I thought it was interesting that he takes for granted that slavery was the ultimate cause of the war, and he still believes slavery to be a positive good.
Seems to me to blow a pretty good hole in the theory that slavery was dying off anyway in the South and that southerners realized it.
BTW, when he refers to "philosophy" as justifying the eternal enslavement of Africans, he means what we today would call science.
Anyone who believes that slavery was not the cause of Confederate secession and the Civil War needs to read American history.
Ben Franklin Material? Time for a Constitutional!
Return to continent of origin.
"My own opinion on slavery, as often expressed, was that if the institution was not the best, or could not be made the best, for both races, looking to the advance- ment and progress of both, physically and morally, it ought to be abolished. It was far from being what it might and ought to have been. Education was denied. This was wrong. I ever condemned the wrong. Marriage was not recognized. This was a wrong that I condemned. Many things connected with it did not meet my approval but excited my disgust, abhorrence, and detestation."
Lincoln, as President-elect, corresponded with his old Congressional colleague Stephens. Lincoln summed up the Confederate cause quite accurately: “You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted.”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/letter-to-alexander-h-stephens/
“”Abraham Lincoln
Springfield, Illinois
December 22, 1860
For your own eye only
Hon. A. H. Stephens-
My dear Sir
Your obliging answer to my short note is just received, and for which please accept my thanks. I fully appreciate the present peril the country is in, and the weight of responsibility on me.
Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would, directly, or indirectly, interfere with their slaves, or with them, about their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears.
The South would be in no more danger in this respect, than it was in the days of Washington. I suppose, however, this does not meet the case. You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.
Yours very truly
A. LINCOLN””
If you are ever on I-20 driving between Atlanta and Augusta, take the time to get off at Exit 148 and drive into Crawfordville. At The Stoplight, turn Left, drive under the railroad trestle and visit Liberty Hall, the home of A.H. Stephens.
It is a state park & museum. Next door is the associated Confederate museum. While at Liberty Hall, be sure to visit the slave quarters out behind the main house.
On a side note, in 1922, Liberty Hall was not a museum, but instead served as a boarding house. My mother was born in the upstairs bedroom on the left (looking at the house). So far, the Georgia Historical Commission has not seen fit to install a bronze plaque commemorating the birthplace of the mother of Bwana Ndege...
/S
(cue Rodney Dangerfield)
I think it shows that the war wasn’t all about slavery.
Must read, later!