Discussion for article #226026
By modern standards, Lincoln was in fact a racist. It’s ok to acknowledge this. No need to shy away from it, it doesn’t change the historical impact he had.
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How about a transcription of those scribblings so that we can read what he wrote?
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"C.H. Moore, Esq
Clinton
De Witt Co
Ills.
The above was written by Pres’t Lincoln in 1861 - Just before he left for Washington
L. Weldon"
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I don’t know what the big deal is. I have read books I don’t agree with to get the other side’s view on how their thinking is. President Lincoln was probably conflicted how best to go about undoing slavery. Lincoln himself probably was conflicted at times on the whole issue of slavery.
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Aren’t we all, to some extent? The real question is what we do about it, whether we indulge that side of our natures, or work to overcome it.
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Thanks!
I agree with the others who find this a somewhat irrelevant question.
Lincoln may have shared some of the prejudices of his day, like Samuel Clemons (Mark Twain). But the body of his efforts and intellect certainly pushed the bar heavily in the direction of perfection, to paraphrase the words of another couple great Americans.
That’s all that counts. Being perhaps somewhat backwards socially in the light of almost 150 years of history and social progress is a pretty small failing, in my humble opinion.
I hope the enlightenment of my personal views looks half as good as the worst Lincoln can be accused of, after I have been gone for 150 years.
Not that anyone will care what books I may have written in.
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Lincoln became “The Great Emancipator” out of pragmatism, not conviction and one need look no further than Maryland, Kentucky and Delaware to realize that.
Simply, he was a man of his times who had come to the conclusion that blacks were an inferior race which should never be granted the same social or political status as whites and the kindest course of action would be deportation to Africa.
We are talking about the middle of the 19th century when science was the playground of enthusiasts with family money to support them and whatever crank ideas they proposed were debated in informal settings such as private clubs and societies. Things that we accept about race almost intuitively today were issues of hot debate in his day and we can’t judge or label using our standards any more than we can condemn them for not treating infections with penicillin.
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“…He could foresee the whole country coming apart over the issue that different people could be barred from different things based on different qualities…”
The fading voice of the moderate Republican, now gone, we are told, completely replaced by conservatives hell bent and bound to exaggerate differences.
What’s wrong with knowing the argument of your opponent as well or better than they?