Was Abraham Lincolns popularity a part of revisionist history?

Question

Presently, Bush's popularity is not doing well after there have been about 3K soldiers dead. In Lincoln's time, 680,000 soldiers were killed. The US population was a lot smaller. There must have been hardships galore in the homes of widows and labor shortages, the economy couldn't have been good. I'll bet there were quite a few who wanted him assasinated. Yet, I was always taught that he was such a great man. The US must have been a total mess back then.

Answer 1

Lincoln during his presidency expanded the executive power of the presidency like no other President (until FDR, that is). He essentially became a "benign dictator" in claiming that his powers as commander-in-chief during time of war let him rule by decree. His plan for postwar reconstruction completely bypassed the congress, using his own power of the Presidential pardon to rebuild the southern political structures. Had he not been assasinated, he would have had an ugly fight with the northern "Radical Republicans" who wanted to see the South severely punished... and history might not reflect the idealized image most Americans have of Lincoln today.

Answer 2

Lincoln may not have been popular as president, he was certainly reviled by a lot of people in the south, had some contention in the Union as well.
But his popularity among historians and other fans has nothing to do with how popular he was at the time, so it has nothing to do with revisionist history. He's considered one of America's greatest presidents because he responded to an extremely serious crisis with a lot of intelligence, wisdom, and intestinal fortitude. It's hard to find a president dealt a tougher hand than his and yet he did an excellent job with it. That's what makes him a great man, not his popularity at the time. That determines why he's so popular among historians and Americans proud of their national history.

Answer 3

Any nation in which a war was just fought is going to have some hardships. As for Lincoln's popularity, well I guess that is just a matter of opinion. I imagine many from the south did not like him, but in the north he led the nation to victory. And it would be unfair to blame him for the war. He fought to keep us united and did not really start the war. It was the south that seceded before the north decided to fight. The north did not launch a pre-emptive war to stop secession.

Answer 4

i've got considered and examine those issues earlier. I savour conspiracies approximately as much as all of us, and the dying of JFK is one among the suited, yet you sometimes would desire to be careful while watching something like this. The record which you have there has some suited concepts and a few it particularly is fabricated. the whole ingredient concerning to the secretaries is fake. an excellent style of the the remainder of that record would be attributed to "decision bias." What meaning is that once you're searching for some particular concepts, you have a bent to in basic terms word that concepts and to omit the flaws that don't agree. for that reason, there are hundreds of knowledge that are wrapped up interior the lives of those in touch, yet a catalogue of roughly 20 issues that are comparable are what human beings see. They forget approximately concerning to the thousands and thousands of dissimilarities and in basic terms notice the flaws that they prefer. i ought to start to run down the record of issues that disagree, yet that is extensive. some examples: Lincoln replace right into a Republican, JFK a Democrat. Lincoln got here from a bad and straightforward relatives, JFK from an rather wealthy, useful, and influential relatives. The reason for the assassination of Lincoln is sparkling; the assassination of JFK isn't sparkling in any respect.

Answer 5

I never remember studying Lincoln's popularity, just his affect on history.

I personally think that people bring up popularity to justify that Bush doesn't need to be popular to do his job. That may be so, but there is also the possibility Bush isn't popular because he's wrong.

Remember, besides unpopular but good Presidents, there were also unpopular and BAD Presidents. Bush may fall into the latter category.

Answer 6

Maybe...its tough to judge, but his experience as President is unique. There were things that he did during his term was negative to me such suspending Habeas Corpus, but I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt because I never walked a mile in his shoes.

Answer 7

It is true that Lincoln was not hugely popular in his own lifetime, but I think any attempt to compare him to George W Bush is - frankly - wishful thinking. That said, history may validate Bush. But I don't think it's very likely.

Answer 8

Yeah, and the South won the war too.