Journal #31 Abraham Lincoln: Don't Believe The Hype!

QUOTE:

“Either the opponents of slavery, will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in course of ultimate extinction; or its advocates will push it forward, till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new-North as well as South” (Lincoln 1629).


SUMMARY:

Lincoln is saying that if the South wins the war, then slavery will have to be accepted everywhere.


RESPONSE:

Abraham Lincoln really wasn’t on a side at the beginning of the Civil War. He didn’t care who won; North or South, he just couldn’t allow the country’s unrest to continue. Lincoln was looking out for his country, so breaking up into two separate countries would have been out of the question for him. I can see why certain abolitionists wouldn’t like Lincoln. Lincoln was determined to keep the country together but seemed so apathetic about the issue of slavery.

I think this is why I’ve always had this notion that Lincoln wasn’t really the greatest president ever, like many people think. It bothered me though, because I knew that Lincoln never really wanted to end slavery, but I didn’t know to what extent. I always felt bad, like maybe I was too cynical to think Lincoln could actually have been the greatest president. However, at least now I know that I wasn’t too far off with questioning Lincoln’s principles.

Maybe it was easy for me to believe the truth about Lincoln because so many presidents, celebrities, etc., don’t live up to their hype. I guess I could look at it on the bright side, and be glad that Lincoln at least wasn’t specifically on the Confederate side. However, I really can’t imagine what would have actually happened if the South ended up winning. Lincoln said he would have to change EVERY state to a slave state, and that would have been all bad! There’s no way that could have lasted, and I’m sure there would have been many more wars besides the Civil War in order to get rid of slavery.