Lincoln's Opinion on the Negro

[Æmeric]

Abraham Lincoln would be denounced as a racist if he was alive today. Weird given that Obama has tried to make much of the fact that he (Obama) was elected from the land of Lincoln, anounced his candidancy for the presidency from the Old Statehouse in Springfield where Lincoln served & took the oath of office on Lincoln's Bible. And made a big deal of taking the same route by train from New York to Washington as Lincoln, part of the pre-inaugural festivites.

"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, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people ... I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone."

His opinion on what the founding fathers meant when in the Declaration of Independence, the declare all men are created equal,

"they did not mean to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all men were equal in color, size, intellect, moral development or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what they did consider all men created equal — equal in certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness ... They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which should be familiar to 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, every where."

"What I would most desire would be the separation of the white and black races."

"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- that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes- nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which will ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together, there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."

The above remarks were spoken during the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858

The following remark were made to a group of Negroes on July 14, 1862 at the White House:

"Why...should the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should they leave this country? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffers very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated."

[Allenson]

Yes, rather appropriate on the timing of this thread.

[Beorn]

The 'Great Emancipator' and the Issue of Race


Abraham Lincoln's Program of Black Resettlement

Robert Morgan

Many Americans think of Abraham Lincoln, above all, as the president who freed the slaves. Immortalized as the "Great Emancipator," he is widely regarded as a champion of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War (1861-1865) to free the slaves.
While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society. He rejected the notion of social equality of the races, and held to the view that blacks should be resettled abroad. As President, he supported projects to remove blacks from the United States.
Early Experiences

In 1837, at the age of 28, the self-educated Lincoln was admitted to practice law in Illinois. In at least one case, which received considerable attention at the time, he represented a slave-owner. Robert Matson, Lincoln's client, each year brought a crew of slaves from his plantation in Kentucky to a farm he owned in Illinois for seasonal work. State law permitted this, provided that the slaves did not remain in Illinois continuously for a year. In 1847, Matson brought to the farm his favorite mulatto slave, Jane Bryant (wife of his free, black overseer there), and her four children. A dispute developed between Jane Bryant and Matson's white housekeeper, who threatened to have Jane and her children returned to slavery in the South. With the help of local abolitionists, the Bryants fled. They were apprehended, and, in an affidavit sworn out before a justice of the peace, Matson claimed them as his property. Lacking the required certificates of freedom, Bryant and the children were confined to local county jail as the case was argued in court. Lincoln lost the case, and Bryant and her children were declared free. They were later resettled in Liberia.

[SuuT]

While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him, that blacks could not be assimilated into white society.

Wow. He just couldn't have been more wrong, could he? I'm just glad we've progressed so far and everywhere in the western world we see a harmonious Utopia.

[Barreldriver]

I posted something like this of my own lol, wish I had see this first and I wouldn've have bothered lol. This one is definitely better than mine was. What documents did you get those quotes from?

[Æmeric]

These are quotes I had seen before, I just had to some googling to find them. Most were made during the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, just do some googling.

[Lenny]

Here's some others...


Abraham Lincoln said:

"...'Negro Equality'! Fudge!! How long in the government of a God, great enough to make and maintain this Universe, shall there continue knaves to vend, and fools to gulp, so low a piece of demagoguism as this?"

From 'Fragments: Notes for Speeches', September 1859

"In the course of his reply, Senator Douglas remarked, in substance, that he had always considered this government was made for the White people and not for the Negroes. Why, in point of mere fact, I think so too."

Speech at Peoria, Illinois on October 16, 1854, during first Lincoln-Douglas debates

"Judge Douglas has said to you that he has not been able to get from me an answer to the question whether I am in favor of negro citizenship. So far as I know, the Judge never asked me the question before. (Applause.) He shall have no occasion to ever ask it again, for I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of Negro citizenship". (Renewed Applause.)

Speech at Springfield, Illinois on June 26, 1857

How Authentic are these Quotations?
Every word attributed to Abraham Lincoln above may be found in what is probably the most complete source of original Lincoln documents, The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, edited by Roy P. Basler and published in 1953 by the Rutgers University Press in eight volumes plus an index.



For those who still have the audacity to disbelieve these quotations, consider this:
The Emancipation Proclamation. Have you ever read it? It's not exactly a wild-eyed screed shouting about black equality--

(from Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, Sept. 22, 1862'; took effect Jan. 1 1863)

"...And that the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the governments existing there, will be continued."

Now consider this:
Right in the middle of the war, Lincoln mandated $600,000 towards black emigration/colonization efforts. (For comparison, the 12-pd medium-range 'Napoleon' cannons, one the main workhorses of Union field artillery, cost $600 a piece in 1861; the Union deployed perhaps 1,000 of them during the war, or...$600,000-worth!). This money partly financed two successful small emigration projects, one of 453 captured slaves to Ile-a-Vache, Haiti; and another to Colombia, but things were mostly too disrupted with the war still going on.

Lincoln is attributed with having said this in early April 1865 (Robert E. Lee surrendered April 9th 1865):

“But what shall we do with the Negroes after they are free?” inquired Lincoln. “I can hardly believe that the South and North can live in peace unless we get rid of the Negroes. Certainly they cannot, if we don’t get rid of the Negroes whom we have armed and disciplined and who have fought with us, to the amount, I believe, of some 150,000 men. I believe that it would be better to export them all to some fertile country with a good climate, which they could have to themselves. You have been a staunch friend of the race from the time you first advised me to enlist them at New Orleans. You have had a great deal of experience in moving bodies of men by water—your movement up the James was a magnificent one. Now we shall have no use for our very large navy. What then are our difficulties in sending the blacks away? . . . I wish you would examine the question and give me your views upon it and go into the figures as you did before in some degree as to show whether the Negroes can be exported.”

From Autobiography by [Union] General Benjamin F. Butler.

[Arundel]

Your information about Lincoln's real thoughts on blacks. I have read about the Lincoln Douglas debate and have even visited the site, but I had no idea that Lincoln did not care for the blacks personally. If we had followed his way of thinking this country would be in better shape with our racial problems. Thanks for posting it.