Good one!! Inconsistency, thy name is Ron Paul.
If you had asked the same question about buying the slaves and ending the war that way to the Yankees crawling back from Maryes Heights on December 13, 1862, during the Battle of Fredericksburg, I wonder what kind of answer you would have got?
I know, right? And, Ron is assuming the slave owners would have agreed to the sale. Did he plan on forcing a sale, or just use more of the government’s money to raise the offer? The man has no clue. Really. I kinda feel sorry for him.
Perhaps the purchase of slaves could have been made via tax and tariff exemptions and discounts on the purchase of government land (after all, the Homestead Act was passed during the war—the government was dying to have more of its land settled). Take into account too the extraordinary amount of money the government spent on the war. No, compensated manumission could well have been the cheaper, “smaller government” option.