he's an idiot.
i'm mixed, and you'd think i'm white. so you can't tell by appearance.
but lincoln was racist.
he did not free slaves, he did free slaves of secessionists.
and he did that with trepidation.
if the south had not seceded, he would not have emancipated anybody, or be remembered, or be important.
as it is, he is one of the greatest presidents, and possibly one of the most important men in history. the south, the war, made him. he rose to the occasion. and he gave some of the greatest and most awesome speeches ever.
he faced the toughest challenge any POTUS has ever faced, and he took the most extreme measures. and he balanced it all with a code for "just war" that is so simplistic and absolute it should be the law of all the lands of all wars.