[Not Insane]

Originally Posted by BigElCat

The 'Great Emancipator' was actually just an astute politician.

He didn't set out to free black people from slavery, that was more of a by-product than a root cause. His cause was to preserve the Union.

http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/...es/greeley.htm

Yep. And the south wasn't fighting because of slavery. It was just the particular "state's right" that Lincoln glommed onto to get enough support to actually win that war. People don't fully grasp just how bad the Union was doing before Gettysburg. Had Lee gotten around little round top, this could be a very different couple of nations today. And not in the good way.

I could literally imagine north America split up like Europe.