The Civil War and Abraham Lincoln

We all know how great Abe was, and how the Union was completely correct in the war to take back the South to ensure that America did not fall. I will say that, we have been deceived in public school, they did not tell us the whole story. The Civil War was much more complicated than slavery and Lincoln was nothing of a Civil Rights activist. He was just another politician.

Here's a quote from the Lincoln Library during a debate with Douglas:

I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.

This was during his run for Senate and not for the President, but I fail to see where that makes a difference. So we can tell by these words that Lincoln did not care for the true and honest freedom of blacks, but to further prove my point, I will use quotation of a letter he sent to Horace Greeley:

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that...I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

If it wasn't slavery that the South was so mad about what was it? It was partly slavery, even though slavery was being practiced less and less in the South, that was part of the reason, the other part was the high tariffs the North had placed on the South. It was a taxation without representation type of deal going on. The South felt cheated because their taxes were off the roof, and the North big business's were thriving. Also, they felt that States should have more power than that of the Federal Government, and so in a sense they were trying to emulate our great Founding Fathers.

I'm not going to do a complete history lesson, but the South wasn't wrong, but neither was the North completely wrong. They both had pros and they both had cons. The South did major injustice at Fort Sumter, and the North did major injustices by levying high taxes. Remember, the North didn't want to end slavery immediately, they just wanted to end slave expansion so it would die out. I would hardly consider this a just or even necessary war.