The first thing thing holysin stated about the deaths, I have thought about too, but in a different way. I was thinking about how over the centuries, armies have been doubled if not tripled, the deaths have also multiplied. Back then thousands would die in just one hour (look at the battle of antietam), you of course felt it was for the good of the country. Now in modern day, when 1 man dies, its a national tragedy. Yes I feel for their families, but we can't let only 2000 deaths tear this country apart. We shouldn't of went in there bt now that we are, we must stay.
Back on topic: Chris Abe didn't free the slaves because it was the right thing to do, in fact he even stated that. He freed them because it would undermine the South's production capabilities and economy. I believe he said:
QUOTE(abe)
If I could end this war by freeing the slaves, I will do it. If I could end this war by not freeing them, I will do it.
Don't actually quote that as its not his exact words.
Also, Sleeper cells have been around for over 2000 years. During the Crusades, muslims had men inside the walls of jeruselum (I doubt the christians had anyone with dark skin to infiltrate the muslim camps.)
You see Chris, they captured that german citizen (a citizen of another country! I don't even believe he was in the US at the time...)
tortured him, flew him around the world to one of their secret prisons, then released him when controversy arose... I underlined the main part.
BTW Cheeze, Anarchy isn't a bad thing, or as the better name for it is: Libertarian Socialism.
http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html Cheeze is also right in the fact that Abe did those things,even though they were wrong, not because he wanted to protect the citizens of the US, but because he wanted to preserve the Union which was in danger of a political and economic collapse. People were also pissed about the draft: the movie Gangs of New York, that city takeover really happened. Not sure about that gang fight though but the mobs did take over. Also had people like tamany who was trying to influence the poor with gifts or money. Forced people to vote, even took dead people and had them vote (don't ask how).
The fore fathers believed their beliefs were more important then their lives and those of their families. They felt it would benefit all the people of the country and generations to come.