Lessons From Presidents Past

Thanks, Rob. This is another good question. Europe hardly erupted in celebration at Lincoln's election the way it has at Obama's. One British MP famously observed, after studying photos of Lincoln and Jefferson Davis, that Davis looked presidential, but not old Abe.

In time, however, Lincoln became a useful symbol for antislavery Englishmen and anti-Napoleon III Frenchmen -- the personification of the right of the common man to rise.