And the count will keep going up

Lincoln abhorred slavery. This was well documented. The reasons behind why he didn't issue the Emancipation Proclamation are also well documented and you should look into them. 👍

I have. History is one of my favorite subjects as well. Lincoln also said he would not interfere with the slave trade if it meant maintaining a strong and civil union of states. As did Jefferson who also abhorred slavery.

I suppose there is a possibility of it being a coincidence that the signing of the proclamation would be what let to the confederates downfall due to both infighting and slave revolts.

I’ve ready many journals of former confederate and union soldiers. The story and the purpose feel skewed based on perspective. But I suppose that’s why it’s called perspective.

That's because, as President, Lincoln's overriding duty was to maintain the Union. Once that clearly was impossible, be used the war and specifically the fact that the south was fighting for slavery as a way to delegitimize them. Loyalist slave states weren't subject to the Proclamation for the same reason, because he knew he could legally end it there after the war and their wartime support was critical in the first place.

Always interesting to explore the civil war era. But as you said, Lincoln tolerated slavery in loyalist states in exchange for wartime support. But I highly doubt that loyalist states were entirely on board with ending the slave trade themselves. So it came to a situation where a president had to tolerate slavery “here” in order to end it “there”.

Lincoln either had his hands tied on choice or he was a brilliant tactician that pitted two perspectives of slavery against one another and finished off the winner.

The latter is the case, which is why Lincoln was so amazing; abolitionism wasn't that popular in the North outside of liberal cities like Baltimore. Lincoln actually had to pitch himself as a racist sometimes in order to secure their political support.
But the Northern states all agreed that preservation of the Union was more important than maintaining slavery, and their economies didn't rely on it like many southern states. Therefore they went along with Lincoln's masterstroke (the 13th Amendment) and John Wilkes Booth made Lincoln a martyr for equality and the North. Johnson then f****d everything up and basically enabled a century of Jim Crow despite the amazing work his successor, U.S Grant (my favorite President) did to secure equality legislation (14th/15th Amendments, the First Civil Rights Act) and crushing Southern resistance to black equality with his newly-founded Justice Department and even the military. (If you haven't already, read Ron Chernow's "Grant". It's AMAZING and changed my entire understanding of Grant as a man and leader).

Fun fact: Two Confederate leaders did genuinely seem to regret fighting for the South and worked closely with Grant to help combat the KKK and other racist elements in the South. James Longstreet of all people put in good work as (I think) a governor and cavalry leader John Singleton Mosby, "The Gray Ghost" served Grant as a U.S ambassador.

And they say history is dull...

Almost makes you wonder what he would have had to do if Buchanan wasn’t such an epic failure of a president.

Whelp, all the more reason the man has the monument that is more frequently visited than any other. (I’ll be sure to take a look into that book as I am a fan of Grant, though admittedly I also find Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower interesting as well)

Thanks for the talk.

Buchanan was a loser, though I feel like he just accelerated a war that was bound to happen anyways.

The book is great!! Long, 900 pages or so, but absolutely well-sourced and worth reading.

Back at you. Cheers. 🥂

I posted a swear. Not flesh, gore, or text with innuendo or implication. If what I wrote is not suitable for work, I do not envy your line of work.

But I do pity a boss that gets offended by so little.

Johnson is hands down the worst President in history, followed by Wilson, Polk, and (IMO) FDR, though that last one I understand is contentious and there are many great reasons to respect the man as well.

I agree, Johnson is the worst.

The respect of a president is subjective in my opinion. I mean, People respected Ronald Reagan and he manufactured a drug crisis, and tried covering up Iran/Contra. FDR was a much bigger liar than Donald Trump in my opinion. Buchanan, Lincoln’s predecessor, was the very reason the civil war happened.

I suppose we have more presidents that do good things based on conditions that are less favorable in exchange. But man, we have many duds too.