Rustic
Diamond Member
- Oct 3, 2015
- 58,769
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- Banned
- #41
Most of us probably don’t associate Abraham Lincoln with concepts like ethnic cleansing, but Honest Abe had one thing he wanted almost as much as a slavery-free America—an America that was completely and utterly devoid of black people.
For nearly his entire life, Lincoln supported—and, at times, was the driving force behind—a plan to round up every black person in the country and forcibly ship them to another one. This wasn’t just an idle wish, either. In 1863, Lincoln personally approved an order for freed slaves to be sent to remote colonies in Central and South America. A “test” shipment of 450 emancipated slaves was even dispatched to Haiti, where their new colony was devastated by smallpox and starvation and the survivors had to be rescued. As late as fall 1864, Lincoln still intended to go ahead with this plan in some form or another, believing that whites and blacks would never be able to live together as equals. It’s possible that he even held this less-than-enlightened position right up until the very end.
It turns out that old Abe wasn’t quite the saint everyone would have you believe. He still did some incredible things in his single term as president—it’s just a shame that he had to counterbalance them with some truly hideous mistakes.
For nearly his entire life, Lincoln supported—and, at times, was the driving force behind—a plan to round up every black person in the country and forcibly ship them to another one. This wasn’t just an idle wish, either. In 1863, Lincoln personally approved an order for freed slaves to be sent to remote colonies in Central and South America. A “test” shipment of 450 emancipated slaves was even dispatched to Haiti, where their new colony was devastated by smallpox and starvation and the survivors had to be rescued. As late as fall 1864, Lincoln still intended to go ahead with this plan in some form or another, believing that whites and blacks would never be able to live together as equals. It’s possible that he even held this less-than-enlightened position right up until the very end.
It turns out that old Abe wasn’t quite the saint everyone would have you believe. He still did some incredible things in his single term as president—it’s just a shame that he had to counterbalance them with some truly hideous mistakes.