Abraham Lincoln: The Unconventional Emancipator

734 Words2 Pages

The Great Emancipator? “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…” are words spoken by Abraham Lincoln, who went on to become the 16th president of the United States. One could argue that, since this was uttered prior to his election and prior to the Civil War, Lincoln’s attitude eventually changed over the course of time. In fact, many refer to Lincoln as “the great emancipator” and use the title to honour him as a warrior for justice and equal rights. However, Abraham Lincoln did not end slavery in the name of equality and this is a fact that is constantly reinforced by his words and actions throughout the course of his presidency. To emancipate is …show more content…

He does not care how it affects the slaves or blacks in general. He has no intention of doing anything about slavery, unless it directly helps the Union. Later on that year, Lincoln recommends a Constitutional Amendment that abolishes slavery, but compensates former slave states and slave owners who were not disloyal to the Union if they comply by the beginning of the next year. He wants to compensate the enslavers because this will appease them and hopefully ensure that they will not rebel any further. When the states in rebellion did not comply, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation which declared that the slaves in the rebel states were free. Later on, he allowed blacks to fight for the Union. On this subject he said “[N]o human power can subdue this rebellion without the Emancipation lever as I have done. Freedom has given us control of 200 000 able bodied men, born & raised on southern soil…” (Abraham Lincoln). Throughout his presidency, Lincoln talks about being anti-slavery. However, he also talks about how he does not feel like he has the authority as president to act upon this belief (Abraham Lincoln). These decisions were not Lincoln’s way of changing his mind and deciding to encourage equality. They were strategic moves, deliberately used to tie slavery further to the war and help the

Show More
Related

  • Abraham Lincoln and the Kansas-Nebraska Act

    1503 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Lincoln-Douglas Debate

    925 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln And Jefferson Davis

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    His actions brought about great challenges for him, and the following fathers of our country. would go through the sand. The combination of both races and more freedoms would stir trouble for many years to come. Although his actions stopped slavery, it didn't stop the harsh treatment of the black race, which has been carried out for decades. Lincoln's Presidency was dominated by the war.

    Read More

  • The Great Emancipator Analysis

    1296 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lincoln declared that “all persons held as slaves” in areas in rebellion “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” Not only liberate slaves in the border slave states, but the President has purposely made the proclamation in all places in the South where the slaves were existed. While the Emancipation Proclamation was an important turning point in the war. It transformed the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. According the history book “A People and a Nation”, the Emancipation Proclamation was legally an ambiguous document, but as a moral and political document it had great meaning. It was a delicate balancing act because it defined the war as a war against slavery, not the war from northern and southern people, and at the same time, it protected Lincoln’s position with conservatives, and there was no turning

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln: The Great Emancipation

    1764 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Lincoln's Address On Colonization Analysis

    874 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Preliminary Emancipation Lincoln says, “That the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent, or elsewhere, with previously obtained consent of the Governments existing there, will be continued.” (Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, pg.345) It is evident that Lincoln believes in the use of colonization as a method to deal with freed slaves. Despite the fact that Lincoln believes in colonization, he doesn’t include it in the final Emancipation. Instead in the actual Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln mainly talks about how the slaves in Confederate territories except for Tennessee are now free. He says, “I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free.” (Emancipation Proclamation, pg.369) The fact that Lincoln did not reference colonization in the Final Emancipation Proclamation tells us that his views on post-slavery plans have changed. Instead of following through with the colonization plan Lincoln now is working to make the freed slaves citizens, which he said he would never do in the Lincoln-Douglas Debate. One-half of a year after the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln gave the Order of Retaliation, which confirmed his post-slavery plans. In the first line od the Order of Retaliation Lincoln says, “It is the duty of every government to give protection to its citizens, of whatever class, color, or condition, and especially to those who are duly organized as soldiers in the public service.” (Order of Retaliation, pg.386) The fact that Lincoln uses the word citizen when talking about a black person shows that his views on equality and slavery have changed because in the First Lincoln-Douglas Debate Lincoln said, “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races.” (First Lincoln-Douglas Debate, pg.149) The Order of Retaliation marked a key

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln and Slavery

    1612 Words  | 4 Pages

    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).

    Read More

  • Virginian Luxuries Dbq

    1297 Words  | 3 Pages

    That it makes his republican party look like hypocrites for not liking the idea of slavery but still allowing it. His idea would be to take the negroes back to where they belong (libya) to set them free. He describes that the negroes were not animals and deserved certain rights. Lincoln agrees that to stop slavery would be very hard to stop in a short time frame but he believes that it should be on a path during extinction.

    Read More

  • Why Was Abraham Lincoln Called A Great Emancipator

    1579 Words  | 4 Pages

    Abraham Lincoln was not pursuing the right course of action when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. It is indicated that Lincoln had second guesses regarding his move through signing the deal to end slavery. This is indicated by the fact that Abraham Lincoln was considering convincing Jefferson Davis who, at the time, was committed to freeing the southern states. His dedication is part of the reason why Lincoln’s title of “great emancipator” has meaning. Since then, Abraham has been associated with having played a key role in ending slavery in America. Even though Lincoln is associated with ending slavery, it is said that he was more opposed to the idea of the disintegration of the Union and if he had a chance to select between support for the union and ending slavery, he would have opted for the Union as his choice. The idea that Lincoln would have chosen to be in the same camp with Jefferson is a clear testimony that his signing the Emancipation Proclamation was not the best action (Carrington 570).

    Read More

  • Was Lincoln The Great Emancipator?

    1145 Words  | 3 Pages

    As stated in the Declaration of Independence, he first believed that all negroes had the right to have natural rights. He declared this in the first Lincoln-Douglas Debate that “he is much entitled to these as the white men.”1 Here, Lincoln emphasized his stance that even a negro is entitled to their natural rights. However, prior to this, Lincoln stated that he has no lawful right or inclination to end slavery and “introduce political and social inequality between the white and the black races.”2 Abraham Lincoln did not even have any intention of ending slavery. He just wanted the public to know that the negroes deserved natural rights and nothing more. He was never in favor of making them voters or jurors in court, or letting them hold office, or marry white people.3 How can one say that he is the “Great Emancipator” when he did not want to give the negroes any more rights? Looking at them as minorities, he still did not want to try and to give them any freedom. He does not view them as equals in society, nor did he have strong feelings to support the negroes at all. Attacking their race, he still calls the white race superior to the negroes. If Lincoln never supported the equal rights of negroes, he cannot be the great emancipator. Showing indifference to the negroes, he was also reluctant to interfere with the state’s rights and wanted to

    Read More

  • Reconstruction

    685 Words  | 2 Pages

    What many people don’t know is that the original intent of the Civil War was to preserve the Union. Many factors went into Lincoln’s decision to also address slavery through this war. For one, the number of men enlisting in the war was dwindling, and it became apparent that black manpower would be absolutely necessary to win the war. Also, the increasingly upset Radical Republicans and abolitionists let their opinions be known and persuaded the citizens of the North that the war could not be won without attacking the issue of slavery. Finally, Lincoln believed that transforming the dispute from a conflict to preserve the Union to a crusade against slavery would dissuade the threatening British and French from supporting the Confederacy. With its new stated purpose, the Civil War would now have huge societal repercussions.

    Read More

  • Reflection Of Abraham Lincoln

    1200 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lincoln kept his morals the same throughout his life, but his public and private opinions on slavery and equality changed drastically throughout his lifetime. In order to understand the change in Abraham Lincolns views on slavery, we must first look at his personal beliefs at the beginning of his political career. In Lincoln Fragment on Slavery, he questions the logic behind slavery. Lincoln personally was trying to understand the justification behind slavery when he wrote, “You do not mean color exactly? – You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a intellect superior to your own.” (Fragment on Slavery, pg.91) In this personal writing, Lincoln puts up every justification for slavery and then refutes it by showing the holes

    Read More

  • Effects Of The Emancipation Proclamation

    718 Words  | 2 Pages

    The criticism from the anti-slavery group was that why would he care so much to free slaves in the confederacy if he wouldn’t free the slaves in the Union? Also, how could he free slaves that weren’t his countries slaves? When the states broke away from the Union they declared themselves the Confederate States. Even though Lincoln did not recognize them as a nation they recognized themselves so, how could he free another nation’s slaves if they did not recognize themselves as part of the Union? Making the Confederacy mad would not win the war but, it would cause them to have more anger towards the Union.

    Read More

  • Who Is Abraham Lincoln Racist?

    1850 Words  | 4 Pages

    There were many instances in President Lincoln’s career as a politician that actually point to the contrary. A number of Lincoln’s view regarding race and the status of African Americans in the United States could be viewed as racist. Lincoln was repeatedly quoted of statements that many people today would find repugnant. One example that focus on Lincoln’s racist views was when he was quoted making anti-civil rights statements in his debate against Stephen A. Douglas in their historic presidential debate. In For a Vast Future Also: Essays From the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association author of chapter one, Arthur Zilversmit, quotes Lincoln’s rebuttal to Douglas’s accusations against him that said that he was for racial equality. Lincoln responded to Douglas’s claims by saying “I am not, nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races” (Schwartz 6). This answer earned Lincoln much praise and applause from the crowd. This quote made by Lincoln is significant because it proves that he was a man of his time. In and era riddled with racism and white supremacism, Lincoln did not take a stand for what was right and made an effort to gain the approval of a racist crowd of supporters. Although it could be argued that Lincoln was just pandering to a crowd that was opposed to racial equality, his descriptive rebuttal should still convince us to hold Lincoln more accountable for his words and not just grant him misnomers such as pro civil rights. Another quote made by Lincoln that revealed his lack of moral investment in the plight of African Americans was when he wrote a letter to the founder of the New York Tribune, Horace Greeley

    Read More

  • Abraham Lincoln Weaknesses

    383 Words  | 1 Pages

    President Abraham Lincoln had never been a supporter of slavery, but in the first years of the war, he insisted that slavery wasn’t to be considered a reason for the conflict. As a matter of fact, he wanted to keep the border slave states, and he was well aware that, with emancipation of slavery, those border states might have left the Union and joined the Confederacy. Certainly, he could’t risk such a loss. On the other hand, President Abraham Lincoln realized that, in order to win the Civil War, the Union couldn’t simply occupy territory and capture the South’s capital. The purpose was to defeat the South, and to do so, the Union had to destroy what was its economical strength. Perhaps, the slavery system, which was, in fact, the strength

    Read More

More about Abraham Lincoln: The Unconventional Emancipator

Open Document