Lincoln: Deport All Free Slaves!

[DJ Psychomike]

George Mason University Ph.D. candidate (public policy program)Phil Magness has had this terrific article published in the Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association. It shows that, until his dying day, Dishonest Abe was hard at work trying to organize the colonization (i.e., deportation) of all the freed slaves.

One morning in the waning days of the Civil War, Major General Benjamin F. Butler called upon Abraham Lincoln at the White House. An obviously concerned Lincoln approached the general in private, acting "very much disturbed" in thought.1 Questioning Butler, the president remarked, "But what shall we do with the negroes after they are free?"2 With the hostilities of the previous four years drawing to a close, Lincoln's attention now turned to the condition and future of the emancipated slaves. "I fear a race war," he confided, while expressing concern that the enlisted black soldiers of the Union army would "be but little better off with their masters than they were before" if no action was taken to prevent it. The solution, he observed, was to be found in a program of colonization. Continued Lincoln, "I can hardly believe that the South and North can live in peace, unless we can get rid of the negroes."3

http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/jala/29.1/magness.html

[unionblue]

DJ,

Lincoln abandoned colonization, late in his administration, but he did abandon it.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[DJ Psychomike]

If he did- it was 72 hours before he died! From the above link:

Instructed to study the feasibility of a colonization plan, Butler departed the Executive Mansion, promising to return with his findings. A few days later he again called on Lincoln. The logistical scale of colonizing the freedmen of the South, he reported, would make a comprehensive colonization program impossible. Butler proposed an alternative in which the "one hundred and fifty thousand negro troops" that were "now enlisted" in the federal army could be transported to a long-proposed colony location on the Panama isthmus where they could find employment in digging an American canal between the two oceans. "After we get ourselves established" on the isthmus, "we will petition Congress under your recommendation to send down to us our wives and children," thus apparently inducing a free migration of blacks to the new colony. "There is meat in that, General Butler, there is meat in that," responded Lincoln with instructions to the general to pursue preparations for the plan.4 Butler was apparently to lead a renewed administration policy for colonization. It was the last time the two would meet, as Lincoln's life ended with an assassin's bullet a few days later.


If the victor is going to tell the story, they should get the facts straight!

[Freddy]

It was an interesting paper and after reading the entire paper the conclusion does not make the claim that what General Butler wrote in his autobiography is completely accurate. Lincoln was an avowed 'Colonizationist" until mid-1862 and there is not much evidence of Lincoln speaking of it after that point in time. Lincoln's view was of voluntary colonization, which is what actually occurred. What is likely is that Lincoln still held that view and may have spoken about it. It is also likely Butler embellished his conversations with Lincoln.

[unionblue]

DJ,

"If he did- it was 72 hours before he died!"

DJ, this is one opinion.

It is not the only one and as Freddy has pointed out, Butler's comments have come under a bit of suspicion.

Now his personal secretary, John Hay, related how disturbed he was at Lincoln still espousing colonization at such a late date in his administration, but he noted he had abandoned all talk of it and had done so way before the 72 hours you mention.

Sincerely,
Unionblue

[ole]

Haven't quite finished the paper. I'm working on it.

I'd venture that Lincoln never really gave up hope for colonization -- he strongly believed that the black man would be treated more fairly in country of his own. But he gave up arguing for it (he was rather busy with other things, after all).

I'd also venture that Lincoln wasn't quite so desperate for Butler's advice and help as Butler would like posterity to believe.

It is an interesting paper and I'm glad we've been given a look at it. Thanks DJ. I will however point out that the word "deport" wasn't used in the context in which it was presented.

ole

[cedarstripper]

Originally Posted by Freddy

What is likely is that Lincoln still held that view and may have spoken about it. It is also likely Butler embellished his conversations with Lincoln.

Just wanted to add this:

From Lincoln in American Memory, Merill D Peterson, p92.

Chapter 3 - Fillng Up the Image

"Many of the reminiscences were patently self-serving as well as incredible. In his contribution to the Rice volume and in his autobiography, Union General Benjamin Butler recorded a conversation he had with the President in February 1865 on the question of what to do with the freedmen. He put quotation marks around a fearful harangue in which the President spoke of Negro soldiers becoming a class of guerillas and criminals in the South and asked Butler to draw up a plan to colonize them outside the country. Butler did so, proposing that the Negroes be deported to Panama and employed to dig a canal across the isthmus. "There is meat in that, General Butler," the President said, and he directed him to talk to Seward about the plan, which came to nought. Nothing but Butler’s testimony supports this. By 1864 Lincoln had, in Hay’s word, "sloughed" ideas of colonization. That he would contemplate deporting Negro soldiers at the same time calling for their enfranchisement, or that he would entrust a project of this magnitude to a proven scoundrel like Ben Butler, beggard belief."

Cedarstripper

[DJ Psychomike]

Well one thing is for sure- if Lincoln had a plan B, he decided to keep it to himself.

[cw1865]

From a 21st Century perspective, talk of colonizing former slaves back in Africa is disturbing inasmuch as we look at America today vis-a-vis the economic basket case that is Africa. 1860s America is a much different place, its one thing for Emancipation to occur, its another to accurately predict the consequences. Unless you can show me that Lincoln had the power to predict the future, any evidence to suggest that Lincoln supported colonization, continued to support colonization, etc. only indicates that Lincoln not only concerned himself with Emancipation itself, but the perceived consequences therefrom.

[unionblue]

Originally Posted by DJ Psychomike

Well one thing is for sure- if Lincoln had a plan B, he decided to keep it to himself.

DJ,

No, I don't think that's an accurate statement either.

Why did Booth shoot Lincoln? Were you aware Booth was in a crowd at the White House when Lincoln gave a speech in which he said Negro soldiers who had served in the Army and or were especially intelligent should be permitted to vote as full citizens?

Booth was reported to have turned to a companion and said, "That means n i g g e r citizenship. This is a white man's country meant only for white men. This is the last speech he'll ever give." Or words to that effect.

Too bad Lincoln didn't keep his "Plan B" speech to himself as you suggest he did. He might have avoided being murdered by a back-shooting, racist coward.

Sincerely,
Unionblue