What bad things did Abraham Lincoln do?

Question

Shed some light on this for me please. I learned some about this in high school but I was most likely innebriated.

Our schools and history books preach about him being such a great president and man, however I know at least that a lot of people do not agree.

please and thank you.

Answer 1

First things first:

Israel G said:


"He gave his wife and someother women syphilis which some say was a part of his depression the one lady died ,his wife was crazy plus he was a latened homo "

1. "I'm from Missouri...the Show me state. " Those who make claims especially controversial claims the onus of proof is on them
So provide me with your proof,references,... etc to support the above ?

2. Even IF he had syphilis, syphilis does not cause depression, which he likely did have, but dementia in its later stages. Moreover, Lincoln was a self-taught genius.

3. As for his wife, mistress, and latent homosexuality. Where is your proof?

Now on to the original question: Lincoln was great man and president. However, he was a man and was not a God nor a Saint nor perfect.

He told many coarse jokes [he said it helped him with his melancholy [old term for depression], did not believe that slavery was moral and should be abolished but did not think that blacks were the equal of whites.

He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and freed the slaves only in the states that were in revolt. Not in Maryland or any Union, state that still kept slaves. Why? He was primarily interested in preserving the Union [The United States of America], but that was a very academic reason to get folks to volunteer and die for.
Freeing the slaves had much more emotional appeal. In addition, he hoped the freed slaves might revolt and or defect to the North to fight [some did].
It also probably kept England out of the war coming in on the Southern side [England was major trading partner with the South]
However, England abolished slavery decades before and would never ally itself with the slave holding South. If they did, the South might have won the Civil War.

So Lincoln was not perfect, he was a master politician, he did suspend writ of habeus corpus and set up military tribunals in CERTAIN areas that were "war zones,” [sound familiar?] but unlike some he always went to Congress to get approval for his actions. He upheld his oath to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution"

He lost his favorite son in the war... how many politicians today have their children in the military.

Did he do "bad" things? He sometimes did the expedient thing to preserve the USA while upholding the Constitution. Never was accused of any crime or bribery or ... What more do we want from a President. He did his job honorably.

What he did in his private life [told coarse jokes...] as long as it was legal I could care less about.

He was a great president
of a type we have not seen in years/decades

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Mark L is correct.

"although in fairness I should mention that Lincoln's son who died during the war was only a child, died of an illness and his death had nothing to do with the war."

I stand corrected.

"He lost his favorite son in the war .... How many politicians today have their children in the military?”

Should have read:

"He lost his favorite son [William Wallace Lincoln* (December 21, 1850 – February 20, 1862)] during the war. He also had another son [Robert Todd Lincoln** (August 1, 1843 – July 26, 1926] in the Army ... how many politicians today have their children in the military"

*His death devastated his parents. Mary Lincoln could not bring herself to attend his funeral and remained bedridden for three weeks; she would not emerge in public for months afterwards. Lincoln, who had stayed at Willie's side through his illness, would shut himself in his room after his son's funeral to weep, and often had dreams of spending time with his son.[6] He never fully recovered from the loss"

**
"He then enrolled in Harvard Law School. However, he did not graduate and in 1865 joined the Union Army. He held the rank of Captain, serving in the American Civil War ...”

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Some additional comments
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"As it isn't forthcoming it is likely the sort of revisionist historical drivel that is spouted by the likes of roadkill who seems to know less of actual history than appears to long for a return to the good old days of slavery on the plantation."

Those revisionists are probably the same cowards who required this banner:

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Re:

"News flash, the South wasn't going to win that war as industrial might as well as the moral high ground was solidly against them."

Above is correct ... up to a point.

The South could never have defeated, conquered, or occupied the North. However, they may have "won" in succeeding in their succession, by wearying the North of the war by winning enough on the battlefield to force a treaty with the North allowing their succession to stand.

Indeed that was one of Lee's strategies when he invaded the North, and if he had won at Gettysburg would have proceeded to threaten Washington D.C. and hope for a treaty

michinoku2001 said:
"From the constitutional POV the confederacy had the right to secede"

Highly debatable. Under the former articles of confederation that might have been true, but the Constitution was created because the Articles were too weak. A stronger central Government was needed. Once the states ratified the Constitution it like a contract was not unilaterally breakable by one or several of the parties. Only way the South could have left would be to get an amendment to the Constitution allowing it secede ,which would have to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. Impossible.
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p.s. when r they going to fix the spellchecker ?
" Oops, the Spellcheck is having problems, please try again."


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tysgrandma99
I think you are confusing Lincoln with Thomas Jefferson.

Although I'm not sure if Jefferson's wife was still alive
when he had his affair with his slave.If not there was
no "cheating"

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artiststree

How would Lincoln accomplished this task ? He isn't the Mormon registry of ancestry.
The most he could have done was make all slave trades/transactions [if any/many surrvived] available for public review. Sort of a 1860 Freedom of Information act.

And I'm sure that most Confederates would have burned any surviving records rather than turn them over .

But even then the probability of finding relatives born and living in the USA is small and relatives back in Africa very very small [ not withstanding Alex Haley's "Roots"]

Answer 2

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1.The decision for war -The Civil War claimed the lives of over 600,000 men - more than any other war in our history. Critics of Lincoln contend that he did not need to go to war; that the South and the North could have co-existed peacefully. It is quite possible that after a period of co-existence, the two separate nations might have re-unified. 2.The effect on government today -Through the rise of new governmental institutions such as independent regulatory commissions and the imposition of the federal income tax, more governmental decisions and much of the spending of public funds came to be controlled by Washington politicians and bureaucrats. 3.Suspension of Habeas Corpus -Lincoln is also criticized for suspending the writ of habeas corpus. This is a constitutional guarantee that prevents someone from being unlawfully detained. An individual can demand that the government provide a reason for the detention or release them.

Answer 3

I am writing only to say that Tomas K is about as on target as can be, although in fairness I should mention that Lincoln's son who died during the war was only a child, died of an illness and his death had nothing to do with the war. As to other aspects of his statement I couldn't agree more. Possibly because I am also from Missouri I would also very much like to see the evidence that Lincoln was gay or suffered from syphilis. As it isn't forthcoming it is likely the sort of revisionist historical drivel that is spouted by the likes of roadkill who seems to know less of actual history than appears to long for a return to the good old days of slavery on the plantation. News flash, the South wasn't going to win that war as industrial might as well as the moral high ground was solidly against them. Oh one other thing, the "war of aggression" was launched by the South when they fired the first shots in Charleston Harbor so don't try to blame that on Lincoln. The war of aggression was initiated by the South. I am heartily sick and tired of the historical revisionists trying to claim that the reason for the south's unconstitutional attempted secession wasn't solely to preserve slavery, it was, and that Lincoln was some sort of monster. He was a man, not a god or devil but a good man, and a man who's goals were laudable and did the best that he could.

Answer 4

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What bad things did Abraham Lincoln do?
Shed some light on this for me please. I learned some about this in high school but I was most likely innebriated.

Our schools and history books preach about him being such a great president and man, however I know at least that a lot of people do not agree.

please and thank you.

Answer 5

He was very likely homosexual, but nothing wrong with that. From the constitutional POV the confederacy had the right to secede, so he started a war of aggression. It's not that I'm endorsing slavery, but freeing the slaves was just a rationalization for a war he had already decided on.

Answer 6

Lincoln was America's first Dictator.

"Upon taking office Lincoln implemented a series of unconstitutional acts, including launching and invasion of the South without consulting Congress, declaring martial law; blockading Southern ports; suspending the writ of habeas corpus for the duration of his administration; imprisoning without trial thousands of Northern citizens; arresting and imprisoning newspaper publishers who were critical of him; censoring all telegraph communication; nationalizing the railroads; creating several new states without the consent of the citizens of those states; ordering Federal troops to interfere with elections in the North by intimidating Democratic voters; deporting a member of Congress, for criticizing the administration’s income tax proposal at a Democratic Part rally; confiscating private property; confiscating firearms; effectively gutting the 9th and 10th amendments to the Constitution."

"In 1863 an international convention met in Geneva, Switzerland, to codify rules of warfare that had been in existence for more than a century. Nations agreed that is was a war crime punishable by imprisonment or death, for armies to (1) attack defenseless cities and towns, (2) plunder and wantonly destroy civilian property, and (3) take from the civilian population more than what was necessary to feed and sustain an occupying army. The only just war, moreover, was a defensive war.

Lincoln launched an offensive war, burned defenseless towns, looted property and the like.

The war on non-combatants was continued by the same Union generals against the Plains Indians in the war of elimination. A war carried out as a massage subsidy to the railroad industry.

Had the Confederates somehow won, had their victory put them in position to bring their chief opponents before some sort of tribunal, they would have found themselves justified in stringing up President Lincoln and the entire Union high command for violation of the laws of war, specifically for waging war against noncombatants."

The same whiners who complain about the Isreali's accidently killing civilians acting as human shields for illegal combatants in the middle east think its great that Sherman burned Atlanta and after burning their crops and homes left homeless women and children to starve.

Answer 7

I don't think he did anything bad. I'd lke to not think of him being bad. He wasn't perfect, no one is, but I think he was a good president. He could have been a great president, but as a human being done somethings that were not so nice. Who knows? I don't really care if he did. Bill Clinton did some not so nice things in his presidency, but I think he made a decent president in spite of that, he's very powerful, strong but looking back I think he was better and stronger than Bush. (Just my opinion) I've got more important things to think/worry about than what he did was bad, if anything. You most likely were innebriated.

Answer 8

He was a great President but he used to get into fistfights and was known to swear. He was in the Indian Wars, although it is not reported that he killed any Indians. He was a man of compassion, he was a great leader and he did abolish slavery and any foibles he had were minor.

Answer 9

The worst thing that Abe did was fail to reconnect the slaves with their family heritage. His failure to do so resulted in the inability of every African American to locate family in their native land. Most other people can go overseas and find family. It's really tragic and sad.

Answer 10

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Answer 11

That's what I want to know! I greatly admire the man, but before I can be ok with that I need to find out the other side of him, everyone has skeletons in their closet.