Happy 4th of July In it's traditional contrarian fashion, the NY Times looks at 10 days that most changed American history and finds that July 4, 1776 was not one of them (the Declaration was signed two days earlier, and not ratified for a month).  Anyway, it's an intriguing list and well worth a read.  One day that caught my eye?  January, 12, 1848, deemed, " An Ill-Advised Speech":

His timing couldn't have been worse: With the Mexican War almost won, a freshman congressman rose to deliver a blistering attack on President Polk and his "half-insane" aggressive militarism. Almost from the moment he sat down again, the political career of Representative Abraham Lincoln seemed doomed by the antiwar stand he had taken just when most Americans were preparing their victory celebrations.

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