I doubt it highly. I would say Einstein, although it's highly debatable. Aside from being a genius, he also made many, many wise comments about a lot of things and was also a pacifist. I don't think Abe can claim to that.
Poll: Abraham Lincoln: the greatest human ever?
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And there goes another idol... That's why I don't really like hero worship, it always turns out they aren't so perfect after all...The_root_of_all_evil said:
Compared to others of his time, no he wasn't. By today's standards, definitely.Scarecrow 8 said:
OT: In general, Lincoln was, by most historians' viewpoints, the best President the US has had. However, when talking best human, there are a lot of other people that could contend with that: Jesus, Ghandi, MLK jr., Gorbachev, Mandella, Mother Teresa, etc.
To be fair, however, Lincoln really was a better President than most people believe. The only thing most people "know" when they think of Lincoln is that he freed the slaves, but I don't think many of them really know what the Emancipation Proclamation actually said (and didn't say for that matter).
What made Lincoln a good president was that he knew how to get things done and how to manage people. He is often held up as a counter-point to his rival, Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It's an interesting comparison and Shelby Foote's Civil War: A Narrative spends a lot of time comparing the two men.
On the one hand, Davis seemed like the kind of man to lead a nation through war. He was a war hero himself, and he spent Years as a senator. He was also very loved by the people of the South for being the consummate Southern gentleman, not only acting, but looking the part. Whereas Lincoln was a gangly-looking Illinois Lawyer with no real military experience, and little political.
A lot of people on both sides felt that the South had the upper hand when it came to Presidents. As such there were many people within Lincoln's own government that tried to thwart him early on, afraid that he would make a mess of things. As the war wore on, however, and Lincoln continually outmaneuvered opponents both Union and Confederate, it became increasingly clear that it was, in fact, Lincoln who had the upper hand over Davis.
One of Davis's biggest flaws is that he repeatedly let personal feelings get in the way of running things; keeping favored generals in command even when they proved unreliable at best, alienating important political and military figures for purely personal reasons. He also considered it beneath him to engage in the type of maneuvering that Lincoln often resorted to in order to maintain order in his cabinet, and as such Davis was often hamstrung by unruly subordinates. He also had a bad habit of publicly and vocally condemning actions by Lincoln and then later doing the same thing without explanation (supposedly because he thought it unbecoming a gentleman to explain himself); by this I refer to suspending Habeas Corpus and the Conscription Act.
Thus, by the time the war came to an end (and to this day) there are some who claim that the South could have won the war, if only they'd been able to swap Presidents.
I really like how you mentioned a thread that you got put on probation for *point and laugh* plus I already was at that thread not tooo exciting. :|Wayneguard said:
Definitely up there with influential figures in history, but I'd say Ben Franklin beats him, along with several other people I can't think of at the moment.
Besides this, he didnt abolish slavery. He just said it was illegal outside of the Union States (so he said thsi pretty much to the world) and only the southern slaves cared. In fact, that war was never too big on ending slavery really.tellmeimaninja said:
OT: I would say no. Who would I say should be there? well.. there's a lot of people who were great in the world. FDR was a great man (shut up, I know about his secrets and how he "screwed over the nation today with Social Security" but those programs were never meant to last). Um... well, Teddy is a pretty good man, considering.
I would say Washington was the greatest human ever, cause he just was. He was a man who circumstances just didnt like. Him, or Robert E. Lee.
Certainly notable and admirable among historic world leaders, but not the best person.
We all know that is Patrick Stewart.
We all know that is Patrick Stewart.