Since Ken was speaking of the fact that popular American myth has it that the war was entirely about freeing the slaves when he stated that slavery wasn't a hot button issue in 1860; and these are all your quotes of the past day or so, Craig, there seems no way to reconcile your first two statements with the third you made in answer to him. You seem to be arguing both sides of the coin.

"Many people point out how unpopular Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation was at its announcement and even after its implementation across the North (let alone the border states), particularly among Democrats."

"As I said before, in 1860 only a small population of radical abolitionists supported a sweeping national ban against slavery."

"Finally, the idea that slavery wasn't the "hot button" issue at the beginning of the war cannot stand."

Penny