The slaves need not be familiar with George Washington’s will to be familiar with the law. They would have been able to discern why some of them were freed and others not.

Some “free” Black men joined the Union army but only if they were able to escape to free territory. That was part of the plan to disrupt the Southern economy, freedom was a secondary goal.

It’s true that many abolitionists didn’t view Blacks as equals, want to live alongside them, or have them attend school with their children. I would teach that.

I have friends with different and more favorable views about Lincoln. We simply agree to disagree. He gave up on his plan to ship freed slaves to Central America and Liberia because Frederick Douglas and other Black leaders convinced him not to go forward. Douglas himself called Lincoln “the white man’s President” in his eulogy for Lincoln. I see no evidence Lincoln ever considered Black people his social or intellectual equals. None.