Lincoln, was he not really a national hero?

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Lincoln did not as so many people believe fight the civil war over slavery. He only said that later to try to get Britain involved because they were antislavery. He was only concerned with keeping the southern states in the union, even though they had every constitutional right to leave. It was Lincoln that started big governments, without him the government wouldn't be so big. And most people in his time hated him just as much as most people hate bush.
Now he is a supposed "hero" does that mean in the future Bush will be a hero.
He may have been opposed to slavery but he wasn't going to go to war over it. And he said so at one point. But he had absolutely NO right to go to war with the south. The had the right to leave.
 
Well, I have to agree that Lincoln was very unpopular during his term in office. He found himself in the position of being too much of an abolitionist for some of the people, and not enough of an abolitionist for others.

The motivation for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation was partially to give Britain and France a reason to not recognize the Confederacy. In the earlier days of the war, the economic motivation was seen as the inducement for Britain to give aid to the confederacy.

Lincoln, on the other hand, had always opposed slavery. In the issue of the Compromise of 1850, Lincoln is quoted as having said he must have voted for the abolition of the slave trade in the District of Columbia at least 40 times. Lincoln had only two years service at the national level before he became President, and aside from the firm stand he took on the War with Mexico, he didn't show a great deal in other areas.

As to big government, the government did grow during the war, but it had a cause. The tradition in the USA had always been a small standing army. With the expansion of the US Army in the war years, the government had to expand with it. It was largely the War Department, however, and the size of the army was reduced again, so the need in 1898 for the militia to be called up was still imperative.

I don't think Mr. Bush will be called a hero in ages to come, and the only shining light in his administration will probably be the first few days after September 11, 2001. However, we have had 43 presidents and how many of them are on Mt. Rushmore?
 
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