Lincoln and Good Politicsabout linconls actual view of slavery, History


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Lincoln and Good Politicsabout linconls actual view of slavery

Lincoln and Good Politicsabout linconls actual view of slavery Politicians today as well as yesterday must appeal to the masses to have any chance at being elected into office. Leading up to and during the election of 1860, with tensions rising between the North and South, the issue of slavery was a key to winning the election. Abraham Lincoln “had repeatedly affirmed that Congress had no constitutional right to interfere with slavery in the South” (Enduring Vision, p. 399). This modest view is what won him the Republican nomination as presidential candidate as well as a victory in the 1860 election over Democrat Stephen Douglas, who wrote the Nebraska-Kansas Act and was very adamant about popular sovereignty in the new territories concerning slavery. Due to pressures from radicals within the Republican Party Lincoln would change from his modest, self-contained antislavery standpoint to making emancipation of the slaves a war goal of the civil war. He was just practicing good politics to ensure his re-nomination and his re-election in 1864. The Republicans lost the election of 1856 by a very small margin and knew that if they wanted to win in ’60 they would have to present a candidate that appealed to a larger audience. With the development of a couple of new federal programs and a candidate, Lincoln, who shared the modest “non-interference” view on slavery with the previous President the Republicans carried enough votes to win the election. From the very beginning Lincoln was used almost as a puppet to win votes and insure victory for his Republican Party members and many Southerners believed that he would be a “front man for more John Browns” (Enduring Vision, p. 400). The South believed this so strongly that by February 1, 1861 seven states had seceded from the Union. Lincoln put great faith in his southern supporters and believed that the secession would not last long because of the loyalist support. He was wrong; men living in the South who supported Lincoln were not ready to fight against their neighbors, friends, and families to restore the Union. Fighting broke out on April 13, 1861 at Fort Sumter in South Carolina when Confederate rebels went on the offensive. Time would tell that this would be the beginning of the end for the Confederacy as well as the institution of slavery. At the beginning of the war the South seemed to have a political advantage over the North in that they were all united behind one cause and had a President, Jefferson Davis, with a large amount of political experience as well as other admirable qualities. While in the North, Lincoln was dealing with a country divided in three, the Northern Democrats, the radical Republicans, and the conservative Republicans. Leadership skills proved to be one of the most important traits during these trying times rather than political experience. Lincoln was able to show his knack for good politics in that “The Radicals frequently concluded that Lincoln was a prisoner of the conservative wing of the party, whereas conservatives complained that Lincoln was too close to the Radicals” (Enduring Vision, p. 410). By doing this he was able to stay on good enough terms with both sides to speak on his own behalf and squelch any ideas of a separation within the party. In the South Davis was struggling to hold things together, some say “he would rather have led the army than the government” (Enduring Vision, p. 410). Lincoln began acting quite boldly in his handling of the Confederates; he suspended the writ of Habeas Corpus and prosecesion Marylanders were being arrested without having been charged. This as well as strategically placed armies was responsible for the North being able to hold on to the border slave states. With the South losing more and more ground as the war progressed they soon looked to England and France for recognition as a nation as well as support against the overpowering northern forces. Without a doubt Lincoln, being the “politician” he is, set things in motion to rebuke the South’s attempts for European support. In August of 1861 the Confiscation Act was passed which gave northern troops the authority to capture any slaves, as well as any property, used towards the rebellion and they would be considered “captives of war” thus granting them no freedom of any kind. Such a conservative bill was passed because Lincoln did not want to offend any of the Northern Democrats but at the same time appease the Radicals within the Republican Party who had been demanding emancipation. “With every new northern setback, support for the Radicals’ stance grew” (Enduring Vision, p. 421). Almost one year after passing the original Confiscation Act a second one stating that all slaves who crossed into Union hands from the Confederacy were freed forever. Lincoln was giving in little by little to keep the masses happy but he was still a little leery about the emancipation of the slaves. He told one reporter, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery,” (Enduring Vision, p. 421). After great consideration and discussion with the cabinet Lincoln decided to make a move that would change the war from then on. He made it known to the public that on January 1, 1863 all slaves in the Confederacy would be freed. One minor flaw in this bill was that it only freed the slaves in the South and not in the North. Lincoln did this to ensure that the border states would not separate from the Union as well and join in the fight to hang on to slavery. With the Emancipation Proclamation in tact Lincoln now gained the support of England who was strongly opposed to slavery thus cutting off any southern opportunities for aid from the Brits. The election of 1864 was coming soon and Lincoln’s chances of being re-elected were looking grim. The Republicans were clearly divided into two and something had to be done to bring back the supporters of Lincoln. Shortly after he won the Republican nomination Lincoln formed the National Union party and replaced his vice-president with Andrew Jackson, a southern Unionist. This as well as the north’s victory in Atlanta propelled Lincoln back into the White House. “The convention that nominated Lincoln endorsed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery, which Congress passed early in 1865. The Thirteenth Amendment would be ratified by the end of the year” (Enduring Vision, p. 436) Abraham Lincoln was a politician and he was a very good one at that. In today’s society many politicians have no problem endorsing a couple of laws they do not feel strongly about to gain a few more votes that might give them a slight advantage over the competition, Lincoln was no different. He may not have agreed with slavery but he had no strong feelings on the subject. He once wrote, “I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down, and caught, and carried back to their stripes, and unrewarded toils; but I bite my lip and keep quiet” (Abraham Lincoln To Joshua Speed). He refers to them as creatures; the slaves are not even people to him. His personal view of slavery never changed, what changed was what Lincoln deemed necessary to keep the people happy thus ensuring his re-election. It just so happened that what benefited Abraham Lincoln politically also freed the entire African-American race from slavery which put Lincoln into the history books as a national hero. Bibliography:

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