Kay and I recently finished reading The Real Lincoln: A new look at Abraham Lincoln, his agenda, and an unnecessary war by Thomas DiLorenzo. It was quite an eye-opener. Having grown up quite a fan of Lincoln, I found the book troubling to say the least. DiLorenzo’s work, however, is not hard to defend as a great deal of his expose` rests on Lincoln’s own speeches and documents.
In short, it appears that Abraham Lincoln did more violence to the Constitution than any president before or since. It was he who turned America’s perception of itself from a constitutional republic to a “nation”—from a group of united-but-sovereign states into a monolithic and indivisible political entity.
I won’t go on about it here, but I highly recommend this book.
Further, I look forward to reading DiLorenzo’s subsequent work, Lincoln Unmasked: What you’re not supposed to know about dishonest Abe. It sits here on my desk, as yet untouched!
Jack
PS: Learning about the corruption under Lincoln got me curious about just how far back that governmental corruption goes. This hunt has me now reading both Overthrow and The Whiskey Rebellion.
