Perhaps. But all the black historians I have read agree that the U.S. government could have done a much better job of ending slavery in a way that did much less damage to black people. Abraham Lincoln was no emancipator as much as he was a dedicated leader determined to preserve the union. Had the south not seceded, he never would have issued the Emancipation Proclamation. And even then he did not consider black people equal to white people and was a strong segregationist. It would be a long time before black people had much chance for any kind of fair and equal treatment in white society. And black people fared little better in the anti-slavery north than they did in the post antebellum south.
Northern Exclusion of Blacks
Again it is important to separate the principle we ALL, black, white, or any other flavor, can agree on--there is absolutely no justification of any kind for slavery or segregation--from the process by which the principle is realized. The surest and easiest way to eliminate a problem in your leg might be to amputate the leg. But most of us would see the negative consequences of that as unjustifiable to accomplish what we need to accomplish even if the less destructive cure would be more difficult and take much longer.
When it comes to addressing the needs of people, we should understand that there are poor, better, and best ways to accomplish what we want to accomplish there too.
Was ending slavery and segregation a good thing? Absolutely. But again, HOW something is accomplished is sometimes just as important as the accomplishment itself.
