Abraham Lincoln's Intent

The 16th president of the United States of America is notoriously known for three things, 1. defeating the Confederate States of America, 2. The Emancipation Proclamation and 3. his assassination. Now I don’t want to talk about the defeat of the confederacy or his assassination, but I want to talk about his real intent behind his freeing of the slaves. History has recorded his displeasure of slavery like for example when he said, and I quote;

“If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong” and also in one of his famous quotes said “I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel. However, the question of what to do about it and how to end it given that it was so firmly embedded in the nations constitutional framework and in the economy of much of the country was complex and politically challenging.”

President Lincoln may have developed this displeasure because he was married to Mary Todd Lincoln, the daughter of a slaveowner from Kentucky. And visiting in-laws saw the mistreatment of slaves and thought this was wrong. Case closed, Lincoln was totally against slavery right? Absolutely not. Let’s dig a little deeper.

In the early 1850’s Lincoln was accused of being an abolitionist. While many abolitionist hated slavery, Lincoln did not. What Lincoln was really against was the expansion of slavery, giving the confederacy more economic power over the Union. His goal was the preservation of the Union. In 1845 Lincoln wrote a letter to his friend Williamson Durley with regards to the annexation of Texas and Lincoln writes;

“It is possibly true, to some extent, that with annexation, some slaves may be sent to Texas and continued in slavery, that otherwise might have been liberated. To whatever extent this may be true, I think annexation an evil.

At the core of Lincoln’s intent with slavery, it wasn’t slavery it’s self, however, merely the preservation of the Union. Lincoln thought that if he could stop the spread of other states from adopting slavery as a means of economic prowess, then he could save the Union. His words explain it in great detail.

“I hold it to be paramount duty of us in free states, due to the Union of the states, and perhaps to liberty itself (paradox though it may seem) to let the slavery of the other states alone; while, on the other hand, I hold it to be equally clear, that we should never knowingly lend ourselves directly or indirectly, to prevent slavery from dying a natural death—to find new places for it to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old.”

The stop of the expansion of slavery to other states is what Lincoln thought would kill it, curtailing it rather then the abolishment of slavery was Lincoln’s mindset throughout his political career until his election as President in 1860.

On August 22, 1862 Lincoln responded to an editorial by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune, challenging him to use the Second Confiscation Act to issue an emancipation proclamation because it was authorized by it. Lincoln’s responded by saying;

“My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or 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 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.”

Believe what you want to believe, however President Abraham Lincoln didn’t wake up one day and decide to free black slaves, he figured out that freeing the slaves was a great war strategy. One month after writing this letter, Lincoln issued a preliminary “Emancipation Proclamation” beginning in 1863 from his war powers to free all slaves in states in rebellion as they came under Union control. Since slavery was protected under the “Constitution”, the only way he could free the slaves was as a war tactic and not from a humanitarian gesture. This war strategy worked because it freed the saves and cause the demise of the confederacy which brought southern states back into the Union. After the war Lincoln did not think that black slaves were equal to whites, even though he argued the phrase “All men are created equal” he publicly made his position clear. “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and the negro.” He also called for the first time of the “Thirteenth Amendment.” And after repented failures attempts tried colonization of slaves after the war.

So in my conclusion, the next time someone tries to tell you that Lincoln freed the slaves as to make a political point, remind them that he didn’t do because he felt bad for black slaves, but it was for the perseverance of the Union only.