Abraham Lincoln: A Politician Ruled by Morality
During his career as a politician, Abraham Lincoln was ruled by his morality. Throughout his political career Lincoln expressed his feelings of opposition regarding slavery, although he would not express it publicly until later. It was not until time passed and events unfolded, leading to the Civil War that Lincoln felt that he had no choice, but to address slavery as President once and for all.
Abraham Lincoln was born in Kentucky and came from humble beginnings. At a young age, Lincoln moved to Indiana and then Illinois. Young Lincoln had no thought of getting involved in politics at first, but it seemed it was his destiny. At the age of 21, he began to run for public office. Lincoln had served as a postmaster, an attorney, a legislator, and most importantly, President of the United States.
Lincoln served four terms as a Whig in the Legislature and he ran for the Senate twice serving one term from 1847-1849. He was a champion of popular sovereignty, and was the man who prevented the administration of that time, Stephen Douglas, from forcing slavery on the people of Kansas (Foner 466-477). This would mark the beginning of his fight against slavery. According to Foner, Lincoln said he “hated slavery as much as any abolitionist.” In Abraham Lincoln, a biography by the National Geographic Channel, it was said that although Lincoln opposed slavery, he was committed to the law. Unlike abolitionists, Lincoln was willing to compromise with the South to preserve the Union (477). As a legislator, Lincoln did not want to allow slavery to expand, but in order to keep the Union in tact; he didn’t act to end it. As a politician he attempted to find a middle ground for both sides of the slavery issue. In a debate with Douglas in 1858, Lincoln stated “…there is no reason in the world why a Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. …I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects-certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread without leave of anyone else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal…(Foner 468).” In this speech, Lincoln humanizes the slaves whereas Douglas, like many of that time, compared them to animals. In his eloquence, it was said that Lincoln would refer to his Bible when creating his speeches. As a politician, his words were palatable enough to gain the support of voters, which would later help the slaves. When Lincoln accepted the nomination for the Senate in July of 1858, Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself; cannot stand.” As a logical matter, it made sense for him to state that the government could not support the two ideals of “half slave, half free.” For the slaves this system would mean that depending on what state slaves lived in, they could be free or slaves. Does such a system really constitute freedom? No. According to Foner, Douglas argued that the essence of freedom lay in local self-government and individual determination and also believed that politicians should not impose their own morals on society as a whole (470). Unlike Lincoln, Douglas used his prejudices and racism to gain votes. And, as Lincoln always sought to humanize the slaves, Douglas did the opposite. The fact that Lincoln refused to use his prejudices in his campaign and humanized the slaves demonstrated his morality. In politics, politicians much of the time represent the majority rather than what is right, which during this time was filled with prejudice and/or racism.
When the time came for Lincoln to run for President in 1860, his commitment was to holding the Union together, which resulted in his candidacy in the North. Because his competitor Douglas could not carry either the North or the South and because Lincoln got the greater number of votes because of the North’s population, Lincoln became the nations 16th President. In a lecture given by Wendell Phillips on November 9, 1860, he said of Lincoln, “It is the moral effect of this victory, not anything which his administration can or will possibly do that gives value to his success. …Mr. Lincoln consents to represent an Anti-Slavery idea. …This position he owes to no merit of his own, but to lives that have roused the nation’s conscience and deeds that have ploughed deep into the heart.” When Lincoln made the decision to “represent the Anti-Slavery idea” he was afraid of failure. In this sense, one is reminded of the story in the Bible about Moses in the Exodus. God chose Moses to lead the Israelites out of bondage. Moses felt incapable and fearful and did not want the heavy responsibility. In each of their stories, Moses and Lincoln, although challenged greatly, completed their missions; heroes to the oppressed. As a result of Lincoln’s victory, seven states seceded, which were proslavery. Once he was President, Lincoln would still not agree to allow slavery to expand, but would allow those already slave states to remain and to allow for the return of fugitive slaves. This was the beginning of what was said to lead to the Civil War and for Abraham Lincoln to act on his morals. The South wanted all or nothing. According to Foner, as part of his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, after those states that seceded formed their Confederate States of America, Lincoln issued a veiled threat saying, “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war (478).” According to a biography by the National Geographic Channel, Abraham Lincoln, upon entering the Civil War, with the heavy casualties on both sides, it troubled Lincoln, aging him greatly. Also while the war was being fought, Lincoln’s, 12 year-old son died of Typhoid fever, which led to problems with his wife, Mary Todd. He had much weighing on his mind. Further, according to the biography by National Geographic, Lincoln wanted to declare emancipation of the slaves at the beginning of his presidency, but couldn’t because he still wanted to keep the Union. According to Foner, the Emancipation Proclamation took time to be issued by Lincoln because he feared the impact it would have on the border-states, and therefore, proposed gradual emancipation. He also revived the idea of colonization because he still believed that blacks and whites should not live together. By 1862, Lincoln had to make the decision to issue a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, warning that unless the South stopped fighting by the end of the year, he would issue the emancipation order. Finally, on January 1, 1863, Lincoln signed the Emancipation Declaration. 
The Emancipation Proclamation states in part, "That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people
whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, henceforward, and
forever, free; and the Executive government of the United States, including the military and
naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no
act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
freedom.” By signing the proclamation and providing the aid of the military to protect the rights of slaves, Lincoln had more completely become the hero to the slaves and abolitionists even though some would have to wait for Union army victories to enjoy it. In a speech to address the concerns resulting from the proclamation, Lincoln said, “The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation … In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free-honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve (Foner 494).” Lincoln knew that it was a defining moment for the nation in which the world would be watching. In an article that appeared in The Chicago Tribune, it was stated, the United States could truly exist as “our fathers designed it-the home of freedom, the asylum of the oppressed, the seat of justice, the land of the equal rights under the law (Foner 499).
In 1863, at the dedication of a military cemetery and in one of Lincoln’s most famous speeches, the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln said in part, “…It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us--that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion--that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain--that this nation, under god, shall have a new birth of freedom--and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." One could easily conclude that Lincoln believed every word he said and that it showed the great understanding of all the sacrifice laid up for the cause of slavery on both sides, which greatly saddened him. After his re-election in 1864, in his inaugural address Lincoln said “with great malice toward none, with charity for all, …let us …bind up the nation’s wounds.” He also said in judgment, “This terrible war was God’s punishment for the sin of slavery.” …every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword,…” These statements have a ring of teachings in the Bible such as “what you so shall sow, you shall reap (Galations 6:7).”
It is easy to conclude by the manner in which Lincoln led his life in politics that he was a moral man even with the prejudices that he had. Lincoln demonstrated his morality in his speeches when he ran for public office and in the actions he took while serving. He consistently demonstrated his opposition to slavery by not allowing its expansion and when the time was right ending slavery altogether. Lincoln never allowed himself to be swayed in his thoughts; he was known as “honest Abe.” He always maintained that the slaves were human and should have the same natural rights as the white man. By issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, this was the greatest demonstration of Lincoln’s morality because he risked the nation and ultimately his life in doing so.
Sources
Primary Sources
Gettysburg Address
[Facsimile of Gettysburg address in Lincoln's hand on an envelope.]
Author: Lincoln, Abraham
n. d.
St. Louis, Missouri
Commercial letter, Inc.
Facsimile of the Bliss copy of the Gettysburg Address reproduced on an envelope.
Object Type: text
Medium 22 x 10 cm.
Call Number Portfolio 17, no. 1
Part of The Alfred Withal Stern Collection of Lincolniana
Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Washington, D.C. 20540
USA
Digital ID lprbscsm scsm0717
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/lprbscsm.scsm0717
http://memory.loc.gov/service/rbc/lprbscsm/scsm0717/001r.jpg
The Emancipation Proclamation
[A. Kidder copy of the Emancipation proclamation.] Lincoln, Abraham,
April 28, 1864
New York and Illinois
A. Kidder, USA--New York
USA--Illinois--Cook--Chicago
Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Broadsides
Emancipation broadside 28, Part of The Alfred Withal Stern Collection of Lincolniana
Repository, Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Washington,
D.C. 20540 USA
Digital ID, lprbscsm scsm0954,
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.rbc/lprbscsm.scsm0954
Abraham Lincoln
LC Control No.:2006677676
LCCN Permalink:http://lccn.loc.gov/2006677676
Type of Material: Photograph, Print, Drawing
Corporate Name: Herline & Hensel.
Main Title: Abraham Lincoln [graphic] / Herline & Hensel, lith. 632 Chestnut St.,Phila.
Published/Created:Philadelphia : Published by Joseph Hoover, 108 Sth. 8th St., [between
1860 and 1865]
Description:1 print : lithograph.
Rights Advisory:No known restrictions on publication.
CALL NUMBER: PGA - Herline & Hensel--Abraham Lincoln (D size)
-- Request in: Prints & Photographs Reading Room (Madison, LM337)
-- Status:Not Charged
Secondary Sources
Abraham Lincoln, The National Geographic Channel
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/videos/feeds/cv-seo/History--Events/Historical-Figures/The-Words-that-Changed-the-World-1.html
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty, Volume I, Second Seagull Ed., London and New York: W.W.
Norton & Company, 2009
Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States, Volume I: American Beginnings to Reconstruction, Abridged Teaching Edition, Second Ed. Rev., New York: The New Press,
2003
