I’ll take that as a “yes”, you rank Zero higher than Lincoln. Patriots don’t spit on Lincoln.
HandyDandy`”Man”, I apologize. I had no idea that you have been living such a sheltered a life. My condolences. It is obvious you have been tricked into believing Lincoln was a patriot; when, in truth, he was little more than a money-grubbing, ruthless, high-powered railroad lawyer. He most certainly was no abolitionist.
Are you aware that Lincoln declared whites to be superior to blacks? In the fourth Lincoln Douglas debate, Lincoln said,
“I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. “
You can’t miss it. It is in the first paragraph of substance.
Are you aware that Lincoln preferred “freed slaves” be exported to Africa, or to other British colonies? For example, in his 1852 eulogy to Henry Clay, he wrote:
“If as the friends of colonization hope, the present and coming generations of our countrymen shall by any means, succeed in freeing our land from the dangerous presence of slavery; and, at the same time, in restoring a captive people to their long-lost father-land, with bright prospects for the future; and this too, so gradually, that neither races nor individuals shall have suffered by the change, it will indeed be a glorious consummation.
So much for his unfettered love of “diversity” and the equality of the races.
Are you aware that Lincoln preferred saving the Union to ending slavery? In an 1862 letter to Horace Greeley, Lincoln wrote:
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that.”
Why would he say such a thing if his goal was to free all slaves? Could it be that slavery was a red-herring, and his true motive was that he had purchased land in Iowa in hopes that land would become the hub of a transcontinental railroad and he would become filthy rich? Could it be that he realized the “Union” could not afford the railroad without the income from high tariffs on Southern imports; and if the South seceeded, his hopes and dreams of becoming filthy rich would be vanquished?
Check it out. You will be surprised what you come up with if you dig deep enough.
Lincoln was no patriot, nor is anyone who adds their words to the constitution to reflect something other than original intent. If the federal government had power over secession, that power would have been listed in Article I, Section VIII.