Abraham Lincoln. Just the name inspires images of a black top hat, eloquence, bravery and a feeling of freedom and liberation.
Lincoln, of course, is mostly remembered for the Emancipation Proclamation, his dedication to freeing slaves and for the beginning of his Gettysburg Address, “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”
However, there has been a dark cloud cast upon this shining figure of redemption. Some claim that Lincoln was an admitted racist, who in fact did not believe at all in equality, but supported segregation and the idea of white supremacy. Could this be true of one of our country’s most celebrated heroes? And even if it is, how much should we actually care?
As most people learned in history class, slavery was an atrocity of America’s history for many, many years. The Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued in late 1862 and early 1863, freed thousands of slaves. By 1865, that number had skyrocketed to 4 million.
Slavery did, however, exist in some areas of the United States until late 1865, when the 13th Amendment was ratified.
This sequence of events has made a hero of Lincoln in most people’s eyes, even though the U.S. Congress decided the final word on slavery by passing the 13th Amendment. Lincoln has been a symbol of freedom and equality since his presidency nearly 150 years ago.
However, there are some who don’t agree, and have published on the subject. In 1922, W.E.B. Dubois published an article in The Crisis magazine regarding Lincoln’s beliefs in whites as the supreme race. He claimed that Lincoln was “despising negroes and letting them fight and vote; protecting slavery and freeing slaves.” Many other investigative articles and essays have been published since on this controversial theory.
Of course, no one can truthfully confirm or deny these questions about Lincoln’s beliefs except Lincoln, who cannot, unfortunately, speak from the grave. So the question now becomes: Why are we digging up these theories so many years after the fact?
Racism is an ugly thing. It would be a very distasteful irony if the man that so many people credit for the righting of slavery’s wrongs had indeed held ideologies of a white supremacist.
Nevertheless, in picking apart Lincoln’s personality traits, we are losing sight of the larger picture: He was, in fact, instrumental in freeing the slaves. He was clearly a strong supporter of freedom for Americans.
For a moment, let’s assume that he was a racist or, at the very least, a supporter of segregation. What bearing does this have on history? Does it somehow make it less of a triumph that freedom prevailed? Does it make the deeds the man did any less great? I answer with a wholehearted “no.”
If he was indeed a racist, then yes, his opinions were ignorant and wrong. However, one must also consider that if he was racist, and set his opinions aside to do what was right for the country and for its people, than he was a responsible leader. This is something we constantly ask of our country’s leaders—to set aside their personal opinions and prejudices to pilot the United States in the direction that is best for the majority.
We are also making a big mistake in crediting Lincoln too much for the fights and decisions regarding the abolition of slavery. What about the men who fought and died in the Civil War? What about the congressmen that voted to ratify the 13th Amendment?
So why is this issue being brought up? I don’t have the answer. It seems to be digging at an old wound, one that some prefer not to let heal. Concentrating on the flaws in a single person’s logic to make a point about how screwed up the world was in the past isn’t progressive and solves nothing of the current dilemmas regarding race and authority that we face.
Understand that I am not advocating racism or saying that racial prejudice is OK. What I am saying is that we should be focusing on the outcome rather than the details: The outcome that millions of human beings were freed from cruelty and restriction, and that the American dream of all people being equal and free to pursue life, liberty and happiness gained an inch during Lincoln’s presidency.
So let’s concentrate on the positive and stop trying to dredge up negativity and propaganda.