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If the vast majority of the membership will excuse me, I am hoping there at least one or two others who are familiar with a very obscure American politician of the mid nineteenth century, by the name of Abraham Lincoln. He was the runner up at the 1860 Republican Convention. Historians see him as the voice of moderation, and that appeal came close to working. His few biographers depict him as a man of great intelligence and political skill. What if he had won the the nomination, I think any credible Republican would have beaten the divided Democrats and the Constitutional Union Party that drew off more Southern votes. Once victorious, I don´t think he could have made a deal to keep the South in the Union, although I have an open mind on that subject. How would he have managed the A. C. W. differently than President Seward? What would have been his plans for Reconstruction?
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