Michele Bachmann Says F^%* History
by ilene - January 27th, 2011 2:52 pm
Courtesy of Jr. Deputy Accountant
Embarrassing.
Listen, we know no one pays attention in school. We know history is ignored by everyone except history buffs who are into that whole thing (JDA is guilty of skipping history class in high school, by that point TLP was likely working on his 3rd history PhD) and we know that we can, as a society assaulted with a constant stream of tweets, status updates and 24 hour news, barely remember what happened last week let alone in the last few centuries. Surely Bachmann isn’t the only one to make a mistake like this but really, Michele? Really?
Her entire team needs to be fired for sending her out there looking like that.
Then again, in her defense, if you ask an American elementary school kid about Abraham Lincoln’s position on slavery, you might be told that he fought bravely to free the slaves. The Great Emancipator, the textbooks call him.
That’s what I was taught, you too?
The truth, however, is that Lincoln, like Bachmann, was a politician just doing what he had to do. The Emancipation Proclamation was a political move, you’re a sucker if you believe anything else. Worse? Honest Abe offered good government money to pay off slave-owners to get their slaves out of town as part of his 1860 presidential campaign:
In 1860, the 3,185 slaves in the District of Columbia were owned by just two percent of the District’s residents. In April 1862, Lincoln arranged to have a bill introduced in Congress that would compensate District slave-holders an average of $300 for each slave. An additional $100,000 was appropriated
to be expended under the direction of the President of the United States, to aid in the colonization and settlement of such free persons of African descent now residing in said District, including those to be liberated by this act, as may desire to emigrate to the Republic of Haiti or Liberia, or such other country beyond the limits of the United States as the President may determine.
When he signed the bill into law on April 16, Lincoln stated: "I am gratified that the two principles of compensation, and colonization, are both recognized, and practically applied in the act."
And there’s this quote, which you should know if you are not a high schooler skipping history class: "My paramount object in this…
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The Most Important Treasury Secretary You’ve Never Heard Of
by ilene - June 26th, 2010 6:35 pm
The Most Important Treasury Secretary You’ve Never Heard Of
Courtesy of Joshua M Brown, The Reformed Broker
Think fast – who’s on the $10,000 bill? Granted, you may never have actually seen or held one in your hands, but you’d probably know the name if I said it, right?
Okay – it’s Salmon P. Chase who appears on it.
Never heard of him, right? As we approach Independence Day, I thought we’d take a look at a fairly obscure but important American, the man who both created the national banking system and invented America’s paper currency.
Salmon was a politician from Ohio in the mid-19th century, one of the most outspoken anti-slavery voices in the nation. He ran for the Presidency as the first Republican candidate, eventually throwing his support behind Abe Lincoln for the national race. Lincoln ultimately made Chase his Secretary of the Treasury after the election.
As Treasury Secretary from 1861 to 1864, Salmon Chase raised the $500 million needed to finance the Civil War after striving hard to prevent it’s having to be fought at all. To accomplish this, he sold war bonds with the help of early investment bankers Jay Cooke & Co.
Chase also was the father of our modern paper currency as he created the first "greenback" demand note in 1861. We won’t hold the fact that his own face appeared on many of these notes against him. Chase is said to have personally made the decision to have "In God We Trust" added to the bills as well.
Salmon Chase died at the the age of 65 in 1873 and the Chase Manhattan Bank (now a part of JPMorgan Chase) was named in his honor. From 1928 to 1946, the $10,000 bill was printed and circulated with his face on it.
Anti-slavery activist, proto-Republican and creator of the US paper currency – Salmon Chase is a name you should know.
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Philip R. Davis is a founder Phil's Stock World, a stock and options trading site that teaches the art of options trading to newcomers and devises advanced strategies for expert traders...
Ilene is editor and affiliate program
coordinator for PSW.