Today's number is 12

The first known organized public protests against slavery in America date back to 1688. In the 1760s to 1770s, while patriots tried to persuade all thirteen colonies to revolt against British rule, Southern colonies conditioned their participation upon perpetuating slavery. During the 1850s, a divisive issue was whether or not the U.S.

This is the famous Bixby letter:

Executive Mansion, Washington, Nov. 21, 1864.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully, A. Lincoln

I cannot even begin to make a comparison between the second Republican nominee for the presidency and the current one.