In his 1862 speech to Congress, Abraham Lincoln states that “we cannot escape history” (13). Indeed, the scruples of history and of historians have certainly gone over the words of Abraham Lincoln again and again. What the general American public remember of Lincoln is his height, his hat and his hatred of slavery, so when looking at these documents of his speeches and letters, it can be a bit startling to see his opinions on race in a modern context. His thoughts on race and one what to do once slavery is abolished can be hard to swallow if one places the perceptions of today on them. However, his thoughts, however shocking today, are a product of his time and were, in fact, quote progressive.
The concepts and problems attached to race did not appear until after the 16th century when they were quickly codified in the form of slave laws. Because the concept of race was created to define the institution of slavery and to make it palatable, the ideas of slavery and of race are inextricably linked together. When discussing slavery, Lincoln felt a need to justify his beliefs through his opinions on race difference, repeatedly stating that he did not wish to have a black woman for a wife (2, 4). There is a general tone of inevitable distinction between black and white, as though the two are more than a single species, and he staunchly believed that whites and blacks could not exist together as equals in the same country. His general support of the American Colonization Society and his desire to settle freedmen near Liberia is surprising given the previous failure of the Sierra Leone colony. While the moderate political statements he makes indicate that “social and political equality” would be impossible, he also feels that on some level blacks are equal to whites in some respects, certainly when it comes to unalienable rights (2, 4). To have freed enslaved people colonize a separate nation, in Lincoln’s mind at least, allowed a space where the former enslaved would be able to have their own rights on their own terms. There is no indication that Lincoln saw the freedmen he was talking to about colonization as American. Rather, they were a people from another nation who needed to be returned there, even if they had never lived anywhere other than America for generations.
Regardless of how it is read now, Lincoln’s beliefs on race and slavery were progressive for his time. Even indicating that an enslaved person might be equal in some respects was probably very startling for them. What modern readers may see ignorance or even racism in Lincoln’s words about what to do with the enslaved indicate his idealism for a better future for those that had been wronged by the nation he led.