"In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you.... You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it."-
While looking through the Lincoln exhibits, I wondered what the world would be like had the South been allowed to leave the Union. In today's world, would they be successful? Prosperous? Or poor with few industries and little to export? How long would slavery have continued? Surely it would have been banished by now. Or maybe not. As Chris pointed out, it wasn't too long ago that apartheid was the rule of the land in South Africa. Perhaps still functioning under Jim Crow laws? Wanting to become a separate entity is a difficult issue to grapple with, as the citizens of Quebec can attest to. Of course, there are times when I, too, wonder if a little reorganization might be beneficial (to all parties):
Photo credit: Here.
