[Colonel Kangaroo]

Your entire argument is that The Good King Lincoln put down the evil slavers who thought as Stephens did. The problem you can't circumvent is that Lincoln's own opinions were indistinguishible from those of Stephens, Davis, or any of the others with respect to equality. He went so far as to be more harmful in his intentions to the blacks, keeping them out of the territories because:

If slavery was allowed to spread to the territories, he said "Negro equality will be abundant, as every White laborer will have occasion to regret when he is elbowed from his plow or his anvil by slave n-----s" Lincoln, CW 3:78 [Lincoln uses the N-word without elision]

So Lincoln didn't like the idea of free Americans economically competing with slave labor. I don't see the big deal. Don't we hear similar words today about free Americans competing with Red Chinese slave labor?

There were good men in the South who wished to end slavery. But due to the selfish shortsightedness of the powerful slave owner element, prospects for gentle change from within were dim. They would have to be forced at gunpoint to give up their so-called "property". Thanks to the foolishness of their secession, they themselves transformed their fellow Americans to external enemies and facilitated the ridding the continent of this evil. I am grateful to the Radical Republicans for their upholding of the American principles of free opportunity of all and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence. The country is much the better for men like Thaddeus Stevens, Sumner and Lincoln.

If our fellow man can be considered property to be sold and bought and done with as his "owner" sees fit, then the Confederates were right and the Radical Republicans wrong. But if we we really believe the words of the Declaration that "all men are created equal" then we should all be at heart with the Radical Republicans. The very fact that today all of us see that slavery is wrong is tribute to these early Republicans.

[Gianni]

So Lincoln didn't like the idea of free Americans economically competing with slave labor.

That's not what he said:

"Negro equality will be abundant,"

--Abraham Lincoln

I don't see the big deal.

I do.

Don't we hear similar words today about free Americans competing with Red Chinese slave labor?

From modern American communists (labor democrats), we hear that they don't want to compete with Chinese labor, but we don't hear (or at least I have not heard) that they espouse anti-Chinese racism (Chinese equality to be an unbearable horror).

There were good men in the South who wished to end slavery. But due to the selfish shortsightedness of the powerful slave owner element, prospects for gentle change from within were dim. They would have to be forced at gunpoint to give up their so-called "property".

The first sentence is great and agreeable. The second two are conclusions not easily drawn, and I'd be interested in your supporting data and thought process. Most of what I have seen on the subject points to the exact opposite - that the rhetoric surrounding slavery was getting more fierce in its defense because it was dying a slow death.

Thanks to the foolishness of their secession, they themselves transformed their fellow Americans to external enemies and facilitated the ridding the continent of this evil.

Agreed, however this has no bearing on their right to seceed, and by your reasoning secession was necessary to bring about that end.

I am grateful to the Radical Republicans for their upholding of the American principles of free opportunity of all and the ideals of the Declaration of Independence.

As I pointed out, that's not what they were doing.

If our fellow man can be considered property to be sold and bought and done with as his "owner" sees fit, then the Confederates were right and the Radical Republicans wrong.

This is a "heaven and hell" argument, not a "Government of the United States" argument. As I said, if you would like to state that slavery is morally wrong such that God would not tolerate it, and Lincoln acted in that capacity as an agent of such, that is a different argument (one that I'm pretty sure supporting data will show to be wrong).

But if we we really believe the words of the Declaration that "all men are created equal" then we should all be at heart with the Radical Republicans. The very fact that today all of us see that slavery is wrong is tribute to these early Republicans.

As I already stated, the Radicals did not believe in equality any more than they believed in the Easter Bunny. That better principles ultimately prevailed is the triumph of America. The Radicals collected power for the purpose of abuse and subjugation of the South; better men have since seen fit to use it instead in defense of liberty.