ABRAHAM LINCOLN

[Dealey Joe]

Abraham Lincoln i/ˈeɪbrəhæm ˈlɪŋkən/ (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. Reared in a poor family on the western frontier, Lincoln was mostly self-educated. He became a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, and a one-term member of the United States House of Representatives, but failed in two attempts to be elected to the United States Senate.After opposing the expansion of slavery in the United States in his campaign debates and speeches,[1] Lincoln secured the Republican nomination and was elected president in 1860. Before Lincoln took office in March, seven southern slave states declared their secession and formed the Confederacy. When war began with the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, Lincoln concentrated on both the military and political dimensions of the war effort, seeking to reunify the nation. He vigorously exercised unprecedented war powers, including the arrest and detention without trial of thousands of suspected secessionists. He prevented British recognition of the Confederacy by skillfully handling the Trent affair late in 1861. He issued his Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and promoted the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, abolishing slavery.Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including commanding general Ulysses S. Grant. He brought leaders of various factions of his party into his cabinet and pressured them to cooperate. Under his leadership, the Union set up a naval blockade that shut down the South's normal trade, took control of the border slave states at the start of the war, gained control communications with gunboats on the southern river systems, and tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond. Each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another until finally Grant succeeded in 1865. An exceptionally astute politician deeply involved with power issues in each state, he reached out to War Democrats and managed his own re-election in the 1864 presidential election.As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican party, Lincoln found his policies and personality were "blasted from all sides": Radical Republicans demanded harsher treatment of the South, War Democrats desired more compromise, Copperheads despised him, and irreconcilable secessionists plotted his death.[2] Politically, Lincoln fought back with patronage, by pitting his opponents against each other, and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory.[3] His Gettysburg Address of 1863 became the most quoted speech in American history.[4] It was an iconic statement of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. At the close of the war, Lincoln held a moderate view of Reconstruction, seeking to speedily reunite the nation through a policy of generous reconciliation in the face of lingering and bitter divisiveness. But six days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee Lincoln was assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. His death was the first assassination of a U.S. president and sent the nation into mourning. Lincoln has been consistently ranked by scholars and the public as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents.Lincoln understood that the Federal government's power to end slavery was limited by the Constitution, which before 1865, committed the issue to individual states. He argued before and during his election that the eventual extinction of slavery would result from preventing its expansion into new U.S. territory. At the beginning of the war, he also sought to persuade the states to accept compensated emancipation in return for their prohibition of slavery (an offer that took effect only in Washington, D.C., in April 1862). Lincoln believed that curtailing slavery in these ways would economically expunge it, as envisioned by the Founding Fathers, under the constitution.[174] President Lincoln rejected two geographically limited emancipation attempts by Major General John C. Frémont in August 1861 and by Major General David Hunter in May 1862, on the grounds that it was not within their power, and it would upset the border states loyal to the Union.[175]On June 19, 1862, endorsed by Lincoln, Congress passed an act banning slavery on all federal territory. In July 1862, the Second Confiscation Act was passed, which set up court procedures that could free the slaves of anyone convicted of aiding the rebellion. Although Lincoln believed it was not within Congress's power to free the slaves within the states, he approved the bill in deference to the legislature. He felt such action could only be taken by the commander-in-chief using war powers granted to the president by the Constitution, and Lincoln was planning to take that action. In that month, Lincoln discussed a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation with his cabinet. In it, he stated that "as a fit and necessary military measure, on January 1, 1863, all persons held as slaves in the Confederate states will thenceforward, and forever, be free."[176]Privately, Lincoln concluded at this point that the war could not be won without freeing the slaves. However Confederate and anti-war propagandists had success spreading the theme that emancipation was a stumbling block to peace and reunification. Republican editor Horace Greeley of the highly influential New York Tribune fell for the ploy.[177] and Lincoln refuted it directly in a shrewd letter of August 22, 1862. The President said the primary goal of his actions as president (he used the first person pronoun and explicitly refers to his "official duty") was preserving the Union:[178]My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. . . . [¶] I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.[179]The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on September 22, 1862, and put into effect on January 1, 1863, declared free the slaves in 10 states not then under Union control, with exemptions specified for areas already under Union control in two states.[180] Once the abolition of slavery in the rebel states became a military objective, as Union armies advanced south, more slaves were liberated until over three million of them in Confederate territory were freed. Lincoln's comment on the signing of the Proclamation was: "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper."[181] For some time, Lincoln continued earlier plans to set up colonies for the newly freed slaves. He commented favorably on colonization in the Emancipation Proclamation, but all attempts at such a massive undertaking failed.[182] A few days after Emancipation was announced, 13 Republican governors met at the War Governors' Conference; they supported the president's Proclamation, but suggested the removal of General George B. McClellan as commander of the Union Army.[183]Using former slaves in the military was official government policy after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. At first, Lincoln was reluctant to fully implement this program, but by the spring of 1863, he was ready to initiate "a massive recruitment of Negro troops". In a letter to Andrew Johnson, the military governor of Tennessee, encouraging him to lead the way in raising black troops, Lincoln wrote, "The bare sight of 50,000 armed and drilled black soldiers on the banks of the Mississippi would end the rebellion at once".[184] By the end of 1863, at Lincoln's direction, General Lorenzo Thomas had recruited 20 regiments of blacks from the Mississippi Valley.[185] Frederick Douglass once observed of Lincoln: "In his company, I was never reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color"With the great Union victory at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, and the defeat of the Copperheads in the Ohio election in the fall, Lincoln maintained a strong base of party support and was in a strong position to redefine the war effort, despite the New York City draft riots. The stage was set for his address at the Gettysburg battlefield cemetery.[187] Defying Lincoln's prediction that "the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here," the Address became the most quoted speech in American history.[4]The Gettysburg Address was delivered at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863. In 272 words, and three minutes, Lincoln asserted the nation was born, not in 1789, but in 1776, "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." He defined the war as an effort dedicated to these principles of liberty and equality for all. The emancipation of slaves was now part of the national war effort. He declared that the deaths of so many brave soldiers would not be in vain, that slavery would end as a result of the losses, and the future of democracy would be assured, that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." Lincoln concluded that the Civil War had a profound objective—a new birth of freedom in the nation.Reconstruction began during the war, as Lincoln and his associates anticipated questions of how to reintegrate the conquered southern states, and how to determine the fates of Confederate leaders and freed slaves. Shortly after Lee's surrender, a general had asked Lincoln how the defeated Confederates should be treated, and Lincoln replied, "Let 'em up easy."[212] In keeping with that sentiment, Lincoln led the moderates regarding Reconstruction policy, and was opposed by the Radical Republicans, under Rep. Thaddeus Stevens, Sen. Charles Sumner and Sen. Benjamin Wade, political allies of the president on other issues. Determined to find a course that would reunite the nation and not alienate the South, Lincoln urged that speedy elections under generous terms be held throughout the war. His Amnesty Proclamation of December 8, 1863, offered pardons to those who had not held a Confederate civil office, had not mistreated Union prisoners, and would sign an oath of allegiance.[213]A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln, 1865, entitled "The Rail Splitter At Work Repairing the Union." The caption reads (Johnson): Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever. (Lincoln): A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended.As Southern states were subdued, critical decisions had to be made as to their leadership while their administrations were re-formed. Of special importance were Tennessee and Arkansas, where Lincoln appointed Generals Andrew Johnson and Frederick Steele as military governors, respectively. In Louisiana, Lincoln ordered General Nathaniel P. Banks to promote a plan that would restore statehood when 10 percent of the voters agreed to it. Lincoln's Democratic opponents seized on these appointments to accuse him of using the military to ensure his and the Republicans' political aspirations. On the other hand, the Radicals denounced his policy as too lenient, and passed their own plan, the Wade-Davis Bill, in 1864. When Lincoln vetoed the bill, the Radicals retaliated by refusing to seat representatives elected from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee.[214]Lincoln's appointments were designed to keep both the moderate and Radical factions in harness. To fill Chief Justice Taney's seat on the Supreme Court, he named the choice of the Radicals, Salmon P. Chase, who Lincoln believed would uphold the emancipation and paper money policies.[215]After implementing the Emancipation Proclamation, which did not apply to every state, Lincoln increased pressure on Congress to outlaw slavery throughout the entire nation with a constitutional amendment. Lincoln declared that such an amendment would "clinch the whole matter".[216] By December 1863 a proposed constitutional amendment that would outlaw slavery absolutely was brought to Congress for passage. This first attempt at an amendment failed to pass, falling short of the required two-thirds majority on June 15, 1864, in the House of Representatives. Passage of the proposed amendment became part of the Republican/Unionist platform in the election of 1864. After a long debate in the House, a second attempt passed Congress on January 13, 1865, and was sent to the state legislatures for ratification.[217] Upon ratification, it became the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution on December 6, 1865.read about the lost 13th amendment here which when ratified would hve prevented Lincoln or any other Lawyer from holding a public office... http://www.amendment-13.org/index.html As the war drew to a close, Lincoln's presidential Reconstruction for the South was in flux; having believed the federal government had limited responsibility to the millions of freedmen. He signed into law Senator Charles Sumner's Freedman's Bureau bill that set up a temporary federal agency designed to meet the immediate material needs of former slaves. The law assigned land for a lease of three years with the ability to purchase title for the freedmen. Lincoln stated that his Louisiana plan did not apply to all states under Reconstruction. Shortly before his assassination Lincoln announced he had a new plan for southern Reconstruction. Discussions with his cabinet revealed Lincoln planned short term military control over southern states, until readmission under the control of southern Unionists

[Dealey Joe]

Lincoln saved the UNITED STATES alright at the expense of the united states of AMERICA! Lincoln said, "just as George Washington was the first president of the united states of America, James Buchanan was the last president of the united states of America." What did HE mean by this? Lincoln brought in a CHANGE of fundamental government for the united states of America, from REPUBLIC to DEMOCRACY. His Gettesberg address " a government of the people for the people and by the people," is DEMOCRACY, something our founding fathers NEVER gave us, and a word you can not read in ANY of the founding fathers founding documents of our given government, as a matter of fact, after the constitutional convention of 1787 the people asked Benjamin Franklin what the electors gave them for a government in those BEHIND CLOSED DOOR MEETINGS, and Franklin responded, "A REPUBLIC, IF YOU CAN KEEP IT!" The "UNITED STATES" is as CORPORATION identified at 28 USC Section 3002, a CORPORATION which is OWNED by the QUEEN of ENGLAND. The "UNITED STATES" was finally INCORPORATED at WASHINGTON D. ( district ) C. ( of CRIMINALS ) in 1872. ALL ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES and JUDGES have a DUNN& BRAD STREET LISTING! THEY ARE A PRIVATE ENTERPRISE, A FOR PROFIT ENTERPRISE that DO NOT WORK for the people that VOTE for THEM!As a final thought about Lincoln, in a letter to General Greely concerning the war which was going badly, 425,000 UNION troops died in the Civil War, Lincoln took this to HIS very heart, HE told Greely, that HIS entire intention was to SAVE the UNION and if HE could do this without FREEING ONE SLAVE HE WOULD! No this WAR was NOT over the issue of SLAVERY either!

[Dealey Joe]

The successful reunification of the states had consequences for the name of the country. The term "the United States" has historically been used, sometimes in the plural ("these United States"), and other times in the singular, without any particular grammatical consistency. The Civil War was a significant force in the eventual dominance of the singular usage by the end of the 19th century.[220]In recent years, historians such as Harry Jaffa, Herman Belz, John Diggins, Vernon Burton and Eric Foner have stressed Lincoln's redefinition of republican values. As early as the 1850s, a time when most political rhetoric focused on the sanctity of the Constitution, Lincoln redirected emphasis to the Declaration of Independence as the foundation of American political values—what he called the "sheet anchor" of republicanism.[221] The Declaration's emphasis on freedom and equality for all, in contrast to the Constitution's tolerance of slavery, shifted the debate. As Diggins concludes regarding the highly influential Cooper Union speech of early 1860, "Lincoln presented Americans a theory of history that offers a profound contribution to the theory and destiny of republicanism itself."[222] His position gained strength because he highlighted the moral basis of republicanism, rather than its legalisms.[223] Nevertheless, in 1861, Lincoln justified the war in terms of legalisms (the Constitution was a contract, and for one party to get out of a contract all the other parties had to agree), and then in terms of the national duty to guarantee a republican form of government in every state.[224] Burton (2008) argues that Lincoln's republicanism was taken up by the Freedmen as they were emancipated.[225]In March 1861, in his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln explored the nature of democracy. He denounced secession as anarchy, and explained that majority rule had to be balanced by constitutional restraints in the American system. He said "A majority held in restraint by constitutional checks and limitations, and always changing easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people."

[kenmurray]

Today marks the 150th Anniversary Of Lincoln's Assassination. Here are a few documentaries:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NBvxaK ... QSpiHnpx9M

[Bruce Patrick Brychek]

04.15.2015Dear JFK Murder Solved Forum Members and Readers;04.14.1865 - President Abraham Lincoln was critically wounded in the brain/head at Ford's Theatre, allegedly by John Wilkes Booth using a small derringer firing one shot at point blank range to Lincoln's brain/head.John Wilkes Booth allegedly jumped to the stage fracturing one of his legs while screaming SIC SEMPER TYRANNIS, THUS ALWAYS TO TYRANTS.Booth in his escape was treated by a Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd who was later arrested and prosecuted.Dr. Mudd was Convicted of Aiding and Conspiring in a Murder, and he was sentenced to Life Imprisonment, escaping the Death Penalty by a Single Vote. Dr. Mudd was later pardoned by President Andrew Johnson. Dr. Mudd and his family were held to ridicule and scorn, and they tried relentlessly to clear his name. But his Record was never Expunged. Allegedly the phrase "CLEAR AS MUD" evolved from the attempt to clear Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd's name.04.15.1865 - President Abraham Lincoln died from the gunshot wound to the brain/head.02.16.2012 - Joe "Dealey Joe" Hall Posted this important Headline and much additionalinformation.04.14.2015 - Ken Murray Posted 150th Anniversary Documentaries of Abraham Lincoln's Assassination.Fast forward to 150 years later.04.15.2015 - The Chicago Sun Times, on page 14, Posted an article by Staff Reporter StefanoEsposito entitled HONORING ABE.What I found most interesting was the 3rd paragraph:"This was devastating for most people in the north - they couldn't have imagined that anythinglike this would ever occur", said Ian Hunt, historian for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation in Springfield. "The closest approximation I can give in the modern era asto how it affected the nation are the 9/11 tragedies."OOPS. I think he forgot to consider World War I, Pearl Harbor, World War II, the Korean War,Viet Nam, Laos , Cambodia, the Bay of Pigs and Cuba, the ASSASSINATIONS OF JFK, MLK, AND RFK, Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, etc. My Opinion.Additionally Internet Comments about Facts and Questions from Historians, Researchers, Students, Theorists, and Writers of today include:1. Lincoln almost did not go to Ford's Theatre.2. Why wasn't Vice President Johnson attacked ?3. Where was General Grant ?4. If Colfax (3rd In Line To Succeed Lincoln) had been in the booth with Lincoln, two personsIn Line To Succeed Lincoln would have been in danger.5. Where was Lincoln's Bodyguard ?6. Where was the Secret Service ?7. How did Secretary of State Seward survive having his throat stabbed 2 - 3 times ?8. How did John Wilkes Booth stay in hiding so long ?9. The original plan was to kidnap Lincoln and not kill him. (The 02.12.1964 movie SEVENDAYS IN MAY, starring Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas, featured this plot. The problem isWhat Do You Do With A President After You Kidnap Him ? Killing him is so much easer, andless problematical overall. Just leave the dead, useless body. Let other's worry about it.My Opinion.)10. Was Mary Surrat Part of the Conspiracy ?These are some of the Facts and Questions raised 150 years later, this week, by Historians,Researchers, Students, Theorists, and Writers relative to The Assassination Of PresidentAbraham Lincoln.In addition, a New Book On The Assassination Of President Abraham Lincoln allegedly witha Whole New Theory will be out soon. Not soon enough for some I suspect.Reflect on the above. How does this correspond or relate in Your Mind's Eye with JFK, MLK, and RFK Research and Writing Accomplishments, Focus, and Developments thus far ?It's 51+ years since the JFK Assassination, and 47+ years since the MLK and RFK Assassinations.The JFK Research Community is its own worst enemy today. There is little agreement on mostimportant facts, or what direction to even take.In another 100 years where will the Research Communities be Relative To JFK, MLK, and RFK ?Any additional analyses, interviews, investigations, readings, research, studies, thoughts, orwritings on any aspect of this Subject Matter ?Bear in mind that we are trying to attract and educate a Whole New Generation of JFKResearchers who may not be as well versed as you.Comments ?Respectfully,BB.

[kenmurray]

Did Jefferson Davis Approve The Lincoln Assassination Conspiracy? http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/f ... dence.html

[Dealey Joe]

In my opinion I think for the most part people are easily led by what they call facts that in fact are just false information laid down by the people covering up the real issues,We have pursued the killings of JFK, MFK and RFK using so called facts that only lead us around in circles and actually on the wrong trail altogether with focus on who pulled the trigger. same as with Lincoln,The real murderers of these people are the ones who were/are behind it with the reasons to have it done.In our lifetime the main focus has been on JFK, he was the first of the three and gets most of the attention, Is it because that we bought into something and went in the wrong direction looking for answers and thetwo following. MLK and RFK are pretty much overlooked because we are bewildered by the first Murder?OK was JFK murdered? sure, but what bigger thing happened? can we separate the murder from the real reason for it? Why are we still discussing meaningless issues, stuck in the mud slung at us? How many hours, days, weeks, months have we spent chasing our tails figuring out how Oswald got from the TSBD to the Texas Theater? Why do we do this?Why do we chase things that can never be proven, who said what or who saw what ect.What has happened in the last 50 years? Somehow I fell we have been robbed of our lives that we pass on to our children and grandchildren, they will eventually have no knowledge of what really happened or why, so they will not even know to care?I dont know about you but Im tired of chasing my tail?

[Dealey Joe]

What matters if Booth, Sirhan, Ray, FIles pulled the triggers?Lincoln, JFK, MLK and RFK are all dead along with their ideals and leadership.Is that what was killed? or was it just the man?

[JDB4JFK]

Great Post Joe you hit the nail on the head. There ideas were not wanted for sure.JDB