LINCOLN AS AN ABOLITIONIST: AN ANALYSIS OF THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION AND THE HISTORY SURROUNDING IT
BY CHIEN-JU YANG (楊茜如) ADVISOR: PROFESSOR MICHAEL JENKS
Department of Applied English of Yuanpei University January 2010
Hsinchu Taiwan
This thesis, by Yang Chien-ju, is accepted in its present from by the Department of Applied English of Yuanpei University.
Advisor ______
Chairman ______
January 2010
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper was to show Lincoln as an abolitionist and the history surrounding it. It introduces the biography of Abraham Lincoln, evidence of why Lincoln changed his compromising attitude toward slavery and whether or not he was an abolitionist even before the Emancipation Proclamation. Abraham Lincoln was 16th president of the United States. He was born on Feb 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky and began his political career in 1832. Before the American civil war Lincoln claimed that he was not an abolitionist; he just hated slavery, pointing to slaves as being one of the main labor forces in the Unite States since early American times. As president, Lincoln believed maintaining the union was more important than anything else, and he avoided mentioning the slavery problem. The American Civil War began in 1861; Lincoln still limited his war efforts to saving the union and he told Southerners if they changed their stance on the Union they could return to the Union with slavery unchanged. Lincoln later changed his stance because disrupting slavery through emancipation might weaken the South’s war efforts. He delivered the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, clearly showing himself as an abolitionist; he had previously said he did not want to emancipate slaves as a political tactic.
INTRODUCTION
This paper analyzes the Emancipation Proclamation with the intent to understand Abraham
Lincoln’s precise position on slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Lincoln in
1863 at the height of the American Civil War; this made him an abolitionist beyond doubt.
Abraham Lincoln was born on Feb 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. His background is considered to be rather ordinary, considering the time and place of his birth. Abraham Lincoln is seen by many to have given his whole life to ending slavery and maintaining the union of the
United States of America. An interesting point about Lincoln is that he claimed he was not an abolitionist before the civil war; he was just against slavery. During the American civil war
Lincoln tried to compromise on the issue of slavery. He avoided the war as much as possible and he seemed to hope that he could preserve the Union if he did not focus on slavery. As the military situation got worse and worse, Lincoln apparently came to realize that he shouldn’t limit the war to preserving the Union. Lincoln changed his compromising attitude toward slavery and he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Was Lincoln an abolitionist? This paper indicates
Lincoln was an abolitionist from early on; it argues herein that he said he did not want to emancipate slaves as a political tactic. The paper introduces the biography of Abraham Lincoln, why Lincoln changed his compromising attitude toward slavery and whether or not Lincoln was an abolitionist even before the Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln’s Background Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth President of the United States. He was born on Feb 12,
1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky. His parents were farmers and Lincoln’s family became
impoverished after losing their land through legal action. His mother died when he was nine.
After that, the Lincoln family moved to Illinois. Lincoln's formal education consisted of about 18
months of schooling, but he was largely self-educated and an avid reader. On November 4, 1842
Lincoln married Mary Todd and they eventually had four sons (Lorant, 1961). Lincoln had to
struggle for a living and for learning. He was a country lawyer, an Illinois state legislator, a member of the United States House of Representatives, and twice an unsuccessful candidate for
election to the U.S. Senate. Lincoln started his Republican political life in 1854 (Whitehouse.gov,
2009). In 1854, Illinois Democrat Stephen A. Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act, an
attempt to get the senate to stop interfering with the slavery problem. Lincoln hated slavery and
he was so against it that he made his "Peoria Speech" in response (Northern Illinois University,
2002). A few years later Lincoln was chosen as the Republican candidate for the 1860
presidential election and he was elected as the 16th President of the United States, beating the
Democratic candidate Stephen A. Douglas. After that, the American Civil War began in 1861
(Wilson, 2009). During the war Lincoln tried to compromise on the issue of slavery; he told
southerners if they changed their stance on the Union they could return to the Union unhurt, with
slavery intact (Jones, 1999). It is seen that Lincoln avoided the war as much as possible and he
just hoped that he could preserve the Union. Lincoln’s Views of Slavery Before the War
Slavery in the United Sates started in 1607. Slaves were brought to the United States from
Africa. Slaves didn’t have any human rights in the United Sates; they couldn’t go against their owner even though they received unfair treatment. Slavery increased in 1787 because it became a legal institution in the U.S. At that time, the majority of slaveholders were in the southern
United States and slaves were one of the main labor forces there until the American civil war
(Sylvester, 1998). In 1854, as stated before, Douglas proposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act as an attempt to stop the senate from interfering with the slavery problem because southern states wanted to expand slavery into the newly established states. Lincoln made his “Peoria Speech” in response (Northern Illinois University, 2002). This is the first time Lincoln publicly declared that he hated slavery. Lincoln believed slavery was the main reason the United States was divided; he said:
“I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it
deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world — enables the
enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites — causes the
real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so
many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very
fundamental principles of civil liberty — criticizing the Declaration of
Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but self-interest.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1854)
He also told southern states in this speech that having slaves was not their fault; he would not fight against southern people and he said it was impossible to free all slaves immediately or give them equal treatment because they were not as equal as white people and that would make the situation even worse (Abraham Lincoln, 1854).
After the “Peoria Speech”, Lincoln represented the Republican Party in running for a senatorial seat; his competitor was Stephen A. Douglas. They held seven debates in the congressional districts in Illinois. During the debates Douglas wanted to prove that Lincoln was an abolitionist. Douglas said that Lincoln agreed to give Negroes equal rights and the privileges of citizenship and would abrogate the Illinois State Constitution in doing so. Douglas also quoted a couple of passages from Lincoln’s speech saying that “all man are created equal” because he wanted to show that Lincoln would try to make Negroes equal to white people (Wikipedia, 2009).
One of the Lincoln passages used by Douglas follows:
“I should like to know, if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares
that all men are equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it, where will it stop?
If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why may not another man say it does not
mean another man? If that declaration is not the truth, let us get this statute book in
which we find it and tear it out.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1858)
Lincoln denied the abolitionist accusation by Douglas and he disagreed that he would give black people the right to vote and allow black people to intermarry with white people
because he knew that Negroes were generally inferior to white men (Abraham Lincoln,
1858). He directly responded to Douglas’s accusations when he said he meant everyone
was equal in the right to choose their own path in life but not equal in intellectual, moral,
social or physical ways.
They “intended to include all men, but they did not mean to declare all men equal
in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size,
intellect, moral development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable
distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal — equal in certain
inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ...”
(Abraham Lincoln, 1858)
Lincoln’s Change from Political Compromise
When Lincoln was elected as the 16th President of the United States in 1860 seven states, South
Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Texas, declared that they would depart from the union and create a new nation, the Confederate States of America. (Son of the
South, 2003-2008). Lincoln refused to recognize the new nation because he bitterly opposed separating the Union; he also tried to avoid the war between the two sides. In his inauguration he said:
“I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so,
and I have no inclination to do so…… I therefore consider that in view of the
Constitution and the laws the Union is unbroken...” (Abraham Lincoln, 1861)
Lincoln was still compromising between stating he hated slavery, and denying he was an abolitionist. Although Lincoln declared that he would not interfere in the slavery problem, he couldn't stop the war. The American Civil War began in 1861 (Son of the South, 2003-2008).
Lincoln concentrated on preserving the Union because he believed that nothing was more important than saving it (Lincoln Save the Union, No date). Until the Battle of Antietam, the
Union military situation was getting worse and Lincoln realized that he had to change his original stance on preserving the Union because the South used slaves in the war; they forced slaves to build fortifications and haul supplies (Pillai, 2008). Lincoln believed that he needed a
Union victory in the war, so he focused on the slavery problem (Franklin, 1863).
His Official Change in the Emancipation Proclamation. The war escalated and at times it appeared the Union could not be held together. Once, Lincoln wrote a letter to Horace Greeley, an editor of the New York Tribune and he said that he would try to save the Union and implied that he would only free the slaves if he thought that would help save it (Basler, 2009).
“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or
to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it,
and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery
and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I
forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do
less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more
whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors
when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be
true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I
intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere
could be free.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1862)
A few months later Lincoln decided to emancipate the slaves; he issued the first draft
Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862 and the second on January 1, 1863, clearly indicating that Lincoln had become an abolitionist (Goodwin, 2006).
This paper continues to argue that Lincoln was actually an abolitionist from early on. He would not admit it because of political issues (Belz, 1978). In the Emancipation Proclamation, he said:
“all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward,
and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the
military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts
they may make for their actual freedom.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)
He forbade all states to have slaves and encouraged slaves to fight for freedom. He not only freed them but insisted others treat them as equal, allowing them fair wages and military service.
“I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and
parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of
the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and
maintain the freedom of said persons…..I recommend to them that, in all cases when
allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages…… that such persons of suitable
condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts,
positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.”
(Abraham Lincoln, 1863)
Lincoln dedicated himself to ending slavery. To many Negroes Lincoln was a great emancipator, friend and leader. Lincoln also defended the Union of the United States of America
(Foner, 2009). Some people doubted his motivation for freeing slaves especially because he had been saying he did not want to emancipate slaves in his earlier debates. But in the Emancipation
Proclamation he showed determination to end slavery and he believed it was a just action. No matter what he said politically or how he faced slave owners, he was always focused on the federal cause. He had previously said he did not want to emancipate slaves because it was a political tactic. Here is proof:
“And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the
Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and
the gracious favor of Almighty God.” (Abraham Lincoln, 1863)
He was an abolitionist, but could never say so platonically.
This paper has analyzed the Emancipation Proclamation and other documentation with the intent to understand whether or not Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist even while he argued he was only against slavery as a moral issue. Abraham Lincoln, as 16th president of the United
States, faced a dilemma of freeing slaves or preserving the union. He apparently felt he could not admit he was an abolitionist before the American civil war, even though he had previously stated he hated slavery and believed slavery was a racial injustice. Why would he vehemently deny being an abolitionist? At that time he believed nothing was more important than maintaining the union and slavery seemed to be a key catalyst leading to southern secession. Lincoln disclaimed any accusation by Douglas and later tried to compromise on the slavery problem with the southern states, but it didn’t make the situation better and finally, in full war, led him to write the
Emancipation Proclamation. The Emancipation Proclamation clearly shows Lincoln’s real thinking about slavery. He gave the order to liberate slaves; forbade slavery in the United States and admitted slavery was a social injustice wrongfully promulgated by the United Stats. Lincoln then faced a lot more pressure; some people blamed him for encouraging former slaves to fight for the federal cause and mistrusted his motivation. He still insisted on his position to end slavery.
Lincoln dedicated himself to saving the union and finally, politically, showed his true desire to end slavery when war came anyway.
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