Abraham Lincoln on Slavery
Abraham Lincoln on Slavery Meant Freedom for Slaves, But Not Necessarily Equality.
There is no question that Abraham Lincoln held a very strong position on the freedom of slaves, and Abraham Lincoln on slavery is most often what you will find when researching this President.
Abraham Lincoln and his position on slavery became a turning point in the history of America, and he has been credited for the direct abolition of slave ownership in the United States.
His initial stance on slavery was one where he was hoping to make it extinct by slowing it down, and proposed to disallow the future expansion of slavery into any new United States territories.
At the time, his fellow Americans agreed that if this were to occur, and any future state brought into the Union was not allowed slavery, that the practice would eventually extinct itself.
But Abraham Lincoln on slavery began at the inception of the Civil War, and it has been said that his position led him to the Presidency.
At the time, the infamous Emancipation Proclamation had not been even thought about, but Lincoln was considering the deportation of blacks as the answer to the slavery problem.
Though this did not necessarily mean absolute freedom for the slaves, it was a start.
The Infamous Lincoln/Douglas Debate
Shipping Blacks Out is the Answer?
At first, Lincoln’s only position was to end slavery by sending them all away somewhere, somehow.
But he had nowhere to put them, and there was no land available even to buy to settle them on.
But his message, though subtle and almost unconscious, was clear. Fewer black folks in America meant more room for the white folks.
The Civil War gave Lincoln the opportunity and momentum he needed to begin the Emancipation Proclamation.
This freed all slaves all over America, with the exception of border states.
This lead to the Thirteen Amendment, which abolished slavery anywhere in the country.
Freedom Means Freedom, Not Equality.
Though Lincoln was instrumental in establishing the Thirteenth Amendment, it was not ratified and passed until shortly after his assassination.
But make no mistake, Abraham Lincoln on slavery was about freedom from slavery, not about equality for slaves.
He believed that the blacks had rights to their own lifes, their own liberties, and their own pursuit of happinesses, but equality was another issue.
”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 to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people…”
– Abraham Lincoln on Slavery at the Douglas Debate in 1859.
This was one of the greatest Presidents of our time. And yet even HE did not believe in equality among races.