How should one interpret the views he expressed during his debates with Stephen Douglas?

In a previous article, I was somewhat lambasted for painting Lincoln with a racist brush, so to speak, by asserting that some of the words he used during his Senate campaign indeed had racist undertones. Here is that quote:

I will say, then, that 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 (applause); that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.... And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race (Zinn, 1995, p. 183-84).

This quote should be placed in the proper perspective. First, it was during a Senate campaign in Illinois, a state so heavily divided on the slavery issue that any candidate who leaned too far to the left or too far to the right would stand little to no chance of being elected. So this is where Lincoln's political pragmatism comes into play. Second, his words reflected much of the way he felt on the issue of race at this particular time. Notice he mentions not a word of slavery in that particular excerpt. Had he done so, you would be exposed to his more liberal inclinations like the following:

I should like to know if taking this old Declaration of Independence, which declares that all men are created equal upon principle, and making exceptions to it--where will it stop? If one man says it does not mean a Negro, why does not another say it does not mean some other man? If that Declaration is not...true, let us tear it out! [Cries of "no, no!"] Let us stick to it then, let us stand firmly by it then (Loewen, 1995, p. 180).

Again, the context of this speech can be connected to the assertion about the slave woman mentioned above; all relating to that hierarchy of freedom and equality.

What actions as President reflect his overall sentiment towards slavery and Blacks?

All through his presidential campaign and into his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln insisted that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed. He was, believe it or not, a staunch believer in states' rights himself. He promised both North and South that he would not menace slavery; he had no right as President to do so, and he used the Republican platform that supported the states' power to control their own domestic affairs (Oates, 1993). Further, he also publicly endorsed the then Thirteenth Amendment which, with the approval of Congress and former President Buchanan's signature, forbade the Federal government from ever interfering with slavery in the states. Of course, this amendment did not pass, not gaining support from the necessary ¾ of the states for ratification.

Does all of this fit with his words uttered in 1864: "If slavery isn't wrong, then nothing is wrong" (Loewen, 1995, p. 180)? Indeed it does, from Lincoln's point of view. Let me illustrate by providing probably the most often quoted statement made in 1862 in his letter to Horace Greeley's New York Tribune:

If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save the Union by freeing all of the slaves, I would do it; and if I could save 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 have here stated my purpose according to my official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men, everywhere could be free (Loewen, 1995, p. 181).

This illustrates several fine points about Lincoln. First, he made no secret of his ultimate and primary objective (though not the sole objective) as President: preserve the Union. And the first three lines of his statement are consistent with his aim. Second, he remained absolutely true to his assertion that he would be willing to free some while leaving others behind in order to save the United States. He did this with his Emancipation Proclamation in 1862 by declaring all persons held in bondage in states "currently in rebellion" free, while allowing the slaves in the four border states who remained loyal to the Union to remain subjugated. Thus, he was willing to free some--but not all--in the name of Union preservation. Of course, the Proclamation meant nothing unless the North won the war and a Constitutional amendment was passed outlawing slavery. But the political significance of his proclamation cannot be emphasized enough, and though, in reality, it freed not one individual, it was an action that supported his words and his true desire to see the slaves freed.

Finally, this quote shows how he was able and willing to separate personal wish from his public duty as President. To put this in better context, consider the current abortion debate. It is entirely possible--quite common, in fact--for an individual to abhor abortion as a procedure but stand firmly on the pro-choice platform. This is done by separating one's personal beliefs from their political ideology. That is, believing that the government does not necessarily have the right to invade the privacy of a woman by telling her what she can and cannot do with her body while, at the same time, attempting to make abortions as safe and rare as possible at the public level and having an abhorrence of them at a personal one. Lincoln approached slavery in the same way, expressing his personal distaste for the institution but remaining loyal to his duty as President to uphold the Constitutional rights of states to dictate their own affairs.

As Lincoln's term in office progressed, he became more and more open to the ideal of full equality of the Black man, thanks in no small part to the pure agitation that Frederick Douglass provided him. Loewen (1995) points out how Lincoln challenged his own racist tendencies and those of the federal government:

As president, Lincoln understood the importance of symbolic leadership in improving race relations. For the first time the United States exchanged diplomats with Haiti and Liberia. In 1863 Lincoln desegregated the federal government that lasted until Woodrow Wilson. Lincoln opened the White House to Black callers, notably Frederick Douglass. He also continued to wrestle with his own racism, asking aided to investigate the feasibility of deporting (euphemistically termed "colonizing") African Americans to Africa or Latin America (p. 180).

The evolution of Lincoln's thoughts on slavery reached its pinnacle when he delivered his Second Inaugural Address in 1865. During his first months in office and into the first years of the conflict, Lincoln had spoken fervently against this war being one fully against slavery, but rather for the preservation of the Union. After 1863, however, his approach began to change, realizing the war being made inevitable by the presence of slavery. A portion of his Second Inaugural Address:

If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he gives both North and South this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe him? ...Fondly do we hope-fervently do we pray-that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgements of the Lord are true and righteous together'" (Loewen, 1995, p. 184,185).

Lincoln's concession that the blood and sweat of American slaves from generations gone is on all America's hands--that all of America was complicit in this vile institution--is a powerful one; one that stayed with Americans well after his assassination. The speech also illustrates profoundly how far Lincoln had come on this issue.

During his last days he openly challenged his own thoughts on race and the superiority of white men in American society. He openly questioned what he thought to be the true purpose of the war, union preservation. He was not afraid to grapple with these questions. As a human being, Abraham Lincoln made mistakes, lived contradictions, and asserted racist beliefs. But unlike so many Presidents before him, he was able, in many ways, to transcend his own failures, embracing in the end a more egalitarian notion, in terms of race relations, of what American society needed to become.

References

Loewen, J.W. (1995). Lies my teacher told me: Everything your American history textbook got wrong. New York: Simon and Schuster.

McPherson, J.M. (1992). Ordeal by fire: The Civil War and Reconstruction (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.

Oates, S.B. (1993). With malice toward none: A life of Abraham Lincoln. New York: Harper Perennial.

Thomas, B.P. (1993). Abraham Lincoln: A biography (2nd ed.). New York: Barnes and Noble.

Zinn, H. (1995). A people's history of the United States: 1492-present (2nd ed.). New York: Harper-Perennial.