Abraham Lincoln And Slavery Research Paper
Abraham Lincoln and Slavery
Andrew Martin
11-17-2012
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States of America, was a virtuous man who wanted only good for his country. There have been many opposing views on his presidency, some saying he was not fit and others saying he was one of the greatest. These are just opinions, and as everyone thinks differently from everyone else, there has and will always be opposing views. One thing that cannot be disputed is the man’s heart. He stood up for what he believed in and fought for it until his murder. When someone thinks about Lincoln, there are two major ideas that come to mind: Slavery and the Civil War. These two factors are what have defined this president. Lincoln was completely against slavery. He saw it as morally wrong and thought it should be extinct. In a speech, he stated, “Let us discard all this quibbling about [this] race and that race and the other race being inferior… Let us discard all …show more content…
The document states "That all persons held as slaves…are, and henceforward shall be free" (Featured Document: The Emancipation Proclamation). Although president, the only way this document could be enforced was if the Union was to obtain victory over the Confederacy in the Civil War. Archives.gov adds that “Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war” (Featured Document: The Emancipation Proclamation). This is what Lincoln had hoped for; to get Americans to feel as he did about this and rally them to press forward. This would prove to be a huge factor in determining the outcome of the war. Americans in the Union could feel their purpose amongst all the fighting and new what needed to be
Andrew Martin
11-17-2012
Abraham Lincoln, the sixteenth president of the United States of America, was a virtuous man who wanted only good for his country. There have been many opposing views on his presidency, some saying he was not fit and others saying he was one of the greatest. These are just opinions, and as everyone thinks differently from everyone else, there has and will always be opposing views. One thing that cannot be disputed is the man’s heart. He stood up for what he believed in and fought for it until his murder. When someone thinks about Lincoln, there are two major ideas that come to mind: Slavery and the Civil War. These two factors are what have defined this president. Lincoln was completely against slavery. He saw it as morally wrong and thought it should be extinct. In a speech, he stated, “Let us discard all this quibbling about [this] race and that race and the other race being inferior… Let us discard all …show more content…
The document states "That all persons held as slaves…are, and henceforward shall be free" (Featured Document: The Emancipation Proclamation). Although president, the only way this document could be enforced was if the Union was to obtain victory over the Confederacy in the Civil War. Archives.gov adds that “Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war” (Featured Document: The Emancipation Proclamation). This is what Lincoln had hoped for; to get Americans to feel as he did about this and rally them to press forward. This would prove to be a huge factor in determining the outcome of the war. Americans in the Union could feel their purpose amongst all the fighting and new what needed to be