant Colonel Green. The planet's denizens reveal themselves to be a race of rock-like beings, the Excalbians, who often stage such combats to learn more about alien philosophies. Since Kirk refuses to fight, the aliens raise the stakes by damaging the Enterprise's matter/antimatter equipment, which will cause the ship to "blow to bits" in four hours – unless the "good" side manages to defeat their opponents.




"Supplemental log, stardate 5906.5. Engineer Scott reporting. The Enterprise is doomed to explode in two hours if Captain Kirk is defeated by the enemy on the surface of the planet. The enormous power of the Enterprise has been neutralized and we sit here watching, unable to assist."
Of course, Kirk and Spock prevail, and are allowed to beam back to a miraculously repaired Enterprise.




During the episode, Lincoln (played by actor Lee Bergere) did an excellent job playing Abraham Lincoln. He even has a mole on his right cheek just like Lincoln did although it is really makeup. One of his best lines in "The Savage Curtain" is a comment that he makes to Captain Kirk. Here it is:

"We fight on their level.
With trickery, brutality, finality.
We match their evil.
I know, James. I was reputed to be a gentle man.
But I was commander in chief...
during the four bloodiest years of my country's history.
I gave orders that sent...
a hundred thousand men to their death...
at the hands of their brothers."

To me that is something that Abraham Lincoln would say but it has been wrongly attributed to the real Lincoln.

Another exchange that is interesting is Lincoln's brief conversation with Lt. Uhura. For those people who are not Star Trek fans, Lt. Uhura is played by actresses Nichelle Nichols who is African-American.

Uhura: Excuse me, Captain Kirk. -

Kirk: Yes, Lieutenant.

Lincoln: What a charming Negress. Oh, forgive me, my dear. I know in my time some used that term as a description of property.

Uhura: But why should I object to that term, sir? In our century, we've learned not to fear words.

Kirk: May I present our communications officer, Lieutenant Uhura.

Lincoln: The foolishness of my century...had me apologizing where no offense was given.

Another fun exchange occurs later in the episode. During the "good" and "evil" battle, Spock's hero is captured by the enemy and Lincoln volunteers to save him. To do this Lincoln must secretly enter the enemy camp and rescue Surak (Spock's hero). Kirk refuses to let Lincoln go. Here is the exchange.

Lincoln: James, James. Remember, I was something of a backwoodsman. I doubt that you could do what I was bred to.

Kirk: I can't let you risk it, Mr. President.

Spock: I am no longer president.

Lincoln is killed in the attempt and once again he is sacrificed for the good of others.



"The Savage Curtain" is a great episode and being a fan of Abrham Lincoln makes this episode even better! It is highly recommended to any buff even if Star Trek isn't their thing. Check it out, you might be surprised. Also, check out these pics, this is a great representation of President Lincoln. Lincoln is Kirk's hero and Shatner does a great job connecting the two characters. Expressing sadness over the death of Lincoln.

Kirk: They seemed so real. And to me, especially Mr. Lincoln. I feel I actually met Lincoln.

Spock: Yes, and Surak. Perhaps in a sense they were real, Captain. Since they were created out of our own thoughts,how could they be anything but what we expected them to be?

Kirk: It was so hard for me to see him die again. I feel I understand what Earth... must have gone through to achieve final peace.

Its great stuff, if you get a chance then check it out.


The fictional Abraham Lincoln on the original Star Trek tv series





Sources:

http://www.voyager.cz/tos/epizody/78savagecurtaintrans.htm

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/The_Savage_Curtain_(episode)

New Lincoln Stamps

New Lincoln stamps will be introduced on Feb 9. Here is a pic of them. I have to get a copy of them. Of course these are for the Lincoln Bicentential.

Americas Forgotten Son: Abraham Lincoln Jr.

Do you know who is in the above image????????????????????????

Few people know that President Abraham Lincoln had a grandson who could have carried on his lineage. President Lincoln had four sons and only one son survived until adulthood and he was the oldest child. Robert Todd Lincoln was born in 1843 and after attending Harvard he served in General Grants staff as the Civil War drew to its final curtain. He was present at Appomattox when the Army of Northern Virginia surrendered. He also stood at his fathers bedside when President Lincoln breathed his last.

After the war Robert got married (in 1868) and both he and his wife had three children between 1869-1875. The oldest and the youngest children were girls but the middle child was a boy born in 1873. They christened their child Abraham Lincoln II but nicknamed him "Jack" to avoid any confusion with the childs famous grandfather. It was later said that Jacks personality was very similar to his grandfathers. Jack loved to ride bicycles and he maintained a rock collection. When he was sixteen Jack was living with his father in London because Robert Lincoln was serving as the United States Minister to Great Britain. Jack was about to take entrance exams to Harvard when he contracted blood poisoning and despite two surgeries his life could not be spared. In 1890 the only grandson of Abraham Lincoln died and his name would not live on via a direct descendant. When Robert wrote of his son's death he stated "An so my coal is quenched both Mr. Lincoln's and mine." With that "joke" aside, Robert later added "I did not realized until he was gone how deeply mt thoughts of the future were in him." Robert Lincoln joined his son in death in 1926.

Jack was originally buried with his grandfather in Springfield but after Robert's death the only surviving son of the 16th President was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Jack's remains were removed from the Lincoln tomb in 1930 and he is buried there with his father. Jack's eldest sister, Mary Lincoln lived until 1938. Their sister Jesse Lincoln lived until 1848. Jesse's son, Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith was born in 1904 and since he was the great-grandson og President Abraham Lincoln he would be Lincoln's longest living direct descendant. Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith died in 1985 and he had no children. With no other direct heirs the direct bloodline to President Lincoln is forever lost and that all started in London, England in 1890 when Abraham Lincoln II died from blood poisoning.

Interesting views of Lincoln's murder

Two "dummies"



Interesting painting

Lincoln and Obama

Would Abraham Lincoln have supported the presidency of Obama? It is difficult to say but Lincoln has been misquoted as saying the following:

"You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot help the poor man by destroying the rich.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot further brotherhood of men by inciting class hatred.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves"

I was brought up to believe that Lincoln said these words but according to several webpages and several books that I have read then I have learned that this might not be the case. If it was true than one could say that perhaps Lincoln would not have supported Obama but then again he believed that man should rise as far as talent could take them and since Obama did that in the 2008 election than he might have actually supported our new president. In the end Lincoln is dead and we may never know how he would have felt because he might have went with the "party-line" and John McCain.

Regardless of how you voted on Tuesday, Obama has a tough task remaining before him and if he is able to get the United States out of this crisis then he will have a bigger victory in 2012. He has a lot on his shoulders so maybe the comparison between Lincoln and Obama holds some water because when Abe was elected he faced a major crisis too. Even Ken Burns agrees with this assessment. I did a quick internet search and not to my surprise I learned that Burns had supported John Kerry and Al Gore during the 2004 and 2000 elections. He also compared Obama to Lincoln because Obama and Lincoln did not have enough experience when they were elected. Burns noted that Lincoln had come into the White House with much less Washington experience than other leading politicians of the 1850s. With the country in such a perilous state at the time, he said, one might have thought it needed an "old pro" like William Seward, when in fact, Burns said, "what the country really needed was a wiry, relatively inexperienced" person, Abe Lincoln. In this regard, he argued, history may be repeating itself.

Obama did pull out all the stops when he used quotes from Lincoln's first inugural speech during his own acceptence speech. They are of course some of my favorite Lincoln quotes. Obama said:

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection...The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Almost 150 years after Lincoln, Barack Obama is also summoning us to heed the angels of our better nature. Will we heed them?

I am not a Obama supporter but he did state during his acceptence speech that "And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too." Good luck President Obama, you got a lot of work to do and a lot of healing to do. This country is divided and needs a leader. Good luck.


Source: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/cannot.htm

Could Lincoln be speaking about the 2008 Election??????????????

Obviously, Lincoln never heard of Obama or McCain but his famous Lyceum Address is one of my favorite speeches and it contains one of my favorite quotes of all-time. Bascially, Lincoln is stating that American cannot be destroyed unless we choose to destroy ourselves. The 2008 election is a key moment in American history because we are at a crossroads of our being. There is a major fork in the road and whereever it takes this country I hope that our voters make the right choice for President. Without further adieu here is what Lincoln had to say in 1837.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it?-- Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

We can only destroy ourselves, lets hope that it isn't because we picked the wrong person for president. In 1860 it didn't seem like we made the right choice as a nation and it turned out okay. History tends to repeat itself....I hope!