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Originally Posted by Locobot
Not sure I understand your Julius Caesar-Abe Lincoln analogy. Are you saying that had he lived Lincoln would have declared himself emperor for life? I don't really see that in his personality. It's funny that you feel the need to assassinate our first Republican's character. You're not one of those "the South really won" people are you? Because the South got their asses collectively kicked in the civil war, even with the greatest American general, Robert E. Lee, commanding their army.
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Lincoln never had a need to declare himself dictator for life. Remember, this was well before there was a 2 term limit on holding the presidency, which came about after FDR. As for "The South really won", well, that's debatable. Yes, the North won militarily. Yes, the slaves were freed (not that slavery was the reason for the Civil War; it wasn't, since under Scott v. Sanford, slavery as an institution was preserved by the courts). But if you look at what happened after Reconstruction, the South did indeed manage to preserve much of their way of life for many years by replacing slavery with Jim Crow. Much of what they lost militarily, they regained politically, and fairly well abrogated the equal protection guarantees under the 14th Amendment until the 1960's, and the "States Rights" argument persists to this day (for example, Kerry's position on gay marriage and Dean's position on gun control were States Rights arguments.) Does that count as a "win"? I dunno.