What/where do you think our country would be if the Confederates would have won?
-Brent,
Lincoln thought it would bring anarchy, and I agree. If some states could leave the Union, others would do likewise when issues upset them. The states would no longer be united; there would be no United States today.
I think slavery would have ended because the enslaved people would have a better chance to escape to freedom without the enforcement of Fugitive Slave Laws, and two free borders, Mexico and the United States. Also, the larger world was seeing the error of that horrible system. But I am pretty sure that the country at that time would not have given equal rights, but would have set up a system like that in South Africa, Apartheid. And, even though it took more than 100 years to bring equality, and we are still working on that, it is a good thing that new Amendments to the Constitution guaranteed equality under the law. I credit the legacy of Abraham Lincoln for inserting the Declaration of Independence into the Constitution.
Dr. Vernon Burton
Burroughs Professor of Southern History and Culture
Coastal Carolina University
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Why was Lincoln's first task to win the war?
-Alexis Lamb, 5th grader from Fargo Public School, Fargo, OK
As he said—everything depended on winning the war, putting down rebellion—preserving the United States of America. Ending slavery would not been possible without the preserved Union.
William Lee Miller
Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia
