Was Abe Lincoln A White Supremacist Summary

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most famous presidents of the United States and one of the most famous men in history. Lincoln was president of the United States during one of its most troublesome times, which was the American Civil War. Lincoln is famous for freeing the slaves and granting African Americans the same rights as European or White Americans. Unfortunately, this is not necessarily true, Lincoln technically did not free a single slave and was against equal rights. This hard to understand fact about Lincoln can be seen in full light in the article Was Abe Lincoln a White Supremacist? by Lerone Bennett Jr. (1968). Bennett is an African American scholar, writer/author, and social historian. Bennett’s article was written during the Civil

Bennett’s Argument Lincoln passed the Emancipation Proclamation because of strong congressional pressure from Radical Republicans such as Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens. Bennett claims that Lincoln fought the idea of emancipation against the Radical Republicans in every way possible until finally giving in to the mounting pressure (Bennett, 1968).
Refute Bennett Lincoln truly did not want to emancipate the slaves as Bennett correctly argues. Lincoln’s goals before and during the Civil War did not include freeing the slaves and granting blacks equal rights. Lincoln’s main goal was to keep the Union whole, as seen in the article Abraham Lincoln and the Corwin Amendment by John A. Lupton (2006). John A. Lupton is the Executive Director at the Illinois Supreme Court Historic Preservation Commission and is an associate director and editor of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln eventually did issue the Emancipation Proclamation for a few key reasons. Emancipation would take away the southern slaves which were helping the southern war production. This would help the Union in battling the south, and emancipation therefore helped to preserve the Union, which was Lincoln’s main goal. Emancipation was also strongly underway in congress with the passing of Confiscation Acts and congressional abolishments. Lincoln’s emancipation

After Lincoln’s assassination, Douglass gave a speech about how white men are children of Lincoln while black men are “adopted” or “stepchildren” forced to be with Lincoln. One can conclude from this that Douglass believed in Lincoln’s white supremacist ideology. Douglass’ remarks and beliefs of Lincoln can be seen in the article Changing Perspectives on Lincoln, Race, and Slavery by Brian Dirck (2007). Brian Dirck has a Ph.D. in history and is a history professor at Anderson University. While Lincoln was campaigning to become an Illinois Senator, Lincoln spoke out against blacks being lesser to whites. Lincoln did acknowledge that blacks do deserve inalienable rights, but Lincoln did not intend for the equality of whites and blacks. Since Lincoln did not intend for equality of the two races, Lincoln is indirectly or trying to not publicly be directly supporting of white supremacy. Lincoln’s speaking out, and his direct and indirect white supremacy support can be seen in the article “That All Mankind Should Be Free”: Lincoln and African Americans by Thomas C. Mackey (2007). Thomas C. Mackey has taught history at Michigan State University, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Kansas State University and the University of