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I consider Lincoln to be a very bad president. He used force to impose the power of government on people who did not wish to be subject to that power. Not what this country was created for.

But what about the institution of slavery imposing the power of government on people who did not wish to be subject to that power?

And what about the many thousands of Unionist Southerners who were compelled by Confederate governmental force to be subject to Confederate power?

The secessionists should have left well enough alone. The desire to facilitate the spread of slavery was not a sufficient cause (Declaration of Independence) to destroy the long established government of Washington and the Founders.

Slavery was wrong. For the United States, it is like our Original Sin. We might have formed a nearly perfect union, but the failure to eradicate slavery at the Founding planted the seed of all our troubles. More than 200 years later, we still wrestle with the aftermath of this failure.

However, the Constitution was ratified, the laws were established, and the sovereign states determined that slavery was a permissible economic system. Once so established, it becomes very problematic for an outside to say "Thou shalt change." Slaves were not citizens. They had no say. I don't defend it, but as a matter of law and government, there it is.

Lincoln freed the slaves by using the military power of a central government to impose his will on free citizens who wanted to be left alone. As a Conservative, I cannot defend such a use of government.

Also, as a Conservative, I cannot defend slavery as an institution. But I can defend the Constitution and the laws, and the power of citizens to enact legislative changes. Many states which allowed slavery in the 18th century elected to abolish slavery in the first half of the 19th century. A good system of laws allowed that peaceful outcome. Lincoln sought another way.

But what about the institution of slavery imposing the power of government on people who did not wish to be subject to that power? And what about the many thousands of Unionist Southerners who were compelled by Confederate governmental force to be subject to Confederate power? The secessionists should have left well enough alone. The desire to facilitate the spread of slavery was not a sufficient cause (Declaration of Independence) to destroy the long established government of Washington and the Founders.

Well said.

I've encountered too many folks who bash Lincoln and seem to think slaves were 'other' as if they were in orbit or something, instead of being human beings owned by other human beings in our country.

It's interesting to see how folks who bash Lincoln seem more infuriated by the high regard for him than they are by the idea of slavery (these are some of the same folks, oddly, who rightly get angry about the killing of human by abortion). They bring up his human flaws, as if by proving he wasn't perfect (no one I know thinks he was) that will somehow dissipate the good he did.

All of this conveniently ignores the sins of those he opposed.

Good to see the freshmen have some historical perspective. That kind of thinking tells me they also won't be bullied by the short-term history that tells them to 'just get over' the whole 'abortion thing'--being conscious of Lincoln's great act might inspire them to save millions from something worse than slavery: destruction in an abortion mill in the name of another kind of sin hidden under lies about "independence".