Thursday, March 6, 2008

Maybe Millard Would Win in a Fistfight

I just read this story about a bunch of Abraham Lincoln's letter that are going to be auctioned next month. The writer thought (as you can tell by her putting it first, natch) the most compelling part of the story was Lincoln's reply to a group of boys and girls in Massachusetts who petitioned him to free the "little slave children." That is precious but, I would say, not as awesome as this:

An 1862 letter from former President Millard Fillmore excoriates Lincoln for expanding his war powers, calling him a "tyrant" who "makes my blood boil."

It's not that I don't know what Fillmore was referring to (suspension of habeas corpus, etc.) But still. The idea of Millard Fillmore reprimanding Abraham Lincoln on his skills of a president is hilarious. Lincoln should have been all, "Yeah . . . let's talk about that later. You know, as soon as your major accomplishments aren't A: having been the only major (yet still unsuccessful) presidential candidate fielded by the Know Nothing Party (the Know Nothing Party!) and B: being the archetypal Totally Boring, Indistinguishable President. Seriously, dude. Come on."

Now THAT is a letter I would buy.

1 comment:

Academic Monkey said...

Call me American History Ignorant, but the Know Nothing Party? wtf, jt.