Extra Credit Questions

[Steve]

Is it Gen. John J. Pershing? He had a very brief presidential campaign. The only other person who might match your description is Leonard Wood, but he was nearly nominated by the Republicans in 1920.

[Gene C]

Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock ?

[L Verge]

(04-09-2017 04:11 PM)Gene C Wrote:  Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock ?

Pershing was going to be my next guess also, so I hope Steve is correct.

[RJNorton]

It's not Hancock, Gene, and Steve got it. Kudos, Steve! Laurie, you win, too. The answer is General John J. Pershing.

Pershing gave several talks in praise of Abraham Lincoln, and this quote came from his February 13, 1928, speech before the National Republican Club in New York City.

Steve and Laurie, you both win free tickets to visit the Gen. John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site in Laclede, MO.

[L Verge]

Pershing's home is so similar to my family home that was burned by arsonists in 2014 that I almost started to cry when I saw this picture. The main difference is that our home had a full, two-story, Queen Anne bay instead of just the small protrusion here. We also had more windows.

Wonder what its date of construction was. The oldest part of our Huntt house was in the rear, ca. 1840. In 1872, great-grandpappy turned a story-and-a-half house into a two-story plus attic one by raising the roof and creating a section almost identical to the porch block shown here. In 1905, his widow added the Queen Anne bay, which was actually one huge parlor downstairs and one huge bedroom upstairs.

[RJNorton]

In a speech on April 14, 1876, Frederick Douglass described Abraham Lincoln as "preeminently the white man's President."

In another speech a man described Abraham Lincoln as "emphatically the black man's President."

What is the name of the man who termed Lincoln "emphatically the black man's President?"

[Eva Elisabeth]

I thought Douglass said both.

[RJNorton]

Excellent, Eva! You are correct. Douglass said this in a June 1, 1865, speech at the Cooper Union in New York. IMO, authors often seem to include the 1876 quote, and not as often, the 1865 quote.

Regarding Lincoln, Wayne Temple writes, "Abraham Lincoln treated people of all races with respect if they deserved respect."

Eva, you win best wishes with your studies!

[Eva Elisabeth]

Thank you, Roger!

[L Verge]

(04-22-2017 07:41 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Excellent, Eva! You are correct. Douglass said this in a June 1, 1865, speech at the Cooper Union in New York. IMO, authors often seem to include the 1876 quote, and not as often, the 1865 quote.

Regarding Lincoln, Wayne Temple writes, "Abraham Lincoln treated people of all races with respect if they deserved respect."

Eva, you win best wishes with your studies!

Did Mr. Douglass go on to explain his change in views?

[Eva Elisabeth]

(04-22-2017 11:52 AM)L Verge Wrote:  

(04-22-2017 07:41 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  Excellent, Eva! You are correct. Douglass said this in a June 1, 1865, speech at the Cooper Union in New York. IMO, authors often seem to include the 1876 quote, and not as often, the 1865 quote.

Regarding Lincoln, Wayne Temple writes, "Abraham Lincoln treated people of all races with respect if they deserved respect."

Eva, you win best wishes with your studies!

Did Mr. Douglass go on to explain his change in views?

I wouldn't say he changed his view but the quote was out of context. Here's a part of how the speech went on.
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/libra...m-lincoln/


"I have said that President Lincoln was a white man, and shared the prejudices common to his countrymen towards the colored race. Looking back to his times and to the condition of his country, we are compelled to admit that this unfriendly feeling on his part may be safely set down as one element of his wonderful success in organizing the loyal American people for the tremendous conflict before them, and bringing them safely through that conflict. His great mission was to accomplish two things: first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin; and, second, to free his country from the great crime of slavery. To do one or the other, or both, he must have the earnest sympathy and the powerful cooperation of his loyal fellow-countrymen. Without this primary and essential condition to success his efforts must have been vain and utterly fruitless. Had he put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, he would have inevitably driven from him a powerful class of the American people and rendered resistance to rebellion impossible. Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.

Though Mr. Lincoln shared the prejudices of his white fellow-countrymen against the Negro, it is hardly necessary to say that in his heart of hearts he loathed and hated slavery. The man who could say, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war shall soon pass away, yet if God wills it continue till all the wealth piled by two hundred years of bondage shall have been wasted, and each drop of blood drawn by the lash shall have been paid for by one drawn by the sword, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether,” gives all needed proof of his feeling on the subject of slavery. He was willing, while the South was loyal, that it should have its pound of flesh, because he thought that it was so nominated in the bond; but farther than this no earthly power could make him go.

Fellow-citizens, whatever else in this world may be partial, unjust, and uncertain, time, time! is impartial, just, and certain in its action. In the realm of mind, as well as in the realm of matter, it is a great worker, and often works wonders. The honest and comprehensive statesman, clearly discerning the needs of his country, and earnestly endeavoring to do his whole duty, though covered and blistered with reproaches, may safely leave his course to the silent judgment of time. Few great public men have ever been the victims of fiercer denunciation than Abraham Lincoln was during his administration. He was often wounded in the house of his friends. Reproaches came thick and fast upon him from within and from without, and from opposite quarters. He was assailed by Abolitionists; he was assailed by slave-holders; he was assailed by the men who were for peace at any price; he was assailed by those who were for a more vigorous prosecution of the war; he was assailed for not making the war an abolition war; and he was bitterly assailed for making the war an abolition war..."

[L Verge]

Thank you for posting this, Eva, and especially posting the link to the full speech. I was not aware of that speech, but it is a very impressive one and should be more widely read (and spread).

[L Verge]

Here's a trivia question that might still apply today: What famous politician predicted on his deathbed that the U.S. would "prove a failure" and that "an irresponsible majority would override [the] conservative element" and eventually "would set aside the constitutional restraints"?

[RJNorton]

John C. Calhoun?

[L Verge]

(05-05-2017 03:51 AM)RJNorton Wrote:  John C. Calhoun?

A+ Roger! I thought that would be a tough one, but you must have picked up on the Rose Greenhow question and known that Calhoun was more or less her mentor.

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This is not a question, but actually a homework assignment: In reading about Beast Butler's contempt for Rose Greenhow, I saw the statement that Butler was the only Civil War general never to lead men into battle. Is that true?