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With respect, you left out a couple of key passages there.

Yes, sir, I did and that was why I posted a link. My point, to Walt, was President Lincoln was not the "lover of freedom for all men" that he presents him as. I am fully aware of the history of that time and used that part of his letter for a specific purpose. To put it into other words:

President Lincoln was prepared to shell cities in Maryland to counteract the 75,000 men that were supposed to be on the borders. Contrast that with the ending of segregation. In both Alabama and Arkansas, regular troops faced off against both state's National Guard. Both ended peacefully after some tense moments. Two Republican Presidents, two very different responses. One was an eye to eye face off that ended peacefully and the other was instructions to bomb cities.

One was an eye to eye face off that ended peacefully and the other was instructions to bomb cities.

The problem is that by the time this letter had been written, April 25, 1861, the die had been cast and a peaceful solution was no longer possible. The confederates had already bombarded Sumter and declared war. The southern army that had been massing since February was a very real danger. Had Maryland chosen to follow the other southern states into rebellion then the capitol and the administration would have been hundreds of miles behind what had to be considered enemy lines. So Lincoln would have had no choice. Maryand would have to be assumed as hostile as the other southern states and Scott would have been ordered to act accordingly.

My point, to Walt, was President Lincoln was not the "lover of freedom for all men" that he presents him as.

Show that in the record.

"I will say now, however, I approve the declaration in favor of so amending the Constitution as to prohibit slavery throughout the nation. When the people in revolt, with a hundred days of explicit notice, that they could, within those days, resume their allegiance, without the overthrow of their institution, and that they could not so resume it afterwards, elected to stand out, such amendment of the Constitution as now proposed, became a fitting, and necessary conclusion to the final success of the Union cause. Such alone can meet and cover all cavils. Now, the unconditional Union men, North and South, perceive its importance, and embrace it. In the joint names of Liberty and Union, let us labor to give it legal form, and practical effect."

A. Lincoln 6/9/63

Walt

President Lincoln was prepared to shell cities in Maryland to counteract the 75,000 men that were supposed to be on the borders.

Damn right, too.

Although Lincoln always held out the hand of forgiveness and conciliation to the rebels, he told a delegation from Maryland that if 75,000 Marylanders opposed the passage of Union troops, they might find 75,000 graves.He was not ready to give up the game "until every card is played."

And yet, in February of 1865, he proposed that $400,000,000 in bonds be made available to the rebel states if they would only cease opposition to the national authority.

As you know, he refused to consider treason trials for any rebel, and indicated that the best thing was for the rebel leaders to leave the country. "Lincoln," Henry Grady said, "comprehended within himself all the strength, and gentleness, all the majesty and grace of the republic." He was indeed, the first American, "the sum of Puritan and Cavalier, in whose ardent nature were fused the virtues of both, and in whose great soul the faults of both were lost."

You criticise President Lincoln because you don't fancy the outcome of the war.

It's just more "mean old Lincoln kicked our rebel butts!"

Walt