[A_C_Slater]

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But the majority of the population believes "honest" Abe was a good guy for freeing the slaves.

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That's an excellent example of how a majority of the population can be fooled even after so many years. The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in the rebelling states (over which Lincoln by definiton had no power) only; it did absolutely nothing for the slaves in the North.

Lincoln gets credit for freeing the slaves with the Emancipation Proclamation when all it was was straight political hedging. Brilliant hedging, but far from the superhuman nobility that people associate with it.

Of course, straight commonsense thinking will tell you that there's no way in hell a president is going to be able to upset a deep-seated economic institution singlehandedly, no matter how vile that institution (or how great that president) may be.

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My, my, aren't we pedantic? [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]