Talk:John Wilkes Booth/@comment-38.114.202.226-20140516211815/@comment-92.15.134.54-20140520194048

While it is true that every white man believed they were superior, Lincoln was actually FAR ahead of most in his day. He also DID believe that slavery was absolutely morally WRONG -- a wrong against fellow HUMAN BEINGS, and he argued repeatedly, from at least 1854 on, that the rights referred to in the Declaration DO belong to blacks as well. He showed NO animosity toward them. And by the end of his Presidency clearly regarded many quite highly (even suggesting that at least the educated ones, and those who had fought, deserved to be citzens;  "It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers.").

Booth's hearing Lincoln say this was apparently the 'final straw' that pushed him from his kidnapping plan to one of assassination.