Lincoln was not a moderate in 1858 or 1860, he was not looking for the middle ground. Read the rest of the quote, just for starters.
I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.
That quote is Lincoln saying that enough was enough, that we either fight to make the whole United States free, or we fail to stand up for ourselves and the whole United States would become a slave state. Given that the country was evenly divided between the two positions, he was NOT calling for moderation or for bipartisanship. No. And, I would like to introduce you to the Cooper Union Speech, where Lincoln leaves no room for interpretation of his words. This speech is considered the launching pad to Lincoln's ascension.
The Cooper Union Address delivered in New York City on February 27, 1860, propelled Abraham Lincoln to the 1860 Republican Nomination.
What exactly did the Great Emancipator have to say? What sort of wonderful bipartisan proposals did he pitch?
Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored - contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man - such as a policy of "don't care" on a question about which all true men do care - such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance - such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said, and undo what Washington did.
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the Government nor of dungeons to ourselves. LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.
Get that? That is Lincoln saying NO MIDDLE GROUND. Stand up for what we believe in, do not let them slander us into submission, do not fall for their words of reconciliation while behind their back they hold knives.
In the Civil War the sides were divided along geographical lines, yet in this war the states are divided, the counties are divided, the cities are divided, and even our own families are divided. We are in a war for the very salvation of our country, of our planet, and of our way of life.
Those who believe that through losing the Republican Party has learned its lesson, need only listen to their rhetoric, need only remember this from 2000.
I told all four [congressional leaders] that I felt like this election happened for a reason; that it pointed out — the delay in the outcome should make it clear to all of us — that we can come together to heal whatever wounds may exist, whatever residuals there may be. And I really look forward to the opportunity. I hope they've got my sense of optimism about the possible, and enthusiasm about the job.
~ President-elect George W. Bush
They will say ANYTHING when they are not in power, anything to shift the middle ground towards the right. Lincoln recognized that.
A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill temper.
Even though the southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate view of our duty, we possibly can.
Judging by all they say and do, and by the subject and nature of their controversy with us, let us determine, if we can, what will satisfy them.
Will they be satisfied if the Territories be unconditionally surrendered to them? We know they will not...
The question recurs, what will satisfy them? Simply this: ...
This, and this only:
- cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling it right
- Senator Douglas' new sedition law must be enacted and enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, or in private.
- We must arrest and return their fugitive slaves with greedy pleasure.
- We must pull down our Free State constitutions.
- The whole atmosphere must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their troubles proceed from us.
That, is the birth of snark my friends. Lincoln saw through the ruse of moderation with a party that has no will to budge from their position. He saw that the only course of action was to stand up and fight, that looking for the middle ground would continue to erode the center, shifting it more and more away from the liberal heart of our country and towards a conservative, cold, heartless place where minorities would have no place.
I, for one, will not stand by and watch the Democratic Party fall for the "moderate" and "centrist" talk of the Republican Party. The Party of Iraq, Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, increased poverty, increased infant mortality, more uninsured, lower wages, and lower security. No, I will support no moderation with THAT party. I will not speak of reconcilation and bipartisanship until THAT party is destroyed and everything they believe in has gone the way of slavery.
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