Lincoln Supported Slavery

THIS is interesting:

...Back in Illinois, Lincoln (running as a Republican) tried to unseat the incumbent Douglas in the 1858 Senate race. Douglas won the election, but Lincoln gained acclaim through a series of seven debates--the "Lincoln-Douglas debates"--that focused largely on slavery in the territories. (The debates actually began after Lincoln said, famously, that "a house divided against itself cannot stand.") Douglas repeatedly tried to label Lincoln a proponent of racial equality--a radical notion then, even in free states. But Lincoln denied it: "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races." Nor did Lincoln advocate abolishing slavery. He merely argued for containing it.

So the next time a Republican throws out the well-used "fact" that Lincoln was the first Republican President and was against slavery and therefore, see, Republicans aren't racists or homophobes or the party of the wealthy, you can calmly correct them.