American History

One of the things that I'm really excited about when I get to Boston is the chance to see all the history and learn more about where our country came from. Sure I know what I learned from school, but I'm always amazed at what new stuff I discover - because the simplified stories we learn in history classes are never what the truth is... and the truth is so much more fun :)


So yesterday, I went back up to Springfield (which if you remember, I just drove through on my way down to my dad's house) to go to the Lincoln museum and his tomb. First off, the museum is fantastic. I don't know if all the presidential museums are this well done, but I was really impressed with how good a job they did. And not only presenting his life, but also showing Lincoln's flaws.


I won't tell you everything I thought was neat (go see it yourself!) but a few things struck me:

1. Booth wasn't the only guy involved in the assassination. I didn't know this (maybe you did!) but it was a part of a much larger scheme to take out the President, VP, and secretary of state in hopes of creating enough chaos to help the confederacy. And it was initially just supposed to be a kidnapping. I don't know why we never hear of the other guys involved (well, they do seem to be mostly idiots just following Booth, but still). I guess we Americans just like to be able to blame one guy.


2. The parallels between Lincoln and Bush are eerie. I can see why Bush thinks history will redeem him - unpopular presidents (Lincoln got something like 40% of the popular vote), both hugely criticized for their determination to be "liberators", both accused of spending money like crazy on personal agendas, etc, etc. The list goes on. In fact, they had a hall of political cartoons about Lincoln, and many could have easily been Bush. Just nutty. But I guess one big difference - Bush initiated his war, Lincoln did not.


3. The pieces on slavery in the museum were pretty moving emotionally; they had an audio track of the supreme court's ruling that blacks were just property playing at one point - that was just chilling. And it seems crazy to me that we keep repeating it. Slavery, women's rights, etc... again and again we somehow justify limiting rights only to eventually realize the mistake. Why are we so stupid as people to not see this? Maybe some day we'll get smarter.

Anyway, so on to some pictures. Most of the museum was off limits to cameras, but here's one:

A picture of Lincoln before his Presidency. I guess he only grew a beard after the first election. They had bronze castings showing how significantly he aged during his Presidency - just proof that so much stress is so horrible for your health.

We went over to see Lincoln's home afterwards. This picture is where he lived before the white house.

And this is one of his campagin carts. They tried hard to portray Lincoln as a down home simple man (which he was), but the similarity with today's campaigns is there - trying to make the candidate seem like he could be your drinking buddy.

But with all the Lincoln stuff, I couldn't help but find something a little more fun (or morbid, depending on how you see it). Here's the sign marking the departure point of the Donner Party. Don't know their story? Read up on it here.

And here is just a picture of the old capital building.

So then it was on to Lincoln's tomb. Out front is a statue where you can rub Lincoln's nose for good luck. Notice how worn the nose is from all the touching. (funny side story: there are other statues around the country you are supposed to rub for good luck. On Wall Street there is the bull - and guess which parts you're supposed to rub there? Keep your mind in the gutter and you'll get it right. Crazy New Yorkers :)

Here's Lincoln's tomb

And the last stop of the day is a fun story. The next picture is from a burial site just a few hundred feet from Lincoln's. The story goes that Roy went to buy a plot from the cemetary and found this one in a prime spot close to Lincoln. They sold it to him only to later try to get it back by sending lawyers after him. As a World War II veteran, he felt slighted (and supposedly would have given it back if just asked). So to prove his point, he erected these stones, proclaiming lifetime dedication to the accordion. Then he could come out, stand on the stone and just play the accordion all day long in an effort to piss off the cemetary staff. And then when he finally did die, he had himself buried somewhere else! I like Roy :)