Another new Lincoln find
It's been a summer of finding new Lincoln documents. The latest is a copy of Lincoln's letter, dated March 16, 1861, written to the governor of Pennsylvania, urging him (and others) to sign the proposed 13th Amendment that would have forbade interference with slavery where it already existed. The story is here.
I've not been able to locate the precise text of the letter. Apparently, this was part of the ill-fated Crittenden Compromise, a last-ditch effort to avoid the Civil War by providing iron-clad guarantees to the South that it could keep its peculiar institution and so remain in the Union. Part of the compromise was a constitutional amendment that would ease fears of a congressional or presidential move against slavery.
That's all well and good. But I have to admit I've gotten my dander up concerning the way this is being reported. In the story linked above and another that I've seen, the journalists in question put a Lerone Bennett-style spin on this, suggesting that the document somehow tarnishes our image of the Great Emancipator and proves that, in reality, he was happily willing to enslave several million Americans if this meant saving the Union.
Sigh. You wonder, sometimes, how often the basic facts on this matter must be repeated before even the most misinformed and (in some cases) malicious critics get it. At any rate::
1. In 1861, Lincoln believed he lacked the authority as president to emancipate anyone--and this was in fact true. He really didn't have that authority.
2. While Lincoln lent cautious approval to the attempts of Crittenden and others to find a peaceful solution to the secession crisis, he went out of his way to emphasize that he would never support a compromise that allowed slavery into the western territories.
3. Stopping slavery's expansion was key for him. He believed slavery would die of its own accord if left alone. To him, keeping slavery out of the west was, in effect, a gradual emancipation plan. He could therefore afford to endorse Crittenden's proposals because they did not interfere with what he thought in 1861 was the only legal way to end slavery--choking off its growth westward.
4. For Lincoln, the issue was not slavery or the Union. To him, preservation of the Union was a de facto emancipation measure, as well, because he believed that the Union, if preserved in the manner intended by the Framers, must of necessity be, in the long run, an emancipating device in and of itself.
I've not been able to locate the precise text of the letter. Apparently, this was part of the ill-fated Crittenden Compromise, a last-ditch effort to avoid the Civil War by providing iron-clad guarantees to the South that it could keep its peculiar institution and so remain in the Union. Part of the compromise was a constitutional amendment that would ease fears of a congressional or presidential move against slavery.
That's all well and good. But I have to admit I've gotten my dander up concerning the way this is being reported. In the story linked above and another that I've seen, the journalists in question put a Lerone Bennett-style spin on this, suggesting that the document somehow tarnishes our image of the Great Emancipator and proves that, in reality, he was happily willing to enslave several million Americans if this meant saving the Union.
Sigh. You wonder, sometimes, how often the basic facts on this matter must be repeated before even the most misinformed and (in some cases) malicious critics get it. At any rate::
1. In 1861, Lincoln believed he lacked the authority as president to emancipate anyone--and this was in fact true. He really didn't have that authority.
2. While Lincoln lent cautious approval to the attempts of Crittenden and others to find a peaceful solution to the secession crisis, he went out of his way to emphasize that he would never support a compromise that allowed slavery into the western territories.
3. Stopping slavery's expansion was key for him. He believed slavery would die of its own accord if left alone. To him, keeping slavery out of the west was, in effect, a gradual emancipation plan. He could therefore afford to endorse Crittenden's proposals because they did not interfere with what he thought in 1861 was the only legal way to end slavery--choking off its growth westward.
4. For Lincoln, the issue was not slavery or the Union. To him, preservation of the Union was a de facto emancipation measure, as well, because he believed that the Union, if preserved in the manner intended by the Framers, must of necessity be, in the long run, an emancipating device in and of itself.
posted by brdirck at 5:26 AM
5 Comments:
I could not agree more. We have to remember these are reporters who have nothing better to do than sensationalize ANYTHING! Lincoln was first and foremost a politician, and as he stated (you point out) he was bound to try and save the Union, first and foremost.
Yeah, Chris, I keep telling myself that reporters have a different agenda than historians. Still, I'd think at least a bit of nuance would be in order here, and at least a bit more sophisticated understanding of these issues.
Heya Brian...
A minor quibble here...the copy of the letter was found in the Lehigh County PA Historical Society archives, in Allentown PA. However the letter itself was directed to the governor of Florida. How it got from hither to yon is unexplained in the Morning Call's story on the matter. (Sorry don't have the exact link to the story itself on hand.)
This story's bizarre, in large part because so few people have any idea about this letter. However, all it is is the letter Lincoln sent in transmitting the Corwin Amendment to the states for ratification. It doesn't urge a thing.
There are several copies of these cover letters around.
http://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/docs_archive_13thAmendment.html
The Republican party, therefore lincoln, opposed the extension of slavery ONLY because they opposed Southern men and women. It was ethnic hatred brought over from Europe. They WERE different peoples.
Slavery was opposed as a moral issue by a very tiny minority of Americans. The rest opposed it only because it represented Southern political power. Defeat that, and they could control the power in the government.
And they did. The rest is history.
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