Nathan Bedford Forrest as a symbol and a figure has been popular in novels and movies, with settings from the West, Reconstruction, or even the post-World War II South, far out-stripping his impact on the Civil War itself. Most of these works build upon aspects of the Forrest Myth, such as the novel which has Rommel coming to Mississippi in 1937 to study Forrest’s battles, only to use these tactics in North Africa. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 4, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln stated that he had "no purpose, directly, or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists. I believe I lack lawful right to do, so, and I lack the inclination to do so." The attempts by overzealous generals such as John C. Fremont and David Hunter to free the slaves in the areas they occupied were promptly countermanded by Lincoln. The person in the White House had enough problems without pushing slave-owning Union loyalist in the critical border states into the arms of secessionists ------------------------------------------------------------------------- March 1865, Judah P. Benjamin, Confederate Secretary of State, promised freedom for blacks who served from the Virginia. Authority …show more content…
Forrest’s wholesale slaughter of troops (mostly black) at Fort Pillow tarred any national reputation he might have had forever. But his raiding prowess earned him the respect of his black soldiers, and his benevolent protection over Confederate civilians earned him massive esteem in the post-war South. His leadership and later rejection of the Klu Klux Klan allowed him to be represented as a racial moderate in reconstruction; his reconciliation and support of Memphis’ blacks in the 1870s causes the historian and the myth-maker even further
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
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.
According to article “Lincoln’s Journey to Emancipation” written by author Stephen B. Oates. “After Lincoln's victory and the secession of the seven states of the Deep South. Lincoln beseeched Southerners to understand the Republican position on slavery. In his Inaugural Address of 1861. he .15- sured them once again that the federal government would not tree the slaves in the South. that it had no legal right to do so. He even gave his blessings to the original Thirteenth Amendment. just passed by Congress. that would have guaranteed slavery in the Southern states for as long as whites there wanted it”. But the rebels out the south wanted to do things there way and continued to rebel against the United
Lincoln, Abraham. “Restating Positions on Slavery: December 1860.” Simpson, Brooks D., Stephen W. Sears, and Aaron Sheehan-Dean 109-110.
Lincoln believed that slavery should not be allowed, but Douglas believed that each state should be allowed to make its own decision on whether slavery should be allowable or not. However, with 18 Free states and 15 Free states it was affirmative that the nation no longer sought after any compromise, Lincoln wanted all Free states. With Lincoln in power the South had to take a plan of action; South Carolina became the first state to become independent from the union. This was one main factor that triggered the American Civil War. South Carolina felt that they were no longer part of the United Stated because they were being controlled by the federal government. This revolt caused other southern states into doing the
"We must not disturb slavery in the states where it exists, because the Constitution and the peace of the country both forbid us. We must not withhold an efficient fugitive slave law, because the constitution demands it. But we must, by a national policy, prevent the spread of slavery into new territories, or free states, because the constitution does not forbid us, and the general welfare does demand such prevention.” (Lincoln) Mr. Lincoln’s views were so polarizing that he finished with less than forty percent of the popular vote. However, do to the lack of unity in the Democratic Party; he still managed to triumph and successfully...
The Emancipation Proclamation did little to clarify the status or citizenship of the freed slaves; it opened the possibility of military service for blacks. In 1863, the need for men convinced the administration to recruit northern and southern blacks for the Union army. Lincoln came so see black soldier as “the great available and yet unavailed for force for restoring the Union”. African American people helped that military service would secure equal rights for their people. One the black soldier had fought for the Union, wrote Frederick Douglass, “there is no power on earth which can deny that he has earned the right of citizenship in the United States.” Lincoln exhibited a remarkable ability to alter his attitudes according to circumstance. He became so sincerely admire black soldiers during the Civil War. June 1864, Lincoln called on the party to “put into the platform as the keystone, the amendment of the Constitution abolishing and prohibiting slavery forever.” The party promptly called for the Thirteenth Amendment. The proposed amendment passed in early 1865 and was sent to the states for ratification. Finally, the war to save the Union had also become the war to free
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.
From the start of the Civil War, Lincoln clarified that the goal of the war was not “`to put down slavery, but to put the flag back,’” and he refused to declare the war as a war over slavery (Brodie 155 as qtd. in Klingaman 75-76). In a letter to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, in August 1862, Lincoln wrote: “My paramount object in this struggle is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing [any] slave I would do it…” (Selected Speeches 343 as qtd. in Tackach 44). Lincoln also refused to declare that slavery was the Civil War’s main focus because many Whites in the North and in the much-valued Border States would not agree with a war to free slaves since they believed Blacks were inferior to Whites (Wheeler 225-226). The political and military advantages of the Border States made Lincoln reluctant to proclaim the Civil War to be a war about slavery (Wheeler 225-226). Even Jefferson Davis, president of the en...
In the 1860 presidential election, Republicans, led by Abraham Lincoln, opposed the expansion of slavery into United States' territories. Lincoln won, but before his inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven slave states with cotton-based economies formed the Confederacy. The first six to secede had the highest proportions of slaves in their populations, a total of 48.8% for the six. Outgoing Democratic President James Buchanan and the incoming Republicans rejected secession as illegal. Lincoln's inaugural address declared his administration would not initiate civil war. Eight remaining slave states continued to reject calls for secession. Confederate forces seized numerous federal forts within territory claimed by the Confederacy. A peace conference failed to find a compromise, and both sides prepared for war. The Confederates assumed that European countries were so dependent on "King Cotton" that they would intervene; none did and none recognized the new Conf...
Throughout American History there have been multiple defining moments and multiple defining figures. Arguably one of the largest is the American Civil war and the Confederate States of America’s fight for slavery. Confederate Army lieutenant general Nathan Bedford Forrest held and, a still holds, a strong negative influence on most Americans while others consider him a hero. His influence came mostly during the American Civil war as he won many key battles such as the Battle of Fort Pillow, and the battle of _______________, while leaving a more lasting impression on America by founding the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States in 1860, a time where the U.S was in a dire situation pertaining to slavery and its problematic ways in terms of ethics. Many Southern States decided to take matters into their own hands and secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America, rightly fearing that the Republican Party will harm their booming agricultural economy with the end of slavery. President Lincoln dedicated his first inauguration address to implore citizens that these problems could be fixed without the impending doom in form of the Civil War. In essence, President Lincoln was attempting to persuade everyone to keep the Union preserved.
A common misconception regarding the ideals of President Abraham Lincoln is that many thought that the 16th President of the United States was a true abolitionist from the very beginning of the civil war, however that was not the case since the President was actually more concerned about keeping the Union intact rather than freeing slaves. The New York Times published a letter penned from Lincoln to Horace Greeley who was once editor-in-chief at The New York Tribune as well as a congressman and presidential candidate. This letter is of importance because Lincoln clearly states his intentions of the war to Greeley who may have been mistaken that Lincoln wanted to primarily free slaves. “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery…If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that.”
He needed to keep in mind that if the Union was to stay intact that he needed to please both sides. In an attempt to do so he created a document that along with freeing some it kept some in chains. The document gave the Union a surge in manpower and also support from the states by allowing those who supported it to keep their slaves. Eventually slavery would die but not as peacefully as Lincoln wanted it. And even with freedom there was the issue of giving the freed slaves the ability to practice their unalienable rights like the rest of American citizens. Lincoln only saw the slaves as having a right to see the fruits of their own labor nothing more, claiming on September 18, 1858, “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,” in a debate against his opponent Stephen Douglas for the U.S senate for Illinois.(5 Things) Though Lincoln eventually would push for the 13th amendment and state that the slaves who escaped and risked everything to fight for the union should be given those rights in a reward for their
The Southern states wanted to expand slavery into the western territories because that would give the white slaveholders an opportunity to exercise their authority to guarantee the protection of the institution of slavery. Yet, in 1820, the Southern states felt threatened because the establishment of the Missouri Compromise in which prohibited slavery throughout the new western territories. With the presidential election in 1860, Abraham Lincoln became an established member of the anti-slavery Republican Party. He had aimed to persuade numerous Southerners that slavery would never be able to expand into the new western territories. He concluded that slavery would soon be abolished. Hence, eleven Southern states seeked succession from the Union because they felt as though the institution of slavery would be under siege from the North, which caused the Civil War. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln established the Emancipation Proclamation in which would have initially abolished slavery in the South. Socially, Even though the Emancipation Proclamation was designed to put an end to the enslavement of African-Americans, it was not until the establishment of the Thirteenth Amendment that the enslavement of African-Americans was deemed constitutionally illegal. The African-Americans were liberalized and the South faced major losses as they fell to ruin because they were no longer able to enslave