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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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