Lincoln on the abolition of slavery in the District Of Columbia
While In Congress worked out a formula of conservative legislation for the abolition of slavery in the District Of Columbia.
Lincoln The President: Vol. 1 Springfield To Gettysburg Page 17
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I have no thought of recommending the abolition of slavery in the District Of Columbia.
Letter to Hon. John A. Gilmer
Dec. 15th, 1860
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I have never doubted the constitutional authority of congress to abolish slavery in this District; and I have ever desired to see the national capital freed from the institution in some satisfactory way.
Collected Works: Vol. 5 Page 192
Message To Congress
April 16th, 1862
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Lincoln was not evolving he was flip flopping!!
Respectfully,
William Richardson
edited by glorybound to remove red type which is reserved for moderators/staff. 6/18, 2058
WR,
I don't see that these are necessarily inconsistent, or evidence of lying, flip-flopping, or "evolution."
(1) When he was in Congress, he worked on a plan for compensated emancipation in the District of Columbia.
As noted at this source,
Abraham Lincoln gave advance notice of his intention to draft a resolution to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia in the 30th U.S. Congress; however, he abandoned the effort after determining that he could not muster the necessary votes. Lincoln seemed convinced that Congress possessed the power to write such a bill into law, but he felt it should be done only with the consent of the citizens of Washington. The support of District of Columbia officials, although initially given, was withdrawn after leading Southern congressmen expressed strong objections to the legislation. Lincoln, a first-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, had little personal influence.
(1a) This is Lincoln in 1858, Lincoln-Douglass debates: From
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4. / Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
August 27. 1858. In his joint debate with Senator Douglas at Freeport, in answer to certain questions which had been propounded by Douglass, Mr. Lincoln said: ``The fourth one is in regard to slavery in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I have my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. I believe that congress possesses the constitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of congress I should not, with my present views, be in favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, unless it would be upon these conditions: First, that the abolition should be gradual. Second, that it should be on a vote of the majority of the qualified voters of the District; and third that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. With these three conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, ``sweep from the capitol that foul blot upon our nation.''
(2) After Lincoln won the presidential election, secession was brewing, and Congress was doing as much as possible to eliminate slavery as a divisive issue.
From Wiki
here and
here:
In the Congressional session that began in December 1860, more than 200 resolutions with respect to slavery, including 57 resolutions proposing constitutional amendments,
[5] were introduced in Congress. Most represented compromises designed to avert military conflict.
Mississippi Democratic Senator
Jefferson Davis proposed one that explicitly protected property rights in slaves. One group of House members proposed a national convention to accomplish secession as a "dignified, peaceful, and fair separation" that could settle questions like the equitable distribution of the Federal government's assets and rights to navigate the Mississippi River.
On February 27, 1861, the House of Representatives considered the following text of a proposed constitutional amendment:
No amendment of this Constitution, having for its object any interference within the States with the relations between their citizens and those described in second section of the first article of the Constitution as "all other persons," shall originate with any State that does not recognize that relation within its own limits, or shall be valid without the assent of every one of the States composing the Union.
Corwin proposed his own text as a substitute and those who opposed him failed on a vote of 68 to 121. The House then declined to give the resolution the required two-thirds vote, with a tally of 120 to 61, and then of 123 to 71.On February 28, 1861, however, the House approved Corwin's version by a vote of 133 to 65.The contentious debate in the House was relieved by abolitionist Republican
Owen Lovejoy of Illinois, who questioned the amendment's reach: "Does that include polygamy, the other twin relic of barbarism?" Missouri Democrat
John S. Phelps answered: "Does the gentleman desire to know whether he shall be prohibited from committing that crime?"
This is what Lincoln says to Gilmer:
Strictly confidential.
Hon. John A. Gilmer: Springfield, Ill. Dec 15, 1860.
I have no thought of recommending the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, nor the slave trade among the slave states, even on the conditions indicated; and if I were to make such recommendation, it is quite clear Congress would not follow it.
It's hard to call this a flip-flop, IMO. The US was facing a secession and pre-civil war crisis. In December 1860, District emancipation was not a prudent policy. I'll be blunt: trying to advance emancipation at that time would have been stupid, and suicidal for the prospects of maintaining the Union. Regardless, it would have been a waste of time, as Congress was obviously not going to pass such a bill anyway, and Lincoln clearly knew this.
(3) So... time goes by, and conditions make it possible for slavery to be ended in the District. Lincoln agrees with it, as he had earlier.
Again, I don't see lying or even flip-flopping or even "evolution." It seems he desired emancipation in the District a long way back, but it was only until conditions and circumstances made it possible that he could follow through on this desire.
- Alan
Otherwise, a heavy dose of snark is just what the doctor ordered.
Bringing the