“How you interpret the following proposal from Mr. Lincoln’s annual address to Congress, is obviously entirely up to you . . .”
I am not familiar with the proposal you cite. If I ever heard of it, I had forgotten it.
Please post the link. I’d like to read more.
The proposed constitutional amendment is interesting, for several reasons. It would have provided funding to States where slavery remained lawful, apparently for compensating slave owners, if emancipation occurred before January 1, 1900; and it authorized possible resettlement of former slaves, somewhere outside the United State.
Those who see the conflict as some sort of 'anti-slavery crusade' might be disturbed by Mr. Lincoln's proposal, but he obviously was extremely pragmatic, when it came to human bondage. His focus on preserving the union was equally obvious, although I would find that obsession easier to understand, if the Constitution either explicitly prohibited, or necessarily implied a prohibition of, State seccession. But no clear restriction on secession existed, prior to ratification of the 14th Amendment...