what was Abraham Lincoln’s position on social & political equality?

Question

what was Abraham Lincoln’s position on social & political equality

Answer 1

Another answer has posted links to a couple of anti-Lincoln sources. WARNING -- Please do not take these sources at face value. Unfortunately, these folks very carefully cherry-pick things Lincoln said, often leaving out what he said in the very next breath, at times even misquoting him, to leave a very distorted impression of his actual views. This sort of thing has been going on since the 1860s, though ironically some of the most RECENT proponents of the view are some of the most incompetent as they borrow older smears and seldom actually READ the WHOLE of a Lincoln speech or statement. (For some specific examples of mistakes and distortions with rebuttals see the links in my "Sources" below.)

There are a few favorite quotes these sources use, including one or two from the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Note that these quotes are the STRONGEST statements you'll find in Lincoln in support of a "not equal" view. If you look at them carefully IN CONTEXT of the debates and of the views of those he is speaking to, including things Lincoln said in the SAME speech quoted AND things he said in LATER debates, you'll come out with a very different picture from the one the Lincoln-haters are trying to draw.

If you THEN go on to his LATER words and actions as President, and the responses of other to him (esp leading blacks, like Frederick Douglas), you would have to be a total cynic to believe him the sort of racist his critics suggest.

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So, for the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate statements in which Lincoln claims he is NOT advocating intermarriage, etc. --

First note that these were very limited, were always in response to Douglas trying to corner him POLITICALLY, and that they never stood alone.

Please CONTINUE the typical quote cited (from Sept... 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates):

"...I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that, notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the ***** is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in Declaration of Independence—the right to life, liberty, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man..... he is not my equal in many respects—certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hands earn, he is my equal ... and the equal of every living man. "

And here's some perspective on the first part:
"[Lincoln] was clearly reluctant to join in the commonplace assumption of the time concerning the racial superiority of whites over blacks. When such assertions were made by Lincoln, and these were rare, they were not spontaneously volunteered, and even when, as we shall see, these were wrung from him, they were defensive in nature, given the political contexts of their utterance, and they were qualified, rather than confidently categorical. This reluctance to admit of the inequality of the races was further exhibited in the following observation, where Lincoln clearly implies a belief in the categorical equality of all men, of all races and of all ethnic and class origins:

"I am not a know-nothing: that is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of Negroes be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneration appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that "all men are created equal". We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except Negroes". When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except Negroes and Foreigners and Catholics". When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty—to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy." (Ibid, 395)
http://www.martinspencer.org/AL.pdf p. 5

For some more perspective on this, I suggest the following book review of Lerone Bennett's anti-Lincoln book (which attacks him from a different angle than DiLorenzo, and actually does so more competently). The review ends with this key point:
"To apply 20th century beliefs and standards to an America of 1858 and declare Abraham Lincoln a "racist" is a faulty formula that unfairly distorts Lincoln's true role in advancing civil and human rights. By the standards of his time, Lincoln's views on race and equality were progressive and truly changed minds, policy and most importantly, hearts for years to come."
http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa082800b.htm


Then look at how Lincoln otherwise spoke about and treated blacks, ESPECIALLY as President.

Frederick Douglass attested to Lincoln's genuine respect for him and other blacks and to the wisdom of his course of action in obtaining BOTH the preservation of the Union (his sworn duty as President) and the freeing of the slaves. In an 1876 speech he defended Lincoln's actions thus:

"His great mission was to accomplish two things: first, to save his country from dismemberment and ruin; and second, to free his country form the great crime of slavery. To do one or the other, or both, he needed the earnest sympathy and the powerful cooperation of his loyal fellow countrymen. Without those primary and essential conditions to success his efforts would have been utterly fruitless. Had he put the abolition of slavery before the salvation of the Union, he would have inevitably driven from him a powerful class of the American people and rendered resistance to rebellion impossible. From the genuine abolition view, Mr. Lincoln seemed tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent, but measuring him by the sentiment of his country — a sentiment he was bound as a statesman to consult — he was swift, zealous, radical and determined."
http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=1&subjectID=1

There are many other specific words and actions that evince Lincoln's high regard toward individual blacks. And perhaps especially important it the fact that, in the later stages of the war he increasingly spoke of giving the VOTE to blacks --that is full POLITICAL equality --at the very least to those who had fought in the Union army (some 180,000 did so after Lincoln provided for it in the Emancipation Proclamation), and those with an education (such as the large free black community in New Orleans). Indeed, in one of his final public speeches his statements in this respect.

Here is a description of that event from the book review (of Lerone Bennett) cited above:

"On April 11, 1865 Lincoln delivered an address in which he became the first president to advocate extending voting rights to African-Americans who fought for the Union when he stated, "It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers." By this statement, Lincoln indicated his belief that African-Americans should have full political equality. In the crowd that day, an intently listening fellow named John Wilkes Booth commented to those around him, "That is the last speech he will ever make." And so it was. (Information Source: The Lincoln Museum Web Site)

Now these may or may not have been his views back in 1858 when he debated Stephen Douglas. But why not allow that, as he thought and wrestled about the matter in the midst of the War, and as he interacted with many blacks (much more than he had in the past) his views were modified?

I think, in light of the WHOLE record, Lincoln's views were much more positive than MOST whites at the time even in the 1850s, so he didn't have to do an about-face (as many in the North would need to... and as many, as a result of the war DID). But there's no denying that his final views spoke in FAVOR of political equality, and were much more open to SOCIAL equality than the culture around him.

Answer 2

Lincoln was a politician. Therefore, it is hard to say what his personal opinions were, since his public pronouncements varied according to where he was (remember, in his day, there was no universal mass media to point up the inconsistencies).
The North in the 1800s was just as racist as the South (kinda like today). In fact, slavery did not completely die out in Northern states until the first third of the 1800s. Even many Northerners who opposed slavery also opposed racial equality, which is why Lincoln gave speeches which included phrases such as, "I do not favor allowing them to serve on juries, or to intermarry with white people."
Considering the time, place, and set of circumstances in which he lived, Lincoln would be considered a rather advanced thinker on the issue of social and political equality. That is about all we can say.

Answer 3

Social equality is a social state of affairs in which certain different people have the same status in a certain respect, at the very least in voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights as well as the access to education, health care and other social securities that is what social equality is.**When citizens have an equal voice over governmental decisions this is known as political equality. Economic egalitarianism is a state of economic affairs in which the participants of a society are of equal standing and equal access to all the economic resources in terms of economic power, wealth, and contribution.is what economical equality refers to. This has been very educating thank you; for you allowed me to grow a few more brain cells.

Answer 4

Remember, this was a different time. The information below is common knowledge. Lincoln did start the process of freeing slaves.

Answer 5

Lincoln believed that all men were created equal and deserved equal rights under the law, but i think he saw whites and blacks existing socially on separate levels