Extra Credit Questions

[GustD45]

This discussion about the Lincoln's parenting style - or lack thereof - brings to mind a very old argument. As historians (amateur and professional alike) and even the public in general tend to dehumanize historic figures. People like Lincoln, or Washington, or Jefferson, or Franklin, or even Stonewall and Lee were real people with real emotions and real human failings. Lincoln was a great politician and leader, but he's a lousy father. Washington was the father of our country, but he owned slaves. General Stonewall Jackson was a great warrior, but he broke the law and taught a slave how to read. Do these failings make them less great? I think not. I believe we need to examine the whole person when researching historic figures.