Lincoln, Saint or Sinner

[My Name Is Kate]

Was the UK in the 1860s any less guilty of the same racial prejudices that this documentary so emphasizes in Lincoln? The British Empire had abolished slavery, but what was their position on racial equality? Did they abolish slavery primarily because their economy was not as dependent on it, as part of America's economy was? What proportion of the UK's population was nonwhite in the 1860s?

The UK was still the world superpower at the time of the American Civil War, but after the war, America was in many ways, a more unified and stronger country, which helped it to usurp that role. Perhaps the UK would have preferred America to splinter into two or more nations. At least that wouldn't have disrupted the cotton trade between the two continents.

Nevertheless, it is true that Lincoln was not as ahead of his time as far as racial prejudices, as the American public may have been led to believe.