Was Lincoln a racist?

2016-03-30T12:10:57-04:00

I don't think he was,but I would like to know what you guys think.

Response by LTC Stephen F. made Mar 30 at 2016 12:19 PM

2016-03-30T12:19:21-04:00

No President Lincoln was not a racist Private RallyPoint Member. He took a firm stand to free all slaves and believed that all men are created equal.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Mar 30 at 2016 12:57 PM

2016-03-30T12:57:25-04:00

If he had been he would not have freed the slaves.

Response by LTC Paul Labrador made Mar 30 at 2016 1:19 PM

2016-03-30T13:19:37-04:00

What criteria are we using to judge him? Today's standard or the standards of the time he was living in. It's also a bit unfair to judge someone who lived over 100 years ago by societal standards of today...

Response by SFC Randy Purham made Mar 30 at 2016 1:20 PM

2016-03-30T13:20:43-04:00

No, Lincoln wasn't racist. However, he did express a progressive view in freeing the slaves. For example: He proposed to sending them back to Africa - that didn't sit well with folks. Then, he wasn't opposed to ending slavery if it did not interfere with the break up of the Union, however if ending Slavery was going to boost Union troops and provide more sympathizers for the union cause then that was going to take fruition. He also understand the ramifications of the Northern states potentially falling to slavery if he did not abolish it. So, end state, No he wasn't racist, but wasn't entirely pro-black either.

Response by SSgt Robert Marx made Mar 30 at 2016 1:37 PM

2016-03-30T13:37:12-04:00

POTUS Lincoln was an outstanding gentleman, a fine lawyer, and mostly self-educated. He was no racist in creed or deed. He believed that the dignity of man on the basis of the image of God meant that slavery was a horrible sin.

Response by PO1 Jack Howell made Mar 30 at 2016 1:49 PM

2016-03-30T13:49:40-04:00

No. I think that this question is pointless.

Response by TSgt Kenneth Ellis made Mar 30 at 2016 3:03 PM

2016-03-30T15:03:30-04:00

By today's standards? Then yes being White and a Rebulican makes you a Racist according to Obama and Hilary Clinton. There are a lot of democrats who feel the same.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 30 at 2016 6:15 PM

2016-03-30T18:15:29-04:00

I lot of our former presidents were, the problem is that lots of people these days dont care to know that .

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 30 at 2016 6:34 PM

2016-03-30T18:34:13-04:00

President Lincoln? I'm going with "no".

Response by Capt Daniel Goodman made Mar 30 at 2016 10:12 PM

2016-03-30T22:12:19-04:00

I agree with those here that he was not, though I find your question of interest for sevl reasons. He was in all likelihood most probably one of the most brilliant humans in all history from all I've read of both his writings speeches and verbal remarks. I think candidly that, sometimes, thought might be given to that idea as I've frequently read and or seen discussed incl in e.g. the famous Ken Burns civil war PBS film epic that he favored holding back expansion of slavery and not letting it expand. However I often think that an evolutionary viewpoint on how to deal with the problem on his part not that he advocated it of course quite the reverse as others here have also observed. In the Ken Burns film Shelby Foote mentioned that he had "many sides" to his personality I believe was the phrasing used and the ability to detach his mind from itself which Shelby Foote remarked was highly intelligent. The classic Carl Sandburg works on Lincoln I've read frequently tend to often "smother" the reader with his goodness which was very definitely a real aspect to his personality though I found that observation singularly telling. Of all the classic film depictions of Lincoln e.g. the famous ones with Henry Fonda Raymond Massey and the recent one with Daniel day Lewis one of the most interesting was a very early one done in the 1930s that I cannot recall the lead actor in that had a fascinating almost childlike ending with a highly moving musical score panning back from the Lincoln memorial which if those reading this haven't seen is well worth watching as it gives some interesting personality perspectives the other films did not it's often shown on Turner classic movies on cable TV where we are. No he was anything but a racist that most definitely not. He was however though beneficent and benevolent in the extreme also extremely complex much more so than perhaps any other president other. I once read something said about him that a great man (Washington) created the u.s. while a greater man saved it (Lincoln). He said something I may have read on here I think that ultimately what mattered was not the number of years in one's life but the lives in one's years. That and his other pithy remarks like the one about not being able to fool all of the people all of the time along with his goodness and mercy is why he has very deservedly been elevated to the level of a secular saint as I'd also read once. You might all find of interest as well that there was an instance of a general order of read of frequently a source of controversy about grant rumoring anti-Semitism on his part if you'd all look it up. Now, obviously, he didn't generate that order, of course, just as Lincoln was obviously not a racist. What I think happened was that Lincoln was searching principally for a way to preserve the Union as he'd constantly say though as Raymond Massey depicted so eloquently in the scene of the debate with Stephen a Douglass he quite clearly loàthed slavery just as grant I'm sure loathed anti-Semitism though if you all look up the story of the general order controversy it is an interesting historical footnote. Both men were extremely intelligent the memoirs of grant has frequently been hailed as one of the best autobiographies ever written with I had read almost no corrections in the manuscripts which I actually found quite amazing. If you all might pardon the phrasing, Lincoln I think was, in a good way, not a negative fashion, extremely Machiavellian which ability let him accomplish what he did in the way that he did and do all the good that he achieved. One of the most telling examples of that was his ignoring chief justie Roger b taney after he'd issued the deed Scott decision and the expelling also of a Confederate sympathizing Congressman to the south both recounted in the Ken Burns film. I did find interesting his suggesting to black leaders a return to Africa and their refusal the reasons for which I'm sure he obviously understood and agreed with. However he was quite obviously not a racist by any means; he was just trying to save the country at the same time as eliminating slavery of course and likely tried various ideas to obviously seek both ends simultaneously as part of an evolving thought process on his part, that's all. In that his greatness cannot be overestimated; he was an applied political scientist if you will and most certainly a supremely gifted and beneficent one by all means of course.

Response by CSM Darieus ZaGara made Mar 31 at 2016 7:16 AM

2016-03-31T07:16:37-04:00

I do not think it is that simple. President Lincoln lived in an era when our nation and the world were advancing rapidly in many areas. Slavery was horrible to its very core, one man believing the other was less than. I believe that President Lincoln realized this, I also believe that as humanity evolved many refused to look at it in terms of humanity but economics. To many the use of HUMAN beings in servitude or slavery had become a (perceived) necessity, while others (more enlightened) realized this was a crime to HUMANITY. Lincoln who had evolved was the catalyst for bringing this struggle to the national thus international front. What he represented in his younger years are in text, he was indifferent as were most of that era, as a leader and politician I believe he realized that a divided nation was not a nation. This went deeper than north or south, and the advancement west. The divide was also in our HUMANITY, black vs. white.

Regardless of where he started, he, the leader of our nation took up the mantle which was the beginning of the end of slavery in our nation and around the world.

I apologize for the passion!

Response by CPT Jack Durish made Mar 31 at 2016 3:13 PM

2016-03-31T15:13:09-04:00

Why do you ask?

Response by PO1 William "Chip" Nagel made Mar 31 at 2016 5:58 PM

2016-03-31T17:58:16-04:00

I think he felt a kinship to the Slaves having been effectively an Indentured Servant to his Stepfather.

Response by MAJ Bill Darling made Apr 1 at 2016 10:55 AM

2016-04-01T10:55:48-04:00

I suppose it depends on what the word "racist" means by the user. Traditionally it has meant a feeling of superiority of one "race" over another. Lately it's been so misused that it means anything from mere bias to stereotyping to bigotry to actual racism.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 7 at 2016 7:02 PM

2016-04-07T19:02:50-04:00

I don't think he was. Many republicans of the period were abolishonist, and even helped free slaves. I think in general we color many past politicians as racists. The founders were to a great extent, not racist, and also abolitionists. But at the time of the founding of this nation, the need for solidarity required the abolitionists to sacrifice the discussion of slavery for the forming of the nation. In fact, the abolitionists were numerous enough, and smart enough to recognize that if slaves were property of the slave owners, and their vote counted as a full vote, slavery would never be abolished. It is one of the real mischaracterizations of the founders, that they didn't think of black slaves as full people, it was more understanding that by crippling that vote, they could eventually achieve a majority, and abolish slavery. I have read many of the founders, and Lincoln's writings, and I have to say, I think personally, he was against slavery, but that he would not put his personal views over the political needs of the day. I think Lincoln was a bit of an egoist, and was not against forcing things in a direction, but ultimately, I think his primary concern was the nation overall.

Response by 1SG Tommy McGee made May 4 at 2020 7:45 PM

2020-05-04T19:45:30-04:00

Reading his history, biography and some of his writings, I don’t think he was a racist. Reading his writings, he didn’t care one way or another about freeing slaves even though that’s what is taught in school. He was more concerned about brining economic growth to the states and keeping them together. He was sending supplies to Fort Sumptner under the table while trying to ease tensions between the North and the South and that’s where the “1st shots” came from.
The War of Northern aggression had more to do with money than freeing anyone. Look at Lincoln’s own writings, he mentions several times that he didn’t care about people being equal, he just wanted to build a bigger and better machine for the future.