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I would also like to add to this that slavery had nothing to do with the Civil War. It was States rights and economy

It doesn't make any difference if it was 100 years ago, or 100 years from now. A comment like that makes the person a racist!

I have said that President Lincoln was a white man, and shared the prejudices common to his countrymen towards the colored race. Looking back to his times and to the condition of his country, we are compelled to admit that this unfriendly feeling on his part may be safely set down as one element of his wonderful success in organizing the loyal American people for the tremendous conflict before them, and bringing them safely through that conflict. His great mission was to accomplish two things: first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin; and, second, to free his country from the great crime of slavery. To do one or the other, or both, he must have the earnest sympathy and the powerful cooperation of his loyal fellow-countrymen. Without this primary and essential condition to success his efforts must have been vain and utterly fruitless. Had he put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, he would have inevitably driven from him a powerful class of the American people and rendered resistance to rebellion impossible. Viewed from the genuine abolition ground, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent; but measuring him by the sentiment of his country, a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult, he was swift, zealous, radical, and determined.

Though Mr. Lincoln shared the prejudices of his white fellow-countrymen against the Negro, it is hardly necessary to say that in his heart of hearts he loathed and hated slavery. The man who could say, "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war shall soon pass away, yet if God wills it continue till all the wealth piled by two hundred years of bondage shall have been wasted, and each drop of blood drawn by the lash shall have been paid for by one drawn by the sword, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether," gives all needed proof of his feeling on the subject of slavery. He was willing, while the South was loyal, that it should have its pound of flesh, because he thought that it was so nominated in the bond; but farther than this no earthly power could make him go.

Fellow-citizens, whatever else in this world may be partial, unjust, and uncertain, time, time! is impartial, just, and certain in its action. In the realm of mind, as well as in the realm of matter, it is a great worker, and often works wonders. The honest and comprehensive statesman, clearly discerning the needs of his country, and earnestly endeavoring to do his whole duty, though covered and blistered with reproaches, may safely leave his course to the silent judgment of time. Few great public men have ever been the victims of fiercer denunciation than Abraham Lincoln was during his administration. He was often wounded in the house of his friends. Reproaches came thick and fast upon him from within and from without, and from opposite quarters. He was assailed by Abolitionists; he was assailed by slave-holders; he was assailed by the men who were for peace at any price; he was assailed by those who were for a more vigorous prosecution of the war; he was assailed for not making the war an abolition war; and he was bitterly assailed for making the war an abolition war.

Fellow-citizens, I end, as I began, with congratulations. We have done a good work for our race today. In doing honor to the memory of our friend and liberator, we have been doing highest honors to ourselves and those who come after us; we have been fastening ourselves to a name and fame imperishable and immortal; we have also been defending ourselves from a blighting scandal. When now it shall be said that the colored man is soulless, that he has no appreciation of benefits or benefactors; when the foul reproach of ingratitude is hurled at us, and it is attempted to scourge us beyond the range of human brotherhood, we may calmly point to the monument we have this day erected to the memory of Abraham Lincoln.

Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln

Frederick Douglass
April 14, 1876
Delivered at the Unveiling of The Freedmen�s Monument in Memory of Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln Park, Washington, D.C.

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?documentprint=39

He essentially says what I said about him, that he was a man who shared the prejudice of his times, and whose first (and overwhelming desire) was to keep the country together. As President, that's certainly understandable.

Lincoln was the only President ever to obtain a patent. In 1849 he invented a complicated device for lifting ships over dangerous shoals by means of “buoyant air chambers.” Much to Lincoln’s disappointment, U.S. Patent No. 6,469 was never put into practical use.

The clutter in Lincoln’s law office was notorious, and a continual source of irritation to his partner, William Herndon. On his desk, Lincoln kept one envelope marked “When you can’t find it anywhere else, look into this.”

(I'm thinking of adopting this idea... )

Lincoln was the 1st major leader in our history to favor extending the vote to women.
In 1836–a full 12 years before the 1st woman’s rights convention had even convened–State legislator Lincoln gave an Illinois paper a statement endorsing “female suffrage.”

In 1858, Lincoln was so concerned that the text of his “House divided” speech be reported accurately, that even after he had given a copy of the address to reporters, he insisted on going to the newspaper office himself and proofreading the galleys.

( I guess some things never change, when it comes to the press.)

In 1842, Lincoln accepted a challenge to a duel from James Shields, the Democratic State auditor. Shields was furious over a satiric letter in a local paper. Actually, the letter had been written by Lincoln’s fiancee, Mary Todd, but Lincoln willingly took responsibility. Since he was given the choice of weapons, Lincoln, with typical cunning, selected broadswords–with his 6′4″ frame and his enormous arms, Lincoln had an insurmountable advantage over his disminutive opponent when it came to dueling with swords. Shields wisely decided to make up his differences with Lincoln and the scheduled duel failed to take place.

{Actually a good lesson in politics, almost as good as the "two walnut" one. )

It is well known that Lincoln used to pace the White House long past midnight during the years of the Civil War; what is less celebrated is his habit of imposing his insomnia on his overworked aides. Often, he would keep his young personal secretary, John Hay, awake, listening to the funny stories that Lincoln loved to tell. (”Without these stories I would die,” he once said.) On one occasion, according to Hay, “he read Shakespeare to me, the end of Henry VIII and the beginning of Richard III, till my heavy eyelids caught his considerate notice and he sent me to bed.”

After the death of his son Willie, Lincoln was persuaded by his wife to participate in several seances held in the White House. The President was deeply interested in psychic phenomena and wanted to communicate with his dead son. Once Lincoln reported that he had attended a seance in which a piano was raised and moved around the room. It was the professional opinion of the mediums who had worked with him that Lincoln was definitely the possessor of extraordinary psychic powers.

Lincoln took his dreams seriously. On one occasion he wrote to his wife to be watchful with their son Tad because Lincoln had experienced an “unpleasant” dream. On the day of his assassination, April 14, 1865, he was so troubled by a dream that he actually discussed it at a Cabinet meeting. He told his colleagues that he had seen himself sailing “in an indescribable vessel and moving rapidly toward an indistinct shore.” Even more explicit was a dream that he discussed just a week before he was shot. In his dream, Lincoln awoke, and walked through the silent White House, following the sound of sobbing. When he came to the East Room, he saw a catafalque draped in black. “Who is dead?” Lincoln asked. A military guard replied that it was the President.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/12217?cnn=yes

Lincoln was also a tyrant. Under HIS orders....anyone in the North that spoke out against the war was immediately thrown into a federal prison without trial. Any newspaper, or magazine that printed an article against the war was immediately closed down and put out of business and the chief editor was thrown into a federal prison.

So say what you want about old Abe. He was NOT a good president!

he probably would have never had the fortitude to preserve the union.

Sure the right of southern states to have slaves, and run a slave based economy.

They put it directly into the Confederate Constitution after all. DeLorenzo is a standard historical revisionist. No better than holocaust denialists.

You mean fortitude to violate the state rights of the south. Remember, the south didnt want to be part of the union.

You mean fortitude to violate the state rights of the south. Remember, the south didnt want to be part of the union. The president should not force his wishes on the people, by putting them in prison. If that was the case, you must think it would be acceptable to put gay right protesters in prison if the president does not want homosexuality in this country.What about war protesters of today, should they all be sent to prison because they want the USA out of Iraq. Obviously, Bush wants to be there, these protesters are against his wishes.

Homosexuality is still illegal in some states

If a man and woman who are not married to each other live together "lewdly and lasciviously" they can be fined $1,000 and be sentenced to up to 60 days in gaol.

Aw talking policies with a liberal who re event history to his own liking.

the South attacked the union at Fort Sumpter.

Unemployment and poverty did go down under FDRs first two terms.

The recession was under Reagan. Even the high inflation blamed on Carter was happening in Ford's time.

Lincoln didn't have much choice after the South attacked the union at Fort Sumter.

The north invaded. Why shouldn't a country fire on an invading country?

Northern forces weren't even assembled until the attack on Fort Sumter took place.

Sure, they could have left their post and fled north... but they chose to hold their ground. That's what prompted the attack.