What actions as President reflect his overall sentiment towards slavery and Blacks?
All through his presidential campaign and into his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln insisted that he would not interfere with slavery where it already existed. He was, believe it or not, a staunch believer in states’ rights himself. He promised both North and South that he would not menace slavery; he had no right as President to do so, and he used the Republican platform that supported the states’ power to control their own domestic affairs (Oates, 1993). Further, he also publicly endorsed the then Thirteenth Amendment which, with the approval of Congress and former President Buchanan’s signature, forbade the Federal government from ever interfering with slavery in the states. Of course, this amendment did not pass, not gaining support from the necessary ¾ of the states for ratification. Does all of this fit with his words uttered in 1864: “If slavery isn’t wrong, then nothing is wrong” (Loewen, 1995, p. 180)? Indeed it does, from Lincoln’s point of view. Let me illustrate by providin
