Beth, I completely understand your initial response, and I get just as fired up when people pine for “good old days when…,” and forget that terrible injustices existed, and the days were only “good” for the privileged few.

I just don’t think Lincoln’s solution was the right one. We remain one of the only (the only? I can’t remember now) nations that needed a civil war to end slavery.

Unfortunately, the evil institution of slavery complicated the whole issue & gave a causus belli or at least a good cover story after the war was all over, but Dilorenzo shows quite well that Lincoln was never really about ending slavery or freeing the slaves. At least not until it was very politically expedient for him to do so.

revgeorge, I will look into the books you mentioned. They sound interesting. I know Lincoln was a more controversial figure in his lifetime than modern/popular history often paints him. I’d be interested in hearing more about why you think him the worst president, but perhaps the books will at least partially answer that question?

As someone with a degree in History I think Dilorenzo has done his research well & is not merely engaging in revisionism or conspiracy theories. His research is very thorough.

Just reading a small segment of the excerpt from Front Porch Republic makes me question how well-balanced the article is.

The war from Lincoln’s point of view was initially about preserving the Union… The “Jeffersonian version of agrarianism” may have connected the happiness and well-being of moderately wealthy white farmers to real communities and real places, but what of the other population? The Jeffersonian model was only idyllic for a few.