2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: I Saw "Lincoln" Today [View all]abetterkid
(47 posts)In my opinion he was a bit deified by Americans and Radical Republicans after his death. There's really no telling what he intended to do with the newly freed slaves. My old history professor Eric Foner let me read a copy of a paper he was working on that talked about Lincolns negotiations to send the freedmen to Haiti or Liberia to be with "their own people." Just as Kennedy's death was used by LBJ to get the Civil Rights Act 1964 and the Voting Rights Act 1965 passed so too did the Radical (badass mofos) Republicans use Lincolns death as a cause celebre to enact the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments. ALSO, Lincoln probably wouldnt have kept the troops in the south to protect the black vote as long as the Republican Congress did. I still respect Lincoln of course though.