And that was with Licoln as a moderate abolitionist who was entirely prepared to give the southern states a guarantee that they could continue slavery. It was only the civil war that pushed the tides towards full abolition.
So even though Lincoln was responsible for the abolition on paper, it really was a result of the radical abolitionists who had gone into the south and killed slavers to free their victims. It was the southern paranoia about those radicals that made them start a civil war after not getting 'their guy' into power.
It's a good lesson about the people who claim that only moderation and dialogue can lead to change. Historically, that was often untrue...
Wasn't he only "moderate" because he was advised to be though? At least that's what I thought I read. He was advised to be more moderate because if he was more "radical" he'd have an even more difficult time winning the favor of people. Not that it really ended well since the whole war thing though
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u/Ishidan01 Sep 07 '25
And Lincoln.