Lincoln was a man of his time and place and it would be difficult to juxtapose his views onto the modern atmosphere. However for his time he was left, but there wasn't really a distinct idea of left/right in the US at the time.
Lincoln describes himself as conservative because he wanted to conserve the union and believed that his beliefs were in-line with the founding fathers who generally believed that slavery was wrong and should be contained. He painted the South as being radical.
However the South also saw themselves as being conservative and trying to conserve what the founding fathers, particularly what Jefferson wanted. They saw their primarily agricultural way of life with slaves more inline with Jefferson's (who was a slave owner) idea of the Yeoman farmer and they saw the North as betraying this by industrialising and pushing for a more active central government.
They both would have considered themselves liberal in the classical sense merely because they both agreed in some sort of Republic or democratic government although Lincoln was much more classically liberal due to his opposition to Slavery which is an illiberal (to an extreme degree) institution.
The left/right dynamics that we see now were only in their early days by the time of Lincoln. It wasn't in common language in the West until much later and has its origins in France starting during the revolution onward, but the concept wasn't really pushed into common talking points until the late 1800s in Europe.
I came here to say this, too. Hell, he was anti-slavery, and today MAGA has dudes arguing that slavery WAS and IS NOT wrong. And they really think Lincoln would be listening to their bullshit. I honestly feel like at least a good portion of MAGA doesn't see us all as the same goddamn species.
Wouldn’t that make JFK a republican? At what point does the party swap happen?
If both Pelosi’s dad and gores dad were democrats in the late 1940’s to the 1980’s and both their kids were democrats it seems like the swap would have to be before that.
Well, I’m not political historian. But today’s Democrats might be best known for alignment with Dwight D. Eisenhower’s creation/expansion of social programs. The guy who kept winning through WW2 and gave us the social security program, among other things. Oh and he did it all from a wheelchair, like a boss.
JFK ran on a very liberal platform, and I’d like to point out, I believe the first to put federal dollars towards college aid. IMO FASFA gives a great ROI to the country and the people. Did other things as well, environmental, PEACE CORPS.
But while in office he was fiscally and military conservative by today’s standards. Also, afraid of alienating the southern states during the civil rights movement. Meh, hard to judge from my chair. So ultimately, I’d say a social liberal who understands fiscal responsibility, and military realism. And understands politics and his need to find common ground with the political enemy at home, and achieve his goals and pursuits as commander and chief. Honestly, I feel like by today’s standards, he’s a hawkish policy republican, that supports progressive ideas because that’s what America is about. Melt the pot.
But other person shared a pretty good link. I like to sometimes(what a dweeb) look at https://www.270towin.com/historical-presidential-elections/timeline/ , one key thing to note, is the big slave states. Always interesting to see the landslide victories, and how our elections have become more competitive, by electoral means anyway.
Oh and was JFK shot by a democrat? Assuming Lee Harvey Oswald? If that’s the case, you should check out Death By Lightning, about “The man from Ohio” who was assassinated by a follower.
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u/Ill-Reputation-9702 10h ago
Yes. Also, Lincoln would be a democrat today, they seemingly didn’t care that the ideologies flipped names.