Lincoln habitually would tell people he was totally ignorant of a subject which in fact he was quite well versed in, because then they would underest… - Allen C. Guelzo

Technically, Reconstruction was "over" when the last of the Confederate states had written new state constitutions and elected representatives and senators in conformity with the Reconstruction Acts. This happened fairly quickly, between June 1868 and July 1870, and it put in place state governments that were largely dominated by Republicans and that made heroic efforts to make a reality of voting rights for the freed slaves. But one by one, the wheels came off these reconstructed state governments and the old Southern Democratic power machines regained control. But “regained” is too anodyne; “overthrew” is the real word, since the recapture of these state governments was accomplished by violence and black voter intimidation.

What we see in Lincoln is a collection of the virtues we think are most important in a democratic leadership.

Emancipation, not colonization, was the real goal to which the logic of the American Founding was driving the nation.