 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
The Vacillating Ideas
Seetha Srinivasan Abraham Lincoln became the sixteenth president of the United States when America was in terrible turmoil. Living in a period of hatred, segregation, and a myriad of ideals, he accepted the challenge of leading the country through the Civil War, hoping to erase the hatred toward blacks. In conducting the Civil War, he exhibited the qualities of both idealism and practicality. In dealing with race issues, his idealism dominated, whereas in trying to preserve the Union, his idealism yielded to practicality. In principle, even though both qualities can exist in harmony, Lincoln found it difficult to balance them. However, all his vacillations ceased when a few strokes of his pen issued freedom to generations of slaves. Lincoln vacillated at different times because of inner conflicts about saving the Union as opposed to ending slavery. He succeeded in abolishing slavery without losing the Union and thus became one of the greatest American presidents. The Emancipation Proclamation was a turning point in history, both for America and for Lincoln. He finally triumphed in putting morally strong beliefs above political expediency. Lincoln was a man of strong morals with an acute sense for justice. Schooled in Whig doctrine, Lincoln idealized that America should follow all rules of the Declaration of Independence and sustain a government which benefited all Americans, "the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, "wrote historian Stephen Gates. He advocated a strong, federal government to maintain a prosperous and stable economy. Feeling for a potent government can be seen in one of Lincoln's most eloquent speeches; it was given on May 29, 1856, before an audience of 270 delegates assembled in Major's Hall to organize the Illinois Republican Party. Various parties of differing opinions were represented at the meeting. Lincoln supported the conservative Whigs. He was requested to give the closing speech because of his strong role in creating a new union party. In that speech, Lincoln urged a union of all who opposed the expansion of slavery and pledged "to fuse with anyone who would unite with him to oppose slave power." The need to abolish slavery was of utmost importance to him. He also said, "The Union must be preserved in the purity of its principles as well as in the integrity of its territorial parts . . . Liberty and Union now and forever, one and inseparable." In this speech it is clear that both issues of slavery and the Union were given equal importance. Later, one can observe that Lincoln's absolute love for the Union put slavery on the back burner. Before the Civil War, despite Lincoln's passionate convictions on government and human liberty, he did not envision blacks as permanent participants in the great American experiment. He feared that the majority of white Americans were too prejudiced to allow African Americans to live among them as equals and thought it desirable for the latter to colonize in Africa where they would live in freedom. On the other hand, Lincoln was a firm believer in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and he thought that "slavery was a vast moral evil." It degraded both blacks and whites alike and violated America's "central idea" of equality and the right to ameliorate oneself. Though slavery was the main issue in America at the time, Lincoln relegated it to secondary importance only because it might destroy the Union. At this time, in Lincoln's eyes, the concept of the Union was faultless and any threatening ideas must not be allowed to destroy it. At this point in Lincoln's political evolution, he did not have a clear-cut agenda on the slavery issue and continued to vacillate on several aspects of his political philosophies. A principal reason for Lincoln's constant change in ideas was because he was a practical politician. He was often placed in situations where he had to suppress his idealism and speak in a manner that would appeal to members of the opposing parties and to many small sub-groups in his own Republican party. Lincoln was forced to choose his words to accommodate everyone and to avoid antagonizing any particular group. This apparent flip-flop is evident in a series of debates between Lincoln and his Democratic opponent, Stephen A. Douglas. Constantly, Lincoln was forced to take a stand which clearly ran contrary to his beliefs on the equality of different races of people. In a debate in Charleston, Illinois, Lincoln said that he had never been in favor, "of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor qualifying them to hold office." He went on to say that he wanted the white race to have the superior position as long as there was a difference between the two groups. "There will always be a physical difference between black and white races that would probably prevent them from living together in perfect equality." We wonder, was this the same man who had previously spoken of creating equal opportunities for blacks and sustaining a balance of equality between all races? In these times, Lincoln did not keep a firm ground on his
Many artists painted scenes like this one, where the oppressed appealed to Lincoln for help. ideals about slavery and was merely trying to win the election. If he had not done so, he would have certainly faced political extinction. Even after Lincoln was elected, the pressures from outside forces in the Civil War became unbearable, and he continued to waver in making policies. At first, he warned that the conflict must not turn into a "remorseless revolutionary struggle." Yet, when the conflict carried on with no end in sight, Lincoln resorted to one harsh war measure after another in order to repress the Confederate Army and its allies. "He embraced martial law, property confiscation, emancipation, Negro troops, conscription, and scorched-earth warfare. These turned the war into the very thing he had cautioned against: a remorseless revolutionary struggle," according to one historian. He could not retain the "hands-off policy" and searched for a compromise which would eradicate the problems that led to the Civil War in the first place. In order to appease everyone, he pursued the idea of a limited emancipation. This pursuit of a compromise in order to please the citizens made Lincoln utter words to African Americans that would not be heard from a man who believed in the tenets of the Declaration of Independence that all people of this nation were equal. He said, "You [blacks] and we [whites] are different races, we have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any two races. Nowhere in America were blacks treated as equals as whites. It is better for us both to be separated." Lincoln was vulnerable to political pressures and appeared to be on the verge of abandoning his beliefs of equality. Lincoln went on to say, " 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 slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all 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 the Union." Again, Lincoln appears to be a man who is concerned less with the welfare of the African American and abolishing slavery than saving the Union. We can ask, if slavery were not related to the Union, would Lincoln have considered outlawing it? His statements and thoughts at this moment in history do not clearly answer that question. In the end, Lincoln returned to idealism. The Union remained intact, and he implemented the
high ideals he always held, but appeared to be forgotten in the interim. On New Year's Day in 1863, he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, a document which would change the course of history for the blacks forever. This act showed the world that Lincoln's heart was in the right place, and his earlier pronouncements on the need to liberate blacks and abolish slavery were not empty promises. Now, he put all conflicts and varying opinions on the back burner and acted on his own beliefs on what he thought was morally correct for America. He became one of the greatest presidents of this country, by finally acting upon his word.—[From Herbert David Donald, Lincoln; Jay Monaghan, Lincoln For All Ages; Stephen B. Oates, The Man Behind the Myths.]
|
|
|
