Thanks for a great post.
I learned in school that “Lincoln Freed The Slaves.” No details were taught about those he did not free.
Also, from as far back in grammar school as I can recall, we were all instructed that Lincoln was one of the two top presidents. It was unquestioned - he was presented to schoolkids as the closest thing to a diety as ever walked the soil of America.
And that was before the Rosa Parks and MLK days.
It wasn’t until I decided to study the events leading up to the war between the states to better understand modern racial tension that I learned about Lincoln’s duplicity and, in my view, weakness as a president.
I now rate him as one of the worst presidents we have ever had.
What other president ever presided over the killing and wounding of one million or more Americans?
That is more than 3% of the entire 1860 population.
Imagine if we had a war today that resulted in over 3% of our population being killed or wounded - that would nine million casualties.
Once hostilities broke out Lincoln devoted his energies to a military solution even though it was American vs. American - brother and father killing father and brother.
A great diplomat, a great leader, could have and should have brokered a way to stop the killing long before 750,000 of his countrymen were dead.
See here for one of the most recent views on the number of Civil War KIA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/science/civil-war-toll-up-by-20-percent-in-new-estimate.html
The same with me. My first school was even named after him. I went to "Lincoln" school. I was told unequivocally that he was the second greatest President ever, and when I was that age, I just accepted it, because why would all these adults tell me so if it weren't true?
It wasn’t until I decided to study the events leading up to the war between the states to better understand modern racial tension that I learned about Lincoln’s duplicity and, in my view, weakness as a president.
I now rate him as one of the worst presidents we have ever had.
This is where I have come to as well. I do not discount the man's brilliance. He was indeed one of the most brilliantly intelligent people who ever sat in the office. His writing and clarity of thought is simply superb, and I think therein lies the reason why his term in office was such a disaster for the nation.
He was too clever by half.
I do not know for certain that he cynically started that war, but I do know he was appalled and I suspect exceedingly resentful at the news that the Southern states wanted to leave the Union on the account of him being elected as President. I think any man in his position would like to strike back at them if he could. Who would want to go down in history as the man who lost a third of the country?
I find it plausible that he could think he could manipulate his way out of this situation. That the will to be independent would dissipate with a firm hand and a little "showing who's boss" determination. I think he gravely underestimate their will to resist, and how it would galvanize against him with the presentation of his force.
I think Lincoln was the 1860s version of Bill Clinton. A Clever, somewhat unethical lawyer who was smooth at manipulating people, but who wasn't as smart as he thought he was.
And that's why his Presidency turned into a disaster.
Did you ever notice that it is all the "Genius" Presidents that really screw things up? Funny that.
Lincoln launched an excursion past the boundaries of existing Federal power that has only waxed stronger ever since. Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson merely built on the foundation that Lincoln laid down before them. Same with Roosevelt, Kennedy, Johnson, Carter, Clinton and Obama. (All the "Genius" Presidents.) :)