Although remembering with sorrow the death of President Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago today, I also remember, just before heading to the Post Office with my returns, that his administration started the first income tax. frown

One of the biggest "what ifs" in all history is, what if Lincoln had not gone to Ford's Theater on April 14, 1865? He really didn't want to go, but felt that he had to because the newspapers had announced he would be there. (Of course Mrs. Lincoln really wanted to go, and she was an excellent nagger.) What would his survival have meant to Reconstruction? Perhaps permanent civil rights for the black population instead of their having to put up with 100 years of Jim Crow? We'll never know, and IMHO it's useless to speculate.
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May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view--E. Abbey