# Any American history buffs here?



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Good morning to you all,

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."


Eighty-seven years after after Jefferson penned those words, Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. 
A hundred forty-four years later, women obtained the right to vote.
Two hundred thirty-two years after the Declaration, a black man is President-elect of the United States of American.

While we're breaking records here we were also making history. The President-elect of the United States of American is a black man.

Jeff

EDITED: Removed the Republican reference to avoid any controversy.


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## Guest (Nov 6, 2008)

Jeff said:


> Two hundred thirty-two years after the Declaration, a black man is President-elect of the United States of American. Too bad he wasn't a member of Lincoln's Republican Party, but we can't have everything.


Seems to me that the Democratic Party today is way closer to Lincoln's Republican Party than today's GOP.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Speaking of Lincoln, I haven't begun it yet, but I have purchased _Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln_ by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's supposed to be excellent, my husband has begun it and he concurs.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

You might like William Safire's Freedom, although it isn't yet available for Kindle.









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How do you embed the URL in the image?

J


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Jeff said:


> How do you embed the URL in the image?


You have to nest the BBcodes. Like this:

center]url=http://www.amazon.com/Freedom-William-Safire/dp/038515903X/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1225981316&sr=11-1]img]http://www.eliscopublishing.com/images/FreedomSafire.jpg[/img[/url
[/center

I removed the opening and closing brackets of each code so you can see how it should look.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Thank you.

So here's the book as it should have looked:









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J


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## Suzanne (Nov 3, 2008)

pidgeon92 said:


> Speaking of Lincoln, I haven't begun it yet, but I have purchased _Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln_ by Doris Kearns Goodwin. It's supposed to be excellent, my husband has begun it and he concurs.


Yes, I am about one-third of the way through Team of Rivals and it is excellent. Doris Kearns Goodwin also wrote No Ordinary Time dealing with Franklin Delano Roosevelt & Eleanor Roosevelt and my husband read it and said it also is excellent.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

She won a Pulitzer Prize for _No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Homefront During World War II._

On Amazon.com in hardback









Kindle edition









It should also win a prize for the longest title. 

Jeff


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2008)

Hi Jeff,
Finally, a Kindred Kindle spirit - I LOVE history and read virtually nothing else, unless you include the fact that since I got my K I have now downloaded several fiction greats from the past (am reading Count of Monty Pyth... er, Christo, er, Cristo and enjoying it very much; Gone With the Wind was also great).  I have not read Safire's Freedom, but am finishing up Nothing But Victory about the Army of the Tennessee and it is good.  It is still hard to beat Shelby Foote.  Francis Parkman is also great and I love the French and Indian Wars and everything AmRev, as well as British and colonial history, European history, exploration (especially arctic) and historical biographies.
Seems like there are a lot of fiction enthusiasts in the forum and maybe we history freaks should have our own sting of blah!


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## Guest (Nov 7, 2008)

Jeff said:


> Really? Why is that?
> 
> J


LR's vocal response was "I thought it was obvious!"

Let's just throw this out for starters: Lincoln believed that Federalism took priority over states' rights. The current form of Republicanism believes just the opposite, that state rights are sacrosanct and should be the adjudicator of all moral/legal issues... except abortion, flag burning, gay marriage, etc.


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Bacardi Jim,

I regretted my post and removed it.

Ethan,

Shelby Foote is indeed hard to beat but I think you might like Safire's Freedom. His research is impeccable and as a journalist, he had access to all the Civil War era Matthew Brady plates.

Jeff


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