Lincoln on Slavery

[Craig Hipkins]

I have always been interested in Lincoln's views on slavery both before and during the war. Some people have often been critical about his views claiming that he took a conciliatory stance and was not firm enough in his abolitionist convictions. What these people fail to realize is that Lincoln was a politictian. He attempted to apease the herd mentality and take a middle line. I believe that Lincoln was always an abolitionist, and hated the evil of slavery since his early days in Kentucky when he saw slave gangs walking through town.

The following is from a speech Lincoln made in 1858. I believe that it was during the Lincoln-Douglas debates but I could be mistaken. He says:

Suppose it is true, that the negro is inferior to the white, in the gifts of nature; is it not the exact reverse justice that the white should , for that reason, take from the negro, any part of the little which has been given him? "give to him that is needy" is the christian rule of charity; but "take from him that is needy" is the rule of slavery."