The True Greatness of Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is known as one of the greatest presidents in the history of The United States, mainly for his emancipation of slaves. But was Lincoln really an advocate of the rights of blacks? Lincoln had the intention of preserving the Union and satisfying the American people, yet he was indecisive about his racial views of mid-nineteenth century America. Although Lincoln freed some slaves, he had a very negative view towards the black race. Lincoln was not a great president because he emancipated the slaves, but a great president because he preserved The Union.

Lincoln was indecisive on the issue of slavery. He did not want to abolish the entire institution of slavery but he also did not want it to spread. He believed that slavery was a moral wrong and stated this when he spoke in front of abolitionists in Chicago saying 'Let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position.

English: Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth President ...

Photograph of a reproduction of the Emancipation P...

A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham ...

Let us discard all these things, and unite as one people throughout this land, until we shall once more stand up declaring that all me are created equal.' But he also felt that abolitionists were also wrong in trying to do away with slavery. Hofstader states that Lincoln believed that '...the institution of slavery is founded on injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends to increase rather than abate its evils.' This means that Lincoln thought that slavery was wrong but proposing to do away with it is also wrong because it makes slavery worse.

Lincoln also believed that slavery was wrong because it might endanger the working class. Lincoln believed that every person, no matter how...