Nonsense.
In 1856 Republicans nominated a pure abolitionist for President, John C. Fremont, and lost bigtime.
So in 1860 Republicans selected Lincoln precisely because, in Republican terms, he was a "moderate" -- opposed to slavery's expansion but also committed to protecting slavery according to the Constitution.
All these quotes you guys keep posting from Lincoln simply established his bonafides as a "moderate".
How did Lincoln go from "moderate" to emancipation & abolition?
Well, Jefferson Davis had something to do with that.
NKP_Vet: "The many thousands of men who risked their lives and spilled blood to defeat the Confederacy would be appalled.
Abraham Lincoln would see the malice toward all, the charity toward none.
Ulysses S Grant would be shocked... "
The rest of your post, including this whole paragraph, I think the rest of us all agree with.
Nicely said, sir.
Lincoln was a socialist and a pen pal of Karl Marx. He destroyed the government that our Founding Fathers fought and died for. A two-bit railroad lawyer with no scruples doing the bidding of the NE Industralists who controlled the government.