The Great EmancipatorEssay Preview: The Great EmancipatorReport this essayAbraham Lincoln is known as “The Great Emancipator” who freed the slaves. Yet in the early part of his career and even in the early stages of his presidency, Lincoln had no objection to slavery where it already existed, namely, in the Southern states. As a savvy politician, he always wanted to maintain the union, and he would use any device to keep the country together. However, his views on slavery evolved during his presidency, and the personal opposition towards slavery that he claimed he always had began to show through in his policy. As Lincoln noted in 1864, “I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel” (Lorence 306). Despite such strongly worded beliefs, Lincoln policies towards slavery often shifted for the sake of political expedience. For example, he pledged that states would be compensated for their loss of property as a result of emancipation to keep the border states from seceding. Still, by 1862 Lincoln had become firm in his convictions that slavery must be abolished. He even pressed for a constitutional amendment to ensure freedom to all the slaves. Lincoln espoused strong anti-slavery views, but he often put what he viewed as the good of the country ahead of the cause. Despite many detours along the way, he proved himself to be “The Great Emancipator.”
As a self-made politician from humble origins, Lincoln struggled in his early political life to define his identity. He described his childhood as “The short and simple annals of the poor. Thats my life, and thats all you or any one else can make of it” (Oates 4). Lincoln felt extremely embarrassed about his background and worked his entire life to overcome the limitations he faced. He made himself a “literate and professional man who commanded the respect of his colleagues” (Oates 4). It is difficult to assess Lincolns early views on slavery and race because they were constantly changing in an effort to achieve such respect. In the State of Illinois legislative session of 1835-36, he voted to restrict suffrage to whites only. Although he claimed to be antislavery, he knew that support for black suffrage would ruin his career and he could not take that chance. Lincoln also stated that he did not agree with the tactics of the abolitionists. He believed they were too uncompromising and too quick to punish Southerners. As he put it, the way to win people over is through “persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion” (Oates 38). In effect, he aimed to portray himself as a friend to slaveowners, who would casually tell them their actions are wrong. It is difficult to gauge the depth of Lincolns personal views on race early in his career; he was not so strong in his convictions that he was unwilling to compromise to reach an agreement.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates marked a turning point in Lincolns career. The debates gave public expression to his anti-slavery beliefs, and made them known to the nation. In his race against a respected incumbent senator, some even questioned why Lincoln was running against Douglas. Lincoln responded “We have to fight this battle upon principle, and principle alone . . . the higher object of this contest” he said was “the ultimate elimination of slavery.” He was proud in his “passing speck of time” (Oates 149) to contribute what he could to that consummation. The election proved a fearsome battle between the two men. Douglas constantly criticized Lincolns house divided speech and claimed himself to be a defender of self-governing. He even attacked Lincolns supposed racial views. Lincoln agreed to confront Douglas in defense of these remarks, engaging in the great debates. Douglas claimed that Lincoln did not truly wish for equality among the races, a comment designed to provoke the audience and force Lincoln into an unpopular position. Lincoln responded by saying that slaves “Were not his equal or the equal of Douglas in moral and intellectual endowment. But they were equal to Lincoln, Douglas and every living man in their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, which included the right to the fruits of their labor” (Oates 54). As a result of Democratic victories in the legislature, Lincoln lost the 1858 election. Nonetheless, it was the first point in Lincolns life when he had firmly established his belief in freedom for all.
By the time Lincoln became president in 1860, his inauguration brought with it the beginning of a tumultuous change in American society. The divide between the views of the North and South was by this point irreparable, and although Lincoln brought strong antislavery views to the White House, his main priority was to keep the Union intact. At the time of his election, Lincoln was willing to allow slavery to persist in the South partly because he believed it essential to the Souths economy. However, Lincoln continued to oppose popular sovereignty since he did not want slavery to expand past the South. After the secession of the Southern states, he also wished to keep the Border States within the Union, which further muted his criticism of slavery. His actions in the early stages of his presidency did not reflect his personal opinions about slavery, but his concern for the welfare for the union.
My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to 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 other alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the union (Lorance 304-305).
Although his ideological beliefs about the Union remained strong, the problem of slavery gradually began weighing on Lincoln. His viewpoint began to shift in favor of emancipation.
Lincolns personal antipathy to slavery became stronger as the war progressed and his gradualist approach to emancipation was rebuffed. In the midst of a savage war, he also became less sympathetic to the rights of the South, viewing the emancipation of slaves as a blow against the South as well as a blow for freedom. On July 13, 1862, while riding in a carriage with Secretaries Seward and Welles, Lincoln exhibited his first notion of emancipation. He stated to the two conservative members of the cabinet that he “had about come to the conclusion that we must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.” Both men were astounded at this remark and said they needed “more time to consider the idea.” Lincoln urged them to hurry claiming, “something
he was sure could be done.”^„″ ^,‟, †. *” “Lincoln” was at first skeptical of the idea of the abolition of slavery, in spite of several attempts, but soon realized that it was a good idea because it would reduce the number of slaves. He wrote: “The plan is to prevent that people who are no longer emancipated from servile servitude will be forced to live in and live under slavery, especially where it will be possible to provide them with a comfortable residence or to maintain a slave-free society if they are to be free for long periods.”^‡.” ” •. In July, 1862, Lincoln was to meet with a delegation of South African delegates, who were to be led by Frederick M. Wilson, then the President, and which included Abraham Lincoln, President Lincoln’s father. The two, in their meeting, agreed that emancipation of slaves was both of the best interests of a free people, that slavery was more detrimental to the people of South Africa and that their freedom could only be enjoyed if South Africa’s inhabitants went back to the old, oppressive ways. It was a meeting of which Lincoln received the broadest possible share. Lincoln declared that he intended to support one of his new demands from the delegation: “The free people of South Africa have, I believe, a right to remain in liberty, and to all their families, including theirs, to live peacefully and peacefully. I have decided that the first and foremost duty of these people, the first duty of a president, is to support their freedom and the first and foremost duty of a republic in which everything depends at all cost. They have no right to enslave us, but they have no right to enslave themselves.”^‣. In July, 1862, Governor Abraham Lincoln asked for an intergovernmental conference on the issues raised by the two of your predecessors in the War of Liberty. Lincoln was then appointed to the U.S. Presidency in December of that year. He continued to hold various government offices until his resignation on February 26, 1865.)^․. To be sure, it was only at the time of Lincoln’s departure, when he was elected to the Senate, that it was thought of at most as something of a conspiracy in which he was involved.[*‥] In fact, his last name “R.F,” may have been a reference to him before he was executed in August of that year, 1876 by W. J. Hetherington for his misbehavior, and may have become a shorthand for the term “John F. Kennedy.” (It appeared on the front cover of the New England Journal in 1895, and was reprinted in the New Hampshire Quarterly Journal in 1889.)^…. In his most recent biography, “The President’s Wife,” Dr. John G. Fauntler writes: ”