Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery in the United States is one of the most discussed aspects of his life. Lincoln frequently expressed his moral opposition to slavery. In 1858, he said, "I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist".Speech at Chicago, Illinois, July 10, 1858. Yet, as this statement implies, though Lincoln believed that slavery was a moral, social, and political wrong,Striner, Richard (2006). Father Abraham: Lincoln's Relentless Struggle to End Slavery, p. 2. he was not an abolitionist until well into the Civil War. He stated in 1837, "The Congress of the United States has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different states," and, though "the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy; ... the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils [by driving political support toward slavery]."Donald (1995), pp. 63-64.
Yet, Lincoln often expressed his desire for slavery's end. The question of what to do about slavery and how to end it in a divided nation, given that it was so firmly embedded in the nation's constitutional framework and in the economy of much of the country, even though concentrated in only the Southern United States, was complex and politically challenging. In 1860, Lincoln ran for and won the presidency on a platform to prevent the spread into and abolish slavery in the federal territories, which he believed that Congress could do, even though it could not limit slavery in those states where it existed. The Civil War began early in Lincoln's presidency, after Southern states seceded in order to preserve slavery. Lincoln's position on slavery evolved. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation and promoted abolition by the states. In 1864, he ran and won on a platform to completely abolish slavery everywhere in the country by constitutional amendment.
There was also the question, which Lincoln had to deal with, of what would become of the four million slaves if liberated: how they would earn a living in a society that had almost always rejected them or looked down on their very presence. One solution that Lincoln contemplated until late in the Civil War was the voluntary colonization of former slaves in Africa or Latin America. He also became the first president to support voting rights for some former slaves.
Evolution of Lincoln's policies
In the 1850s, Lincoln was accused of being an abolitionist."In the extreme Northern part of Illinois he can proclaim as bold and radical Abolitionism as ever Giddings, Lovejoy, or Garrison enunciated...." Stephen A. Douglas at Lincoln-Douglas debate at Galesburg, Illinois, October 7, 1858.Lincoln wrote in 1855, "I think I am a whig; but others say there are no whigs, and that I am an abolitionist.... I now do no more than oppose the extension of slavery." White, Ronald C., A. Lincoln: A Biography, New York: Random House, 2009, p. 215. But in 1860, he was attacked as not abolitionist enough: Wendell Phillips charged that, if elected, Lincoln would waste four years trying to decide whether to end slavery in the District of Columbia. Many abolitionists emphasized the sinfulness of slave owners, but Lincoln did not. Lincoln tended not to be judgmental. In his 1854 Peoria, Illinois, speech, he said, "I have no prejudice against the Southern people. They are just what we would be in their situation. If slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it did now exist amongst us, we should not instantly give it up."Abraham Lincoln, Peoria Speech, October 16, 1854 In 1865, in his second inaugural address, he said, "It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged," and he urged "malice toward none" and "charity for all." Nonetheless, Lincoln suggested, God had judged the nation — "both North and South" — for the "offence" of slavery.Collected Works of Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address March 4, 1865, read aloud
Lincoln focused on what he saw as a more politically practical goal: preventing the expansion of slavery into the new Western territories, which, if it occurred, could lead to new slave states, and if it were prevented would eventually lead to slavery's demise. In addition, the Constitution (Art. IV, sec. 3) gave Congress the power to regulate the territories, whereas the consensus, expressed by Lincoln in his first inaugural address, was that the federal government could not interfere with slavery in the states where it existed.
Lincoln supported excluding slavery from territories with the failed Wilmot Proviso in the 1840s. His 1850s activism was in reaction to the 1854 Kansas–Nebraska Act, designed by his great rival, Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas. The Act was a radical departure from the previous law of the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery from all new states north of the 36°30′ parallel (except for Missouri). Lincoln suggested that if slavery were allowed to spread it would block free labor from settling in the new states and, as a result, the entire nation would soon become ever more dominated by slave owners.
After Lincoln was elected, the departure of the Southern members of Congress made it finally possible to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia. The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act of 1862 provided partial compensation to slave owners, paid out of federal funds."When Congress passed the DC Emancipation Act in April 1862, giving compensation to 'loyal' owners, Coakley [Gabriel Coakley, a leader of the black Catholic community in Washington] successfully petitioned for his wife and children, since he had purchased their freedom in earlier years. He was one of only a handful of black Washingtonians to make a claim like this. The federal government paid him $1489.20 for eight slaves that he 'owned' (he had claimed their value at $3,300)." White, Jonathan (2022), p. 106. Lincoln hoped to persuade the border states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri to do likewise, because that would eliminate their incentive to secede from the Union to join the Confederacy. Their secession might result both in the North losing the Civil War and in the continued existence of slavery."Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Emancipation," in Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 5.
On September 22, 1862, having waited until the North won a significant victory in the battle at Antietam, Lincoln used the power granted to the president under Article II, section 2, of the U.S. Constitution as "Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy" to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. It provided that, on January 1, 1863, in the states still in rebellion, the enslaved people would be freed. On January 1, 1863, as promised, he issued the final Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" in "States and parts of States ... in rebellion against the United States" on that day "are, and henceforward shall be free." The proclamation immediately freed on paper millions of the enslaved, but its practical effect was limited until the Union Army was present. Week by week, as the army advanced, more slaves were liberated. The last were freed in Texas on "Juneteenth" (June 19, 1865),Randolph B. Campbell, "The End of Slavery in Texas". Southwestern Historical Quarterly 88.1 (1984): 71–80. which became a federal holiday on June 17, 2021."Biden Signs Law Making Juneteenth a Federal Holiday," The New York Times, June 17, 2021.
Although Lincoln stated in the Emancipation Proclamation that he "sincerely believed [it] to be an act of justice," he issued it as a "military necessity," because he believed that the U.S. Constitution would not permit it on any other basis. The Emancipation Proclamation was a war tactic, because by freeing enslaved people it deprived the South of their labor, and it allowed them to "be received into the armed service of the United States." Lincoln worried about the consequences of his action, fearing a racial divide in the nation. Nonetheless, during his second presidential campaign, he ran on a platform to forever abolish slavery by constitutional amendment.
Until late in his life, Lincoln wanted human rights — the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence (life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness) and the natural right to eat the bread one earns with one's own hands — for black people, but civil rights, such as the vote, "only on their own soil", that is in their own lands abroad, to which they would move pursuant to voluntary colonization.Lind, Michael (2004), ch. 6, "Race and Restoration," pp. 191-232.In an 1858 letter, Lincoln wrote, "I think the negro is included in the word 'men' used in the Declaration of Independence. I believe the declara[tion] that 'all men are created equal' is the great fundamental principle upon which our free institutions rest; [and] that negro slavery is violative of that principle...." Yet, he added, "I have expressly disclaimed all intention to bring about social and political equality between the white and black races". In the last years of his life, however, after he learned of the bravery and the sacrifices of the United States Colored Troops, Lincoln's views changed. In December 1863 or early 1864, he wrote a private letter to Union General James S. Wadsworth advocating that Black men be granted "universal suffrage, or, at least, suffrage on the basis of intelligence and military service". Then, in March 1864, writing privately to Louisiana governor Michael Hahn,White, Jonathan (2022), p. 92.Stahr, Walter, Salmon P. Chase: Lincoln's Vital Rival, Simon & Schuster, 2021, p. 476. and in April 1865, in his last public speech, which led directly to his assassination, Lincoln again expressed support for voting rights for Black men who were "very intelligent" and those who had served in the Union military.Letter to Michael Hahn; Last public address He was the first U.S. President to do so.
Early years Lincoln was born in a slave state on February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky (present-day LaRue County).Donald (1995), pp. 20–22. His family attended a Separate Baptists church, which had strict moral standards and opposed alcohol, dancing, and slavery.Donald (1995), pp. 22–24. The family moved north across the Ohio River to Indiana, where slavery was not allowed, and made a new start in then Perry, now Spencer County, Indiana. Lincoln later noted that this move was "partly on account of slavery" but mainly due to his father's problems with the unclear land title system in Kentucky.Sandburg (1926), p. 20.