French students have some questions

[Eva Elisabeth]

As you may know through your history lessons and research, Lincoln and the CW united the French liberals and republicans who opposed the empire and Napoleon II in favor of popular democracy. In celebrating Lincoln, they could criticize the emperor safely, without censorship. After the assassination, Victor Hugo and other republicans colleceted ten centimes from 40,000 donors (despite Napoleon's attempts to stop this effort) and created a gold medallion for Mary Lincoln on which they had engraved: "If France had the freedom enjoyed by republican America, not thousands but millions among us would have been counted as admirers."

You might also find this worth mentioning:
On March 12, 1864, Abraham Lincoln met with two leaders of the black community in New Orleans, French descendants named Jean Baptiste Roudanez and Arnold Bertonneau. They presented him with a petition demanding black suffrage signed by over thousand literate African Americans, many of them of French descent. The next day, Lincoln wrote a famous private letter to Louisiana Govenor Michael Hahn, in which he suggested that certain blacks should be allowed to vote:

Abraham Lincoln
Executive Mansion Washington D.C.
March 13, 1864



Hon. Michael Hahn

My dear Sir:

I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first—free—state Governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a Convention which, among other things, will probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in—as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone.

Yours truly

A. LINCOLN