Abraham Lincoln: A man to be revered
The most vocal haters of Abraham Lincoln are not the descendants of slaveholders. It’s the know-nothing minds of statue topplers. These one-dimensional “Lincoln’s a racist” types point to one letter from Abraham Lincoln to
Horace Greeley, publisher of the New York Post in August of 1862. It is in brief: “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” That’s it. Nothing else is used because there is nothing else, and even that balloon is easily burst.
By that point in time Lincoln had not merged the goals of saving the Union and ending slavery. Great thoughtful men like Lincoln have the capacity to think things through, apply what they’ve said in the past, reset themselves and change their minds, their approaches.
Even as he said that to Greeley, he was already preparing his Emancipation Proclamation. On respected advice, he waited until long needed Union military victories toward the end of 1862. The Lincoln haters try to poke holes, saying he didn’t free a single slave. What he did was throw down the gauntlet as to his intentions. All 5 million of the enslaved peoples would know a day they weren’t enslaved. The enraged Confederacy leaders knew that, far better obviously than 21st Century woke folk.
From History.com :”As Lincoln’s decree applied only to territory outside the realm of his control, the Emancipation Proclamation had little actual effect on freeing any of the nation’s enslaved people. But its symbolic power was enormous, as it announced freedom for enslaved people as one of the North’s war aims, alongside preserving the Union itself. It also had practical effects: Nations
like Britain and France, which had previously considered supporting the Confederacy to expand their power and influence, backed off due to their steadfast opposition to slavery. Because it allowed the Union to recruit black soldiers.”
About 200,000 blacks were added to the Union Army. Black men picking up arms to kill white men for the freedom of their people. Let that sink in. When black soldiers were engaged by Confederates, they were not captured. They were killed without mercy on the spot. They lived the words of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death.”
Lincoln’s friends knew he was anti-slavery. His enemies knew it. His generals knew it, especially Ulysses S. Grant who won the war for Lincoln; other nations saw it. Frederick Douglass knew it and was a frequent guest and advisor to Abe. Most of all, the enslaved peoples knew it. Oh yes, John Wilkes Booth believed it too.
President Lincoln set the Civil
War Constitutional Amendments in motion. The 13th abolished slavery. The 14th guaranteed rights and citizenship. The 15th Amendment prohibited governments from denying U.S. citizens the right to vote based on race, color, or past servitude.
To the Lincoln haters who demand why more wasn’t done by Lincoln to raise the slaves up, the answer is: because he was shot. Lincoln wanted to see a “new birth of freedom”. A nation no longer half-slave and half free, but fully free. A new group of African, now American citizens with all the help they needed to make the transition. He should be revered because he gave his life to save this country and move us away from our most grievous sin.