>>>And you don’t have the first edition, do you?<<<
I have the first paperback edition.
>>>Tommy did a lot of correcting for the subsequent printings, as he admits.<<<
And your point is? Are you ready to dispute his historical arguments with facts rather that innuendo and ad-hominems?
>>>But you should go read Lincoln’s Peoria speech to see that quote in context.<<<
Are you referring to this part, “My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia”, or this one, “What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this”.
>>>By the way, you do know that Tommy also feels that Bush and Cheney are war criminals for invading Iraq, don’t you?<<<
Yup. The only person I agree with on everything is Jesus Christ; and what does this have to do with anything we have been discussing? If that is the best you can do, I recommend you fall back and regroup.
Context:
When southern people tell us they are no more responsible for the origin of slavery, than we; I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the institution exists; and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do, as to the existing institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia,—to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince me, that whatever of high hope, (as I think there is) there may be in this, in the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus shipping and surplus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as unde rlings? Is it quite certain that this betters their condition? I think I would not hold one in slavery, at any rate; yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon. What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not. Whether this feeling accords with justice and sound judgment, is not the sole question, if indeed, it is any part of it. A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, can not be safely disregarded. We can not, then, make them equals. It does seem to me that systems of gradual emancipation might be adopted; but for their tardiness in this, I will not undertake to judge our brethren of the south.
Now, show me one political leader, north or south, who was on record as being more "enlightened" on the subject of race. And if you want to have the "transportation" debate, we certainly can. You'd be surprised how many people were in favor of it, like Thomas Jefferson.