[jeffersondem]

When I point out the shortcomings of Mr. Lincoln, why do you wish to talk about something else? To paraphase a federal judge, of all things, on another matter: “It is no answer to a complaint of injustice to say others have committed similar acts of injustice - each is liable to separate actions and each is to be restrained.”

In my post I wasn't trying to inflame your anti-Southern emotions - you have rehearsed your spiel far too many times already. I have never heard it suggested Jefferson Davis was a libertarian; not sure what you are writing about there unless it is a straw-man argument. Davis and the South got cross-treaded with one maxim: be careful who you choose as enemies - you will become just like them. To an extent they did, but not to the level of depravity of the (Lincoln approved) final solution of Sherman.

[x]

Lincoln behaved largely as we'd expect a US president to behave if the country is threatened.

One can disagree with specific actions, but the idea that he's some kind of antichrist because he suspended habeus corpus when Davis did the same thing won't fly. Grant, Roosevelt, Clinton and Bush all were involved with habeus corpus in ways that strict civil libertarians would object to.

Confronted with a crisis, a president has to decide if he or she is simply going to roll over as Buchanan did and let whatever happens happen, or take actions that will be controversial for somebody somewhere.