Lincoln is a bit of an enigma. We have to remember he was walking a tightrope concerning slavery. We can't presume he was saying precisely what he was thinking.
I concede to you as the expert. But he was a founding member of the Republican party. He had to couch his words. Think of the people he would NOT have brought to his side if he had said he saw blacks as fully the equal of whites and wanted full integration. I make no claim to know what was in Lincoln's mind. I'm suggesting that it is not a perfect match with what he said.
Well, no. The Republican Party founded in Ripon was very specific about their abolitionist sentiments, but that did NOT mean they believed blacks were their equals, socially or mentally, or in any other way. This Lincoln quote is very much in keeping with the Republicans of 1858-60, but was NOT in keeping with that of the GOP of the post-Lincoln era. The Republicans transformed under Lincoln's leadership to conform with his "get along to get along" sentiments, which the non-radicals saw as the way of survival against the fire-eaters of both parties.
It was the founding principles of the Republicans that so frightened the slaveholding, strongly Democrat Southern states and drove them to secession. It was NOT Lincoln's stated post-election policy which, as you point out, was on a tightrope. But the Republicans, which Lincoln was one, won the 1860 election, and the Democrats could not and would not see any difference between the winning candidate and the party.
Once he was on the presidential ticket, Lincoln's stated policies muted from that of his party. In fact, it muted so much that he renamed his branch of the party during the 1864 election (though few remember that).
But, ultimately, we cannot know what was truly in Lincoln's or anyone else's mind in the past...or the present, for that matter.
Lincoln is a bit of an enigma. We have to remember he was walking a tightrope concerning slavery. We can't presume he was saying precisely what he was thinking.
In 1858, he was running for the Senate appointment in Illinois. Not really much of a tightrope, was it?
I concede to you as the expert. But he was a founding member of the Republican party. He had to couch his words. Think of the people he would NOT have brought to his side if he had said he saw blacks as fully the equal of whites and wanted full integration. I make no claim to know what was in Lincoln's mind. I'm suggesting that it is not a perfect match with what he said.
Well, no. The Republican Party founded in Ripon was very specific about their abolitionist sentiments, but that did NOT mean they believed blacks were their equals, socially or mentally, or in any other way. This Lincoln quote is very much in keeping with the Republicans of 1858-60, but was NOT in keeping with that of the GOP of the post-Lincoln era. The Republicans transformed under Lincoln's leadership to conform with his "get along to get along" sentiments, which the non-radicals saw as the way of survival against the fire-eaters of both parties.
It was the founding principles of the Republicans that so frightened the slaveholding, strongly Democrat Southern states and drove them to secession. It was NOT Lincoln's stated post-election policy which, as you point out, was on a tightrope. But the Republicans, which Lincoln was one, won the 1860 election, and the Democrats could not and would not see any difference between the winning candidate and the party.
Once he was on the presidential ticket, Lincoln's stated policies muted from that of his party. In fact, it muted so much that he renamed his branch of the party during the 1864 election (though few remember that).
But, ultimately, we cannot know what was truly in Lincoln's or anyone else's mind in the past...or the present, for that matter.
Yes. That's pretty much all I weas getting at.