5 Best and Worst Presidents in American History?

[Rick]

Well we will never know.

However, had Lincoln offered money it might have worked. Remember, money talks, BS walks.

And yes the South was very militant, but as I stated, Lincoln had two choices that would have averted war. He chose war.

The South wanted to secede. They had no intentions of conquering the North.

Unfortunately, their territory is not only their states, but also part of the U.S. - they simply couldn't waltz off with U.S. territory.

 

[Rick]

Slaves were fixed assets with real costs and expenses that impacted the profitability of the farming business. Abolitionists wanted slaved owners to write off these assets without compensation. Imagine robot abolitionists demanding the Toyota mothball all it's robots prior to the end of their functional life withotu compensation. Think Toyota would like that ? (I chose Toyota as they actually manufacture in America.) Plantation owners were easing into technology to replace manual labor (again as they could justify the expense) as tech was more reliable than people and more efficient. This is why the rest of the slave owning world was happy to take the money as it got them to tech labor and greater profitability quicker.

So enslaved human beings were just the full equivalent of say a punch press? Yes, they were human "capital", but I'm not going to weep for their loss of it anymore than the lost "capital" of a pimp when his whore runs away. The claim that southerners were easing into technology is silly. Without having ever created the institution, I'm sure agricultural technology would have increased greatly over the hundred years preceding emancipation, but with the continued presence of millions of cheap slaves, who bred even more slaves, there was little incentive.

 

[Gipper]

Unfortunately, their territory is not only their states, but also part of the U.S. - they simply couldn't waltz off with U.S. territory.

The Constitution did not disallow succession. It was silent on the issue because the Founders knew the States might not join without the right to leave at some future date. The States were individually sovereign.

What Lincoln did was terribly immoral. To keep the Union together, he waged war on Americans causing unimaginable suffering and death.

Lincoln felt slavery was morally wrong, but he did not declare war because of slavery. He declared war because he believed the federal government should be the highest authority in the land, and that states had no right to self-determination.
...Most immoral.
http://civilwar.bluegrass.net/secessioncrisis/890304.html

 

[Gipper]

Best:
Reagan
Coolidge
Washington
Jefferson
Truman (for dropping the bombs)

Worst:
Obama
Carter
FDR
Wilson
Bush I
Bush II

Today is the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. And, I must correct the post above. After doing some research on this horrible event, I must condemn Truman for what he did. It is apparent that the bombing was a war crime. The Japanese tried to surrender in July and Truman would not accept it. He wanted to show the Soviets that we had massive power in the hopes that they would be easier to bargain with in Eastern Europe (yeah that worked ). To murder women, children, and old men for that purpose, is unconscionable.

I must apologize to Apathy for my comments above. He was right. Many Americans have been told a lie about the bombings.

Truman must be considered one of the worst presidents for doing what he did.

These two links spell it out clearly.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/raico/raico22.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/denson7.html

 

[dogtowner]

Today is the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing. And, I must correct the post above. After doing some research on this horrible event, I must condemn Truman for what he did. It is apparent that the bombing was a war crime. The Japanese tried to surrender in July and Truman would not accept it. He wanted to show the Soviets that we had massive power in the hopes that they would be easier to bargain with in Eastern Europe (yeah that worked ). To murder women, children, and old men for that purpose, is unconscionable.

I must apologize to Apathy for my comments above. He was right. Many Americans have been told a lie about the bombings.

Truman must be considered one of the worst presidents for doing what he did.

These two links spell it out clearly.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/raico/raico22.html
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig2/denson7.html

dems like acting tough, even then