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To: Ditto
"...our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
......................A. Lincoln, 11-1863

"That he was not in favor of 'equal rights' for blacks and whites put him with 99% of Americans north and south."
.........................Ditto, 2-2011

So, how does that add up?

How about this?

"I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution... has passed Congress, to the effect that the federal government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service...holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable."
...................A. Lincoln, 3-1863

In favor of equal rights in some states and not others?

"...was waged 'in order that each of you may have through this free government . . . an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise and intelligence; that you all may have equal privileges in the race of life'..."
A. Lincoln 1864

Contradiction with his support of Corwin? You make that call.

103 posted on 02/16/2011 8:21:49 AM PST by PeaRidge
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To: PeaRidge
So, how does that add up?

I'll allow Mr. Lincoln to answer that question. Notice that I use his full quote and not you cherry-picked excerpt that you use to intentionally distort the man's sentiments. What you do Pea Ridge is dishonest.

[A]nything 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 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 ."
-- First Lincoln-Douglas debate.

Contradiction with his support of Corwin? You make that call.

The Corwin amendment changed nothing. It simply said explicitly what was in fact already well established. Congress had no authority over slavery in the States. That it forbade a Constitutional amendment to end slavery was already the case in practice. Gaining the 3/4 approval of states needed to ratify an amendment was impossible then with 33 states and would still impossible today with 50 states when you have 15 slave states voting against such an amendment. The reality is that Corwin simply reaffirmed the status quo.

You will also notice that Lincoln rejected the earlier version called Crittenden Compromise. It had the same Constitutional amendment features and Corwin but with the stipulation allowing slavery into the territories. Lincoln opposed that stipulation and urged rejection of the amendment.

That was totally consistent with his position and the Republican party platform of 1860. He promised that he had no desire or intention to interfere with slavery where it existed but would oppose any further expansion of slavery.

107 posted on 02/16/2011 11:18:56 AM PST by Ditto (Nov 2, 2010 -- Partial cleaning accomplished. More trash to remove in 2012)
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