Lincoln and Slavery

Paper Summary:

During the 1850s Americans were divided over ideas about race and slavery and the current President Abraham Lincoln repeatedly made opinionated statements and decisions regarding the practice of slavery and discrimination in this country. While the south believed that holding blacks as servants against their will was a legitimate economic practice, the north condemned every aspect of this idea as being a direct violation of natural human rights. This paper shows that one of the main issues that plagued Lincoln was the southern demand that the institution of slavery be extended across the nation to places where no formal position on this practice had been established. In contrast, the northern states believed that slavery was a roadblock on the path to providing equal racial rights in the nation. The paper examines how Lincoln was thrown directly into the middle of this bitterly argumentative matter and acted in accordance to what consequences the practice and expansion of slavery would instill upon the union.

From the Paper:

"Lincoln believed that "the national faith, the national confidence, [and] the national feeling of brotherhood" (1, 71) within the Union could be restored if this separation could be resolved, but as long as the Union continued to "survive" he would not make any significant attempts to abolish slavery. Without the full support of the President of the United States, blacks in this nation could not expect to be treated as equals any time in the near future. Although he did pronounce that "there is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence" (2), for some reason Lincoln would not eradicate slavery entirely."

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