He makes good points but I think he gives too little credit to incrementalism. Contrary to his claim, the Emancipation Proclamation was an incremental step toward the 13th Amendment. It only freed slaves in areas engaged in rebellion. And Lincon’s stated policy during the campaign was simply to contain slavery to where it already existed until it would whither away over time. That was an incremental step toward the Emancipation Proclamation.

The same kind of incrementalism characterized the right for women to vote. They won the right in certain states and leveraged those gains to win the right in others until it was finally made part of the constitution.

Taking incremental steps made all of these big victories for freedom possible.