[hammock]

I'm familiar with that letter, and I guess we read it differently than each other.

For me, that's a whole lot of subjunctive "ifs" that refer to alternate realities, not actual negotiating positions or offers. When Lincoln says, "What I do about Slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union" he is referring to his conviction that the Union cannot possibly be saved without an end to slavery.

[gizmo686]

If Lincoln's election did not cause the South to secede, his attempt to abolish slavery almost certainly would have.

Prior to the civil war, there were numerous compromises between the North and South whereing the South got to keep slaves. In March of 1861, Congress passed the the Corwin Amendment (requiring a 2/3 majority of the House and Senate; which is even more impressive given that 7 states had already seceded and therefore did not vote) t, which was endorsed by both presidents Buchanan and Lincoln.

I don't know if the Corwin amendement would have been ratified by enough states, if not for the Civil war, but given the timing, it is impressive it managed to amass even the 5 ratifications it did.

For what it is worth, I agree with the South's assesment that compromise was not going to be tenable long term, but the North certainly was trying.

As the certainty of a military victory became clear, along with the costs of the war, the opinion of the North began to change to a much less compromising abolishanist stance; which should not be suprising.