The Difference Between White and Wrong: A Suggestive Essay on Lincoln’s Use of the Term “Morality”
From the youngest age, Lincoln entered a world deeply embroiled with moral conflicts. Born in Kentucky and moving to Indiana at the age of seven, Lincoln was exposed to both sides of perhaps the most significant problem of the nineteenth century, slavery. Lincoln’s Christian ancestry no doubt made slavery a moral issue. Yet another moral conflict of Lincoln’s is one of uneducated versus educated. Lincoln’s parents could never read. Therefore, after meeting literate people, Lincoln discovered a contrast between the educated and the ignorant. All of these different conflicts had a strong influence on Lincoln’s vision of morality, creating a conception
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Once he started to consider national political issues, Lincoln realized that religion was not suitable as the only basis for preventing the spread of slavery into federal territories, because the southern slave states were also deeply religious. Therefore, Lincoln had to rely on something other than religion. He chose logic. Many of Lincoln’s speeches are full of deductive reasoning and syllogisms, and his apprehension to slavery is another example of calculating morality with logic. Using the word morality in the context of slavery, Lincoln was possibly able to convey his belief that slavery was not only morally wrong, but logically wrong. This thought follows a syllogism. Since Lincoln believed that proper morality was necessarily infused with some sort of calculated reason, and that slavery was morally wrong, then slavery must be not only morally wrong but logically wrong as well. This rationale allows Lincoln to condemn the system of slavery using reason-based morality, whose authority transcends …show more content…
Despite what he says jokingly in his New Haven Speech on March 6,1860, he believes that in order for a government to function properly, it has to be moral to a certain extent. Of course, this is where Lincoln’s desire for rational morality becomes important. Whereas Lincoln believes that morality belongs in politics, he asks that any morality involved in politics be insulated from any impassioned impulses. This principle can be seen in a fragment of one of Lincoln’s speeches regarding Douglas’ support of the Lecompton Constitution. He recognizes the probability of an unfair vote for the Lecompton Constitution in Kansas, and that Republicans should, because of logical and traditional morality, vote against the Lecompton Constitution. Of course, he then normatively states that if the Lecompton Constitution is fair and just to the people of Kansas, then Republicans should support it. This statement illustrates his conception of morality’s insulation from simple partisan politics, because it is so deeply rooted in reason and tradition. Even though some might describe this as simply partisan politics, Lincoln’s use of the term morality expresses how urgently he feels about the issue of slavery in federal territories and the possibility of slavery even coming around and infecting states deemed
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.
Disapproval, the Confederacy, and slavery were amongst the many crises Abraham Lincoln faced when addressing his First Inaugural speech (Lincoln, First Inaugural, p.37). Above all, Lincoln’s speech was stepping on the boundaries of the southern slave states. Once states began to secede, new territories formed and the disapproval of Lincoln grew. Despite Lincoln’s attempts of unifying the antislavery and confederate views, many whites refused to follow his untraditional beliefs. Lincoln encountered hostile and admirable emotions from the people of the Union and the Confederacy. However, despite his representation of the Union, not everyone agreed with his views.
The American Civil War not only proved to be the country’s deadliest war but also precipitated one of the greatest constitutional crises in the history of the United States. President Lincoln is revered by many Americans today as a man of great moral principle who was responsible for both preventing the Union’s dissolution as well as helping to trigger the movement to abolish slavery. In retrospect, modern historians find it difficult to question the legitimacy of Lincoln’s actions as President. A more precise review of President Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War, however, reveals that many, if not the majority, of his actions were far from legitimate on constitutional and legal grounds. Moreover, his true political motives reveal his
At the time, the South depended on slavery to support their way of life. In fact, “to protect slavery the Confederate States of America would challenge the peaceful, lawful, orderly means of changing governments in the United States, even by resorting to war.” (635) Lincoln believed that slavery was morally wrong and realized that slavery was bitterly dividing the country. Not only was slavery dividing the nation, but slavery was also endangering the Union, hurting both black and white people and threatening the processes of government. At first, Lincoln’s goal was to save the Union in which “he would free none, some, or all the slaves to save that Union.” (634) However, Lincoln realized that “freeing the slaves and saving the Union were linked as one goal, not two optional goals.” (634) Therefore, Lincoln’s primary goal was to save the Union and in order to save the Union, Lincoln had to free the slaves. However, Paludan states that, “slave states understood this; that is why the seceded and why the Union needed saving.” (634) Lincoln’s presidential victory was the final sign to many Southerners that their position in the Union was
Clay had a unique perspective on the abolishment of slavery. Henry Clay wanted to slavery to be abolished within the early United States, but his motives leaned more towards have these slaves returned to their original countries, thus making them unable to become citizens of the United States. A large number of citizens in the north supported this ideal because they felt it was an effective way to eliminate slavery and remove the possibility of these enslaved men becoming apart of their society. Abraham Lincoln had a strong moral compass that he used to determine decisions on most of the major issues he encountered. He believed slavery to be morally wrong and had difficulty comprehending how people were able to justify its morality. Lincoln was disgusted by the treatment that took place in slavery. He believed that if one to remove the moral obligation within slavery and the mere realization of its cruelty, there are no there reasons to inhibit the expansion of it. At this particular time, slavery was an exceptionally prominent source of income, giving those who owned the most slaves, the most wealth. Because slavery produced such a resource of income, Lincoln knew that if given the opportunity, slavery would only increase.
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.
Lincoln's use of executive authority during the civil war is many times illegal and unjust; although his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation may seem justified, Lincoln blatantly abused his power regarding civil rights. He did things like institute an unfair draft, suspend Constitutional rights, allocate military spending without Congress, and institute emancipation. Although some may justify these actions, they stomped on the Constitution.
In Lincoln, I believe the thesis would be: Abraham Lincoln was a man who was controlled by circumstances rather than determining his own destiny. Lincoln grew up at a farm and if nature intended he would have died in a farm too, but during the times that Lincoln grew up, extraordinary things were happening to the nation in politics and the society. He always despised of farm work and loved to read. "Once he got the hang of it, he could never get enough. (p. 30)" The first books he read were brought from Kentucky when his father re-married to Sarah Bush Johnston. There weren't many books available to Lincoln so he "...read carefully rather than extensively. (p.30)" At a young age, Lincoln was exposed to anti-slavery sentiment His parents moved away from a church because of slavery, even thought Lincoln was never interested in religion. He said once said "When I do good, I feel good, and when I do bad, I feel bad, and that's my religion. (Quote DB)" In 1816 Lincoln's father went to Little Pigeon Creek in Perry County in Indiana to look for a good spot to construct a house. He constructed a "half-faced camp, a rough shelter, with no floor, about fourteen feet square, enclosed on three sides, but open on the fourth. (p. 25)" Years later Lincoln said that they left Kentucky "partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land tiles in Kentucky. (p. 23)" Rapidly growing railroads and canals helped populate the rest of the continent. Lincoln was also affected by family issues.
Reading Lincoln’s first Inaugural Address, one wouldn’t think he would be the president to end slavery.Speaking on outlawing slavery, he says,“I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” At the time, Lincoln wasn’t worried about slavery,
In his speech, Frederick Douglass made it clear that he believed that the continued toleration and support of slavery from both a religious and legal standpoint was utterly absurd when considering the ideals and principles advocated by America’s forefathers. He began by praising the American framers of the Constitution, an...
Abraham Lincoln was arguably one of the greatest American presidents to date. However, he was not without his flaws as a strategic leader. Jay Winik’s book April 1865 provides a thought-provoking perspective of strategic leadership. Several interesting nuances regarding Lincoln’s vision and ability to build consensus are noteworthy. In his run for the Presidency Lincoln was able to effectively persuade most voters and elected officials that slavery was not ethical and should be outlawed in the Union. While Lincoln was able to build a consensus that slavery was wrong, he did not unconditionally advocate total freedom for blacks or consider them equal to whites. Perhaps these statements that were counter to abolitionism were politically motivated
Abraham Lincoln is one of the most celebrated presidents in United States history. There have been many debates on whether Abraham Lincoln believed what he was saying and whether is racist or not. For this essay we will be looking at the theory at the theories presented by Dr. Malone on racial paternalism and racial ascriptivism and see how that could be applied to President Lincoln. Looking at Dr. Malone’s definition of racial paternalism as an ideology in which whites were obligated to help blacks uplift themselves morally and educationally. That everyone needs to assimilate to the standers set by white people. On the other hand racial ascriptivism is on ideology that blacks were inherently inferior to, whites. That black individuals should
Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address" and Obama's "A More Perfect Union" are two speeches that attempted to express and impose some values to the audience. Although the speeches were delivered on different occasions, they both tried to persuade the audience to acknowledge some values that the speaker viewed as real and to commit themselves in other values that the speaker viewed as right. Furthermore, they both tried to speak to a divided audience.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain writes about Huckleberry, a young boy living during the times of slavery, who decides he would rather go to Hell than give up Jim, a runaway slave (Twain 249-50). This decision to completely desert everything he has ever known and been taught to save Jim, encapsulates Huck’s moral growth throughout the novel. Twain’s novel typifies the elements of the psychological lens based upon Lawrence Kohlberg’s theory of moral development, and in doing so, demonstrates that real morality does not succumb to society’s pressure. Therefore, this novel belongs in the Western Canon.
Contrary to what today’s society believes about Lincoln, he was not a popular man with the South at this time. The South wanted to expand towards the West, but Lincoln created a geographical containment rule keeping slavery in the states it currently resided in. Despite his trying to rationalize with the South, Lincoln actually believed something different ”Lincoln claimed that he, like the Founding Fathers, saw slavery in the Old South as a regrettable reality whose expansion could and should be arrested, thereby putting it on the long and gradual road ”ultimate extinction” (216). He believed it to be “evil” thus “implying that free southerners were evil for defending it”(275). Lincoln wanted to wipe out slavery for good, and the South could sense his secret motives.