I believe all those things to be true. There are nuances associated with those views that make it a complicated discussion at best. As I told someone the other day, it wasn’t just that Lincoln got elected, it was that the entire balance of power in Congress had swung the other way. Slave states knew their days were numbered one way or the other.
They made a bunch of wrong moves and played into Lincoln hands. At the same time, at one point northern support for the war was so low that even Lincoln probably would not have been able to continue with it had Confederates won one more major victory. That’s what Antietam was all about.
Correct... and between us (whether or not we totally agree) we certainly know more about the thing than Mr. Dylan and THAT’S what I meant all long.