[Bonaparte]

And again, this time from Dr. Clyde Wilson, professor of history at the University of South Carolina, writing in The Costs of War: America's Pyrrhic Victories, as quoted in the Mises Review --

And of what did freeing the slaves consist? At the Hampton Roads conference, Alexander Stephens asked Lincoln what the freedmen would do, without education or property. Lincoln's answer: 'Root, hog, or die.' Not the slightest recognition of the immense social crisis presented to American society by millions of freedmen. The staple agriculture of the South, the livelihood of the blacks as well as the whites, was destroyed."

[zarf]

Not the slightest recognition of the immense social crisis presented to American society by millions of freedmen. The staple agriculture of the South, the livelihood of the blacks as well as the whites, was destroyed."

Too bad.

Such an evil had to be destroyed as well as the institutions that allowed it to thrive.

No half measures were possible.

No half measures would have been justifiable in he eyes of a just God.

[Non-Sequitur]

And again, this time from Dr. Clyde Wilson, professor of history at the University of South Carolina...

I would point out that Wilson's version differs radically from the account I gave, and the two that you gave. Wilson attributes the comments to Alexander when all the others attribute it to Hunter. Wilson claims the concerns expressed were solely about the freed slaves, and the other three accounts make it clear that white interests were the concern. But then Clyde Wilson has his own agenda to advance, and admitting that Lincoln's account weren't a racist attack on the former slaves does nothing to advance that.