[presidio9]

Nothing was gained by eliminating slavery at the expense of 600,000 American lives so Northern factory owners could import yours and my starving Irish ancestors to work their miserable factories and live in their miserable tenements.

Idiotic. The Irish choose to come here and were better off than they had been in Ireland. Slavery is never a good thing and that is why you can not be taken seriously by any rational individual. Until you start with the premise that slavery was a supreme evil perpetrated by a small minority in this country no other rationalization you attempt to supply is valid.

[JohnGalt]

They 'chose' because the British were starving them as a matter of government policy. How nice that Lincoln had some cozy gubmint jobs lined up for them when they got off the boat. Lick the boots of your masters all day long, I was raised differently.

Slavery was the supreme evil of the day, I have never argued otherwise.

[dyed_in_the_wool]

Until you start with the premise that slavery was a supreme evil perpetrated by a small minority in this country no other rationalization you attempt to supply is valid.

Any statement which requires a policy be assumed 'supreme' anything is invalid by its nature.
Q.E.D.

Your personal disgust at the moral repugnancy of slavery does not indicate that the nature of the Republic should have been abolished to eliminate a social evil, however abominable. Legal means could and should have been utilized more fully. Lincoln alone was not to blame for this escalation.