Abe Lincoln vs. Barack Obama

I must acknowledge some mistakes that I made that my opponent has pointed out.Yes, I meant the Emancipation Proclamation. I wasn't researching this when I typed it and I have no idea why I said Gettysburg Address.With the transcontinental railroad, I meant to only say that Lincoln supported the completion of it. Yes, Grant was president when it was actually completed. My mistakes. Let's start off with our crisis topic.Obama did indeed become president at a time of crisis with a severe recession hitting the US and the world. The national debt was exploding. However, unemployment is barely down then when it was when Obama took office. Iraq is over, but Afghanistan is still going to be on our agenda until the end of next year. Debt has continued to explode under Obama. He is unable to do anything about Israel and North Korea. I am not arguing against Obama, because I think he is a rather okay president, but Lincoln persevered and came through the crisis he was handed. I dont consider suspending basic Constitutional Rights and creating a sh*tload of new taxes (namely income taxes) to be considered 'working magic' to hold the union together....I don't know about you, but if you were in the middle of a Civil War that has claimed eight times more lives than the current Syrian Civil War, wouldn't you want to create taxes in order to help pay for what is going on? The idea was to solve it, not prolong it. Congress consisted entirely of Republicans who were always behind Lincoln no matter what he did, and he could have Congress do anything since there werent any conservatives to oppose himThe 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlawed slavery and was passed in 1864 underneath the 38th United States Congress. Congress was not composed of entirely Republicans. The Senate was composed of 33 Republicans and only 10 Democrats, but the House on the other hand was composed of 84 Republicans and 72 Democrats. This is much like the divided government we have today. In order to have the 13th amendment put in the Constitution, we had to have 2/3 vote from both parts of Congress. The Senate was easy with a 38-6 vote (including 3rd partiers), but the House was a different story. They actually failed to pass it the first time, just 13 votes short. They voted again in January of 1865. 16 Democrats voted for the amendment as well and they finally achieved a needed vote to abolish slavery. Furthermore the emancipation proclamation didnt actually free the slaves in the states that Lincoln was in control of. Yes, you are correct. But this was given at time where a win for the Union in the war was inevitable. This was to apply to the states that were under rebellion and border state control after the war was over. I don't think Lincoln was that stupid. Also Lincoln didnt even think that blacks should be able to vote and actually believed that all of them should go back to Africa once the Civil War endedYou must understand that this was in the 1860s. It was not 2013. Abolishing slavery was a huge step in itself. In fact, probably 99% of the entire country (excluding blacks) didn't think that African-Americans should have the right to vote. This was to become a gradual thing instead of a sudden change within the political system. Actually Johnson had to do that for him since Lincoln was shot just days after the Civil War ended....Andrew Johnson was a Democrat and Abe Lincoln was a Republican. This is probably the only example in this history of ths US where we had a president and vice president in office of two different political parties. Can we also say that Lincoln was not Johnson in any way? Just because Johnson wanted to do so, does not mean Lincoln did. Johnson was impeached and almost removed from office but wasn't by the safety of one vote. He was a loony. Not Lincoln.Lincon vs. Obama1. Lincon's election led to the secession of southern states because they knew his outlook on slavery. Not because he was terrible.2. Obama did not have a Civil War on his hand. There is nothing going on like there was 140 years ago.3. When Lincoln was president the South was the Confederate States of America. They had and managed their OWN economy. This was not Lincoln's doing. The CSA was not as economically and structurally sound as the USA. This was bound to happen. Although American's economy was like this as soon as broke apart from Great Britain. 4. When Obama became president, our debt exploded more than it already was and unemployment barely moved.5. Lincoln thought blacks and white shouldn't be politically equal because of the time period as I have stated previously.6. Obama thinks so because the year is 2013 and our society has changed dramatically since.7. Lincoln thought it would probably be that way due to the mistreatment and racism here in America. If Lincoln supported the abolition of slavery, then I think it's safe to say that he isn't a racist.8. Obama doesn't think that because the USA is the greatest nation in the world and most of Africa is dangerous and corrupt.9. What would Lincoln do with a war that claimed 600,000 lives? Sit back and play cards? In times of crisis, it has been notorious that restrictions on Constitutional rights be implemented in some way. When 9/11 happened, the Patriot Act was passed which really invaded people's privacy. Although Bush was president, almost all of Congress supported it. Lincoln does not pass the laws himself, he needs support from Congress. So to blame one man for the infringement of millions is kind of inaccurate.10. Obama and his thoughts about gun laws is a complete example of wanting to suspend Constitutional Rights.IN CONCLUSION:1. Lincoln fought through a four year Civil War that claimed 600k lives. Obama has barely fought through the legalization of gay marriage. 2. Lincoln abolished slavery, freeing blacks in the USA and the south after the war was over. Obama has not done anything to this magnitude.3. Lincoln had a high moral outlook and integrity that exceeds most. Obama enjoys using oversea drones to execute suspected terrorists when it also claims innocent civilian lives as well.4. Lincoln fought for the economic advancement of our economy by abolishing slavery, supporting the completion of the trans-continental railroad and implementing a national currency and network of banks as well as attempting to implement an income tax. Obama has managed to put our country on a standstill with the economy. In five years, it hasn't really improved significantly.Thanks for a productive debate! I enjoyed it.