Lincoln came down to us like Cesar Millan: he tamed the South like Cesar tames poorly-behaved dogs, only to head back to Los Angeles once the episode is finished, leaving us to fend for ourselves. Indeed, the way that War ended—with Grant pinning Lee at Petersburg for a whole year, putting a leash on him, and waiting for his last fit after which he would have to become submissive—reinforces the metaphor. Unfortunately, not much later, Lincoln left us and the North and South failed to reach a noble agreement about black people. In the absence of genuine reconciliation, the South was able to choose its own way and the fate of black people was secured: America would squander much of the opportunity that had been provided by winning the War.
But if Lincoln’s efforts were mostly for naught, then for what should we appreciate him? He won, but really, He left Us and We lost. At first, it seems as though we can’t hold him responsible for his departure since it was caused by his being murdered. But actually, Lincoln’s inattention to his personal security that night at Ford’s Theater was his habit, and we feel quite justified in resenting him for it.
However, it would be hasty to conclude from what has been said that the world didn’t massively benefit from his work—he did, after all, leave us with calm, submissive Southern states. He put on his roller blades and took them around the block a few times to drain their energy before he put them into submission—but in the course of doing so, he revealed to us the extent of their energy.
And the South was insane. The President of the so-called Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, was so sheltered and had so little personal experience with slavery that he believed that the better-than-average way his family treated their hundreds of slaves was typical of how slaves were treated. He actually believed that the Northern accounts of the horrors of slavery were outrageous lies. Furthermore, the South was aggressive and they had most of America’s military talent, but for unleashing their energy, they didn’t have in mind any societies that could handle their aggression. Rather, the South was anxious to conquer Cuba, Mexico and Latin America. The South didn’t enforce the ban on the African slave trade before the War, and they were excited to expand it after secession. But these things didn’t happen because Lincoln redirected the Rebels’ attention.
The South was so aggressive that the main plan for alternative to Civil War discussed at the time was for the North and South to join and conquer France’s territories in Mexico. Although it isn’t well-known, this was the plan of the men aside from Lincoln that had a path to the White House in 1860—Stephen Douglas and William Seward—although their paths were very different. Douglas, when it became clear after some October state elections that he would lose the election to Lincoln, stopped campaigning to be President and switched to campaigning for preserving the Union on this Mexico basis—at some risk to his safety. Seward became Lincoln’s Secretary of State and intrigued for this solution throughout the War.
In fact, in the final months of the War, Francis Blair—the ancient statesman that had counseled every President since Jackson and would still counsel the next—was trying to persuade Lincoln to let him set up peace discussions with the Rebels on the basis of the Mexico plan. Lincoln strictly objected to the Mexico plan, but Blair discussed the plan with the Rebels as though Lincoln was open to it. A meeting with Lincoln was set up at Hampton Roads and his instinct was to skip it, but he decided to attend after Grant noted that it would be bad politics to skip a peace conference. At the meeting, Alexander Stephens, the Vice President of the so-called “Confederacy,” pleaded with Lincoln to consider the Mexico plan.*
Personally, I love America and I am quite happy to praise it while acknowledging its shortcomings. Granted, more than 700,000 people were killed in the Civil War, but otherwise the Rebels would have been unleashed on the world with their insanity and aggression, and there would have been all sorts of violence against people that couldn’t defend themselves. So, I thank Lincoln for redirecting their attention and leaving them for us in a calm, submissive state. We weren’t able to keep them tame once he left, but they haven’t been such an external threat to people that couldn’t defend themselves.
* The whole Mexico aspect of this meeting is omitted from the 2012 Steven Spielberg movie, Lincoln, even though the meeting figures prominently in the movie. This is a shame, since everything else about that movie seems so satisfying, and also since an important occasion was missed for informing people about this little-known aspect of the Civil War.