Tony Rock
Abraham Lincoln: A New Birth of Freedom
The popular belief that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves has been called into question in recent years. Many revisionists contend that Lincoln’s role in abolition has been overemphasized in the annals of history. Some argue that popular opinion or acts of Congress forced Lincoln into actions against slavery. Others assert that pressure by escaped slaves forced Lincoln to recognize their freedom. The Emancipation Proclamation’s failure to include certain parts of the Union is often cited as evidence challenging the common belief that Lincoln freed the slaves. However compelling these arguments may seem, close analysis of Lincoln’s actions during the Civil War shows that Abraham Lincoln did all that he could to end slavery. His combination of moderation and resilience created a successful means by which he could keep the Union together and also end the practice of slavery.
Since 1854 Abraham Lincoln had stood firm in his opposition to slavery’s expansion. He believed, as did many others, that the end of its spread was the first step towards ultimate extinction. During the secession crisis, Crittenden’s Compromise and others were proposed in an effort to prevent the war. Lincoln, however, made it clear that he opposed any “compromise which assists or permits the extension of [slavery] on soil owned by the nation” (Johnson 101-102). He believed that weakness on this issue would undermine everything for which his party had worked. Lincoln’s willingness to go to war before extending slavery meant that, assuming a Union victory, slavery would eventually be abolished. He did not suggest an immediate abolition, but from the beginning knew that slavery would have to be contained before it could be stopped.
Lincoln took great pains to keep the Union intact, knowing that every state was vital to winning the war. Without victory, the Union would collapse and slavery would continue. Lincoln went to great lengths in order to keep border states in the Union; for each state, the required actions were different. In Maryland, Lincoln imprisoned some influential secessionist leaders. In Kentucky, he allowed the state to essentially remain neutral. In Missouri, he overruled Frémont’s emancipation policy because he knew that Frémont’s policy might prompt secession by border states. Many people expressed indignation at Lincoln’s rebuke of Frémont. Benjamin Wade went as far as to say that such action was expected “of one, born of ‘poor white trash’ and educated in a slave State” (Donald 317). Lincoln, however, knew that loyalty from the Union’s border states was critical to Union victory. Slavery would remain in the Confederacy without Union victory. Lincoln’s ability to maintain a fragile Union of Northern and border states was essential in Union victory and subsequently the abolition of slavery.
Lincoln was later able to deal a devastating blow to slavery while preserving the Union. The famous Emancipation Proclamation declared that all slaves in the rebelling parts of the Confederacy would be forever free. The importance of this document cannot be stressed enough. The proclamation dealt a crippling blow to the Confederacy. It gave slaves in the Confederacy the hope of achieving freedom through escape or Union victory. It also prevented European powers from recognizing the Confederacy by making slavery a major focus of the war. In fact, that was the genius of the proclamation. Using military necessity as the reason for emancipation, Lincoln was able to shift the actual focus of the war from union to union and freedom. Union advances would mean freedom for the slaves of captured lands; this made the Union army one of liberation. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, therefore, was essential in “freeing the slaves.”
The Emancipation Proclamation is often criticized because it did not apply to Union slave states or Confederate lands under Union control. Lincoln, however, worked hard to ensure that slavery would be abolished in those areas as well as the Confederate areas. Why, one might ask, did Lincoln simply not include the other areas in the Emancipation Proclamation? When Secretary of the Treasury Chase suggested this, Lincoln replied that his justification for the Emancipation Proclamation was military. Abolishing slavery in the entire nation would have moral justification, but would surrender “all footing upon constitution or law” (Cox 15). Despite this, Lincoln worked towards emancipation in the areas not included in the proclamation. Regarding Tennessee, for example, Lincoln told Andrew Johnson to “get emancipation into you new State government...and there will be no such word as fail for your case” (Johnson 271). Lincoln also encouraged emancipation in the Louisiana constitution. Lincoln’s support for state emancipation proved his commitment not only to emancipate slaves but to make that emancipation legal and permanent.
Lincoln’s proposal for legal emancipation, however, began well before 1864. He proposed gradual, compensated emancipation to border state representatives in mid-July of 1862 and to Congress in December 1862. He warned that a prolonged war would destroy slavery and suggested that a “decision at once to emancipate gradually” would benefit the border states (Johnson 193). Although this and other efforts to adopt gradual, compensated emancipation were not successful, Lincoln was taking initiative to end slavery and would eventually be successful in persuading Congress to abolish slavery.
In addition to the Emancipation Proclamation and his efforts in Congress, the Gettysburg Address was crucial to Lincoln’s efforts to end slavery in the United States. The Emancipation Proclamation may have shifted the focus of the war to emancipation, but the Gettysburg Address crystallized Lincoln’s dedication to freedom for all. When he proclaimed that the nation “shall have a new birth of freedom,” he was committing the Union to the abolition of slavery. Although slavery was not mentioned in the speech, the institution obviously ran counter to the ideas of freedom and equality that Lincoln expressed. He was able, in this short speech, to tell the nation that the soldiers had died for freedom and equality. This differed dramatically from his previous assertions that the war was merely about preserving the Union. The change in policy dedicated the Union to a continuation of the war under the new idea of freedom and equality for all Americans. The Gettysburg Address was, therefore, an important means by which Lincoln assured freedom for slaves.
Finally, Lincoln’s efforts to ensure the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment displayed his importance in freeing the slaves. In July of 1864 he wrote to Congress that he was “hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the nation, may be adopted” (Johnson 281). This certainly shows that Lincoln desired to have a constitutional amendment permanently abolish slavery. He went a step further, however, when he persuaded Congress to pass such an amendment in his State of the Union address in December of 1864. Though the House had previously failed to pass the amendment, he urged the same members of the House to pass the amendment because the next Congress would pass the amendment if they did not (Johnson 308). Lincoln was successful in persuading the House to pass the amendment, and then Lincoln signed the amendment and sent it to the states for approval. Although he did not live to see the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, Lincoln’s influence in its passage provides evidence of his role in freeing the slaves.
Abraham Lincoln deserves most of the credit for freeing the slaves. His resolve against slavery’s expansion started slavery on the course of ultimate extinction. His ability to keep a Union of slave and free states together allowed for Union military victory, without which emancipation could never have happened. The Emancipation Proclamation shifted the course of the war towards freedom of slaves and dealt a devastating blow to the Confederacy. Lincoln’s efforts in Congress as early as 1862 to gradually abolish slavery began the slow process of ending slavery, while the Gettysburg Address renewed the nation’s dedication to obtaining freedom and equality for slaves and others. Finally, his role in the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment was the last great step in Lincoln’s path towards emancipation. The myth of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator may not be totally accurate. Abraham Lincoln did not single-handedly destroy slavery, and the role of slaves in procuring their own freedom should not be overlooked. Abraham Lincoln, however, deserves most of the credit for freeing the slaves. His resilience in the face of overwhelming odds will forever be remembered as one of the great struggles in American history.
Sources:
Cox, LaWanda. Lincoln and Black Freedom. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1981.
Donald, David. Lincoln. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1995.
Johnson, Michael P. Abraham Lincoln, Slavery, and the Civil War. Boston, Bedford/ St. Martin’s, 2001.