The snide description given by the Village Voice is about as wide of the mark as the “history” that they themselves embrace as the absolute truth.
“Racism” applied to that era and any era before the 20th century is anachronistic. There was nobody, on either side, that could be pointed to as not being “racist.” Not Lincoln, not white Abolitionists who believed themselves superior just as surely as any slaveholder.
The war was not fought from the northern perspective over slavery, it was to preserve the Union. Economically, it was a tariff war. Most southerners had no slaves. The Emancipation Proclamation was a military document, intended to foment revolt and insurrection in the Confederate states, only. It did not free slaves elsewhere.
So, romanticists and ideologues on either side of the historical debate launch into warped, hysterical talking points when defending their equally incorrect points of view.
The truth of it is in the middle, as always. I do know that the Constitution being run over roughshod during that conflict led to the massive Federal overreach of today, and I suspect few would disagree with this assessment on Free Republic.
Beyond that, it’s highly emotional. Facts are routinely ignored by all.
I think most would agree that it was Wilson, Roosevelt, and LBJ who made this government what it is today and not Lincoln. Two of those were Southerners by the way.
Your summation is about the best I have read at FR. You cover the tariffs which most people ignore. I would only add one thing. Lincoln had to wait for a Union victory before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation. That document also had a diplomatic purpose to keep England and France out of the war. Lincoln needed Antietam so emancipation did not appear as an act of desperation.
Most Southerners paid no tariffs either.