The Lincoln-Douglas Debates present different views for both sides of slavery. Lincoln, on one hand, was all for making African-Americans equal to White men. To Lincoln, freedom basically meant one thing, being opposed to slavery. He felt that freedom could not exist if we still had slavery institutionalized in our country. I believe a big thing that influenced Lincoln’s position in these debates is that during his own life he was subject to a free labor ideology. In the textbook “Give Me Liberty!”, it is stated that Lincoln would read pro-slavery writings and quickly started to defend the northern society. Lincoln’s early years, from 1837, claimed he was anti-slavery but not yet fully for emancipation. Lincoln states well before the debates, …show more content…
Now, Lincoln during the debates clearly states that he does agree with Douglas on some points. Some of these points consist of him not inferring with the states that already have slavery implemented, and he does feel okay that he belongs to the race that holds a superior position. This does not show that their views on slavery are the same. Lincoln did not want to interfere with the other states because he felt that he was not in the position to do so, but he was trying to stop the expansion of slavery. Lincoln envisioned for African-Americans to have all of the social and political rights that whites possesed. He felt it went against the Declaration of Independence, “ There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence… I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man” (Foner, VOF, 274). He wanted African-Americans to have the same inalienable rights as he did, as well as full equality. In the Constitution it states that “All men are created equal”. Lincoln felt that slavery opposed the constitution, for African-Americans were not being treated …show more content…
Douglas firmly believed that the Constitution and government were created solely for white men. Douglas states during the debates, “ I believe it was made by white men, for the benefit of white men and their posterity forever” (Foner, VOF, 273). When it comes to slavery for Douglas he felt that it did not go against the constitution for that reason, that it was made for African-Americans to be included. Before the debates Douglas argued a position being for popular sovereignty. Popular sovereignty is giving the right to states to vote on whether or not they would like to implement slavery. Also, Douglas was against the South seceding from the Union because he felt that the pro-slavery movement would be stronger if everyone was unified. These are some of the reasons as to why I believe Douglas was pro-slavery during the debates. Douglas, opposite of Lincoln, believed that African-Americans were not equal to whites, “ I do not regard the negro as my equal, and positively deny that he is my brother or any kin to me whatever” (Foner, VOF, 274). While Lincoln believed that equality of slaves was the answer to freedom, Douglas thought that freedom was in the hands of local self-government and determination. He firmly believed that a strong nation needed to be able to consist of states making their own laws on their institutions. The biggest point where I believe Douglas and Lincoln differ is the fact that Douglas did
In some ways, the first part of the speech is a traditional patriotic speech. Identify these elements.
Lincoln was a very smart lawyer and politician. During his “House Divided” speech he asked the question, “Can we, as a nation, continue together permanently, forever, half slave, and half free?" When he first asked this question, America was slowly gaining the knowledge and realizing that as a nation, it could not possibly exist as half-slave and half-free. It was either one way or the other. “Slavery was unconstitutional and immoral, but not simply on a practical level.” (Greenfield, 2009) Slave states and free states had significantly different and incompatible interests. In 1858, when Lincoln made his “House Divided” speech, he made people think about this question with views if what the end result in America must be.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates were part of a larger campaign to achieve political adjectives from the two. Lincoln was running for Douglas’ seat in the senate as a republican. Douglas had been a member of congress since 1843, a national figure for the Democratic Party, who was running for re-election. The debates attracted national attentions, mostly due to Douglas’ persona. Lincoln took advantage and made a name for himself as a prominent contender in national politics. At the time, the Democratic Party was going through a sectional riff, at the time of the debates. Douglas had recently gone against president Buchanan and the southern democrats when he apposed the admission of Kansas as a slave state. Douglass was against the Lecompton constitution; the stand was popular among republicans. The outcome, would have maintained the unity between the Nor and south sections of the Democratic Party. Buchanan, along with the southern democrats, were in favor of Lincolns candidacy, they feared Douglas’ going interest, and for his lack of support to the Democratic leaders. With Douglas receiving support from republicans, Lincoln would have to keep Illinois republicans from supporting Douglas. Lincoln would use the morality of slavery to wedge support away from Douglas’ famous popular sovereignty, while winning support of abolitionist. The house divided quote Lincoln used in his speech was taken from Mark 3:25.
This is supported by Document I which stated, “...I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong...” This quote shows Lincoln’s true state of mind and how he is really the Great Emancipator. Yet in Document B he clearly states, “...I am not nor never have been in favor of bringing about in any way, the social and political equality of the white and black races...” This quote counters the fact that Lincoln actually wanted to free the slaves. If he was truly anti-slavery he would have never said such a thing about leaving slavery the way it is. By saying he didn’t want to free the slaves, it tells us that Lincoln isn’t really the Great Emancipator.
Frederick Douglass goes on a journey to help stop slavery. Anti-Slavery movement. February 1818 – February 20, 1895. Frederick Douglass, Anna Murray, African American people, Slaves. To stop the people from being slaves. Frederick Douglass Cuts through the Lincoln Myth to Consider the Man. Frederick Douglass. 1849. Ireland, Britain, United States. Learning to be equal with others. In Frederick Douglass “Cuts through the Lincoln myth to consider the man”; he motivates his/her intended audience during the Anti-Slavery Movement by using the rhetorical devices or tone and imagery.
In the beginning, Lincoln and Douglass were extremely different people in nearly every aspect. Douglass was raised a slave, while Lincoln grew up as a free yet very poor man. Lincoln’s primary commitment was to American politics. Douglass’ life work almost solely revolved around abolition and voting rights for African-Americans. Their personalities were also extremely different (Oakes 92-93). Douglass’ impulsive and emotional inclinations were opposite of Lincoln’s logical and calm personality. Douglass supported every approach against slavery, including more violent ones like the John Brown affair (Oakes 94). Lincoln, on the other hand, called Brown a
Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery was the belief that the expansion of it to Free states and new territories should be ceased and that it eventually be abolished completely throughout the country. He believed simply that slavery was morally wrong, along with socially and politically wrong in the eyes of a Republican. Lincoln felt that this was a very important issue during the time period because there was starting to be much controversy between the Republicans and the Democrats regarding this issue. There was also a separation between the north and the south in the union, the north harboring the Free states and the south harboring the slave states. Lincoln refers many times to the Constitution and its relations to slavery. He was convinced that when our founding fathers wrote the Constitution their intentions were to be quite vague surrounding the topic of slavery and African-Americans, for the reason that he believes was because the fathers intended for slavery to come to an end in the distant future, in which Lincoln refers to the "ultimate extinction" of slavery. He also states that the men who wrote the constitution were wiser men, but obviously did not have the experience or technological advances that the men of his day did, hence the reasons of the measures taken by our founding fathers.
Affirmative Case Introduction- "We must use every tool of diplomacy and law we have available, while maintaining both the capacity and the resolve to defend freedom. We must have the vision to explore new avenues when familiar ones seem closed. And we must go forward with a will as great as our goal – to build a practical peace that will endure through the remaining years of this century and far into the next.” Because I believe so strongly in the words of U.S. Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, when she spoke at the Stimson Center Event, June 10, 1998, that I ask you to affirm today’s resolution, “Resolved: The use of economic sanctions to achieve U.S. Foreign Policy goals is moral.
In a speech that Lincoln gave prior to his presidency, we can see how ambiguous his stance on slavery truly was. This speech, known as the ‘House Divided’ speech, was given on the 16th of June, 1858, and outlined his beliefs regarding secession, but did not solidify the abolition of slavery as his main goal. Lincoln states that the nation “could not endure, permanently half slave and half free,” and that the slavery will either cease to exist, or will encompass all states lawfully (Lincoln). At this point in his life, Lincoln’s primary concern is clearly with the preservation of the nation.
I am a Senator. He strongly endorsed the idea of popular sovereignty, which allowed the settlers in a territory to decide for themselves whether or not to have slavery. Douglas was also a fervent advocate of Manifest Destiny, the idea that the United States had the God-given right and obligation to take over as much land as possible and to spread its "civilizing" influence. And he was not alone. A Philadelphia newspaper expounded Manifest Destiny when it proclaimed the United States to be a nation rightfully bound on the "East by sunrise, West by sunset, North by the Arctic Expedition, and South as far as we darn please.
He wisely used the issue of slavery to appeal to both the abolitionists and to Negrophobes, Northerners who were afraid of living side-by- side with Negroes and competing with them for jobs. For example, on July 10th of 1959, Lincoln gave a speech in Chicago, a primarily abolitionist town. Lincoln stated that inequality was unnecessary in this country. If all men were created equal then were should look past race, saying, “Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal” (Hofstadter, pg. 148).
Evidence and brief studies of Lincoln writings and speeches on slavery contain examples of Lincoln view on slavery. Racism was a common at the time of his term and though Lincoln never showed bad treatment towards slaves however, this brief writing of Abraham Lincoln on slavery shows that he felt that African Americans could never be equal with white. "I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races -- that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them t...
While Abraham Lincoln detested slavery and personally believed that the coloured people of America deserved full legal status, he was a politician and his priority was always keeping America unified. Lincoln abhorred slavery, and thought it a great evil both morally and from the standpoint of what it had done to the country; he considered it the biggest problem with America. While he did believe that African Americans were an inferior race and did not want to grant them full equality, he was absolutely determined that the constitution should apply to them just as much as any white citizen of America. In his time as a senator and Presidential nominee, and for a while after becoming President, his priority was simply to stop the spread of slavery and keep it in its current boundaries. Over the long term Lincoln did not believe the two races could live together and as a Senator considered shipping African Americans to Liberia, which he abandoned after realizing it was extremely impractical and a death sentence to those it was supposed to free. After becoming President Lincoln considered the much closer, safer, and economically viable Central America, but eventually dropped it as freed slaves were unresponsive. While starting his first term as President he attempted to stop the secession of the southern states and ameliorate the citizens by insisting slavery would be allowed to remain as it had been before, prioritizing the Union over the slaves. Later in his first term, and into his early second, Lincoln proposed a compensated emancipation system , believing that if the states that had seceded realized others would not join the Confederacy they would be more inclined to rejoin the Union. After all other solutions failed to gain a...
Abraham Lincoln’s original views on slavery were formed through the way he was raised and the American customs of the period. Throughout Lincoln’s influential years, slavery was a recognized and a legal institution in the United States of America. Even though Lincoln began his career by declaring that he was “anti-slavery,” he was not likely to agree to instant emancipation. However, although Lincoln did not begin as a radical anti-slavery Republican, he eventually issued his Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves and in his last speech, even recommended extending voting to blacks. Although Lincoln’s feeling about blacks and slavery was quite constant over time, the evidence found between his debate with Stephen A. Douglas and his Gettysburg Address, proves that his political position and actions towards slavery have changed profoundly.
In the start of 1860, sectional dilemmas disputing over the topic of the expansion of slavery into territories that splintered in Northern and Southern factions after the Democratic Party left. Because of this the Northern Democrats decided to recommend Stephen Douglas. They chose Stephen Douglas because his campaigned highlighted the use of compromise to prevent disunion. However, the Southern Democrats recommend John C. Breckenridge. Every republican backed up Abraham Lincoln and his decision to prohibit the expansion of slavery into new territories. He also prohibited implementing several economic policies created to revitalize Northern industry. Once the Democrats expressed divided opposition, the Republican Party then obtained enough electoral votes to insert Lincoln into the White House with minimal support from the South. For these reasons, the North and South did not get along well, which caused a split in the Republican