Lincoln wins: Honest Abe tops new presidential survey

Lincoln wins: Honest Abe tops new presidential survey

www.cnn.com

It's been 145 years since Abraham Lincoln appeared on a ballot, but admiration for the man who saved the union and sparked the end of slavery is as strong as ever, according to a new survey.

Lincoln finished first in a ranking by historians of the 42 former White House occupants. The survey was released over Presidents Day weekend.

The news wasn't quite as good for the latest addition to the nation's most exclusive fraternity: George W. Bush finished 36th in the survey, narrowly edging out the likes of historical also-rans Millard Fillmore, Warren Harding and Franklin Pierce.

(visit the link for the full news article)

First off, I did a search on this and didnt see any threads on this so I wanted to make a thread on this.

Historians have rated lincoln as the best president in american history. Something that may surprise quite a few of you is that George W.Bush wasnt rated the worst. He was Rated #36 while james Buchannan took last place.

James apparently is known for sitting by helplessly while country moved closer to civil war.

From what I have seen of this list and what I know of each president, it seems fairly accurate to me and I wanted to share it with you.

Well, I say accurate but I must admit that I thought George Bush would be last or closer to it then he is anyway.



www.cnn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 16-2-2009 by gimme_some_truth]

Except if you look at Lincoln's epistolary records you'll see he was quite the racist and opposed to freeing the slaves. That, and the Civil War was unnecessary and slavery was economically on its way out anyway.

Quite generous to bush, and lincoln. I would say jefferson was the best, then washington, then fdr. lincoln barely top 5.

Originally posted by Viral
Except if you look at Lincoln's epistolary records you'll see he was quite the racist and opposed to freeing the slaves. That, and the Civil War was unnecessary and slavery was economically on its way out anyway.

Quite right and little known facts.

Originally posted by Viral
Except if you look at Lincoln's epistolary records you'll see he was quite the racist and opposed to freeing the slaves. That, and the Civil War was unnecessary and slavery was economically on its way out anyway.

You know I have always heard that the only reason he freed the slaves was because it would end the civil war essentially. I dont know

You raise a good point. I too have heard he was racist. I have heard though that he didnt oppose freeing slaves (after all he did) but that he really didnt care that much either way whether black people were held as slaves or not.

But then again I have heard that later on he went on to do other things that help black people out althought I dont know what those things are.

My point being that your raise an interesting point

I haven't heard mention of Lincoln since I was in high school. Then Obama started pushing Lincoln and now the media makes Lincoln out to be the next Hollywood celebrity.

So I see an article on MSN that states "Why are we so fascinated with Lincoln?" and I'm thinkin... why are YOU so fascinated with Lincoln? Leave me out of it!

For some reason the media wants everyone to talk about Lincoln and I'm wondering what their agenda is. There is an agenda behind everything they do.

Originally posted by annestacey
I haven't heard mention of Lincoln since I was in high school. Then Obama started pushing Lincoln and now the media makes Lincoln out to be the next Hollywood celebrity.

So I see an article on MSN that states "Why are we so fascinated with Lincoln?" and I'm thinkin... why are YOU so fascinated with Lincoln? Leave me out of it!

For some reason the media wants everyone to talk about Lincoln and I'm wondering what their agenda is. There is an agenda behind everything they do.

haha yeah That does seem true. all I hear on the news anymore is lincoln this Obama that.

It does get old after awhile no matter your political affiliation.

I think they are just trying to make Obama out to be the next lincoln who is widely credited or accepted as a president of "change" I.E freeing the slaves.

Dead people is a excellent material to be used to create any kind of myth because the dead can't screw up the fair tale that is manufactured. For what purpose? We don't know.... yet...

reply to post by gimme_some_truth


Who knows, you know? You'd have to do some digging and rely on a lot of hearsay to form an opinion. For me, I believe it was much like this situation in Iraq. It's hard for me to swallow the fact that we're led to believe that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney gave a # about the daily life of any Iraqi. Honest Abe was in the same seat as these men and I can't totally dismiss that he may have had the same feelings.

I believe at it's root, the Southern Succession was about unfair taxations on cotton, tobacco, and port usage than it was over slavery. Money always rules over humanity. That's been a lesson that is unwaivering in history.

I'm shocked that this guy gets any love.

Civil War?

That's what makes you great?

On what planet?

Other nations were able to end slavery with out civil wars which wounds are still yet to fully heal in my opinion.

Originally posted by Viral
Except if you look at Lincoln's epistolary records you'll see he was quite the racist and opposed to freeing the slaves. That, and the Civil War was unnecessary and slavery was economically on its way out anyway.

Lincoln was most definitely opposed to slavery. He just didn't think that black people should be able to vote or hold the same rights as white people.

Most people in the north felt that way during that time, equal rights would still be a long ways off.

reply to post by ConservativeJack


Ermmm....Conservative.....funny, when I look up the history of the Civil War it seems that the South was choosing to secede BEFORE Lincoln was inaugurated!!!

Eleven States in the South got 'riled up' because a darn Republican was elected president!!!!

Hmmm......A Republican is about to be sworn into office, and the South wants to secede???

Lincoln inherited the mess.....AND, remember, there was NO internet then, just lies and damned lies, spreading word-of-mouth.

Anyway....I like Lincoln, but I still give him a tie with Washington (maybe Jefferson too...I know, they both owned slaves....it was the 'style' at the time).

Any other history-knowlegable people ever wonder if George Washington had a British accent? John Hancock? Or, Benjamin Franklin?? Remember, the colonization of the States was still quite recent. I know, not the topic, but I think an interesting thing to ponder.

There is an already existing thread on this topic here.

Please contribute any further questions and/or comments to the above linked thread.

Thank you.

Thread Closed.