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As a young politician in Illinois before the Civil War, Lincoln often voiced his belief that blacks and whites would live best if they lived separately.

Considering how free blacks were treated in the North, and how blacks, free and slave, were treated in the South where was Lincoln wrong in his belief? Please don't try and assign some 20th century politically correct criteria to it but use the beliefs of the period and answer this one, simple question. Where...was...Lincoln...wrong?

Free blacks were not welcome in the North, that is well documented. They couldn't serve on juries in any state and couldn't vote in most. They couldn't serve in the militia or get government jobs. The weren't accepted as equals. They could get an education, but for the most part they were greeted with suspicion and hostility, especially among the immigrant population. Once could go so far as to say that the situation for freed blacks up North were in some ways as bad as it was for freed blacks down South.

Because free blacks were not welcome in the South, either. That is well documented, too. They couldn't serve on juries in any state, couldn't vote in any state, couldn't move freely from state to state since every Southern state I'm aware of prohibited free blacks from entering. In most states they were limited in the occupations they could pursue. In most states education was unavailable to them - Virginia went so far as to pass a law stating that if a free black resident left the state to get an education they were barred from returning. States like South Carolina and Virginia had laws with provisions that allowed them to return freed blacks to slavery. Many states had required legislative approval to emancipate slaves and I believe it was the Alabama Supreme Court that ruled that emancipation was a gift and slaves lacked the legal standing to accept such a gift, so private acts of emancipation were invalid. All in all a grim existence.

So tell us, Mr. Jenerette. You're Abraham Lincoln. You see how free blacks are treated North and South, and how the slaves are treated. You know that there is nothing you can do that will change how people view blacks in the country. Why is suggesting an opportunity that allows free blacks to carve out their own future free from white oppression such a bad thing? Why would taking steps to promote such a plan be evil? Lincoln was no different in his beliefs in this area than were men like James Monroe or John Breckenridge or Roger Taney or even the sainted Bobby Lee. They all supported colonization plans with their beliefs and their money. Why is Lincoln deserving of criticism and not them?