Civil War History - "What if..." DiscussionsWhat if they had attacked instead of digging in...? What if he was in charge of the army instead...? Did you ever have a "What if..." question, and you weren't sure where to post it? Here's the place to ask these speculative questions!
Every single claim I make can be found by googling.
Googling is fine, as long as one is aware that the greatest source of misinformation just happens to be the www.
It seems to me that at least 3 of your posts are ripe for comment:
1) That UFO 'photo'
2) That Andrew Johnson, military governor of Tennessee from 1862 to 1865, was "against the war".
3) " Lincoln supported his home state's law, passed in 1853, forbidding blacks to move to Illinois. The Illinois state constitution, adopted in 1848, called for laws to "effectually prohibit free persons of color from immigrating to and settling in this state."
I'll take a stab at #3:
A few points (I'm sure our friends can add some more on this):
Lincon was not a member of the Illinois legislature in 1848 nor in 1853.
On March 3, 1837, Lincoln was one of only two state legislators (the other one was Daniel Stone), to protest antiabolitionist resolutions adopted January 20, 1837.
President Staggering Johnson tried to block emancipation in his home state and keep the states slaves AFTER the war. He despised blacks, tried to get out of Lincoln's inauguration, some believe he was the contact in the White House that was to put a letter on Lincoln's desk after Lee's victory in Gettysburgh setting terms for the end of the war. ( Since there was no Lee victory, we'll never know).
To acknowledge Johnson however means having to discuss THE REALITY of America after the Civil War. Not idealistic promises BUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED.
The first sign of trouble was probably that Johnson refused to mourn Lincoln, refused to lead the nation in mourning him, AND MADE NO COMMENT ABOUT HIS DEATH.
I think it's time to bring up the Reconstruction in a new thread. The true litmus test of what was fought for.
Johnson surprised Mr. Lincoln himself when he asked if his presence was necessary for the inauguration; "This Johnson is a queer man," Mr. Lincoln told Shelby M. Cullom.1
The public was also surprised when a sick Johnson fortified himself with liquor in order to prepare for his swearing-in as Vice President on March 5, 1865. His subsequent speech in the Senate chamber was a strange humiliation of himself and everyone else present. "I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day; yes, I'm a-goin for to tell you all, that I'm a plebian! I glory in it; I am a plebian! The people—yes, the people of the United States have made me what I am; and I am a-goin' for to tell you here to-day—yes, to-day, in this place—that the people are everything." Frederick Douglass later contended that Johnson revealed another aspect of his character that day: "On this inauguration day, while waiting for the opening of the ceremonies, I made a discovery in regard to the vice president—Andrew Johnson. There are moments in the lives of most men, when the doors of their souls are open, and unconsciously to themselves, their true characters may be read by the observant eye. It was at such an instant I caught a glimpse of the real nature of this man, which all subsequent developments proved true. I was standing in the crowd by the side of Mrs. Thomas J. Dorsey, when Mr. Lincoln touched Mr. Johnson, and pointed me out to him. The first expression which came to his face, and which I think was the true index of his heart, was one of bitter contempt and aversion. Johnson was unique among Southerner senators at the outbreak of the war in retaining his seat rather than supporting the Confederacy. He supported emancipation, but opposed the application of the Emancipation Proclamation to Tennessee and opposed the extension of rights and assistance to blacks after the war.
Obstinate and opinionated, insecure and class-conscious, well-dressed but frequently ill-tempered, Johnson as President quarreled with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and with Congress over Reconstruction and the Tenure of Office Act. He was impeached on February 24, 1868. Conviction failed by one vote—in part because of the weakness of the case and in part because of opposition to Senator Benjamin Wade succeeding Johnson as President. Although Johnson waited patiently to occupy the presidential quarters, his failure to pay the customary acts of condolence infuriated Mrs. Lincoln, who was sensitive to any slight of her husband or herself . She later wrote that "My own intense misery, has been augmented by the same thought—that, that miserable inebriate Johnson, had cognizance of my husband's death.. http://www.mrlincolnswhitehouse.org/inside.asp?ID=91&subjectID=2
Last time I looked, the heading of the thread was "What if Lincoln Had Been Kidnapped." Discussing Johnson belongs in a thread of its own or in one of the "Reconstruction" threads.
ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
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