Untwisting Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln, one of the greatest presidents the United States has ever had, gets regularly attacked by neo-Confederates, Confederate apologists, Lost Cause true believers, white supremacists, and a host of conspiracy nut jobs, antigovernment hate groups, and other wack-a-doodles that have somehow convinced themselves that the man who saved our country and ended slavery is somehow the most vicious tyrant to ever walk the land.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The scholarship that these deluded souls fall back on is sketchy at best and outright lies at worst. One technique that the Lincoln bashers use is to pick and choose their sound bites, carefully selecting snippets and then taking them out of context and using those out-of-context quotes to back whatever contrived motivation that they want to ascribe.
For example, a commonly twisted quotation is:
Out of context, you can certainly draw the logical conclusion that Lincoln didn’t give a damn about the slaves. Your conclusion would, however, be incorrect.
First, you have to look at the context of the quote. This quote is from a letter that Abraham Lincoln wrote to Horace Greeley on 22 Aug 1862. This letter was in response to a sweeping abolitionist editorial that Greeley had published entitled, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions”. Greeley was a leader of the Radical Republican movement and the editor of a widely read newspaper in New York. His editorial referenced the millions of people in the North and called for Lincoln to move decisively on the destruction of slavery and complete emancipation.
At the time of the exchange, the Second Confiscation Act had been passed but the Emancipation Proclamation was not yet public, although Lincoln had circulated preliminary drafts among his Cabinet. Lincoln was still trying to find a middle ground and was advocating a gradual elimination of slavery, along with compensation for slaveholders (which had been the British model) as well as possible colonization of emancipated slaves to either the Caribbean or Africa. Lincoln’s fear was that sudden and complete emancipation, which Greeley called for, would cause the border states such as Kentucky and Maryland, to secede as well.
The entire text of Lincoln’s letter is as follows. It's short and well worth reading.
Lincoln wanted emancipation done legally and in such a way that it could not be undone by the courts. Remember, in 1862, the Supreme Court was still under slave-sympathizer control and Chief Justice Roger Taney had been the one that wrote the Dred Scott decision. Taney’s summed up his pro-slavery and profoundly racist position in that decision by stating that blacks were “altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.” Knowing that any legal challenge than ended up getting to the Supreme Court would undoubtedly end up in a pro-slavery ruling, Lincoln had to walk a fine legal line. Lincoln may have personally wanted emancipation, like Greeley did, but Lincoln was bound by the duties and limitations of his office.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
The scholarship that these deluded souls fall back on is sketchy at best and outright lies at worst. One technique that the Lincoln bashers use is to pick and choose their sound bites, carefully selecting snippets and then taking them out of context and using those out-of-context quotes to back whatever contrived motivation that they want to ascribe.
For example, a commonly twisted quotation is:
“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.”Lincoln bashers frequently trot out this quote to show that Lincoln didn’t give a damn about the slaves and he didn’t give a damn about African Americans. All Lincoln cared about was his “unjust” war to stop the Confederate states from exercising their (non-existent) Constitutional right to secede, blah, blah, blah.
Out of context, you can certainly draw the logical conclusion that Lincoln didn’t give a damn about the slaves. Your conclusion would, however, be incorrect.
First, you have to look at the context of the quote. This quote is from a letter that Abraham Lincoln wrote to Horace Greeley on 22 Aug 1862. This letter was in response to a sweeping abolitionist editorial that Greeley had published entitled, “The Prayer of Twenty Millions”. Greeley was a leader of the Radical Republican movement and the editor of a widely read newspaper in New York. His editorial referenced the millions of people in the North and called for Lincoln to move decisively on the destruction of slavery and complete emancipation.
At the time of the exchange, the Second Confiscation Act had been passed but the Emancipation Proclamation was not yet public, although Lincoln had circulated preliminary drafts among his Cabinet. Lincoln was still trying to find a middle ground and was advocating a gradual elimination of slavery, along with compensation for slaveholders (which had been the British model) as well as possible colonization of emancipated slaves to either the Caribbean or Africa. Lincoln’s fear was that sudden and complete emancipation, which Greeley called for, would cause the border states such as Kentucky and Maryland, to secede as well.
The entire text of Lincoln’s letter is as follows. It's short and well worth reading.
Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862.The key part that gets ignored by the Lincoln Haters Club is the last sentence of the letter. Lincoln’s position was what he thought was legal, what had been passed by Congress, and what he saw as Constitutional. Lincoln's position was what he thought was appropriate for a President who was trying to save the Union. Lincoln’s personal feelings were as he had stated on multiple occasions before and would state multiple times after, that he was an abolitionist and he believed in emancipation.
Hon. Horace Greeley: Dear Sir.
I have just read yours of the 19th. addressed to myself through the New-York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. 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; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men every where could be free.
Yours, A. Lincoln.
Lincoln wanted emancipation done legally and in such a way that it could not be undone by the courts. Remember, in 1862, the Supreme Court was still under slave-sympathizer control and Chief Justice Roger Taney had been the one that wrote the Dred Scott decision. Taney’s summed up his pro-slavery and profoundly racist position in that decision by stating that blacks were “altogether unfit to associate with the white race either in social or political relations, and so far inferior that they had no rights which the white man was bound to respect, and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for his benefit.” Knowing that any legal challenge than ended up getting to the Supreme Court would undoubtedly end up in a pro-slavery ruling, Lincoln had to walk a fine legal line. Lincoln may have personally wanted emancipation, like Greeley did, but Lincoln was bound by the duties and limitations of his office.
For a much more in-depth treatment of Lincoln's views on slavery, I strongly recommend Eric Foner's outstanding book, "The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery".
