Leonard Pitts: We cannot afford to ‘Let them up easy’ again

On April 4, 1865, Abraham Lincoln went to Richmond.With the Civil War all but won, the president wanted to tour the rebel capital. There, he met a Union general who asked how the conquered city should be treated. “If I were in your place, I’d let ‘em up easy,”’ said Lincoln. “Let ‘em up easy.”This was in concordance with his desire to, as he’d said in his second inaugural address, “bind up the nation’s wounds.” That magnanim