Was Lincoln considered a Liberal or a Conservative relative to the opinions of his day?

[Not So Great American]

I'm thinkin' Liberal...
So why is it that the GOP, which is the conservative party likes to brag about how Lincoln was a Republican. Don't they understand that over time, parties shift? Shouldn't they be ashamed of having a liberal in their ranks back in the day?

 

[cantcu]

He was a liberal. In fact Republicans were liberal back in those days.

I don't see how people can be true conservatives as they would not believe in the most liberal document in the land!

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness"

The Declaration of Independence is about as close to the beliefs of a true liberal as you can get.

 

[Adolf Schmichael]

He was more likely a liberal by todays standards.

Republicans of the day were actually the more "progressive" party, as was Teddy Roosevelt, a self proclaimed progressive. The progressives mainly split from the republican party around Woodrow Wilson's time because of international/interventionist views that they shared with the democratic platform of the time.

 

[Rev-'em-up Wright]

Who cares? Lincoln was a very liberal president.
But, genius, liberalism of today can not be compared to liberalism then.

Btw, I am a conservative Republican that thinks that Lincoln was one of the worst Presidents the US ever had.

Lincoln is looked at today as the guy that freed the slaves. And he did, although not by himself.

Lincoln started a process in motion that continues today. The granting of more and more power to the federal government and less and less power to the people and the States.

Although slavery was a major issue, Lincoln had many times agreed to allow slavery to end the conflict, but by that time the Confederacy was at a point that they would not accept any agreement and only wanted their freedom from the federal, central government.

What Lincoln did was start the ball rolling to grant the federal government power over the Bill of Rights and States Rights. And it goes no today.

What Lincoln did was grant himself and a few others the right to determine what everyone else's rights actually were, instead of simply accepting those rights as absolute. As the founders wanted them to be.