Abraham Lincoln believed that there is a difference in the race of a black man and the race of a white man. He believed that the two races should not be socially or politically equal. He went on to posit that he had never been in favor of making voters or jurors of black people, nor qualifying them to hold office, or to intermarry with white people. He stated, “There is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.” (Lincoln at Charleston, IL) He believed that there should be a designation between the two races, where the white race is superior to the inferior black race. Although he held these bold convictions, he believed that the black race should not be denied everything. He believed that the black race should be entitled to all the natural rights that the Declaration of Independence outlined: the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He stated, “But in the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man.”(Lincoln at Ottawa, IL) Essentially, Lincoln believed that the black race was not equal in certain aspects (color and moral or intellectual endowment), but they deserved the natural rights.

Before his presidency, Lincoln did not have the intention of abolishing slavery although he thought it was wrong. He respected the dominion of the states and acknowledged the existence of slavery. Lincoln simply wanted to prevent the spread of slavery into the western states. In a letter to Alexander Stephens dated 1860, he assured him that the Republican administration would not interfere with the Southern people’s slaves. He acknowledged that his friend believed slavery was right and should be extended, but Lincoln held that it was wrong and it ought to be restricted.

President Lincoln clearly stated the relationship between race in slavery when he said, “Nevertheless, I repeat, without the institution of slavery and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have an existence.” (Transcript of meeting between Lincoln and group of black men) He did not believe that the black race was equal to the white race, in fact, he thought they were inferior. However, he believed that they still deserved the natural rights afforded to them by the Declaration of Independence, just like any man or woman, regardless of color. He disagreed with slavery, but simply did not want to allow it to spread to the western states. As the years went by and the country fell deeper into the Civil War, Lincoln was only concerned with the preservation of the Union. He did not see the preservation or abolition of slavery as important until he saw the necessity in the abolition of slavery. He understood that the only way to protect the Union and end the war was to abolish slavery. Lincoln’s ideas about race were related to his view of slavery because he acknowledged the inferiority of the black race, but believed they deserved rights. Within those rights, a man or woman should not be held as a slave. Every man and woman should be able to work for his own bread and have the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the end of the day, Lincoln was a gifted president that did what he needed to do for the ultimate goal, preserving the Union.

Because Lincoln was president during the Civil War, and he issued he Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, the people in the United States have a view of him as a great champion for equality and the prompt abolition of slavery. However, when reading the documents provided for this blog post, one realizes that Lincoln, like most men of his time, believed in the superiority of the white man and thought the slaves and free blacks inferior to him.  In 1858, in his address in Ottawa, Illinois, he clearly says that he is in “favor of the race to which [he] belong[s] having the superior position” despite the accusations of his running rival of urging for the equal rights of blacks and whites in the country.  In the same address, Lincoln says that he believes that there is a “physical difference between the two, which, in [his] judgment, will probably forbid t their living together upon the equal footing of perfect equality.” His position as a statesman and his desire to maintain a favorable image that the rest of the country would agree with probably motivated Lincoln to express his ideas of superiority when he addressed a crowd.

Nevertheless, when he says that blacks are not his equal in “color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment” he also acknowledges that these differences do not translate to blacks having to endure slavery.  In his response to the Dred Scott decision in 1857, he says that a black woman is equally entitled to the “right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands without asking the leave of anyone else.” All people are equal in the fact that they are entitled to “‘certain inalienable rights, among them which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.’” While politically and socially the two races are not the same, both groups of people have the right to lead their life however they please without having to answer to a master.

While Lincoln did not want to end slavery immediately and favored a colonization effort to remove the black population from the United States (Annual Speech to Congress), he did have negative views of slavery.  In his letter to Alexander Stephens, Lincoln admits that slavery “is wrong and ought to be restricted” because it denied the black population the possibility of caring for themselves and having to answer to one. Obviously, his views on race and his opinions on the rights people possessed, greatly influence what he thought about slavery. While he did not believe that blacks and whites could live together harmoniously, he did think that it was possible for blacks to be free and left alone without any personal interaction.  Whatever his views on the other race, Lincoln claimed he hated the institution “because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself” (Peoria, Illinois, 1854). Clearly, none should be subject to such a fate.

Lincoln’s personal views of race were influential in his dislike for the institution of slavery, but he also considered the preservation of the Union and the effects that the image of the United States as a slave-holding nation had on the rest of the word. In 1854, in Illinois, Lincoln said that slavery “enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites.” He did not agree with the fact that a country that represented freedom still held other human beings as slaves.  The consideration he held for the United States ultimately prompted him to declare emancipation during the course of the war. Lincoln, as president, was invested in the preservation of the Union and he would do anything in his power to prevent its disintegration. While Lincoln expressed his personal views on race and on slavery to the public, he did not make decisions based on personal opinion. The Emancipation Proclamation was prompted, not by his personal desire to see slaves free, but as a strategic move that would contribute to the victory and preservation of the United States.  He clearly says, in his letter to Horace Greeley, that if he could save the Union by not freeing any slaves he would do it.

Lincoln ultimately was a politician that did not allow his personal views to drive his political decisions. While his views on race influenced his ideas and his dislike for slavery, untimely the only thing that influenced his actions was his regard for the Union.

First and foremost, Abraham Lincoln was a politician. To most Americans, Lincoln was also a great leader and humanitarian—the president who saved the Union and who ended slavery. There is no denying that Lincoln both saved the Union and ended slavery, but to understand how and why he did those two things, it is crucially important to understand Lincoln and his actions in the context of American politics. Ultimately, Lincoln believed that slavery was a great evil in American life, but he put his personal feelings about slavery aside. He focused less on what he personally thought about slavery and more on what he thought should be done about slavery in order to preserve the Union.

Throughout his political career, Lincoln maintained that he believed that slavery was morally wrong. In 1858, he said that although he did not believe blacks and whites were equal, he did believe that slavery was wrong and “In the right to eat the bread, without the leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he [an African-American] is my equal,” (1). He additionally argued against the expansion of slavery, and in 1860 wrote to Alexander Stephens that Lincoln and his political allies “think it [slavery] is wrong, and ought to be restricted,” (6). As late as 1864, Lincoln’s personal beliefs remained steady, and he wrote: “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,” (10)

In spite of all of Lincoln’s personal beliefs about the evils of slavery, as a politician and president, he made it clear that what he thought about slavery did not necessarily affect what he thought the president could or should do about slavery in the US. Particularly, although he argued against the expansion of slavery, he felt firmly that slavery did not need to be abolished in the South. Furthermore, he felt that his job as president was to preserve the Union. In his 1860 letter to Southern Congressman Alexander Stephens, he asked: “Do the people of the South really entertain fears that a Republican administration would…interfere with their slaves? If they do, I wish to assure you, as once a friend, and still, I hope, not an enemy, that there is no cause for such fears,” (6). As a politician and in his attempts to keep the South in the Union, Lincoln made it clear to Stephens that he had no intentions of interfering with slavery—he hoped that in doing so, he would be able to prevent secession.
Even as the South seceded, Lincoln had his eye on the prize, that is, on bringing the South back to the Union. In 1862 he wrote that his “paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery,” (8). By making such claims, Lincoln kept a moderate position that left open the possibility that if the South came back to the Union, Lincoln would not end slavery in the former Confederacy. Even as Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, he maintained that it was not because he wanted to end slavery, but rather that out of military necessity and his ultimate goal of preserving the Union, it was necessary to end slavery. Indeed, he argued that he had “the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution,” or of emancipating the slaves. He emancipated the slaves not as a humanitarian, but as the president who was desperate to keep his country together.

Abraham Lincoln was a gifted politician, and he walked a fine line during his presidency as he attempted to keep the divisive issue of slavery from permanently destroying the Union. Personally, he found slavery to be morally wrong, and he sought to keep it from expanding into the territories. However, he did not allow his personal beliefs to allow him to miss the bigger picture: His ultimate goal was preservation of the Union, and he used whatever means necessary to achieve that goal.