Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) turns 200 years old today! (So does Darwin.) Lincoln was the 16th American president, being president during the civil war of the 1860s when free states fought against slave states. Lincoln freed the slaves and won the war but he did not live long enough to win the peace: shortly after the war he was shot dead.
He is the man you currently see on the American penny and the five dollar bill. He is half the reason Black History Month falls in February (the other half is Frederick Douglass).
When he became president he had had only two years of Washington experience – less than Obama. In the late 1840s Lincoln had been a one-term Congressman from Illinois. He failed to win the Senate seat in 1858.
During the civil war the press did not think he knew what he was doing. Many expected the war to be short, a matter of weeks or months, but instead it went on for four terrible years, brother fighting brother, more Americans dying than in any other war. Much of it was fought not far from the city of Washington itself.
And even when Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address, his most famous speech, no one thought much of it at the time.
The Lincoln we know was not alive in Lincoln’s day. It grew up in the years that followed his death. It is only in looking back that he seems so great.
His great strength was the courage to do what was right for the country no matter what the cost in blood or war or a bad name for himself: Keeping men as slaves was wrong, so he must free them. The country must not be divided or it will fall, so he must fight to make it whole.
That made him hated by many in his own time, but it made him a hero to future days.
He was tall and ugly and often sad but he was a good speaker whose wit could make people laugh.
He had less than a year of schooling but growing up he loved to read: the Bible, Aesop, “Robinson Crusoe”, “Pilgrim’s Progress”, Weems’s “Life of Washington”, Shakespeare and Robert Burns.
Lincoln freed the slaves but he was still more racist than most Americans are today. Here is what he said at the beginning of the Fourth Lincoln-Douglas Debate in 1858:
I will say then that I am not, nor even have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, [applause] – 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 I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality.
See also:
- Darwin – the other birthday boy
- Black History Month
- white people
- American dollar
- Barack Obama
Though I think in principle Lincoln opposed slavery I think the Emancipation Proclamation was more a tactical move of the civil war, designed to bring more pressure on the Southern states, than it was a fulfillment of that principle. (It excluded the border states and Southern states already under Union control.)
I think had there not been a war he would have been a greater advocate for abolition but then again, the one wouldn’t have happened without the other.
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Wow…didn’t know that. I knew he wanted to help free the slaves but I had no idea he was still racist..hmph!
(getting change: I’m sorry I don’t want those pennies and can you give me $5 in ones…LMAO)
Go.
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Oh..
Happy Birthday to his arse anyway!
Go.
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They had a special about this on pbs last night. And I too was shock to know Lincoln was a racist….but he “changed” when he met Fredick Dougles. I also did not know he wanted to send the slaves back to Africa. And that there were black men in the confederate army. (SHOCKED) And all these years I believe he was a cool white president. Wow.
Didn’t he have some black in him?
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I do not know if he was part black. About 10% of white people are part black, so that would mean that four presidents, not counting Obama of course, were part black.
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Right, he did want to send blacks back to Africa or somewhere. He did not think blacks and whites could live together for long in the same society as free men.
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Aba said: he did want to send blacks back to Africa or somewhere. He did not think blacks and whites could live together for long in the same society as free men
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We don’t always know if Lincoln would have held that view had he been allowed to live longer. Malcolm X also believed that whites and blacks could not live together but he changed his views after he went to Mecca.
People’s views are not always set in stone but of course, it does say alot about the person in which history will judge.
Why are transformative men killed before they are ever allowed to reach their full potential?
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“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 I believe will forever 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.”
Abraham Lincoln
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funny how as some things change, some other things (attitudes) remain the same
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Lincoln was not rascist at all…
his admiration for blacks, especially frederick douglass extended past his own life.
read the last autobiography of frederick douglass to get a realistic view of his ideals.
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He was clearly racist. Blows my mind that people can celebrate him.
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Lincoln was a racist. He did not like black people and wanted to deport us…
Some emancipator!
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Lincoln did change his views somewhat before he was murdered.He had stopped mentioning black repatriation over the course of the war and he had mentioned that black soldiers and “the very intelligent” should be given the vote.John Wilkes Booth was in the audiencee and said “by god that means n word citizenship”
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Reblogged this on Project ENGAGE.
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The supposedly racist remarks are taken out of context. His goal never changed. He was a very gifted and practical politician who said what was needed to get to the point where he could achieve his goal. He led the people to his point of view over time.
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