Questions About John Brown

[My Name Is Kate]

From post #6 in this thread:

"Here are some of Lincoln's comments on John Brown:

"Old John Brown has just been executed for treason against a state. We cannot object, even though he agreed with us in thinking slavery wrong. That cannot excuse violence, bloodshed, and treason. It could avail him nothing that he might think himself right. So, if constitutionally we elect a President, and therefore you undertake to destroy the Union, it will be our duty to deal with you as old John Brown has been dealt with.""

So it seems that in the beginning, Lincoln also did not approve of John Brown's murderous method of ending slavery. But after the Civil War, he echoed Brown's sentiments in his second inaugural address, when Lincoln's own method of ending slavery proved to be even more violent and bloodletting. It is easy to blame it all on the southerners, because of course they were absolutely morally wrong to enslave other people, but my point (as I stated in another thread which received practically zero response) is that the primary duty of the president of a country is to represent the people and to protect them and their interests, and like it or not, the southerners were nearly half of the country. Here is part of what I said in that thread:

"What is the primary duty of a president of a country? Isn't it to represent the people of the country and to protect them and their interests? It could be said that Lincoln and the Radical Republicans were the instigators of the Civil War because it was Lincoln's stance against the expansion of slavery into the Territories that caused the Southern states to secede. If he was going to take such a stance, he should have been as absolutely certain as possible how the Southerners would react to it, and he should have had some clue that they wouldn't just roll over and give up. Was it in the best interests of the people of the country to lose 2% of the population in the war and to shatter families all across the country? Even the slaves were not much better off for a very long time after their "freedom". Surely there must have been a better way to end slavery while also preserving the Union and democracy for future generations. "