"In the course of his reply, Senator Douglas remarked, in substance, that he had always considered this government was made for the white people and not for the Negroes. Why, in point of mere fact, I think so, too."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Peoria, Illinois", 16 Oct 1854, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 281."Now I protest against that counterfeit logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for either, I can just leave her alone. In some respects she certainly is not my equal; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal, and the equal of all others." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 405."I think the authors of that notable instrument [the Declaration] intended to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 405."But Judge Douglas is especially horrified at the thought of the mixing blood by the white and black races: agreed for once---a thousand times agreed. There are white men enough to marry all the white women, and black men enough to marry all the black women; and so let them be married. On this point we fully agree with the Judge; and when he shall show that his policy is better adapted to prevent amalgamation than ours we shall drop ours, and adopt his."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, pp. 407-408."A separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation but as an immediate separation is impossible the next best thing is to keep them apart where they are not already together." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 408."I have said that the separation of the races is the only perfect preventive of amalgamation."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 408."Such separation, if ever effected at all, must be effected by colonization; and no political party, as such, is now doing anything directly for colonization. Party operations at present only favor or retard colonization incidentally. The enterprise is a difficult one; but ``when there is a will there is a way;'' and what colonization needs most is a hearty will. Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest. Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and, at the same time, favorable to, or, at least, not against, our interest, to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 26 Jun 1857, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 409."My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery may be misrepresented, but can not be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are not our equal in color; but I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal in their right to ``life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' Certainly the negro is not our equal in color--- perhaps not in many other respects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, white or black."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Springfield, Illinois", 17 Jul 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. II, p. 520."My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia,---to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince me, that whatever of high hope, (as I think there is) there may be in this, in the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus shipping and surplus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as underlings? Is it quite certain that this betters their condition? I think I would not hold one in slavery, at any rate; yet the point is not clear enough to me to denounce people upon. What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not."
Abraham Lincoln, "First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois", 21 Aug 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 15."Now gentlemen, I don't want to read at any greater length, but this is the true complexion of all I have ever said in regard to the institution of slavery and the black race. This is the whole of it, and anything that argues me into his idea of perfect social and political equality with the negro, is but a specious and fantastic arrangement of words, by which a man can prove a horse chestnut to be a chestnut horse. I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races. There is a physical difference between the two, which in my judgment will probably forever forbid their living together upon the footing of perfect equality, and inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor of the race to which I belong, having the superior position. I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas he is not my equal in many respects---certainly not in color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endowment. But in the right to eat the bread, without leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal of every living man." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois", 21 Aug 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 16."I had no thought in the world that I was doing anything to bring about a political and social equality of the black and white races. It never occurred to me that I was doing anything or favoring anything to reduce to a dead uniformity all the local institutions of the various States. But I must say, in all fairness to him, if he thinks I am doing something which leads to these bad results, it is none the better that I did not mean it. It is just as fatal to the country, if I have any influence in producing it, whether I intend it or not."
Abraham Lincoln, "First Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Ottawa, Illinois", 21 Aug 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 19."Douglas tries to make capital by charges of negro equality against me. My speeches have been printed and before the country for some time on this question, and Douglas knows the utter falsity of such a charge."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Carlinville, Illinois", 31 Aug 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 79."Negroes have natural rights however, as other men have, although they cannot enjoy them here, and even Taney once said that ``the Declaration of Independence was broad enough for all men.'' But though it does not declare that all men are equal in their attainments or social position, yet no sane man will attempt to deny that the African upon his own soil has all the natural rights that instrument vouchsafes to all mankind."
Abraham Lincoln, "Speech at Carlinville, Illinois", 31 Aug 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 79."I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races, that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Abraham Lincoln, "Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois", 18 Sep 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, pp. 145-146."Judge Douglas has said to you that he has not been able to get from me an answer to the question whether I am in favor of negro-citizenship. So far as I know, the Judge never asked me the question before. He shall have no occasion to ever ask it again, for I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of negro citizenship."
Abraham Lincoln, "Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois", 18 Sep 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, p. 179."I have all the while maintained, that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should produce a perfect social and political equality, it was an impossibility. This you have seen in my printed speeches, and with it I have said, that in their right to ``life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,'' as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals."
Abraham Lincoln, "Fifth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas, at Galesburg, Illinois", 7 Oct 1858, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. III, pp. 221-222."Mr. Lincoln is not pledged to the ultimate extinctinction [sic ] of slavery; does not hold the black man to be the equal of the white, unqualifiedly as Mr. S. states it; and never did stigmatize their white people as immoral & unchristian; and Mr. S. can not prove one of his assertions true."
Abraham Lincoln, "To Henry J. Raymond", 18 Dec 1860, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. IV, p. 156."In such case I recommend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from such States, according to some mode of valuation, in lieu, pro tanto, of direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States respectively; that such persons, on such acceptance by the general government, be at once deemed free; and that, in any event, steps be taken for colonizing both classes, (or the one first mentioned, if the other shall not be brought into existence,) at some place, or places, in a climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too,---whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "Annual Message to Congress", 3 Dec 1861, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. V, p. 48."I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization, can be obtained cheaply, and in abundance; and when numbers shall be large enough to be company and encouragement for one another, the freed people will not be so reluctant to go ." [italics in original]
Abraham Lincoln, "Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Emancipation ", 12 Jul 1862, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol. V, p. 318."You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. If this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated."
Abraham Lincoln, "Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes", 14 Aug 1862, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol V, p. 371."But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race. You are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoy. The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but on this broad continent, not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you."
Abraham Lincoln, "Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes", 14 Aug 1862, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol V, p. 372."I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I strongly favor colonization."
Abraham Lincoln, "Annual Message to Congress", 1 Dec 1862, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol V, p. 534."Negro equality! Fudge!! How long, in the government of a God, great enough to make and maintain this Universe, shall there continue knaves to vend, and fools to gulp, so low a piece of demagoguism as this?"
Abraham Lincoln, "Fragments: Notes for Speeches ", 1859 (annotation: The third fragment might well have been jotted down at any time between December, 1858, and March, 1860), Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, (Roy P. Basler, ed.), Vol III, p. 399.
Lincoln, white separatist.
Jefferson Davis, white slave owner.
Here's something else from the Clay eulogy you seem to have forgotten:
"If they would repress all tendencies towards liberty, and ultimate emancipation, they must do more than put down the benevolent efforts of this society. They must go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joyous return. They must renew the slave trade with all its train of atrocities. They must suppress the workings of British philanthropy, seeking to meliorate the condition of the unfortunate West Indian slave.
They must arrest the career of South American deliverance from thraldom. They must blow out the moral lights around us, and extinguish that greatest torch of all which America presents to a benighted world---pointing the way to their rights, their liberties, and their happiness. And when they have achieved all those purposes their work will be yet incomplete. They must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light of reason, and the love of liberty. Then, and not till then, when universal darkness and despair prevail, can you perpetuate slavery, and repress all sympathy, and all humane, and benevolent efforts among free men, in behalf of the unhappy portion of our race doomed to bondage.''
I didn't say it first, but if you can say that whites and blacks do or can get together in this country in perfect harmoy even now, then you know more than Lincoln did. When you call him a white separatist, you are applying 21st century moral judgments against a 19th person.
But as you have an agenda, and don't seek a balanced or fair interpretation of these events, that is not very surprising.
I say you have an agenda; you make it very plain yourself. When you post these quotes about colonization, you deny the context of them, which invalidates your interpretation and discredits you personally. It discredits you because you continuously return to this interpretation, although more reasonable interpretations have been pointed out to you.
You know full well that President Lincoln never suggested that anyone be forced out of the country. You know he refused to attempt to gain political advantage in 1864; he refused to revoke or modify the Emancipation Proclamation -- in my view his single most unsordid act. You know full well that he advocated voting rights for black soldiers, and that he told Frederick Douglass that there was no man in the country whose opinion he valued more.
When Lincoln was suggesting and advocating colonization, he was faced with a much worse alternative - national dissolution and civil war. It is no surprise at all that given those alternatives he cast about for something less destructive and devastating.
You know that President Lincoln refused to countenance trason trials even for the confederate leaders, and that he favored a soft peace. And yet you still excoriate him.
That says a lot more about you than it does him.
Walt
"Mr, Clay many, many years ago . . . told an audience that if they would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation, they must go back to the era of our independence and muzzle the cannon which thundered its annual joyous return on the Fourth of July; they must blow out the moral lights around us. ...I call attention to the fact that in a preeminent degree these popular sovereigns are at this work: blowing out the moral lights around us; teaching that the negro is no longer a man, but a brute; that the Declaration has nothing to do with him; that he ranks with the crocodile and the reptile that man, with body and soul, is a matter of dollars and cents. I suggest to this portion of Ohio Republicans, or Democrats , . . that there is now going or among you a steady process of debauching public opinion on this subject."
This government is expressly charged with the duty of providing for the general welfare. We believe that the spreading out and perpetuity of slavery impairs the general welfare. . . , I say that we must not interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists, because the Constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. We must not withhold an efficient fugitive-slave law, because the Constitution requires us as I understand it, not to withhold such a law. But we must prevent the out spreading of the institution. . . . We must prevent the revival of the Africa slave-trade, and the enacting by Congress of a territorial slave code. We must prevent each of these things being done by either Congresses or courts. The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses an courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.
All they ask, we could readily grant, if we thought slavery right; all we ask, they could as readily grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it right and our thinking it wrong is the precise fact upon which depends the whole con- troversy. Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right. . . .
Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity arising from its actual presence in the nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the national Territories, and to overrun us here in these free States? If our sense of duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fear- lessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none of those sophistical contriv- ances wherewith we' are so industriously plied and belabored—contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right and the wrong: vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man; such as a policy of "don't care" on a question about which all true men do care, such as the Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, revers- ing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the righteous to repentance; such as invocations to Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington said and undo what Washington did."
Walt