Abraham Lincoln is so often touted as a bastion of equality and African-American rights that we often forget he was still a man of the 19th century. The Lincoln Documents on Slavery, even as they show that Lincoln was a forward-thinker and an integral player in emancipation, do an excellent job of reminding us that he was very much a product of his era. Lincoln does not mince words, as he states outright that “if slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” (13) And yet he is also evidently racist, with “no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races” and favoring his race “having the superior position.” (1) These two sentiments, at first, seem incompatible; in fact, after reading the earlier documents I was almost surprised that the same Lincoln would later issue the Emancipation Proclamation. But Lincoln makes it very clear that, while he is convinced that white and black men cannot be equal, the institution of slavery is fundamentally wrong.
It seems that Lincoln primarily reconciles the differences between his opinions by suggesting that, while their different race makes them inferior, blacks are entitled to the same rights under the Declaration of Independence. Lincoln describes these rights early on as “the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns.” (1) In fact, Lincoln makes a point of choosing to leave blacks alone, rather than actively oppress or defend them, stating that rather than wanting “a negro woman for a slave” or “for a wife” he can “just let her alone.” (2) These ideas do seem to go hand-in-hand with his opinion of slavery – he calls it a “monstrous injustice” (5) – but Lincoln is also quick to point out that these are his personal opinions. He is a politician first, and acknowledges that there are many men among him who would disagree with his ideas. When he considers, hypothetically, freeing all the slaves and making them “politically and socially” equal to whites, he dismisses the concept not just because his “own feelings will not admit of” it, but also in consideration of “the great mass of white people” who would oppose it. (5) Lincoln also freely admits that the Southern people “are no more responsible for the origin of slavery, than we” (5), implying that the institution goes far beyond the borders of the South, even as it seems to be limited to that region. Despite hating slavery, Lincoln promises that “there is no cause for such fears” as the interference of a Republican administration with the South’s slaves, (6) and he defends the “constitutional rights” of Southerners “fully, and fairly.” (5)
Perhaps the clearest evidence of Lincoln’s inherent racism lies in his solution for the issue of race in America. Lincoln advocated colonization, at first suggesting freed slave should be sent to Liberia, “their own native land” (5) but then suggesting Central America in an official capacity when meeting with “a Committee of colored men at the White House.” (6) Lincoln claims that both races “suffer very greatly” from each other’s presence (7), and suggests that even free blacks could never truly be free in the United States given that “not a single man” of that race “is mad equal of a single” white man. (7) Lincoln does not even begin to pretend that it is possible for whites and blacks to be equal, and he so strongly believes that the two races are incompatible that his best solution is to separate them completely. And yet, Lincoln suggests this all in the hopes of achieving freedom for all blacks. His opinions are an odd combination, but Lincoln’s hatred of slavery and love of freedom were enough to allow him to seek a solution that, even with his tinge of racism, was radical for his time.