Abraham Lincoln vs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt

[TDAS04]

Well?

[SATW]

lincoln (sane)

[Lief 🗽]

I prefer Lincoln as a person but FDR is objectively better.

[politicallefty]

FDR (D). I totally idolize the man and almost everything he stood for. I have zero doubt in my mind that he was the greatest President we've ever had. A successful Democratic Party needs to get back to its FDR roots with the formation of a New New Deal.

[ElectionsGuy]

A welfare state being more important than freeing a enslaved group of people to some liberals? Shocked I tell you!

[TNF]

The one who freed people from slavery rather than consigned an entire ethnic group to concentration camps (normal)

[Wake Me Up When The Hard Border Ends]

Lincoln (R), very easily.

[Zioneer]

Lincoln was facing a bigger problem (though the Depression had the possibility of becoming a Civil War if things got really bad), so him.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Probably in objective terms it should be Lincoln, but I've always had a personal preference for FDR. I guess his main advantage over Lincoln was that he was a trendsetter at the international level, being the first major country leader to enact large-scale stimulus policies. By contrast, the fight against slavery in the US was won about 15 years later than it reasonably should have.

[DemPGH]

FDR. Still, I can see how people would be conflicted on this one.

[Rockefeller GOP]

lincoln (sane)

[RINO Tom]

lincoln (sane)

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The only two mostly good U.S. Presidents. Lincoln takes it though.

[Lincoln Republican]

Lincoln.

Liberated the slaves.

Preserved the Union.

But FDR definitely ranks #2,or #3 at the very least.

[SWE]

Lincoln obviously. FDR was scum.

[Sumner 1868]

lincoln (sane)

[Attorney General, Senator-Elect, & Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

The one who freed people from slavery rather than consigned an entire ethnic group to concentration camps (normal)

[Rockefeller GOP]

Both two of the worst presidents in American history. Since Lincoln would rather me be a slave, FDR

Yeah, Lincoln just loved people being slaves, unlike the good people of Texas...

[Mechaman]

The one who freed people from slavery rather than consigned an entire ethnic group to concentration camps (normal)

[TNF]

Both two of the worst presidents in American history. Since Lincoln would rather me be a slave, FDR

Um, what?

[Mechaman]

Both two of the worst presidents in American history. Since Lincoln would rather me be a slave, FDR

Yeah, that is why he totally waged a Civil War instead of try to negotiate with the Confederacy over the misunderstanding at Fort Sumter.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Both were tyrannical dictators (Libertarian-CA).

Seriously though, while both of them faced crises that were an order of magnitude higher than what the US faces today, the fact that Lincoln was greeted upon his election with an entire region of the country seceding and then the bloodiest domestic conflict (by far) in America's history just seems like a more urgent challenge than the admittedly still-unbelievable challenge of  30+ percent unemployment and the threat of domestic conflict (revolution), but not the reality of it.

World War II and its related events gives FDR a formidable legacy in international affairs, but that war did not literally tear the country apart like the American Civil War did (if anything, quite the opposite; WWII was arguably the most unifying conflict in American history, certainly one of them, at least).

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Both two of the worst presidents in American history. Since Lincoln would rather me be a slave, FDR

Yeah, Lincoln just loved people being slaves, unlike the good people of Texas...

The man didn't care about abolishing slavery until it was politically feasible. He would have kept the union together if it meant slavery existed. Lincoln was trash and a racist

Have you actually read any of Lincoln's speeches/ writings from his pre-presidential career? It's pretty clear that the man abhorred slavery and wanted to see it eliminated. And yes, it's impossible to do something through the political process unless it's "politically feasible", so I'm not sure why that's part of your argument. The moment it was feasible to abolish slavery, Lincoln jumped at the chance, even when some so-called "anti-slavery" men (Horace Greeley, Salmon Chase, etc.) urged him to drop the issue. Calling Lincoln "racist" because he didn't end slavery until it was possible is ridiculous, especially considering that you're defending the people who actually had the power to end slavery in the process.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Both two of the worst presidents in American history. Since Lincoln would rather me be a slave, FDR

Yeah, Lincoln just loved people being slaves, unlike the good people of Texas...

The man didn't care about abolishing slavery until it was politically feasible. He would have kept the union together if it meant slavery existed. Lincoln was trash and a racist

Opposing the expansion of slavery was tantamount to ending slavery, albeit slowly--Lincoln favored gradual emancipation until he realized that immediate emancipation was politically feasible. The South recognized this--that's why they seceded.

[RINO Tom]

I'm changing my previous assertion that Lincoln was better to a new assertion that Lincoln is literally the correct answer in this poll.