Hi Kayleigh,
First off all: Kudos on the cat. Huge cat fan here. I have two (one boy, one girl) who are both awesome.
Your points about the disparity in wealth between the North and the South I think is a vital one. Not only was the North richer, but unlike the South, slave labor wasn't critical to their economy, meaning they were put several steps ahead of the South in their ability to bounce back after the Civil war.
Also I agree with your point on Lincoln and the south in general, but I'm not sure I'd agree with the certainty of the statement. To say he was against every thing the South stood for would be an overstretch. For example, in this speech from 1861, he uttered these lines: "Friends. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must no break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
You are right, however, of course, about slavery. And I think this element blocked out what might have been a positive, or neutral feelings about the South for Lincoln.
First off all: Kudos on the cat. Huge cat fan here. I have two (one boy, one girl) who are both awesome.
Your points about the disparity in wealth between the North and the South I think is a vital one. Not only was the North richer, but unlike the South, slave labor wasn't critical to their economy, meaning they were put several steps ahead of the South in their ability to bounce back after the Civil war.
Also I agree with your point on Lincoln and the south in general, but I'm not sure I'd agree with the certainty of the statement. To say he was against every thing the South stood for would be an overstretch. For example, in this speech from 1861, he uttered these lines: "Friends. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must no break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."
You are right, however, of course, about slavery. And I think this element blocked out what might have been a positive, or neutral feelings about the South for Lincoln.