I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway the social and political equality of the white and black races - that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything. so..dude was really a racist My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. he didnt give a shit about black people..wow..i really did not know this until today
You have to understand the time period though. The fact that he was willing to put aside racial differences for the good of the country says more than the fact that he still had ignorant racial views typical of the time. All he did was free the slaves. The Civils Rights Movement came later.
Lincoln's primary interest was in holding the Union together. He was also a huge advocate of returning blacks to Africa, which is why the US established the country of "Liberia." The emancipation proclamation only applied to slave holding SOUTHERN states, states like Maryland were exempted from it (slave holding Union state). It was not until the 13th and 14th amendments that slavery was actually ended under force of law. It's not even that he was a "racist" or that he "didn't give a shit about black people", those are modern terms, and is it really fair to judge what someone said in 1850-1860 by the values and cultural norms of 2009? if you want to really understand this in a deep way, from the perspective of a great American scholar, watch the PBS documentary "Looking for Lincoln." The host... "Skip" Gates of Harvard arrest fame... takes a multi-hour look at Lincoln from the perspective of a black person who once idealized him as the "liberator of slaves" and has had to come to terms with who Lincoln really is in his own cultural context.
ya you definatly have to place yourself in his shoes and time period they probably didnt know what racism was. making fun of negros was probably just as normal as women leaking blood everywhere, which is pretty damn normal