Judge Andrew Napolitano joined Jon Stewart on The Daily Show on Tuesday night for one of the craziest debates on slavery and the Civil War that you’ll ever see — including a game show called ‘The Weakest Lincoln.’
The former New Jersey Superior Court Judge made some controversial remarks about President Abraham Lincoln, slavery and the Civil War while appearing on Fusion’s The Independents back in February. Stewart took the opportunity to confront him on those comments on Tuesday night, and things got very heated.
Napolitano argued that Lincoln should have let slavery die out on its own, instead of going to war. The former judge said that the 16th President really went to war to collect tariffs from the Southern states, not to abolish slavery. Stewart fundamentally disagreed with Napolitano, and the debate is absolutely must-watch television.
“There is very little in our country’s history that is as morally clear as Abraham Lincoln fighting at great personal cost to preserve the Union and abolish slavery from the American continent forever,” Stewart argued.
“That was not Lincoln’s purpose, to abolish slavery,” Napolitano argued.
“No, his purpose was to preserve the Union,” Stewart countered.
“His purpose was to preserve the Union so he could collect tariffs from southern ports,” the judge asserted. “He didn’t go after slavery until halfway through the Civil War.”
“That’s just silly,” the host exclaimed.
And things only got more intense from there. Seriously, you have to watch the insane interview below.
Then to close out the show, things took a lighthearted turn, as Napolitano faced off against Lincoln himself — played by Jessica Williams — in a game show called ‘The Weakest Lincoln.’
