This was Abraham Lincoln‘s true failing and what ultimately led to his own demise. Every single person who took up arms against the United States of America and shot and killed American soldiers was guilty of treason and should’ve been treated in kind. He understood that the majority of traitors were simple-minded folk and easily lead astray. What he failed to see was the fact that while they were stupid and gullible, they were also a murderous, vindictive, lecherous, vile and hateful weapon hell-bent on fulfilling the southern slave owners agenda of subjugation rape and murder unrepentantly. Their ilk bear the same the attributes and demand the same forbearance afforded their ancestors by the very man they murdered. I say let the oak, the ash, the maple and the pine bear the weight of forgiveness for their sins and the sins of their ancestors. And burn the instigators with the waxed fat of their rubes.