[geeks] RIP, Ronald Reagan

[Brian Dunbar]

On Jun 6, 2004, at 5:45 PM, Andrew Weiss wrote:

>>> Personally, I'm inclined to argue the rot set in with Lincoln. He
>> set
>>> the government on the course of massive expansion of centralized
>> Federal
>>> power, took the country to civil war over the right to secede from
>> the
>>> Union, and freed the slaves in the Southern states (but not the
>> North)
>
> I'm curious... what slaves in the North were NOT freed?
>

I suspect Phil was talking about the Emancipation Proclamation (1863?), 
which did free slaves in the Confederacy (where the Federal law 
couldn't be enforced at the time, but left alone the issue of slavery 
in the border states and the North.

For good reason, IMHO.  Lincoln was above all a realist whose goal was 
the restoration of the country; The EP was a brilliant move for the 
time.

~brian