Lincoln and Slavery

bound to respect" (McPherson, 1992, p. 104). Therefore, Dred Scot was still a slave and not a citizen of the United States, thus having no rights to freedom.

Lincoln, like many in the newly formed Republican party, was outraged. He warned, though somewhat derisively, that the Court would soon declare "that the Constitution of the United States does not permit a state to exclude slavery from its limits" (McPherson, 1992, p. 106). He also defended his own position that though the Declaration of Independence did not necessarily extend full freedom and equality to all groups,

they meant to set up a standard maxim for free society, which should be familiar to all, and revered by all, constantly looked to, constantly labored for, and even though never perfectly attained, constantly approximated, and thereby constantly spreading and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness and value of life to all people of all colors everywhere (Thomas, 1993, p. 174).

He also refuted the claim of his Democratic rival, Douglas, that the Republican Party was for full racial equality in the United States. He argued that just because he did not want to see a Black woman in bondage didn't mean he wanted her to be his wife. "In some respects she is certainly not my equal," he asserted, "but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands without asking leave of anyone else, she is my equal, and the equal of all others" (Thomas, 1993, p. 175). Moreover, he believed that a hierarchy of freedom existed with a minimum standard set at the bottom. That minimum was for all Americans. At the top, of course, were white males.

How should one interpret the views he expressed during his debates with Stephen Douglas?

In a previous article, I was somewhat lambasted for painting Lincoln with a racist brush, so to speak, by asserting that some of the words he used during his Senate campaign indeed had racist undertones. Here is that quote:

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 black races (applause); that I am not, nor have ever been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people.... And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they

The copyright of the article Lincoln and Slavery in American Civil War is owned by Michael J. Swogger. Permission to republish Lincoln and Slavery in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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