Mr. Lee

[L Verge]

Again, I would say that you are overlooking my point - Lincoln's analogy of root, hog included the entire Southern population, not just the freedmen. It was callous and could have been handled in a much more professional manner at the time. I would suggest that the President of the United States could have invited the Southern representatives to work with him from that point on to develop an economic plan that would be a joint effort on both sides.

I know that Lincoln is appreciated for his down-home humor and analogies and that they have become part of his persona. In many respects, they are like parables to us. I'm sure that they broke tension in many circumstances and that some presented "teachable moments." However, I also think that the time for parables was over with in 1864-65, and a nation that needed to be re-united needed more than this for guidance. I used analogies a lot in teaching, but the next part of my strategy was to ask the students for proposals or at least their thoughts on how to accomplish an effective answer to the problem or situation.

As for Lincoln's plan to compensate owners for their released slaves, that is one of the first things he proposed to Marylanders and members of the border states FOR THE SPECIFIC PURPOSE OF KEEPING THEM IN THE UNION. As we can see, that compensation never got accomplished in those states -- even in the early years of the war, when it more likely could have been. I believe I'm correct that only Delaware received even a small portion of what had been promised. We won't mention other promises made to those states that were never kept.

Truth be told, I am not anti-Lincoln. I am fascinated by his personality, but mainly by his dichotomy. If he was not the epitome of a pure politician, I don't know who was/is.