Was Abraham Lincoln's death a good or bad news for the Southerns during the Reconstruction?

I need opinions. Consider the president after Lincoln's presidency, what Lincoln did that might have triggered the Southerns and Northerns.|||The death of Abraham Lincoln (he succumbed to a fatal bullet shot at him by a cowardly insane pro-slavery fanatic) was terrible news to the entire human race, let enough any sort of short-term division of the populace of North America -- let's examine your terminology in this question: what do you mean by "Southerns" as you put it?





Do you mean the human beings of the South (states that seceded from the federal governing structures during late 1860 and 1861)? Keep in mind that a near or certain majority of the populace in those states might have been people of color (African American, mixed race, Native American, people of various mixed ethnicities) who were NOT in sympathy with the political decision made by vote of certain white male elites to plunge some but not all of the armed and reserve militias and military units into a horrible, bloody conflict that lasted four entire years.


Of course it was a terrible day for all Americans -- any revisionist poster on this YAHOO! forum who argues circumspectly that Lincoln was "merely" a war criminal has overlooked his debt to this great American who strove to keep some semblance of a federal government together so that we could have a nation that is not humbled by fractious splits into divisiveness like present-day Iraq which still quarrels over Sunni vs. Shi'a vs. Kurd vs. other minorities. I find your question to be utterly in the realm of the hypothetical given so much of our lives remains based on the fact of the continued "Union" since his tragic assassination on that April day in 1865!|||Lincolns death, while welcomed by most in some ways, was generally upsetting to most southerners. The slaves/former slaves are completely understandable. But to the white southerners, they knew that an assassination by a southerner at that point would mean a very harsh reprisal against the south in various ways. It did not help ease the problems.|||Bad news, in retrospect. Reconstruction would almost


certainly have been far less rapacious had Lincoln lived.|||In Lincoln's speech when he took the oath of office, he talked about how he wanted to bring the south back into the Union. He was acting like the father in the parable of the lost son tale. He wanted to end the pain and suffering and get back to making the country whole and look to a brighter tomorow. Unfortunaly, after his death, congress took over and did a reconstruction of control. Basicly they placed the south on their lap and give it a good wipping for missbehaving. The south would have been not a ticked off of the union if John would have kept his pistol in his coat and talked to him.|||Very bad news for the South. Lincoln wanted to reconcile with the South, despite his cabinet and Congress wanting to punish the South for the war.





John Wilkes couldn't see past his own bigotry and feeling of white superiority to really see what would happen if he followed through with his plans.





And it cost the South, dearly.|||Any time a war criminal is killed, I consider it a good thing. The effect this had on the South and Reconstruction is debatable. The South was punished for attempting to get their freedom and they still are in many ways. What did Lincoln really think? Who knows. We only know what he said and what he did. One of the things we know he said was:





Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world.





Abraham Lincoln








We also know that when he "freed" the slaves, he only freed the ones in the South and not the North.


Slave owners, like Gen. Grant, didn't free their slaves until after the war was over.





The man was a hypocrite, and the real Lincoln, if he was truly recorded in history, would not be nearly as highly thought of.