Lincoln: Abolitionist? I think not.

This may be off-subject a skosh - but I think it's an important footnote to our latest discussion on the current state of the African-American community, and where it is headed.

Abraham Lincoln is considered one of the greatest American Presidents, this blogger is not about to argue with that. He managed to clean up the foreign diplomacy mess created by his predecessor, the mediocre James Buchanan, and took over the office of President as the U.S. stood on the verge of collapse. He was as a savvy a politician as they come - but still had to come into Washington unannounced and under the veil of darkness one evening because of the risk of an assassination attempt.

When the Confederacy was established, we were officially at war. The philosophers say this war was about morals and slaves. Moral and slavery were only tools used by the larger powers to solicit their men to fight. No war is every fought about morals, it's not worth the loss. War is fought for money and power, not a profound statement to be sure, but it seems that many people have forgotten this. It's nice to glorify the cause of the North and pretty up all the folks that were killed by stamping it with "We were freeing the slaves." You tell me - if an official from Lincoln's administration came to some town in the middle of New Hampshire and said: we need you to fight to free the slaves... would there have been ANY northern soldiers. I think not. These men weren't fighting to free the slaves, it didn't matter enough to them. Sure, a few die-hard abolishonists would have fought, but there wasn't enough to sustain a full army.

I'm not going to go into more depth about why the Civil War was fought - I believe you can see what I'm getting at. My friend, Ms. Krystal M. has envoked the name of Lincoln twice in our talks about the current state of the African-American community. I have heard his name mentioned a thousand times over by fellow students, on television and in literature when they talk about Lincoln "freeing" the slaves. I say, ya'll need to read Vidal's "Lincoln" before you shove your foot in your mouth again.

Lincoln believed that Whites and Blacks could never live together peacefully, and as far-fetched as it may sound, he actually wanted to transplant the newly-freed slaves to Nicaragua after the war. Lincoln was not an abolitionist. His main goal throughout his presidency was to be as neutral as possible, to be a joining force between the bitterly divided north and south. Claiming himself as an abolitionist would only further that divide.

We need to begin to put aside the racial problems of yesteryear in order to discuss their events now. We must look back and look the truth right in the face, no matter how ugly it is.