• Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    My boyfriend keeps saying that America needs a strong leader who can unite the people across the political divide like Lincoln did.

    I think your boyfriend needs to read a history book… Two of the most famous events of Lincoln’s presidency are the only Civil War in the US has ever had, and him getting shot in the back of the head by the opposition.

    Not saying either of those are Lincoln’s fault necessarily…

    • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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      19 hours ago

      You may want to ask yourself why Lincoln was shot and what the civil war was about and who started it and why? You may want to look into what Lincolns actions were throughout his presidency.

      I can give you a hint: he was trying to unify people across political divides and disagreements and he is largely known for being the president who ended slavery and unified the USA. Whenever I have heard about Lincoln, that is what I have heard way before his assassination and the civil war and I have never stepped foot in America.

      To boil Lincoln down to only being known for the civil war and his own assassination at best shows bad faith and at worst a terrible lack of understanding of your own history, in case you are an American yourself.

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        Two of the most famous events

        Relevant text quoted.

        Yes I am an American. An American who’s great great grandfather marched his ass from Indiana down to the bottom of Georgia. In the late 1860s. An American who spent a week each summer following that path with his grandfather and visiting battle sites.

        My argument was not that Lincoln didn’t try to keep the country together. I was just pointing out the irony of calling for a strong leader to bring the country together, and then picking the one president who was in charge when the country split and went to war. It wasn’t Lincoln reaching across the aisle that kept the country together. It was Sherman chasing the confederates to the ocean and burning everything behind him. They were stuck with two options, and the confederates picked the one that didn’t involve swimming for the rest of their lives.

        • Nangijala@feddit.dk
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          17 hours ago

          Okay, so you’re just going to completely ignore everything I said and cherry pick me quoting you. What is with you people?

          Lincoln was the one to make the difficult decisions to do away with an inhumane practice among other things and he wanted a united America. He did pretty much all the dirty work when the country was the most divided and least harmonious. Anyone who came after him and continued the work he started is a valid president in his own right, but Lincoln was the base for that future and part of why he is so remembered.

          I still stand by that Lincoln isn’t mostly known for the Civil War and getting shot. That may be true to you, but where I live and by most people who knows about him, he is famous for being the president who ended slavery and stood up against a cruel practice that had been protected and encouraged by the government for ages before him.

          I do not understand why you are so insistent on poo-pooing on his legacy and ignoring the points I made. You don’t know your own history.