Historians: Lincoln Best President, Bush 36th
Historians have published a list of the best presidents in history. The numbe r one will surprise no one, Abraham Lincoln, the hero of the Civil War who kept the Union together by using brute force. George W. Bush, the 43rd president, ranks 36th, Bill Clinton 15th and, lastly, Ronald Reagan (the most popular conservative president of the 20th century) 10th.
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Founding father George Washington finished second in the new survey, followed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman, in that order.
Bill Clinton registered the greatest gain among recent presidents, jumping from 21st to 15th in the survey. Ronald Reagan edged forward from 11th to 10th overall, while George H.W. Bush moved up from 20th to 18th.
The prize for the greatest jump in approval from historians over the last nine years, however, went to a president who has often sat near the bottom of such rankings: Ulysses S. Grant. The Civil War general jumped 10 notches, from 33rd to 23rd.
The worst president in history is James Buchanan — the man who watched helplessly as the nation lurched toward civil war in the 1850s.
Interesting about Lincoln is, in my opinion, that both Republicans and Democrats claim him as one of them. Lincoln was, rather obviously, a Republican himself and a man who was willing to do what had to be done (to keep the Union together). He was also the man who ended slavery in the Union as a whole; since Civil Rights leaders and others concerned with the emancipation of minorities in the last 20th century were Democrats, Democrats claim Lincoln is actually one of them.
Looking into the life of Lincoln, however, one quickly finds that he wasn’t a strong principled opponent of slavery. Like many, he wasn’t exactly a fan of it either, but he decided to abolish it when it became clear that keeping the Union together without ending the practice of slavery would be impossible; the North wouldn’t accept a Union in which slavery was legal. Pragmatism led him to force the South to abolish slavery, principles did not. The only big principle Lincoln adhered to was the idea of the Union. He believed it had to remain united, one, and he was willing to do everything (in his power) to prevent it from falling apart. To Lincoln, the Civil War wasn’t truly about slavery but about keeping the Union together.
In any case, what Lincoln is, perhaps more than anything, is an American; an American hero, an American president. Democrats and Republicans can fight all they want about who owns Lincoln, but in the end both do and neither do; Lincoln was an American first and foremost.
I like Lincoln, and am not saying he didn’t pave the way, but to say he single-handedly ended slavery is a myth. The best he did himself was the Emancipation Proclamation, which outlawed slavery in Confederate states. Border states still in the Union were spared. He also advocated for the Thirteen Amendment, which was ultimately passed.
You are right though about his goals during the war. I don’t know it off hand, but in one of his more famous speeches, he declared that if he could win the war by ending slavery he would, and if he could win the war by keeping slavery, he would.
Speaking of which, Lincoln is a perfect example of what never serving in the military and only spending two years in Congress can produce. Not everyone can be as gifted as him, I suppose, but it’s something to think about.