"Lincoln urged a White House audience of 'free blacks' to leave the US and settle in Central America."

Documents uncovered by historians at George Mason suggest that Abraham Lincoln was much more committed to seeing that freed American slaves relocated to Central America and started their own new nation. The more you study history, the thornier it gets. An excerpt from Matthew Barakat’s story on the topic from the Independent:

“It claims, among other things, that in 1862 Lincoln urged a White House audience of ‘free blacks’ to leave the US and settle in Central America. He told them: ‘For the sake of your race, you should sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people.’ He went on to say that those who envisioned a permanent life in the US were being ‘selfish’ and he promoted Central America as an ideal location ‘especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land – thus being suited to your physical condition.'”