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Message: <blockquote data-quote="SoonerATC" data-source="post: 1912246" data-attributes="member: 9576">I agree with your last two sentences.  I wonder if the canyon that separates liberals and conservatives today might only ever be decided by war as well.  As for Lincoln and slavery, he was quoted as saying "My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and it is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it."  The Emancipation Proclamation was not truly about freeing the slaves, it was about giving the North the moral high ground.  Both England and France, who were dependent upon Southern cotton exports, were very close to entering the war in favor of the South.  If Lincoln could make the war about slavery, the European countries were less likely to intervene lest they be seen as defending slavery.As for the death issue, it would be hard to imagine Americans killing themselves in that capacity.  Europe has had to deal with massive death caused by wars throughout history, but rarely has the US had to do the same.</blockquote>