Kendall,

If by "working man", you mean "slave", and if by "land owner", you mean "slave owner", then your understanding is correct. Otherwise, if you give those terms their usual meanings, your understanding is not correct.

In the 1850s, in the United States, plenty of land was available for settlement. The population density was low. There was no need to free the working man (except for slaves) from the clutches of land owners, whether greedy or otherwise. The working man was likely to be a landowner himself or, if not, could become one. For more information, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preemption_Act_of_1841

However, I agree with you that the title of this thread is not ideal. You may have noticed that the title of my first post is "Southerners and Republicans". That was supposed to be the title of the thread. "Party of Lincoln" was, I thought, edited out before I posted. Obviously I did something wrong. I do not know how to change it now. Sorry.

Kent