I just finished Team of Rivals, sort of a combined biography of Abraham Lincoln and his cabinet members. A nice read, I recommend it. Marwan, my little Al Quadia sympathizer asked me what I was reading.
This led to a discussion where I asked him what he knew of Lincoln. He told me he was an “American president who warned the Americans against the Jews.” Nothing else.
I went over to another section to ask some Brits the same question. They mentioned a beard and the Civil War. A Canadian came in to remind them of his beard and the Emancipation Proclamation.
Needless to say, this sort of bowled me over.
Now Dopers are smarter than the average bear. So all you non-Americans types, without looking him up, tell me what you know of Abraham Lincoln.
I suppose I don’t really count – an Australian living in the US, who has visited Abraham Lincoln’s home in Springfield, Illinois, on two occasions. I know rather a lot about him: a lot more than most Australians would.
No references, only memory, and having seen no other posts.
Abraham Lincoln:
Born in Kentucky, but better known as a politician from Illinois. Little formal education in young years, but managed to become a lawyer. Was elected to Congress. Debated Frederick Douglass. Elected President of the United States, 1860. Won a second term, but was assassinated in 1865 (?). Anyway, managed to keep the Union together during the US Civil War.
I believe the purchase of Alaska took place during his presidency. Was it the Secretary of State who set that up? Anyway, I do know that it was referred to as “Seward’s Folly,” and I believe Seward was Lincoln’s Secretary of State.
Notable speeches included the Gettysburg Address, and his Second Inaugural speech. Also noted for the Emancipation Proclamation.
Killed in Ford’s Theater by assassin John Wilkes Booth, while watching a play. Was it “Our American Cousin”?
Everything that I know without looking anything up: US president, from modest origins, Republican, elected 1860, represented moderates among opponents of slavery, his election as major provocation for but not ultimate reason for secession of southern states, reelected 1864, assassinated 1865, held to be one of the most important presidents by today’s Americans.
Honestly, I see him as mostly a US-internal figure. Of course he is still relevant because he shaped a country that became interesting later on, but I don’t think that his significance to Europeans is in any way comparable to his significance to Americans.
Is correcting the mistakes off limits? Just in case,Spoons
Stephen Douglas -- he beat Lincoln in an Illinois Senate race, and later lost to Lincoln in the 1860 presidential race. Fredercik Douglas was a former slave and prominent abolitionsit and advior to Lincoln
Thanks for the info–I knew he debated “Douglas,” but I guess I got my Fredericks and Stephens confused. Still, glad to know that I earned a “very good.”
I don’t know how I’d do on other presidents that were before my lifetime or who didn’t play some part in world history. Woodrow Wilson and Teddy Roosevelt, maybe okay. FDR, Harry Truman, Eisenhower–better than Wilson and TR, certainly. Kennedy, Johnson, and so on to the present day–pretty well, I would hope. But Harrison, Taft, Taylor, Hayes, Grant, Madison, and others–not very well at all, I’m afraid.
He was exceedingly tall; legend has it that when asked how long his legs were, he replied “Just long enough to reach the ground”. He grew his famous beard at the suggestion of a little girl who told him his face looked too skinny, and that if he grew a beard women would tell their husbands to vote for him. Speaking of women, he was rumored to have gotten around a fair bit, and his wife Mary Todd may have died of syphillus contracted from him. Was born in a log cabin, which gave him some “street cred” among lower-class voters. His vice-president (who succeeded him after he was assassinated) was Andrew Johnson. During the Civil War, he set some constitutionally-dodgy precedents, including the suspension of the right of Habeas Corpus. His Emancipation Proclamation, which purported to free slaves only in the rebel states, is generally regarded as the first Executive Order. He can be defeated only by John Wilkes Booth, or a ninja tyrannosaurus wielding a can of Febreeze.
Fair enough retort from a Yank. I’ll try …
MacDonald - created the Confederation, had one of those long, hairy 19th-century faces for the portrait on the currency.
King - PM during WW2, held seances to consult with the spirit of his late mother.
St. Laurent - somebody had to take over for King.
Diefenbaker - choleric Cold Warrior, but killed the Avro Arrow anyway.
Trudeau - stirred up (or maybe took advantage of) Quebec nationalism, cultivated playboy image, ran up huge debt. Maggie was probably a beard.
Mulroney - corrupt.
Campbell - woman.
Chretien - cranky geezer.
Clark, Martin - bureaucrats.
That’s pretty much it - and it’s probably a helluva lot more than most Yanks could do, I claim.
President in the 1860s. From Illinois. The Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation. The Gettysburg Address (Four score and seven years ago…). Beard. Top hat. Shot at the theater by John Wilkes Booth. Travelled around the country debating a guy called… Douglas? Dougal? Married. Suspected of homosexuality. Shared a bed with another man for several years. Off the top of my head, that’s it.
I get confused because he appeared in a Flashman* novel, where he faced down a slaver pursuing a runaway slave across a frozen river.
*by George McDonald Fraser. Fine comic books with a solid historical basis. From these I also learnt about the death of John Brown following a doomed raid on a Southern town, hoping to inspire a slave revolt.
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