I Have a Few Questions

[My Name Is Kate]

I like Lincoln...

...You can't say all Northerners encouraged racism. Its simply not true. You can't say all Southerners are racists. Simply not true...

...I believe in a difference between morality, (immutable concepts of good and evil that may or may not even be perceived,) and popular morality, (what is popularly acceptable at a certain time.)

I like Lincoln too. I wasn't including him in my questions about the North. And of course people are individuals and some were not as racist or pro-slavery as others. I agree with your thoughts about morality too, though popular morality often lags a long long way behind absolute morality.

I use generalizations (and I'm well aware that they are only generalizations) because my interest is more in finding out why we are in such a mess today because of things that happened in the past. I'm trying to get a broad (but accurate) understanding of history that will help explain today's problems.