Bobert, ole buddy, you have got to be kiddin'! Much as I like you, you are way off the deep end here. And the first sign of intellectual weakness in an argument is when someone says "you don't live here, so you can't understand.....".

While it is true that this war was caused by other issues, such as states rights, etc, these were among the issues. Slavery was full a part of this equation, if not one of the leading causes.

To suggest that if Lincoln had just left it alone, slavery would have disappeared is the most ludicrous thing I have heard. Shall we apply that same logic to the Nazi's? Or any of the great ills? The by product of any revolution is that mistakes, such as Jim Crow, will happen as the pendulum swings between radical positions.

Another inaccuracy in your oversimplistic "if slavery were the issue, then there wouldn't have been slaves in Washington .... " argument. First off, there was a huge seccessionist movement in DC. It does, after all sit on the edge of the South. There were anti Lincoln agitators all through the city. It was very much a divided town. Your assertion is gratuitous and can just as gratuitously be denied.

Greatness happens in spite of human failings. Among us mere mortals, it is those who rise above and take the risk for mankind that results in a better place that are remembered. Lincoln fits this on all levels. And his Gettysburg Address is one of mankinds most important speeches.

Mick