Summary Of Lincoln A White Supremacist By Lerone Bennett

In the article, Lincoln, a White Supremacist, Lerone Bennett Jr, a social historian and African-American scholar, claimed that Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States of America, was a white supremacist who did not fight for equality of African-Americans. Bennett conjures valid points of Lincoln’s white supremacy, yet not all claims were based upon accurate evidence. Although Lerone Bennett failed to prove that Lincoln was a white supremacist because he never planned to free slaves, Bennett adequately argues that Lincoln was a white supremacist through his claims that Lincoln believed in white supremacy and his vigorous support of colonization.
Granted, Bennett failed to capably provide evidence to show that Lincoln was

Furthermore, Bennett attempts to persuade his audience by saying that the Emancipation Proclamation was a political stratagem. Within the article, Bennett supports this by stating, “Lincoln hoped to out flank the Radicals” (Bennett, 1962). He fails to provide further evidence to support the claim. Instead, Bennett moves onto another paragraph that explains how Lincoln feels of the Thirteenth amendment. This leads to a weak argument and leaves the audience wondering if Bennett was using biases and did not look further into the subject of emancipation. On the other hand, the Fugitive Slave Act was still in effect during the civil war. Legally, Lincoln could not keep the runaway slaves of the South. Considering that the Fugitive Slave Act made it “the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this

Bennett writes several times throughout his article that Lincoln did not want equality for blacks and whites; he simply opposed the expansion of slavery. Bennett states, “he was opposed to the extension of slavery... out of interests to the white people” (Bennett, 1962). Bennett also reminds the reader that Lincoln is not “in favor of bringing… social and political equality of the white and black races” (Bennett, 1962). Because Lincoln was a white male in power who did not believe in equality for African-Americans and whites, this makes him a white supremacist. James Tackach, a professor of English at Roger Williams University who also wrote Lincoln’s Moral Vision, agrees with Bennet’s claim, that Lincoln believed that African-Americans were inferior to whites. Also, within Tackach’s article, he states “This view of Lincoln… has also been embraced by twenty-first century white supremacist” (Tackach, 2002). Lincoln also supported the Corwin Amendment, which would allow slavery to stay in existence until the state governments decided to cleanse the state of slavery. All of these ideals are supremacist views that Lincoln supported and often spoke