I found this 20+ years old article by Doris Kearns Goodwin (author of Team of Rivals) might be of some relevance to this discussion,
or maybe not.
This from the Los Angeles Times of April 1, 2001 titled
"Abe Lincoln and the Truth Get Mugged At The Click Of A Mouse"
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-...story.html
I found the first sentence of her last paragraph interesting
"I have fought all my professional life against the tendency to label people in a derogatory way by juxtaposing their statements from the past against modern sentiments."