On Generals Fremont, Hunter, and Cameron (Among Numerous Other Officers) Wanting to Emancipate the Slaves Under Their Jurisdiction In Union-Held Rebel Territory (In Parts of Louisiana and Virginia) and Mr. Lincoln Responding with a Resounding, NO! (Sources, Historians David H. Donald and Benjamin Quarles)

 Yeah, this whole idea of Abraham Lincoln as the great emancipator, can we finally stick a fork in it? a) His 1861 Inaugural Address was essentially a slavery-forever speech (his support of the Corwin Amendment and a law which would have made any and all nullifications of the Fugitive Slave Act illegal). b) The Emancipation Proclamation didn't free a single slave (all of the slaves that Lincoln could have freed in the Northern and border states and those in Union-held rebel territory he refused to) and was unarguably nothing more than a military ploy meant to cause slave-revolts in the South. c) He consistently said all throughout the conflict that if he could preserve the Union without freeing a single slave he would do it. And d) even if the slaves finally did become free, Lincoln's goal was always to send them out of the country as he did not wish to live among them (and he held this belief all the way to his final breath - documents recently uncovered by historian, Philip Magnes). I mean, I get it that Lincoln is one the untouchables (the other two of course being Churchill and Mandela) but, please, enough with this hero worship.