Happy Birthday Mr. President

No, not the 43rd president, but the 16th. Today is Abraham Lincoln's birthday, and I'd like to point out a couple of good posts on the subject.

First we have the post from Powerline which includes this paragraph concerning a speech by Stephen Douglas in 1858:

Douglas paid tribute to Lincoln as a "kind, amiable, and intelligent gentleman, a good citizen and an honorable opponent," but expressed his disagreement with Lincoln's June 16 speech to the Illinois Republican convention that had named him its candidate for Douglas's seat. According to Douglas, Lincoln's assertion that the nation could not exist "half slave and half free" was inconsistent with the "diversity" in domestic institutions that was "the great safeguard of our liberties." Then as now, "diversity" was a shibboleth hiding an evil institution that could not be defended on its own terms.

Isn't it interesting that the left was promoting "diversity" even back then. The Powerline post also has an excerpt from Lincoln's July 10th response to Douglas that's well worth reading.

Another good post on Mr. Lincoln can be found at Mark Daniel's blog.

This past summer during our tour of Washington D.C. we visited several Lincoln-related sites, including the Lincoln Memorial, Ford's Theater, and the small boarding room across the street where Lincoln died the next morning (I have some pictures from that day here). The memorial is a powerful reminder of Lincoln's impact on the Union, and the theater and boarding house brought home the tragedy of his loss. It was a surreal experience to walk in those places, and something that I would encourage every American to do.