[BroJoeK]

TallahasseeConservative quoting: "...we should never knowingly lend ourselves directly or indirectly, to prevent that slavery from dying a natural death -- to find new places for it to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old." A. Lincoln, 3 October 1845.

Just so we're clear, I read Lincoln's words to say that we should not "find new places for [slavery] to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old".

That seems to me to express perfectly the opinion of Republicans as late as early 1861 -- slavery where it's lawful should not be interfered with, but also should not be allowed to expand into new territories or states.

And you disagree with what, exactly?

[TallahasseeConservative]

I don’t disagree with that. But slavery in the Confederacy was not new. But if slavery was not to be interfered with where it was lawful, how was the war about slavery?