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How does Lincoln's 1858 statement about racial equality align with his 1862 Emancipation Proclamation?
"I am not, nor have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races."
Quick answer:
Lincoln's 1858 statement against racial equality was politically motivated to gain electoral support, particularly to avoid alienating Southern voters. By 1862, the context had shifted due to the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation was a strategic move to undermine the Confederacy and align with European anti-slavery sentiments, not a declaration of racial equality. It primarily aimed to weaken the South's war effort without granting social or political equality to freed slaves.
There are reasons for Lincoln’s statement in 1858 about not having equality between the races and his issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862. One reason for the difference in these positions was, in 1858, Abraham Lincoln knew he had to get elected to office in order to bring about change. The southerners believed Lincoln wanted to end slavery even though Lincoln never said that. If Lincoln would have announced the Emancipation Proclamation concept in 1858, it is possible the southerners would have worked harder to counter Lincoln’s candidacy in 1860. Additionally, Lincoln knew more southern states would have seceded if he issued the Emancipation Proclamation either before or right after his election as President. It is possible that in 1858, Lincoln wasn’t thinking of the big picture like he was in 1862.
Things had changed in 1862 that allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. As the North got...
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more into the war and its fighting, ending slavery became more of a goal for the North than it was at the start of the Civil War. By the time the Emancipation Proclamation had been issued, the North was much more in favor of ending slavery. Additionally, Lincoln had to be sure the Border States that remained in the Union when the Civil War began would stay in the Union. If he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1861, he might have lost more Border States to the South. Lincoln also knew that the European countries were ending slavery. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, it would signal to Europe that the United States was willing to do the same. There was a possibility that Europe could help the South. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation in 1862, Lincoln made it clear that the United States was on the same page with Europe regarding the ending of slavery.
There are many reasons for Lincoln’s shifting viewpoints regarding slavery. Each reason made sense at the time for Lincoln taking the position he took at each time period listed in the question you asked.
There are a number of ways that you could reconcile this.
- You could say that this was something that Lincoln was saying for political purposes but which he did not mean.
- You could say that he changed his mind. Seeing how stubborn the South was being and how it allowed slavery to tear the nation apart might have changed his mind.
For me, though, the best way to reconcile this is to point out that the Emancipation Proclamation did not bring about "the social and political equality of the white and black races." What it did was to free slaves in the Confederacy as a way of hurting the South and of helping the North win the war. Taking blacks out of slavery did not make them equal to whites politically or socially.