Extra Credit Questions

[Rob Wick]

David,

I imagine many people here are growing weary of our back and forth. I know I am.

So, in his last sentence, Rob effectively mixes fact with his opinion that diverged significantly from Lincoln's final decision on the matter at hand.

I don't know how to break this to you, but historians (you know, the people who seriously study history) often offer opinions where objective fact does not exist. Even your hero, Michael Burlingame, offers opinion.

There is no objective evidence that accepting the territorial governorship would have forever precluded Lincoln from running for president. Given that the years 1860 to 1865 would have been different without Lincoln in charge, we have no idea what the state of the nation would have been. Likely, William Seward would have won the Republican nomination and possibly the White House (but, of course, that is merely my opinion). What would have happened after that would be speculation and, therefore, not worth discussing.

Just because Lincoln believed it to be the right decision doesn't place it in the guise of "irreparable harm." Nothing is irreparable unless it actually happens and sometimes not even then.

Best
Rob