A question like this is certainly not something all historians will agree on, there are bound to be a wide variety of views because it's ultimately an opinion: all the primary sources in the world won't lead you to a clear-cut answer.

That said, let's look at the implications of applying modern day beliefs to historical figures. Below are a number of tenants of morality that are commonly--though in some cases not universally--accepted today.

• Men and women should be treated as equals
• It is morally wrong to discriminate against someone--let alone harm them--for being different from you in regards to: religious practices (or the lack thereof), race, sexual orientation
• Enslaving another human under any circumstances is morally unacceptable
• Human sacrifice under any circumstances is morally unacceptable

If you apply these standards to history, then just about everyone born in the 19th century or earlier starts looking bad pretty quickly. I think any viewpoint that leads you to the conclusion along the lines of 'the only morally upstanding people are the ones alive today' is inherently flawed and such a view holder is guilty of historical vanity.

The Mayans, Inca, and Aztec civilizations all engaged in human sacrifice. A professor of mine once pointed out that this didn't reflect radically different beliefs in morality, but rather radically different beliefs in meteorology: if you believed in your heart of hearts that human sacrifice was necessary to bring the rain and that everyone you knew and love would die in a famine otherwise, you'd be performing human sacrifices too.

In the context of what we know about meteorology today human sacrifice is immoral. If you apply the standards of today to civilizations like the Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs, then they all look bad. The same is true for many, many historical figures. Lincoln freed the slaves and was progressive and tolerant by the moral standards of his day. But he was also morally opposed to interracial marriage which is very racist by today's standards.

I don't intend to condone moral relativism here. Rather, I'm urging people to look at the context of history. To judge everyone by the standards of today is to ignore the context of the time and place in which they lived. And willfully ignoring context, in my opinion, is one of the biggest errors you can make when it comes to history.

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