I copied that info from a newsgroup.
Of cousre we could always go back to the fact that Lincoln wanted the slaves deported, and even told a group of them it would be best.
Well, here's the deal on that. First of all, the group Lincoln famously met with in the summer of 1862 were not slaves, they were free, and were mostly northern born, I believe.
When you say Lincoln "wanted the slaves deported", that is not the whole story. I have no trouble with the idea that Lincoln in the late 1850's would have been glad to snap his fingers and have all blacks resettled.
But when they resisted this idea, he pretty much dropped it. And he began to work for the idea of negro equality and equal rights from the beginning of 1863.
The people who want to say, "look, look, look -- Lincoln was a racist!" want to quote him from the 1850's and ignore what he did during the war. Lincoln said that if the emancipation proclamation were withdrawn, the Union would have to give up the war in three weeks.
We all know that Lincoln's primary goal was to preserve the Union. His feelings of fairness prompted him to extend the blessings of citizenship to all who brought about that great consummation -- preservation of the Union -- and that includes large numbers of blacks.
Lincoln did a lot to help mold public opinion in the country, but he was always testing the air in regards to what people would accept. When he announced his public support for black suffrage, at least for black soldiers, he was shot.
Walt
Go to 1860 Census
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Go to 1860 Census