A question about Lincoln and his views on slavery in America?

Question

I was reading a Civil War book and came across a very interesting quote from Lincoln.
" If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, i would do it; 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 ."
Is this a historical quote overlooked by Historians or was I always made to believe that Lincoln 's biggest mission in the war was to make sure all slavery was abolished? Any thoughts?

Answer 1

i was watching a documentary a while back that really touched on this quote. it is very disturbing to think that what we have been taught on this subject is wrong. i think he was in the right place at the right time and what he did for the slaves was done out of necessity not because it was the right thing to do.

i will never look at Lincoln the same way after this documentary.

Answer 2

Yeah.
You suffered from a common misconception about Lincoln and slavery.
While he was basically against slavery, he didn't really feel that strongly one way or the other about it.
The Emancipation Proclamation was not written for the benefit of the slaves (as is evident in the wording, if you actually READ it), but rather to punish the states still in rebellion.
It expressly left out emancipation of slaves in border states loyal to the Union and in states that had already been re-conquered by the Union.
Take into account, also that it was not even proclaimed until 3 years into the Civil War, and the illusions about the Civil War being all about slavery sort of shatter and erode, don't they?

You could also read the memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant on the subject.
I don't have the book at hand, so I'll paraphrase, but he basically said, "My inclination was to just whip the South. Beat them into submission. And if future generations need to think that we fought to free the slaves so that they think we did the right thing, then that's the way it should be. We'll tell them whatever it takes to make them think we were in the right."

Answer 3

I believe that Lincoln understood the intentions of our forefathers. Our forefathers were naturalists and great philiosophers that believed in the personal freedom of alI. I think he was morally against the idea of slavery but knew the issue could shatter the Union. The Constitution almost did not come into being because of the issue of slavery(cloaked under the topic of states rights). Our forefathers and Lincoln knew that one day we would have to reconcile "all men are created equal" coming from a country that owns slaves. But at the time the constitutition was drafted the south was a powerful economic machine(because of slavery) and was not about to relinquish it's power to create some Union to meddle in it's affairs. So our forefathers chucked the issue to the back-burner to return to haunt the country a century later.
Though slavery was a sticking point with Lincoln, the preservation of the Union was his top priority. I think that quote highlights the dilemma he battled with as President. You can't truly interpret his intention through political documents that were prepared NOT by him but his administration. I watched a documentary on the history channel and they proved though PERSONAL JOURNALS from him and the people around him that it was his administration that kept him from freeing the slaves until he did. Lincoln wanted to free them from the jump but was advised to wait until the right time. The Union knew that it could take the steam out of the south in one fell swoop by ridding it of it's free slave labor. Notice that when slavery was abolished, the economic progression of the south came to a complete halt and has never recovered. King cotton was reduced to a squire.

Answer 4

All wars are economic as the underlying and primary cause . Then there usually are many issues and slavery was one of them in the American Civil War. I read what you read many years ago and it was written at a time of great stress for LIncoln because so many people were dying, he was desperate to stop the war. The Union lost 700,000 soldiers.

Answer 5

I always realized that Lincoln wasn't concerned about slavery. His concern was keeping the "union"- this country- together. He lived in the north and slavery wasn't a factor in his life.

Answer 6

Lincoln's goal was to preserve the Union. Look at Charles Adams " Those Dirty Rotten Taxes"

Answer 7

Yes this is true. He did it out of necessity.