When we read Manning’s book at the beginning of the semester, I was surprised to see that just because a soldier or person was anti-slavery was not at all an indication that they believed in racial equality. This has been a prevalent enough theme in our subsequent readings that I was not exactly surprised to find that Lincoln, too, was an anti-slavery racist. At the same time, though, it is still very interesting to see how this person who is so celebrated for being anti-slavery and saving the Union and doing all of these great things for America was, at his core, very much a racist.
In every speech and article in the packet, Lincoln never once came close to suggesting that blacks and whites were in the slightest bit on equal footing. He repeatedly says that blacks are not his equals in moral or intellectual endowment. He believes there is “a physical difference between the two” that “will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality.” (Doc #1) In 1858 particularly Lincoln is adamant that “I am not nor have ever been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races.” (Doc #2) Furthermore, Lincoln sees whites position as superior to blacks as the proper way of handling the social order, saying “while [blacks and whites] do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior.”(Doc #2) Naturally, according to Lincoln, the whites belong in the superior position, and, in 1858, he was not even in favor of granting free black persons citizenship.
As much as Lincoln believes that blacks are not equal to whites in many respects, though, he does believe that they deserve better than slavery. He says both in his speech at Ottawa in 1858 and in his thoughts on the Dred Scott decision in 1857 that everyone “has the right to eat the bread…which his own hand earns.” He fleshes these ideas out further when speaking about the Dred Scott decision; while everyone is entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” granting blacks these basic rights is far from the same as putting them on the same level of political and social equality as whites. (Although Lincoln does not mention it, this logic was not new and was currently already being applied to a group of people in the United States other than blacks. White women were absolutely considered to be entitled to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” but the idea that a white woman would have the right to vote, or hold a job, or do many of the things that a white man could do was seen as absurd at the time.)
While Lincoln is personally vehemently opposed to slavery and has never owned a slave himself, he is conflicted about what to do about the South’s peculiar institution. In his 1854 speech at Peoria, Lincoln does not blame the South for bringing slavery into the country, and he also recognizes that getting rid of slavery is exceedingly complicated. He repeats these sentiments at Alton in 1858, saying that while slavery is a moral, social and political wrong, at the same time, one must acknowledge the complications involved in abolishing it. Up until 1862, Lincoln does not really pursue any majorly abolitionist policies. He is against the further spread of slavery because he sees it as wrong, but, even in a letter he sends in 1860, he affirms that he has no intention of interfering with the South’s slaves. At that time, Lincoln views slavery as a matter over which the states disagree, but not something that needs to tear them apart. He says, “You think slavery is right and ought to be extended; while we think it is wrong and ought to be restricted.” (Doc #6) Lincoln reaffirms in 1862 that “my paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.”(Doc #8)
With this object in mind, Lincoln tries many other solutions to the problem. My personal favorite was his idea to send freed slaves to colonies outside the United States. In 1854, he suggested they go to Liberia. He believes this so firmly that he even proposes colonization to a group of free black men in 1862, saying he has procured the funding to help them start a new colony in Central America. Lincoln’s argument to them is that “your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence.”(Doc #7) To me, this seemed like a rather desperate last-ditch effort to save the Union without directly abolishing slavery. Instead, Lincoln could send the free blacks elsewhere, where they could have a better life, and white Americans could avoid confronting the race issues that were evidently tearing the country apart.
Even in 1864, in the wake of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln believes that he did everything possible to preserve the Union, and that getting rid of slavery was never his primary agenda. In his letter to Albert Hodges, he chronicles the various ways in which he attempted to save the Union without destroying slavery, and that he only turned to emancipation when it was clear that there would be no other way to successfully preserve the Union. Lincoln even cites incidents such as General Hunter’s attempted military emancipation as examples of how he tried so hard to both preserve the Union and preserve slavery.
The fact that Lincoln was both racist and anti-slavery, and yet fought so hard to preserve the institution of slavery where it existed, initially surprised me because I thought these points were completely irreconcilable. Upon further reflection, though, it started to make a little more sense. Although Lincoln believed slavery was wrong, he did not believe that blacks were entitled to the same rights as whites, and so perhaps he was not in the greatest rush to free them. Lincoln also recognized the extreme complications associated with abolishing slavery, and was adamant that abolition was not something that could be taken lightly. So perhaps Lincoln’s position is not so contradictory. As much as Lincoln wanted to end slavery, he was not willing to do so until he had come up with a specific plan. And, since he never really believed that blacks were on equal footing with whites in the first place, he did not have the same sense of urgency that some other abolitionists may have had.