In response to:
Corbett is absolutely correct. Sorry, Delta, but you're wrong. Especially if you think Lincoln followed the Constitution. In actuality, he destroyed it.
One could cite a thousand instances where he violated the Constitution. But the broader, conceptual view is that he transformed a Confederacy (that would be ALL the states--North and South) in which the states were sovereign, and only yielded to the central government a few, jealously-guarded powers, into a single nation, in which a central government tyranny rules over the states.
Unquestionably, the worst President ever. No other is even close.
As President Obama prepares his State of the Union Address and the nation looks forward to a Presidents Day holiday, Americans should consider the warning examples of our worst chief executives.
While few of Washington and Lincoln's successors could hope to replicate their epic achievements, every president can — and must — focus on avoiding the appalling ineptitude of John Tyler, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and their feckless fellow travelers on the road to presidential perdition. The common elements that link our least successful leaders teach historical lessons at least as important as the shared traits of the Rushmore Four:...
BTW, a thousand instances is a severe understatement, seeing as there were at lest 13,000 instances of just one particular type of abuse.
Lincoln launched a thoroughly unconstitutional war. He arrested more than 10,000 people and held them in military prisons without trial. He shut down more than 300 presses, and allowed several others to operate only under the condition that they refuse to criticize him. He had a senator arrested in the dead of night and deported for criticizing his tax policies. He passed a law making it a crime to accuse any federal officer of abuse of power, and issued a warrant for the arrest of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for issuing habeus corpus against Lincoln's will. And last but not least he authorized, supported, and praised terrorism--deliberate attacks against civilians. According to Sherman's
Randall, by the way, is a Lincoln supporter, who believes that Lincoln's rampant abuses of power were justified.
http://www.amazon.com/Lincolns-Constitution-Daniel-A-Farber/dp/0226237966/ref=pd_sim_b_3
http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Chief-Justice-Taney-Presidents/dp/0743250338/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y
Randall, by the way, is a Lincoln supporter, who believes that Lincoln's rampant abuses of power were justified.
http://www.amazon.com/Lincolns-Constitution-Daniel-A-Farber/dp/0226237966/ref=pd_sim_b_3
http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-Chief-Justice-Taney-Presidents/dp/0743250338/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_y