The Great Emancipator

"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in anyway, the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races... I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

- Abraham Lincoln, Peoria, Illinios, 1858.

Now there's a quote from the Lincoln-Douglas Debates you just never hear.

Its interesting that Lincoln apologists will claim that Lincoln's views on race changed over his life. Even more interesting is it, when you listen to the same people totally disregard a man, because he might have said, "nigger" when he was 16. "Those people don't change" they'll tell ya. Until you bring up Lincoln.

At first they'll just flattly deny he said it. They'll accuse you of quoting poor sources... anything they can to ignore the truth. If you ever get them to face reality... then they just say something like, "He was a shrewed politician, and he knew what he had to say at the time."

Sound familiar?

Lincoln's views on race did change after 1858 though. He grew to hate blacks even more. Cow Island was his idea of an experiment. They were trying to figure out what to do with the black folks once the war was over... cause you know... you just can't have 'em runnin' around loose! So they rounded up a few hundred and shipped them off to this little Island, to see how "relocation" might work. All of the black folks died. Mostly because they sent them to an island with barely enough supplies to last a couple weeks.

Skeptical about the relocation plans? You do know that there is a country in africa that was formed by former slaves right? That even adopted our Constitution word-for-word?

Ahh... but the big story is what didn't happen... what John Wilkes Booth could well have prevented from happening. See... a good buddy of Lincoln's was a fella named Ben Butler. Those who had less civil experiences with him refered to him as "The Butcher". Lincoln liked ol' Ben so much he made him governor of Louisianna after the war.

Not being satisfied with throwing innocent Southrons in jail, or executing them for his amuzment, he set about dealing with Lincoln's problem... you know... what to do with all them black folks.

At the time... they were about to start workin' on a little project down in panama... and wouldn't it be nice to create a little "guest worker" program to help that along?

The plans were on Lincoln's desk when he was shot. The only thing that prevented the creation of that "guest worker" program which would've inevitably lead to the deaths of thousands (yellow fever anyone?) was a John Wilkes Boothe.

It's quite possible that the man who killed Lincoln, saved the American Black Race. Now how's that for irony?