[quote=Dedonus]
Let's not forget that even with the abolishing of slavery, the former slaves were still second class citizens for a very long time. Jim Crow laws, segregation, etc. I will admit that the North wasn't untainted either. However, I would like to stop before this blows up into an argument.
[/quote]

It's not too much of an argument, we're all pretty much agreeing and agreeing to disagree. It took a 100 years and the Voters Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act for the policies Lincoln and Reconstruction set out to accomplish to be enacted. Abraham Lincoln freed black people, but Lyndon Johnson opened the voter's booth to them.