Much ado has been made about a fake Lincoln quote that some righwing bozo (but I repeat myself) put in the pages of the fradulent Moonie Times (damn, there I did it again). Your challenge for today: is the following a real Lincoln quote or not? You too can be a historian. I’ll put the answer below the “Read More” button so as to avoid undignified fisticuffs over who won, not to mention the bother of having to award prizes and get people’s mailing addresses and all. Here goes:

Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose—-and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him,
“I see no probability of the British invading us” but he will say to you “be silent; I see it, if you dont.”

Yup. It’s real. Pretty fucking good point too, ain’t it?

File this under Department of Keep Yer Chin Up, Bucky. We’ve been here before. Tyrants, or at least aspiring ones, we have always had and most likely always will, until such psychological disorders as Morbid Lust for Power can be diagnosed at an early age and compassionately treated. Meanwhile we just keep fighting the Freedom Battle as it presents itself to us in the times we are in.

Here’s the whole thing. Edited only to break it up into paragraphs, which was not a standardized feature of 19th century written letters:

To William H. Herndon

Dear William: Washington, Feb. 15. 1848

Your letter of the 29th. Jany. was received last night. Being exclusively a constitutional argument, I wish to submit some reflections upon it in the same spirit of kindness that I know actuates you. Let me first state what I understand to be your position. It is, that if it shall become necessary, to repel invasion, the President may, without violation of the Constitution, cross the line, and invade the teritory of another country; and that whether such necessity exists in any given case, the President is to be the sole judge.

Before going further, consider well whether this is, or is not your position. If it is, it is a position that neither the President himself, nor any friend of his, so far as I know, has ever taken. Their only positions are first, that the soil was ours where hostilities commenced, and second, that whether it was rightfully ours or not, Congress had
annexed it, and the President, for that reason was bound to defend it, both of which are as clearly proved to be false in fact, as you can prove that your house is not mine. That soil was not ours; and Congress did not annex or attempt to annex it.

But to return to your position: Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose—-and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to prevent the British from invading us, how could you stop him? You may say to him,
“I see no probability of the British invading us” but he will say to you “be silent; I see it, if you dont.”

The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending
generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view
destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.

Write soon again.

Yours truly, A. LINCOLN

(found at this spectacular Lincoln site. Someday these twits will realize that Lincoln is probably the most-researched man in American history and damn near every word he ever spoke, and certainly all he committed to paper, is recorded somewhere. Lie and ye shall be busted, buster.)