Abe Lincoln: What was he thinking? why did he do what he did? and what's the...

[Healthy Person]

...meaning of this? Help me understand Abe Lincoln:


He didn't say slavery should be abolished..............
He said slavery should remain legal in its original colonies, but not spread further to newly-founded colonies.

Now if someone said that today, I would punch them in the face.
But: He lived in a time where maybe 50% of the nation was pro-slavery, much unlike today.
Does that make it ok to have an opinion like that?
The fact that being pro-slavery was popular makes it ok to say it should remain legal?

Anyhow.........He eventually did the right thing; signed the emancipation proclamation outlawing slavery.
So I wonder, what changed his mind?
Mabe his pro-slavery talk was just something he said so he could get elecetd?

Also: What was the reason for the civil war?
According to Lincoln, it wasn't slavery. It was to perserve the union.
You know something; a lot of people died in the civil war; like 500,000! It was like the most fatal war other than the world wars. So what would be the consequences of the south seceding? If we saved 500,000 lives and just let the south secede.....how different would the world be today?
Why is the thought of the south seceding so bad?


Now what sparked the civil war wasn't the North.....
It was the south who fired the first shot aganist Ft. Sumter.
Was the north forced to fight? Was this an act of terrorism from the south on the north? I thought the south was trying to secede; escape; leave; vamooos; get out. So why'd they attack ft. sumter? Did they think attacking them would change their minds and let them secede?


And another thing:
Before Lincoln, the government was funded by federal consumption tax, correct? Lincoln signed our first temporary income tax, in order to fund the civil war.
Somewhere down the line with grover cleveland, woodrow wilson & william taft, came the 16th amendment where we adopted income tax and abandoned sales tax. When did we stop using federal sales tax?
Is that pretty much what happened? why? Sales tax is not regressive, it's fair. Because it's the rich who spend the most............sales tax is fair because you have control over how much you buy to some degree. You have no control at all over how much you earn. Income tax penalizes productivity.

Your thoughts?

 

[bluepinguino30]

Lincoln didn't sign the first income tax, it came way later. The E.P. didn't free all slaves, just the ones in the rebellious states. He just used it to rally the Union because he wanted to do it for a long time but the North had not won a major victory for a while. They the North won at Antietam, then Lincoln gave the E.P. He said slavery was ok because it was an election year. The South still had to vote for the president before they seceded. It could go either way for who started the war. The south took control of all military installations in the south, which included the Union's Fort Sumter. The North was told to leave but they did not. Lincoln did say he fought to preserve the Union, but at what cost. He took away rights of citizens, Habeas Corpus was suspended, why would he do that?

I do have more thoughts I just don't have time right now. Thanks for the question, I love these kinds. They are fun to think about.

 

[Laissez-Faire Guy]

Different times. Different values.

If you went back in time to when our founding fathers were setting up the nation and talked on about social and economic justice, they would have laughed you out of the convention hall.

LIncoln was trying to keep a country together.

 

[Mark S]

Lincoln wrestled with the slavery issue for most of his adult life. It could be that politics had something to do with getting elected. But he changed his mind, unlike a certain democratic candidate who cannot admit that his thoughts have changed on issues. Change is good but you must accept that you can change. Read his political letters and you will see how Lincoln gradually changed his views regarding slavery.

Oh, and by the way, not a SINGLE slave was ever freed by the Emancipation. The only slaves that were freed were those who were in states that were controlled by the CSA. If there were slaves in, say, Louisiana which was in control of the north at this time, they would NOT have been freed by the Emancipation.

Technically, the war was not about slavery. It was about states rights versus the federal governments rights. Washingto had the same issue come up re garding the Whiskey Rebellion. He had to chose whether to use the Army to put down the rebellion or let the states. He sided with the government and put the rebellion down. Lincoln faced the same issues when he was elected.

Slavery was the issue for many years before this time. Look to Kansas-Nebraska act and several others. These issues all dealt with slavery but each was solved at the state level. When the south seceded, it put Lincoln against the wall. He did wrestle with the idea that he could just let them secede but he loved the ideas that began this country. He fought to keep the country together. We would not be where we are if the south had been allowed to secede.