Lincoln built his career by attacking an entrenched political & economic elite, denying the authority of the Supreme Court, & calling for the "ultimate extinction" of $3 billion in property. If he was a "conservative," words have no meaning
On the handful of occasions when Lincoln called himself "conservative," he referred exclusively to the Republican Party's effort to conserve the antislavery principles of the Revolution, threatened in the 1850s by an aggressive Slave Power. quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/linc…
But actual 1850s conservatives — Georgia planters, New York financiers, Boston textile magnates — knew that the Republicans, in their determination to isolate & end what Lincoln called "the monstrous injustice" of slavery, posed a foundational threat to the American status quo.
And when Lincoln won office in 1860, his refusal to compromise on the spread of slavery — despite great pressure from "conservatives" — was one of the great radical moments in U.S. history. Here's something I wrote about Lincoln, The Great Uncompromiser thenation.com/article/lincol…
