The Contradictions of Abraham Lincoln.
The Contradictions of Abraham Lincoln.
The following show us almost two different Lincolns. It has always been my stance that Lincoln was no abolitionist. He had no issue with slavery. His aim was to save the Union at any cost. If that meant ending slavery, then so be it.
After all, he did sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Perhaps "Honest Abe" had a 'come to Jesus' moment.
Perhaps it simply shows how one can evolve....or does a cynic say, it shows how a politician changes his stance on a whim?
Here we go:
August 24, 1855: Letter to Joshua F. Speed.
(The American or "Know Nothing Party" was an anti-immigrant political party of the 1850's.)
"I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy." [sic].
But then, three years later:
In 1858, Lincoln challenged U.S. Senator and leading Democrat Stephen A. Douglas for his seat. The two candidates engaged in a series of seven debates across Illinois. In the sixth debate, held in Quincy on October 13, 1858, Lincoln responded to Douglas’s assertion that Lincoln saw no “distinction between races.” Printed in the Chicago Daily Press and Tribune on October 15, 1858, Lincoln replied:
"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermingling with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior. I am as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Source: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
So the ball in now in your court. I look forward to reading your comments.
The following show us almost two different Lincolns. It has always been my stance that Lincoln was no abolitionist. He had no issue with slavery. His aim was to save the Union at any cost. If that meant ending slavery, then so be it.
After all, he did sign the Emancipation Proclamation. Perhaps "Honest Abe" had a 'come to Jesus' moment.
Perhaps it simply shows how one can evolve....or does a cynic say, it shows how a politician changes his stance on a whim?
Here we go:
August 24, 1855: Letter to Joshua F. Speed.
(The American or "Know Nothing Party" was an anti-immigrant political party of the 1850's.)
"I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we begin by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it "all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics." When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty-to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy." [sic].
But then, three years later:
In 1858, Lincoln challenged U.S. Senator and leading Democrat Stephen A. Douglas for his seat. The two candidates engaged in a series of seven debates across Illinois. In the sixth debate, held in Quincy on October 13, 1858, Lincoln responded to Douglas’s assertion that Lincoln saw no “distinction between races.” Printed in the Chicago Daily Press and Tribune on October 15, 1858, Lincoln replied:
"I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermingling with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior. I am as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Source: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
So the ball in now in your court. I look forward to reading your comments.
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