Many in the South might disagree with Lincoln and I can understand that. To me he is a mixed bag, on the one hand he did not start the Civil War that began a long long time ago...if the Founders could have passed something under Washington to set an end date for slavery the issue could have been avoided, and the right of secession could be in operation today without the stigma of slavery. He was one of the most gifted writers and speakers ever to occupy the Presidency. The South rejected the Corwin Amendment that would have secured salvery where it existed, but obviously they wanted expansion and saw it as the best means of exerting control over the North. Once Union victory was within reach that proposed Amendment was scrapped, but it was made moot by the Emancipation Proclamation anyway. Repsonding to Southerners firing on Fort Sumter and trying to hold the union together cannot be much of a surprise reaction by anybody. The practice of slavery is barbaric and it tainted the South's cause, providing cover for the excesses of his reign...notably the Revenue Act of 1861 that created the first Federal income tax, the military draft, the Confiscation Acts (which arguably could be looked at as the first of many acts detrimental to private ownership as it gives the government the authority to determine what is or is not proper), the creation of paper money (introduction of fiat, not in of itself bad, but once the 1913 FRA came along the games began and then Nixon removing the gold standard made the Fed the unchallenged master puppetmaster) and one could argue setting up an Ag Dept set the stage for government intervention in farming which really it didn't need to meddle with, they could have limited their role to marketing American goods abroad and not needed to establish a new bureaucracy, but bureaucracy was born here and never ceased growing from here on out! This is when the executive began to become imperial, which is ironic given that Lincoln initially saw his role in much the same way as the Whigs had, let Congress legislate, let the courts limit and let the executive manage. But management took on a whole new meaning because of the war, so in that regard the South cannot be held blameless for helping to create the Federal monster.
