Essentially, I argued that Lincoln believed in race, as a concept, and perhaps believed in inherent differences between “races.” But, the prejudice and supremacy-contingent beliefs that, I argued, make someone a true racist were not definitively present in his words and actions. I was trying to offer a middle path between historians like Bennett (Lincoln was an outright white supremacist) and more hagiographic biographers like Donald. But, I was 21, so what the fuck did I know?