History Characters / CheckmateLincolnites

->''"Welcome back to'' Checkmate, Lincolnites!, ''the show where we reject academic historical consensus in favor of TRUE history!"''
->'''Played by:''' Andrew "Atun-Shei Films" Rakich

* {{Catchphrase}}: As one could guess from the show's title, he ''really'' loves to say "Checkmate, Lincolnites!"

-->'''Johnny:''' So when I call Longstreet a Scalawag, I'm basically saying he didn't...[[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain completely hate black people]]?
-->'''Billy:''' Basically. A Carpetbagger is essentially a Northerner who doesn't completely hate black people, and a Scalawag is a Southerner who doesn't completely hate black people.

-> ''"If this show is remembered, I would guess it would be as a small footnote of Civil War history's intersection with 21st-century internet culture. If we're fortunate enough to have any legacy at all, I fully expect'' Checkmate, Lincolnites! ''to be [[DatedHistory an imperfect product of its time]], like all written and filmed history. I hope we're remembered as a nail in the coffin of the Lost Cause, but who knows? Only time will tell."''
-> '''Played by:''' Andrew "Atun-Shei Films" Rakich

--> '''Johnny Reb:''' How's that humble pie taste, Billy?
--> '''Billy Yank:''' ''([[LiteralMetaphor tucking into a slice of pie]])'' It's a little dry.

* MangledCatchPhrase: After getting in a good one-liner of his own at the start of an episode[[note]]"If [the Confederate military Johnny Reb was praising] were so good, why didn't they win?"[[/note]], he tries to follow up with "Checkmate, Davis... ites." Johnny mocks that it doesn't sound as catchy as his own.

--> '''Billy Yank:''' What kind of unbelievable asshole can't distinguish between slave-owning Confederates and modern day rural southerners?
--> ''(double AsideGlance)''

** When he points out how some Lost Cause opponents go too far and stereotype ''all'' Southerners as white supremacists, Billy Yank wholeheartedly agrees with him and joins him in glaring at the camera.
** While Billy Yank does argue that it's likely there were more pragmatic reasons behind their actions, he does admit Johnny could possibly have a grain of truth in some cases. In the case of Andrew Chandler and his slave Silas being friends, Billy does admit the photo of them being more buddy-buddy then the typical master/slave photo is interesting. He also admits it is possible Nathan Bedford Forrest did genuinely become TheAtoner in his later years as many of Forrest's former comrades believed he did ([[EvilCannotComprehendGood and were quite upset with him for it]]).
** In the episode "Wasn't it KINDA about STATES RIGHTS?!," he first points out that the northern states engaged in gradual emancipation, with a substantial slave population at the time many of them were sparring with the south over the Missouri compromise, and later sarcastically asks Billy whether or not Massachusetts was named after somewhere in England when the subject turns to the Indian Removal Act. In both cases, Billy makes no effort to defend the hypocrisy of the situation, but nonetheless maintains that, hypocritical though it might be, the north's sentiments were sincere.
* StrawmanPolitical: He basically acts as a mouth-piece for Lost Cause proponents, literally quoting [=YouTube=] comments that either try to discredit the idea that the Civil War was fought over slavery, accuse the North of being villains and/or the Confederacy as victim while Billy Yank is the voice of reason that discredits him. It's been directly acknowledged by Johnny himself that he's a cartoon character.
* ThisIsGonnaSuck: Once he fully grasps the difference between "citizens" (white men, whose personal liberties were inviolate) and "subjects" (everyone else, who did not enjoy the same rights and to whom the government could do whatever it wished for the benefit of "citizens") in the minds of "southern rights" advocates, he outright says, "This episode is officially bumming me out!" The worst is still to come too.
* TookALevelInKindness: In the pilot episode, he's portrayed as more of a {{jerkass}} that believes in white supremacism. Later episodes portray him as more willfully ignorant, making up excuses to justify the Civil War as being for reasons other than slavery, and will even be disgusted when Southern politicians at the time will make openly racist or religiously-intolerant statements.

** While reading racist quotes from Confederate soldiers, he gets overtly disturbed and uncomfortable whenever soldiers mention the preservation of slavery and the possibility of having to treat black people as equals as a casus belli for the rebellion. When their quotes starts including the n-word, he is unwilling to repeat it, merely saying "that's a bad word" or replacing it with "nope".

** While discussing Nathan Bedford Forrest's post-war political career, he's actually taken aback by the venom with which some other Confederate veterans attacked him for taking a conciliatory tone and giving a speech at a Negro social meeting and admits it's "really quite vile."
** His justification of his support of the Confederacy comes largely from his belief in states' rights and a vague association between the term and libertarian political ideas of individual freedom. He's increasingly disturbed by the increasingly reactionary sentiments of southern leaders over the course of the early 19th century and their willingness to hypocritically enforce their values on the North through legal means, and utterly disgusted by the outright authoritarian and anti-republican turn a lot of its leaders took over the course of the war.

* FriendlyEnemy: In later videos, he and Billy Yank have a less-toxic relationship, sharing drinks, admitting when the other has a point, and even getting each other fairly thoughtful Christmas presents. In episode 8 the tone has shifted entirely to two friends having a chat.