5fish
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Did you know Lincoln was a self taught mathematician in Euclid's Geometry...
“The Elements” of Euclid taught Abraham Lincoln the art of reason and logic, which he used as a power tool throughout his life, to win cases in court, to debate against slavery and to guide our country through the civil war
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When Abraham Lincoln debated slavery against Stephen Douglas in 1858, Douglas gave a long list of reasons why slavery was justified. But following Euclid, Lincoln made his most powerful argument by starting from the most basic ideas, by going back to the postulates of morality.
Lincoln asked Douglas: “Are you a Christian?” Douglas replied, “Yes.” Lincoln asked, “Do you know and practice the Golden Rule?” Douglas replied, “Of course: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Then Lincoln asked one simple question: “Would you like to be a slave?”
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"He studied and nearly mastered the Six-books of Euclid (geometry) since he was a member of Congress. He began a course of rigid mental discipline with the intent to improve his faculties, especially his powers of logic and language. Hence his fondness for Euclid, which he carried with him on the circuit till he could demonstrate with ease all the propositions in the six books; often studying far into the night, with a candle near his pillow, while his fellow-lawyers, half a dozen in a room, filled the air with interminable snoring." Abraham Lincoln from Short Autobiography of 1860.
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"Euclid wrote thirteen books," says Dan Van Haften, co-author of Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason. "The first six books covered plane geometry," Van Haften says, "and that's what Lincoln studied."
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Van Haften's book, written with David Hirsch, isn't the first to prove Lincoln's fascination with Euclidean geometry. But it is the first to draw a direct connection to how Lincoln used Euclid in his Cooper's Union Address, the Gettysburg Address, and other speeches pivotal to his career -- and the nation
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they have a copy of Proclus's commentaries on Euclid. And on page 159, it says that a proposition, if it has all its parts, has six elements -- an enunciation, exposition, specification, a construction, proof and conclusion."
“The Elements” of Euclid taught Abraham Lincoln the art of reason and logic, which he used as a power tool throughout his life, to win cases in court, to debate against slavery and to guide our country through the civil war
snip...
When Abraham Lincoln debated slavery against Stephen Douglas in 1858, Douglas gave a long list of reasons why slavery was justified. But following Euclid, Lincoln made his most powerful argument by starting from the most basic ideas, by going back to the postulates of morality.
Lincoln asked Douglas: “Are you a Christian?” Douglas replied, “Yes.” Lincoln asked, “Do you know and practice the Golden Rule?” Douglas replied, “Of course: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Then Lincoln asked one simple question: “Would you like to be a slave?”
snip...
"He studied and nearly mastered the Six-books of Euclid (geometry) since he was a member of Congress. He began a course of rigid mental discipline with the intent to improve his faculties, especially his powers of logic and language. Hence his fondness for Euclid, which he carried with him on the circuit till he could demonstrate with ease all the propositions in the six books; often studying far into the night, with a candle near his pillow, while his fellow-lawyers, half a dozen in a room, filled the air with interminable snoring." Abraham Lincoln from Short Autobiography of 1860.
snip...
"Euclid wrote thirteen books," says Dan Van Haften, co-author of Abraham Lincoln and the Structure of Reason. "The first six books covered plane geometry," Van Haften says, "and that's what Lincoln studied."
snip...
The Mathematical Secret To Abe Lincoln's Speeches
What made Abraham Lincoln's speeches great? Geometry, according to the authors of a newly re-issued book about the 16th President.It isn't so much the…
www.northernpublicradio.org
Van Haften's book, written with David Hirsch, isn't the first to prove Lincoln's fascination with Euclidean geometry. But it is the first to draw a direct connection to how Lincoln used Euclid in his Cooper's Union Address, the Gettysburg Address, and other speeches pivotal to his career -- and the nation
snip...
they have a copy of Proclus's commentaries on Euclid. And on page 159, it says that a proposition, if it has all its parts, has six elements -- an enunciation, exposition, specification, a construction, proof and conclusion."