In 1862 President Lincoln said he would adopt new views as soon as they could shown to be true views. That is why he advocated voting rights for black soldiers.
Walt
In 1862, he appointed James Mitchell as Agent of [Black] Emigration after being presented with the following which was then sent to the Government Printing Office and produced as an official document pamphlet at taxpayer expense. After you, as Brigade Commander, were provided with this and the complete document from which it came, you pronounced James Mitchell a "very loyal and capable Union man" and a "true patriot."
THE LINCOLN GAMEPLAN DRAFTED BY JAMES MITCHELL
[Image file from the Library of Congress]
Transcript of Lincoln Gameplan drafted by James Mitchell
[Wlat 1785] Now, Mitchell was a very loyal and capable Union man. If President Lincon would go out of his way to help rebels, what would he do for true patriots?
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Let us then, earnestly and respectfully recommend as a remedy for our present troubles and future danger, the perfecting the proposed plans of the administration in regard to those two conflicting races, and the careful and gradual removal of the colored race to some desirable and convenient home.
Some affect to fear that the man of color will not remove to a separate locality. It is not to be expected that a race, which has hardly attained a mental majority, will rise in a day to the stature of the men who found empires, build cities, and lay the ground work of civil institutions like ours; nor should they be expected to do this unaided and alone. They should receive the kind attention, direction, and aid of those who understand such things; nor will the world condemn a gentle pressure in the forward course to overcome the natural inertia of masses long used to the driver's will and rod. Let us do justice in the provision we make for their future comfort, and surety they will do justice to our distracted Republic.
If they should fail to do this, there would then be more propriety in weighing the requirement of some to remove without consultation, but not till then.
We know that there is a growing sentiment in the country which considered the removal of the freed man, without consulting him, "a moral and military necessity" -- as a measure necessary to the purity of public morals and the peace of the country; and this unhappy war of white man with white man, about the condition of the black, will multiply this sentiment.
But we cannot go further now than suggesting, that the mandatory relation held by the rebel master should escheat to the Federal government in a modified sense, so as to enable his proper government and gradual removal to a proper home where he can be independent.