abe lincoln trending, so here's howard zinn explaining how he only went over to abolishing slavery when pushed to do so by radical abolitionists from below, and he ensured that it was done in a safe, "moderate" way to limit the scope of emancipation

those excerpts are from zinn's excellent "the people's history of the united states", which you can read in full here: http://library.uniteddiversity.coop/More_Books_and_Reports/Howard_Zinn-A_peoples_history_of_the_United_States.pdf

and see this thread for more information about howard zinn's life and works https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1306683915940364288

there's a reference to john brown in the second excerpt, as a representative of the radical abolitionist movement which lincoln blunted. see this thread for more information about him https://twitter.com/zei_squirrel/status/1271144050238906372