Thanks for the reference, I’ll check it out.
FWIW, Lincoln is no hero of mine. I sympathize with the feeling that he started to turn out government into what it is today (it was done by any one President but he sure helped). I don’t think this was intentional, I simply feel he was trying to do his best to keep the country together and he did the right thing.
There was no other major states right at issues other than slavery. The issue had been boiling for decades.
In fact it took North Carolina three or more votes before they actually did secede and they lost the most men of any state in the confederacy.
You’re welcome.
I always had my suspicions on Lincoln for some reason, but after reading America’s Caesar and many other older books on him and that era, they’re no longer suspicions. I think you too will find your assumption on slavery as the cause to be incorrect upon deeper investigation.
Even if you believe slavery WAS the issue, you could say “so what”...then let the slave states leave peacefully then and 600,000 people won’t have to die (and many in congress argued just that). But Lincoln couldn’t allow that for the economic implications were too great to the North. He preferred to “save the union” (aka consolidate power in D.C. at the cost of half a million + dead) rather than let states secede peacefully.
Remember, four states didn’t secede until Lincoln raised 75,000 troops to invade the South. They died as Virginians and North Carolinians because they didn’t want to live under another monarchy just as their ancestors fought. If only we had a Jefferson who told NH et al they could secede if they wanted just a couple generations earlier.
The scariest thing about A.C. is reading it today and reading the speeches, tactics, precedents, etc. from generations ago (esp. Lincoln and FDR) and the unbelievable parallels and abuses in the present administration. (/shiver)