The Most Consequential Elections in History: Abraham Lincoln and the Election of 1860

Revisionists and Racists Cannot Change Lincoln's Legacy

I bookmarked this page last year, but didn't get around to reading the comments until now.

I am shocked and appalled by the racist sentiments that are still in the minds of Americans. The whole idea of "why can't they get over it" is an interesting one, because, it seems, history and culture will not allow us to just "get over it".

To keep a group of people as slaves because of the color of their skin is wrong. To maintain that system, even if it is the "states right" to do so, is wrong. Morally and ethically. States and governments can, believe it or not, be wrong.

Oppression and racism still exist in the United States of America.

However, we have made progress. We used to be a country that kept Africans as slaves. Then there was the war to free the slaves and preserve the union. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States formalized the equality of the races, and guaranteed suffrage for all males. However, for 100 years, there was a defacto inequality in the United States, in the South, with the Jim Crow laws. It took Martin Luther King, jr. to lead the Civil Rights Movement to finally desegregate schools and guarantee the rights that Lincoln wished to give to all.

Forty years later, we have an African American President.

I am a white male who voted for Mr. Obama, and I am proud of him, and my country.

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hola maricas!

que onda pedasos de mierda!! soy yo alexandra aka lokiita!! you already just. just happen to be the best person in the whole wide world!!! you know!! well i love abrham lincoln and i personally think that he is the greatest president of all

Slavery

Why are people still arguing slavery issues? We were not there and no one is held in bondage today. I believe it is NOT whites who are prejudice. The blacks can say and have anything without fear of being charged with racism. The Miss Black America pageant, Negro College Fund, God forbid if there was a White College Fund. The country would be in an uproar. I am glad Lincoln ended slavery, now maybe Obama can do something about the racism of his own race.

Oh Mr. Ping

And how many Blacks in the North had rights of self-dertermination? The finger pointing is getting old. Why did Northern states such as Abe's adoptive ILL have laws denying Blacks the right to enter their states? Too many Blacks fleeing North? Were they voting? Marrying Whites? Jurors? Congressmen? Senators? Hell,dog catchers? Quit pretending that the Yanks gave a damn about Blacks. Only when it was politically savy.Don't you wonder why slavery was still legal in the North till well after the war? MO,KY,DEL,MD,and WVA.Seems to me if you are going to have 400,000+ US men die to "free the slaves", you would at least free the ones you own.

Lincoln Preserved the US -Still the Greatest despite the rants of revisionists

Seven years ago the slogan was 'United We Stand' - something Lincoln would whole hardly would agreed with. Thank god Lincoln won the Election in 1860 when the country was as divided as it ever was since the Articles of Confederation. Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents and was vital to the survival of the US as we know it. Now again the US is in crisis and only by pulling together can we get beyond this economic collapse.

All this bull from these secessionists, monarchists, Tories and other worthless reactionaries just reinforce that Lincoln was the best ever. He was forced to complete the unfinished business of freedoms promised in the Declaration of Independence, yes, and decisive in his convictions in preserving the Union, despite his relative inexperience. Ignore the divisive.

United We Stand!

States Rights

The South was absolutely right on the principle of states rights as outlined in the Constitution. The reprehensible issue of defending slavery, however (a BIG however), was not the right issue to use to defend the principle. Lincoln was right when he said a nation cannot survive half slave and half free. One cannot use "principle" alone to defend a right when the protection of that principle is bolstered by a morally repugnant practice. What if the practice had been the practice of pedophilia? Or genocide?

That said, indeed states rights have been all but obliterated by the distortion of the Constitution such that the central government plays a powerful role never designed or wanted by the framers and founders. This was one of the very sad consequences of a terrible war which scars American history, a war terrible for both sides, a civil war.

States Rights

The South was absolutely right on the principle of states rights as outlined in the Constitution. The reprehensible issue of defending slavery, however (a BIG however), was not the right issue to use to defend the principle. Lincoln was right when he said a nation cannot survive half slave and half free. One cannot use "principle" alone to defend a right when the protection of that principle is bolstered by a morally repugnant practice. What if the practice had been the practice of pedophilia? Or genocide?

That said, indeed states rights have been all but obliterated by the distortion of the Constitution such that the central government plays a powerful role never designed or wanted by the framers and founders. This was one of the very sad consequences of a terrible war which scars American history, a war terrible for both sides, a civil war.

James W. King is a Deluded Propagandist

"It was the Confederate soldier who was fighting for self government-government of the people by the people..."

I guess it depends on your definition of "people", then, doesn't it Mr. King? How many black people in the South had the right of self-determiniation? How many of them could govern themselves or even have a voice in the "self government" you proclaim?

The meaning of subjugation is perfectly clear to anyone who has studied the South's brutal subjugation of an entire race of people.

You state that the average Northern soldier had only a second grade education. That may well be true, but you do not cite a source for that statistic, nor do you state the educational level of the average Southern soldier, which was likely abysmal. He probably did not understand that he was being forced to fight to protect the oppresive institutions which benefited only the wealthy Southern gentry.

I am very proud of my ancestors of the 98th Illinois Infantry (Lightning Brigade), the 59th Illinois Infantry (Chickamauga), and the 5th Illinois Cavalry. It is clear from writings of the time, both from soldiers and from observers, that my great-great grandfathers knew that they were fighting for the preservation of a free and indivisible Union.

James R. Ping

"Land of Lincoln"

Gettysburg Address Was Propaganda Not Truth

To: Joe Albiani of Ma.

The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln was pure propaganda. It is poetry and the words of a lawyer and a lie. It was the Confederate soldier who was fighting for self government-government of the people by the people. The average Union soldier had only a 2nd grade education and could not be expected to understand that he was in fact fighting for empire and the subjugation of the Southern states for economic control an a centralized totalitarian government headquartered in Washington DC.

As a result of Lincoln's unconstitutional and criminal war of aggression the states have been reduced to little more than glorified administrative districts submissive and answerable to a central imperial power in Washington DC known as the federal government.

James W. King

Past Commander

Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 141

Lt. Col. Thomas M. Nelson

Albany Georgia

jkingantiquearms@bellsouth.net