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Lincoln Racist Dbq

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We can state the obvious, that we are not all perfect, and we certainly say things we don’t mean. Was President Lincoln really a racist? There is documented text that could point evidence that leans in either direction. Things said in the heat of long debates and drawn out conversations that ran for hours, does not make such a monumental man a poor or hypocritical person. Looking at the Constitutional right that “All men are created equal” to the thought that things won’t change without action, and to a man with no moral obligation other than to share his personal option that slavery was wrong, we dive into President Lincoln. In Document B, during a debate with Steven Douglas in 1858, Lincoln said the following: “. . . [The black man] is not …show more content…

Lincoln talks about the union in Document G and said the following: “But you say that sooner than yield your legal right to the slave—especially at the bidding of those who are not themselves interested, you would see the Union dissolved.” If the South successfully separated from the North the Confederacy would no longer be under the control of the Union and Lincoln’s access to freeing the slaves would minimal. This “new nation” that Lincoln was trying to create and put into effect had a strong foundation based upon Constitutional rights which declare that all men are created equal. Yes, maybe Lincoln at this point wanted to keep the Union together, which can most definitely be perceived as racist too but slavery on the back burner for the time being, but in the end, he encouraged and defended the rights of all humans. You can see this in Document B, wherein 1858 Lincoln says this: “I have no purpose . . . to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists . . .” Later on in the same document he also states, “There is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights . . . in the Declaration of Independence- the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” While Lincoln was running for president, he promised to leave slavery alone in the South, but he also stays true to his personal morals through his time, that slavery

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In Lincoln’s First inaugural Address he attacks this immense problem of slavery. He begins with a promise that states that although he is a republican

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Lincolns plan for reconstruction was the best because he wanted it to be quick and easy, without punishing the South. The south was so damaged; farmland, railroads, factories, bridges, all ruined! Not to mention slaves were now freed, but society was forever damaged from slavery. It just added more to racism. Slaves being free didn’t make them any better or equal, as a Caucasian man might say.

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’I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free.” What he means is that a country will crumble if they are fighting against themselves and cannot come to an agreement. People fought in the Civil War because they agreed with Lincoln. They believed that slavery was wrong and that it should be abolished. Also, they believed that this country was built on equality, and with slavery, there is none.

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291 Words | 2 Pages

While I agree only the North supported the Emancipation Proclamation, it was still a bold move on Lincoln's behalf to issue the Emancipation Proclamation because a large portion of the Northern population did not support the freeing of slaves. They feared integration of blacks into their society. I don't believe Lincoln set out at the beginning of the war to end slavery, although the South opposed Lincoln for this reason. In the beginning of the war Lincoln may have strongly disagreed with slavery, but he was committed to allowing the South to keep slavery as long as it didn't expand and he was a man of his word. According to Stephen B. Oates, in "Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation," "Lincoln was as honest in real life as in the legend."

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963 Words | 4 Pages

In addition, what many consider to be Lincoln’s crowning achievement, the Emancipation Proclamation, was simply a document with “all the moral grandeur of a bill of lading” (Hofstadter 67). It granted freedom to slaves, but only to those in the areas still in rebellion. It applied to neither border slave states, although they were all loyal to the Union, nor the areas of the Confederacy that the Union had already regained control of (Pruitt 5). This was because Lincoln hoped to keep the white slaveholders living there content, meaning he valued their happiness over the slaves’ freedom, which is racist and morally wrong.

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1121 Words | 5 Pages

In this election, Lincoln and Douglas had some series of debates over slavery. Although Lincoln never exactly stated that he wanted to abolish slavery, much of the South believed he was an Abolitionist. At his speech in 1858 in Springfield Illinois, Lincoln wanted the nation to be one thing or another, meaning all free or all slave, because it couldn’t keep going on how it was, else it would fall apart. In his speech, Lincoln said, “...but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other” (Doc G).

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351 Words | 2 Pages

During the time of the Civil War around the time was Abraham Lincoln was the President of the United States, I believed that Abraham Lincoln was and was not a racist. As in Document A, I do not believe that Abraham Lincoln was being a racist because, in one of his many debates between him and Douglas, it says he became widely known for his views on slavery. Abraham Lincoln believes that African- Americans were born equal and that no human law can deprive them of these rights.

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428 Words | 2 Pages

In my opinion, I strongly argue that Lincoln was not racist. He believed that “negro” equality is guaranteed by the laws of God according to Document A. Abraham Lincoln always listened to his people’s desires, even if that meant to shun his own beliefs. His dream was to provide the best equality for his people. Lincoln despised slavery and believed that all African Americans were men and they were all created equal as stated in the US Constitution. Lincoln has done many actions to help his citizens and to gain their equality.

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695 Words | 3 Pages

President Lincoln stated that: “if I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it,..., and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do it.”. This quote clearly shows that the freedom of slaves was not his concern and unnecessary if it did not help the Union; as the result, slavery still exists if there is no war. Free slave from bondage should be a Great Emancipator’s primary goal and he will do his best to achieve it no matter what, but president Lincoln’s thought differed from that because all he cares was the Union. Although he had many times admitting himself an anti-slavery but his words and thoughts obviously prove that he is

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682 Words | 3 Pages

There was no proof guaranteeing that Lincoln did not want an all-white country. Removing slavery was probably the quickest way to end the Civil War. Defending and protecting the Union was something that Lincoln wanted more than anything else, more than giving the slaves their rights. Even as President, he never claimed that his goal was to abolish slavery, but to leave it alone and prevent its expansion

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742 Words | 3 Pages

"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." The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume VII, "Letter to Albert G. Hodges" (April 4, 1864), p. 281. Lincoln has always been against slavery from the beginning.

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485 Words | 2 Pages

“The Lincoln-Douglas Debates were a defining event in American Politics”(Goldfield,389). Lincoln was a prominent lawyer in the years prior to being elected president and returned after his presidency. Lincoln represented blacks in courts where he fought for their rights to remain free, but also during the 1830s and 1840s represented slave owners. He occasionally expressed views that it was wrong to own humans, but as politician during that time, he knew he couldn’t run on a position that emphasized slavery(Black). He even said it to be a minor issue for him prior to 1854.

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464 Words | 2 Pages

Lastly, Abraham Lincoln was racist because he never intended to end slavery. Abraham Lincoln only ended slavery in the Confederate States of America during the Civil War and left the slaves in the States he actually had control of in slavery. Also, he said during a debate "I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists." He didn 't actually want slaves to be free he just did it for his own advantage so more people and countries would support him during the Civil War. Lincoln may have appeared to be anti-slavery, but he only did so for a political advantage and wouldn 't have freed the slaves if it didn 't help him.

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1061 Words | 5 Pages

Lincoln also brings to surface the most natural difference mankind has ever known: race. It's a hard thing to deny especially when we learn about slavery based on skin color, and use words that negatively describe a person of a certain race. The sickening, but true fact is that people are judged, and receive unequal treatment based on what color they see when they look into the mirror. Even though we have no control over what color we see, America has faced this racist mind set since its existence. From slavery, to African American segregation in the and 60’s, skin color has caused people to be treated unfairly, all because of the choices nature has made for us.

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1356 Words | 6 Pages

In the early stages of war, Lincoln was “receiving pressure from the abolitionists and had lost to the Confederates in a “series of military victories” (Source F). Abraham Lincoln’s two Confiscation Acts, the first in 1861, “declared that slaves escaping to union lines would be considered contraband” which aided the escaped black man to join the Union army, and the second, in 1862, gave “the president the authority to recruit black men for the Union army” which leads us to believe that the President’s actions with regards to slaves during the Civil war, were motivated by “military strategy and necessity” (Source J). These two acts “provided a policy for military commanders and led the way for the Emancipation Proclamation” (Source F). By 1862, “Lincoln began to see slavery as part of the war and began toying with the idea of emancipation as a way to undermine the Confederate war effort” (Source E). Although the president was helping the slaves to freedom, he realised that in altering their inferior position in the South, his enemy would be weakened and he would have the upper hand.

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