President Lincoln for or against slavery or for it?

Question

im writing a paper and i have to take one side. and im leaning towards saying that he was against slavary but i need some more points that i can prove and research. help plz...thanz i will take websites too..

Answer 1

To start with, Lincoln represented the Republican party, one of whose founding principles was opposition to the expansion of slavery. So the presumption would be that he opposed the practice. But there's much more.

J R and Jimbo have provided some of the classic quotes that indicate Lincoln's opposition to slavery.

I'll add just one here -- from the Lincoln-Douglas debates:

"I hold that nothwitstanding all this [the current racial inequalities], there is no reason in the world why the ***** is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. . . In the right to eat the bread, without leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of any living man."

You might also take a close look at his "Cooper Union Address" of 1860. This address, by which the eastern branch of the party became acquainted with this man and his views -- and thereby ultimately supported his nomination later that year-- argued powerfully against the Dred Scott decision and in favor of the notion that the founders opposed the spread of slavery into the territories, after which he says of the view of himself and his fellow Republicans, "True, we do, in common with "our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live," declare our belief that slavery is wrong. . ."
http://members.aol.com/jfepperson/cooper.html

On the other side we have the tendentious claims of a book like Bennett's (cited by Southron), which I can only classify as historically ignorant (hopefully, not willfully so, but one has to wonder), based on a lot of cherrypicking. Note that Bennet is NOT an historian, and he (NOT she, as Southron oddly seems to suggest) completely fails to interact with the many fine Civil War and Lincoln scholars who have discussed the same words and actions of Lincoln that he does AND many more. They are fully aware of Lincoln's uncertainty about the native abilities of blacks --of a sort common even among abolitionists in his day! -- but also that he argued for their equality as MEN, as seen in his frequent appeals to the Declaration of Independence, e.g., in the debates with Douglas and the Gettysburg Address.

A couple of good reviews of Bennett's book
http://www.claremont.org/writings/000901morel.html
http://www.ericfoner.com/reviews/040900latimes.html

It would also pay off to make a good study of Frederick Douglass's remarks about Lincoln. He had some disagreements and criticism, but paints a much more balanced and symphathic picture, understanding practical reasons for Lincoln moving more slowly than others may have wished.
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=1&subjectID=1

Though I have no room here for a full examination of the Emancipation Proclamation and correction of the errors of Bennett and others (but see those book reviews!) a proper understanding of that document would note that it DID secure the freedom of the many slaves who had ALREADY fled behind Union lines --promising they would NOT be returned to their masters. It would also recognize that Lincoln believed his Constitutional powers as President ONLY allowed him to declare the freedom of slaves in rebel territory, NOT throughout the Union.

And then you should also look at the many OTHER things Lincoln did to secure freedom and rights for slaves both before and after the Proclamation. . .culminating in his maneuvers to secure passage of the 13th amendment. . . from logrolling, to pushing through the statehood process for Nevada, thinking he needed their extra votes to gain ratification for the amendment. This from someone who did not oppose slavery?? I think not!
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=56&subjectID=3
(check other articles on this website for other articles on Lincoln's views about and actionsn against slavery)

Emancipation Proclamation
http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/newsletter.asp?ID=1&CRLI=64

Thirteenth Amendment
http://www.abrahamlincolnsclassroom.org/Library/newsletter.asp?ID=18&CRLI=95

Answer 2

Although a Southerner by birth, Lincoln was personally against the idea and practice of slavery. He himself attributed that to his experience in seeing at first hand a slave auction taking place in New Orleans when he served as crew on a flatboat.
Some of his quotes on the subject:
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master..."
" I affirm that the *****, in his right to own the fruits of the sweat of his brow, is the equal of Judge Douglas or any other man...."

That being said, Lincoln was a man of his time. He never considered the ***** as his equal in any other sense, and would have been horrified at the thought of the Civil Rights Act of the '60's. His Emancipation Proclamation freed exactly zero slaves until the land of their owners came under the control of Union troops. His paramount purpose throughout the war was the restoration and preservation of the Union. More quotes:
"If I could save the Union by freeing all the slaves I would do that, and if I could save the Union by not freeing any slaves I would do that, and if I could save the Union by freeing some and letting some be, I would also do that..........."

All in all though, Lincoln has to be viewed as being well ahead of his time, while also being practical and having the good sense to know what was feasible and what was not.

Answer 3

The seven state that form the confederation and were in favor of slavery were from the South of the country the North that was the industrilized area of the country was against slavery and Lincoln was against slavery at the end the Noth won but he did not finished the reconstrution because was killed.

Answer 4

Lincoln was not against slavery, in fact he would have liked to have sent them all back to Africa. He thought they would like it better there. When he so called freed them he didn't free the ones in the North till a few years after the civil war, only in the South just to pee off the South. Stranges as it may seem, Robert E Lee freed most of his slaves during the war.

Answer 5

While I know you will not I urge no beg you to read "Forced into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream": by Lerone Bennett. She will give you an "A" jsut for the book! I promise. Lincoln was reluctant to issue an Emancipation Proclamation but you would have thought from what one is taught in class these days this was his primary concern. He issued the proclamation to save the Union making impossible for foreign Governments to intervene on behalf of the Confederacy. Even though the English supported (indirectly) slavery, they like other countries were officially against the practice. By his actions, Lincoln was showing the US was against slavery but not the Confederacy. If like the leaders of these countries at the time, you took the time to read and study the act you would see it does nothing and in fact, Lincoln thought that the Afro American was not the equal of whites and his plan was to resettle the slaves in either the Amazon or Western Texas.

Most people are not aware that there was a series of action and even proclamations for instance Lincolns correspondence of October 14, 1862 to the military and civilian authorities of occupied Louisiana.

“Major General Butler, Governor Shepley, & and [sic] all having military and naval authority under the United States within the S[t]ate of Louisiana. The bearer of this, Hon. John E. Bouligny, a citizen of Louisiana, goes to the State seeking to have such of the people thereof as desire to avoid the unsatisfactory prospect before them, and to have peace again upon the old terms under the constitution of the United States, to manifest such desire by elections of members to the Congress of the United States particularly, and perhaps a legislature, State officers, and United States Senators friendly to their object. I shall be glad for you and each of you, to aid him and all others acting for this object, as much as possible. In all available ways, give the people a chance to express their wishes at these elections. Follow forms of law as far as convenient, but at all events get the expression of the largest number of the people possible. All see how such action will connect with, and affect the proclamation of September 22nd. Of course, the men elected should be gentlemen of character willing to swear support to the Constitution, as of old, and known to be above reasonable suspicion of duplicity. (CW 5:462-3, italics added).

NOTE: The italic show that Lincoln rather then issue an Emancipation Proclamation or free the slaves was still willing to allow the Southern States back into the Union. One will find this all the way up to the 1865 visit to Camp Lookout.

At the same time Lincoln was issuing the Emancipation Proclamation he was petitioning his cabinet to negotiate and appropriate funds to force the Blacks else where.

In 1864, Jeff Davis and other Southerner leaders would contemplate outlawing slavery and probably would have if the opportunity had arisen.

God Bless You and The Southern People.

Answer 6

Lincoln was against slavery. It wasn't just to punish the south that he made the Emancipation Proclamation. In the first of the Lincoln Douglas debates before he ever became president Lincoln said, ""I think, and shall try to show, that it is wrong; wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kansas and Nebraska-and wrong in its prospective principle, allowing it to spread to every other part of the wide world, where men can be found inclined to take it.

"This declared indifference, but, as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I cannot but hate. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world-enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites-causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil liberty-criticizing the Declaration of Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest."

Answer 7

Lincoln did not like slavery b/c it got him abolitionist support within the republican party. during his campaign he said he" had never been for the equality of races" so why he might have wanted to free slaves he had no intention of them becoming equal to whites

You could argue that he only set slaves in confederate slaves free b/c he wanted to create havoc in the south so they wouldnt be able to benefit from slave labor and more white men would be force to work on the farms instead of fight.

Interstingly he did not declare slaves in the slave states that sided with the Union free, probably b/c it would hurt the unions economy.

Answer 8

President Lincoln actually just used slavery as a tool to win votes. He didn't particularly care, but he knew his voting population would vote for him if he fought against slavery. It was just a political strategy to win votes. You can really find that information in any decent history book. I would suggest looking it up on the history channel's website. When you find something on their website, they typically hve a lot of sources for you to reference too.

Answer 9

Lincoln was against slavery

Answer 10

while campaigning for his election to Senate seat for Illinois agents Douglas one thing that disguised him from others was his hate towards slavery and the ability for equality among all people. he was someone conservative because he thought blacks should have limitations in their civil rights.
but when he was elected president and the war progressed he developed abolitionist vies and issued his emancipation proclamation.