The Great Emancipator? The controversy of whether or not Abraham Lincoln deserves all the credit for "freeing" the slaves.

Either slavery or the nation had to perish. In history classes now-a-days we are told, Abraham Lincoln rose to the presidency and took the needed steps to end the intolerable situation of segregation by making sure that the South did not withdraw from the Union and remain a slave-holding society. Does he really deserve all this credit? This used to seem a plausible story to me. Most people are quite satisfied with the ending, hoping …

…today as he was136 years ago. His actions were the result of the benefit for the majority and the preservation of the Union. Emancipating the slaves was just an added extra for saving the Union. He had no interest in freeing the slaves. He clearly states that if he were elected he would attempt to abolish slavery. The south was defeated, slavery perished, the Nation lived, and Abraham Lincoln was wrongly labeled as a hero.