Lincoln Memorial Update

[David Lockmiller]

(02-21-2023 04:44 PM)Amy L. Wrote:  "...former representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) helpfully reviewed some of the governing principles of America for Greene, tweeting: 'Our country is governed by the Constitution. You swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution. Secession is unconstitutional. No member of Congress should advocate secession, Marjorie.' "

James Russell Lowell's work comes to mind.
From A Letter from Mr. Ezekiel (1846)
If I'd my way I'd had rather we should go to work and part.
They take one way, we take t'other,
Guess it wouldn't break my heart...

In justifying his proposal, Lincoln asked the cabinet, “how long has this war lasted, and how long do you suppose it will still last? We cannot hope that it will end in less than a hundred days. We are now spending three millions a day, and that will equal the full amount that I propose to pay, to say nothing of the lives lost and property destroyed. I look upon it as a measure of strict and simple economy.” The cabinet unanimously rejected this pragmatic argument, which Lincoln used to justify compensated emancipation back in 1862. Secretary of the Interior John P. Usher speculated that Lincoln’s “heart was so fully enlisted in behalf of such a plan that he would have followed it if only a single member of his cabinet had supported him in the project.” Sadly, Lincoln commented, “You are all against me” and dropped the matter.

Lincoln evidently intended the $400 million to help revive the blighted economy of the South. It was an enlightened proposal designed to help restore sectional harmony.

(Abraham Lincoln: A Life Vol. Two, at and about pages 759 - 760)