On Wed, 9 Mar 2005, Steve Brust wrote: > On Wed, 2005-03-09 at 13:44 -0800, Philip Hart wrote: > > > Ex-policy. > > > > Seems to me that Lincoln's assassination was fairly successful in the long > > term - at least I tend to believe the counter-reconstruction would have > > pleased Booth. > > > > The counter-revolution was fairly effectively fought until Grant's term > second term, by which time Lincoln was unlikely to be in office. And if > he were, I doubt he'd have had much more luck fighting it than Grant > did. Was thinking that under Lincoln's hand the country could have avoided impeachment and some of the abuses and corruption of the reconstruction; that blacks would have had a better chance at real suffrage earlier; that there would have been more healing. And that Lincoln would, even as a former president, have exerted a steadying influence on those who followed him in office - he was just 56 (though maybe his long-bone syndrome didn't augur long life). But maybe that's just the hero-worship talking.