Not the Civil War Lincoln. The Mexican War Lincoln. In 1847, Abraham Lincoln was a 38-year-old Congressman from Illinois. On December 22, 1847, as the Mexican War was raging, Lincoln offered in the House what came to be known as the Spot Resolutions, asking President James K. Polk to provide evidence for his claims that Mexico had “invaded our territory and shed the blood of our fellow-citizens on our own soil.”
Lincoln wrote in his resolutions: “This House is desirous to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed was or was not at that time our own soil.” The resolutions ask Polk to clarify whether the exact place where American blood was shed was actually universally recognized as United States territory.
At that time, Lincoln was not a major political figure, and the House paid little attention. The war raged on. Polk didn’t provide the requested evidence. Some thought Lincoln was unpatriotic for asking, and had hurt himself politically by doing so.
But the Spot Resolutions were valid questions. And we need a Lincoln to revive them today, and to ask Barack Obama to provide conclusive evidence not just that sarin gas was used in Syria, but that the Assad regime used it, and not the jihadis, and to answer suspicions that somehow this whole thing is a set-up — as per the January 2013 Daily Mail piece, now scrubbed from its site, entitled, “U.S. ‘backed plan to launch chemical weapon attack on Syria and blame it on Assad’s regime.'”
But we don’t have any Lincoln today. Only John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and John Boehner, all eagerly doing Obama’s bidding, and who needs evidence?