The New York Crowd

[Gene C]

I have a slight problem with this theory. By early 1865 it should be apparent to anyone in the know, (including Jefferson Davis and company) that the North is going to win the war. The Senate and House are more radical and vindictive where it comes to reconstruction than Lincoln is. With the assassination of Lincoln and any of his cabinet, the bitterness towards the south is only going to increase. The South has everything to loose if Lincoln is out of the picture, or were they to blinded by political hatred to see that? (that does happen)

As for the northern industrialist, they may not like Lincoln's economic policy, but the gov't didn't come close to controlling the economy like they do now. A lenient and generous policy toward north and south unification works to their best interest too. This sounds to much like the Ray Neff theories, take a little bit of fact, and blow it all out of proportion and context, add a little bit of fantasy and a whole lot of speculation. Stir it all up, and you have a made for TV movie or two, several books, some conspiracy theory web sites, and a few more headaches for Laurie. The tough part is sifting the fact from the speculation.

On the other hand......