The Inner Lincoln

Unfortunately, I went into Andrew Delbanco’s talk this evening without knowing pretty much anything about President Lincoln. History just isn’t my thing. So I found Delbanco’s speech very interesting. One point that stuck out to me was that Lincoln was quite humorous. In one of his many speeches, Lincoln suggested that Whites should try slavery for themselves, since they thought slavery was such a great thing. I found this interesting and I wondered what Whites’ reaction was to that suggestion. Obviously, Lincoln was sarcastic and knew that whites would not view slavery in that way. Delbanco said that Lincoln hated slavery, and that he didn’t use the word ‘hate’ lightly. So then why didn’t he support ending slavery altogether? In Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, he did not free all the slaves; it didn’t mention anything about the slave states that were not in rebellion. When Lincoln became president, he did not vow to end slavery; he just wanted to stop the spread of it. Because of these claims, I would have to agree with Delbanco in that Lincoln was not an abolitionist, an active one at least. Yes, he might have wanted to get rid of slavery, but I’m sure he knew how hard that would be in his time as president. So, he did the best he could do in the time he was given, and I think he did a swell job in advancing the end of slavery. In the beginning of the talk, Delbanco said that some people thought that Lincoln was a false idol; a fake hero during the civil war. I find this statement false in all ways; although Lincoln did not eliminate all of slavery, he made some monumental decisions that have continued to affect America to this day.