Lincoln and the Abolitionists: John Quincy Adams, Slavery, and the Civil War

Lincoln was from a state whose southern half was settled mainly by Southerners (unlike J.Q. Adams's Massachusetts). He believed that public opinion must be taken into account when seeking change. "A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded can not be safely disregarded." At the outset of the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858, Abraham Lincoln pleaded with his audience, "let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man; this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position; discarding our standard that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal...I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." In an 1855 private letter to his best friend Lincoln had written that he "abhors" "the oppression of Negroes," as he does the "degrading" of white immigrants and Catholics, and yet he and other Northerners "crucify" their feelings for the sake of Union. As is implied from this, and from a private memoranda of how pro-slavery arguments could also be used to justify white enslavement, Lincoln in using the word "oppression" was not just referring to slavery (Know-Nothings were not proposing to physically enslave either group, immigrant or Catholic). Yet, Lincoln in 1858 was running against the territorial expansion of slavery, opposing the increasingly race-baiting incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and before racist voters in Illinois. Lincoln never said blacks were inherently inferior. But, if he had advocated, or left unanswered charges of being for, full equality in 1858, he would most certainly have committed political suicide. Lincoln did state that the purpose of the Declaration of Independence is to "augment the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere." Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure and applied it only to areas still in rebellion against the national authority, because such was the only way to present it as constitutional. The loyal slave-holding Border states also were crucial to the Union cause and couldn't be alienated. As Union forces advanced and conquered the rebellious areas more and more African-Americans became free. Nonetheless, Lincoln was so concerned that the Proclamation would be ruled unconstitutional that he insisted the 13th Amendment be a part of the 1864 Republican Platform; made sure an unprecedented enforcement clause was added; used all his powers of persuasion and patronage to get it through Congress; and signed the Amendment though his signature was not needed. Lincoln had said the treatment of blacks in the US did not "accord with justice." Colonization was always to be voluntary; Lincoln felt white prejudice so intractable that as President he urged black leaders to consider it. Colonization was abandoned as ventures failed, and African-Americans rejected it. It is not inconceivable that Lincoln still wished to afford those blacks who wished to escape white racism the choice, even as he was working to include blacks in the American polity. As president, Lincoln approved of bills abolishing segregation on omnibuses in D.C.; for allowing black witnesses in federal courts; for equalizing penalties for the same crime; for equal pay for black soldiers; and outlawing discrimination on the basis of color in the carrying of the US mail. He welcomed, for the first time, an ambassador from Haiti; African-Americans picnicked on the White House grounds. He supported the activities of the Freedmen's Bureau. Frederick Douglass was "impressed with his entire freedom from popular prejudice against the colored race." Lincoln approved giving Southern blacks confiscated lands, public schools, and the vote. 

Lincoln was from a racist state whose southern half was settled mainly by Southerners (unlike J.Q. Adams's Massachusetts). He believed that public opinion must be taken into account when seeking change. "A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded can not be safely disregarded." At the outset of the Illinois senatorial campaign of 1858, Abraham Lincoln pleaded with his audience, "let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man; this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position; discarding our standard that we have left us. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all men are created equal...I leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal." In an 1855 private letter to his best friend Lincoln had written that he "abhors" "the oppression of Negroes," as he does the "degrading" of white immigrants and Catholics, and yet he and other Northerners "crucify" their feelings for the sake of Union. As is implied from this, and from a private memoranda of how pro-slavery arguments could also be used to justify white enslavement, Lincoln in using the word "oppression" was not just referring to slavery (Know-Nothings were not proposing to physically enslave either group, immigrant or Catholic). Yet, Lincoln in 1858 was running against the territorial expansion of slavery, opposing the increasingly race-baiting incumbent Senator Stephen A. Douglas, and before racist voters in Illinois. Lincoln never said blacks were inherently inferior. But, if he had advocated, or left unanswered charges of being for, full equality in 1858, he would most certainly have committed political suicide. Lincoln did state that the purpose of the Declaration of Independence is to "augment the happiness and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere." Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation as a war measure and applied it only to areas still in rebellion against the national authority, because such was the only way to present it as constitutional. The loyal slave-holding Border states also were crucial to the Union cause and couldn't be alienated. As Union forces advanced and conquered the rebellious areas more and more African-Americans became free. Nonetheless, Lincoln was so concerned that the Proclamation would be ruled unconstitutional that he insisted the 13th Amendment be a part of the 1864 Republican Platform; made sure an unprecedented enforcement clause was added; used all his powers of persuasion and patronage to get it through Congress; and signed the Amendment though his signature was not needed. Lincoln had said the treatment of blacks in the US did not "accord with justice." Colonization was always to be voluntary; Lincoln felt white prejudice so intractable that as President he urged black leaders to consider it. Colonization was abandoned as ventures failed, and African-Americans rejected it. It is not inconceivable that Lincoln still wished to afford those blacks who wished to escape white racism the choice, even as he was working to include blacks in the American polity. As president, Lincoln approved of bills abolishing segregation on omnibuses in D.C.; for allowing black witnesses in federal courts; for equalizing penalties for the same crime; for equal pay for black soldiers; and outlawing discrimination on the basis of color in the carrying of the US mail. He welcomed, for the first time, an ambassador from Haiti; African-Americans picnicked on the White House grounds. He supported the activities of the Freedmen's Bureau. Frederick Douglass was "impressed with his entire freedom from popular prejudice against the colored race." Lincoln approved giving Southern blacks confiscated lands, public schools, and the vote.