Lincoln's Changing Views on
Emancipation

Shelley Kendall
Oregon High School, Oregon

Abraham Lincoln is viewed by many people as one of the world's truly great and most influential men. During his four-year term as president of the United States, Lincoln succeeded in preserving the Union and freeing the slaves. Many people, including those of his own time, referred to Lincoln as "Honest Abe" or "Father Abraham."

Slave owners often ran advertisements offering rewards for their runaway slaves.

Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in Kentucky. His parents were Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks Lincoln. Lincoln married Mary Todd on November 4, 1842. Together they had four children. Lincoln's family owned no slaves, and they attended churches that were against slavery. After Lincoln was born, Lincoln's family moved to southern Indiana and then to Illinois, partly because Kentucky was a slave state. Because of his family's move, Lincoln did not grow up around the strongly positive views on slavery held by most Kentuckians. Lincoln started out as a very inactive abolitionist, one who thought that slavery was wrong but also believed it was legal because it was in the Constitution. "On plans for freeing the slave and extending to Negroes the right to vote, Lincoln actually seemed to drag his feet or, at best, to lead from behind," held one historian. This meant that he opposed slavery, but did nothing radical to abolish it or impede it. About 1855 Lincoln did begin to speak against slavery, but still he did not speak as openly and radically as his opponents did in favor of slavery. In 1858, before he became president, Lincoln's position on slavery was this: "Slavery is morally wrong and it is contrary to our highest

ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence. But slavery, already here when the country was formed, was of necessity recognized in the Constitution." This implied that slaveholders had rights under the Constitution to their property in slaves, and that Congress could not interfere where slavery already existed. However, it was the government's duty to prevent it from spreading.

Lincoln was not a radical abolitionist or violent leader during his early life. He believed slavery was morally wrong, but he did not believe that abolishing it would solve the problems and make everyone happy. Lincoln believed that slavery, if left alone, would work itself into extinction eventually.

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Lincoln's beliefs began to change as he evolved into an even more prominent politician. He began to speak out more and more on the wrongs of slavery. Lincoln went on record twice during his legislative career as opposed to slavery. He declared that "the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy."

Lincoln began to realize the importance of the slave issue as he became more involved in politics. Lincoln wrote, "If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel." He began to speak more radically on slavery with passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which allowed slaves to be owned in the new territories of Kansas and Nebraska.

Lincoln opposed slavery for many reasons. One was the effect it had on the white workers in the North who had to compete with their wages against the unpaid workers, or slaves, in the South. He argued that slavery endangered democracy. He also opposed slavery because it was morally wrong, and it went against the ideals set forth in the Declaration of Independence. However, even though Lincoln believed slavery was wrong, he did not advocate Negro equality. He agreed that blacks and whites were not of the same intellectual level, and he supported the Illinois law forbidding intermarriage between Negroes and whites. He also did not believe in blacks having the right to vote or hold office.

When Lincoln was elected, he campaigned against slavery, but nothing had been done about it yet. Many southern states seceded from the Union because of Lincoln's election, thereby forcing him into taking a stronger position. The Southern states began seizing Northern forts. Lincoln sent reinforcements to Major Robert Anderson at Fort Sumter. The South saw this as an act of hostility; hence, they fired on the fort on April 12, 1861. This is considered by most to be the beginning of the Civil War. Lincoln initially fought the war to preserve the Union, not to abolish slavery. However, by the summer of 1862 it was clear to Lincoln that the time had come for a change in his policy toward slavery. He realized that slavery would not abolish itself, and that the only way to end it would be for him to abolish it. Lincoln wrote a proclamation of emancipation and withheld pronouncement until the circumstances were favorable. After the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued a warning that all slaves behind Confederate lines would be declared free on January 1, 1863. This proved that the North was not fighting only for the Union, but also for human freedom. It also proved that Lincoln stood by his beliefs that slavery was wrong and should be abolished. Even though Lincoln's views on the wrongs of slavery always stayed the same, he changed from being quiet and somewhat passive on the issue, to writing the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all the slaves. Lincoln's views may have changed, in part, because of his increasing political status. Later, in his presidency, the war forced him to realize that the only way to eliminate slavery was to abolish it himself instead of letting it work its way to an end. Even though emancipation by government decree was not Lincoln's initial intention, the result was the same; because of him, slavery was forever eliminated in the United States.—[From Abraham Lincoln: A New Portrait; William O. Douglas, Mr. Lincoln and the Negroes; Benjamin Quarles, Lincoln and the Negro.]

The southern states knew Lincoln's stand on slavery. Shortly after Lincoln was elected to the presidency. South Carolina seceded from the Union.

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