Anthony Colucci

Civil War
Lincoln Paper
5.21.13

Mr. Lincoln and President Lincoln: The Dichotomy of Moral Expectation
Michael Vorenberg notes that The American Civil War and the end of
American slavery are two crucial eventsthe defining events, reallyof U. S.
history.
1
He continues by explaining that Slavery was central among the causes
of the war, and emancipation was central to the experience of the war.
2
On
January 1
st
, 1863, Abraham
Lincoln issued the Emancipation
Proclamation,
3
which has been
referred to as being most often
associated with the end of
slavery in the United States.
4

According to Article II, Section I of the American Constitution the
president must take the Oath or Affirmation:

1
Vorenberg vii
2
Vorenberg vii
3
Vorenberg 70
4
Vorenberg 22
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation
of President Lincoln By: Francis Carpenter
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of
President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.
5

Lincoln took this oath very seriously. Lincoln says in a letter to Albert G. Hodges
that he understood that the presidential oath required him:
to preserve the constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the
duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government---that
nation---of which that constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to
lose the nation, and yet preserve the constitution? By general law life and
limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life;
but a life is never wisely given to save a limb.
6


This letter reveals that Lincoln believed that his office required him to execute his
presidential duty regardless of his primary abstract judgement.
7
In this letter,
Lincoln also states that he has never executed an official act in mere deference to
my abstract judgment and feeling on slavery.
8
Because this letter is dated after
the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln is establishing his unbiased intentions
with the proclamation.
The previous quote shows that Lincoln was aware of the distinction
between his personal convictions and his presidential duties. Horace Greely, the
antislavery editor of the New York Tribune, criticized Lincoln for his seemingly

5
Constitution a 2 s 1
6
Lincoln april 4 1864
7
Lincoln ap 4 1864
8
Lincoln 1864 letter
dormant approach to slavery in the beginning of the war.
9
Lincoln responded by
explaining:
If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the
same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who
would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy
slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount objective in this
struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or 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.
10


Lincoln later explains that this is his purpose according to my view of official
duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men
every where could be free.
11
In a speech at New Haven, Connecticut, Lincoln
also explains his conviction in the necessity of separating personal and political
conceptions of right and wrong in regards to slavery.
12
Lincoln says that we
must not call it wrong in politics because that is bringing morality into politics,
and we must not call it wrong in the pulpit because that is bringing politics into
religion.
13
The document might seem to be the product of abolitionist thought

9
Vorenberg 59
10
Lincoln- Vorenberg pg. 59
11
Vorenberg 59
12
Lincoln 1860 speech
13
1860 Speech
and good intention, some scholars have criticized Lincolns intentions regarding
his Emancipation Proclamation.
Jerrica A. Giles and Allen C. Guelzo note that in recent years, Lincolns
reputation has been brought into question in its association with the emancipation
of slaves.
14
Giles and Guelzo reference the work of Gerald Prokopowicz, in
which:
Prokopowicz has written, the big question about Lincoln and slavery
runs today like this: Was Lincoln really the Great Emancipator that we
have traditionally been brought up to admire, or was he just a clever,
lying, racist, white male politician who had no interest in the well-being of
black America other than when it served his political interests?
15


Eric Foner sees validity such a question by similarly explaining that Lincoln has
been described as a consummate moralist and a shrewd political operator, a
lifelong foe of slavery and an inveterate racist.
16

Giles and Guelzo refer to Lerone Bennetts Forced into Glory: Abraham
Lincolns White Dream. They note that this infamous screed portrays Lincoln
as a selfish bigot who lacked any shred of morality, and claims that he was only
concerned with his political interests.
17
Scholars like Bennett are incorrect in
their development of such arguments because they confuse Lincoln the man with
Lincoln the president; they fail to recognize the dichotomy of Abraham Lincoln.

14
Giles, 1263
15
Giles, 1263 & Prokowicz?
16
Foner 16
17
Giles, 1263 &Bennett
They fabricate conclusions on the intentions and character of President Abraham
Lincoln based on irrelevant actions of Mr. Abraham Lincoln. They fail to see that
President Lincolns intentions, specifically regarding the Emancipation
Proclamation, were founded in moralitymorality not derived from personal
conviction, but rather from his presidential duty.
In an article claiming that Lincoln was a racist, Bennett speaks of an
instance following the election of 1860 that degrades the presidents character.
According to Bennett, after Lincoln won the election someone mentioned to him
that it was a shame that the vexatious slavery matter would be the first question
of public policy Lincoln would have to address.
18
Bennett then quotes Henry
Villard, an eyewitness to the event, explaining that Lincoln responded by saying
that I will be damned if I don't feel almost sorry for being elected when the
niggers is the first thing I have to attend to."
19

Giles and Guelzo discuss another instance in which Bennett portrays
Lincoln as a racist. Bennett cites a letter from November 26
th
, 1862 as evidence
of Lincoln actually offering to buy a slave.
20
In the letter, Lincoln writes to
George Robertson, a Kentuckian:
I now understand the trouble is with Col. Utley; that he has five slaves in
his camp, four of whom belong to rebels, and one belonging to you. If this

18
Bennett, Lincoln racist
19
Bennett
20
Giles 1264
be true, convey yours to Col. Utley, so that he can make him free, and I
will pay you any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.
21


Bennett says that this letter is evidence of Lincolns indifference to slavery.
22
He
claims that this is evidence that Lincoln was willing to barter in black flesh, and
prepared to put up hard cash for the purchase price of a slave.
23

This is obviously a false assumption because Lincoln specifies that the
purchase is intended to provide the slave with the means to obtain freedom.
Bennett uses the evidence like the nigger question
24
and the Robertson letter to
come to the conclusion that Lincoln did not care about emancipating the slaves.
Here, it is apparent that Bennett criticizes Lincolns character based on examples
(rather poor examples at that) of Lincoln behaving unfavorably in his personal
affairs. Those who devalue the morality of Lincolns intentions seem to be
ignorant of the high esteem that Lincoln assigned to both the presidency and the
Union.




21
Lincoln Letter nov 26 1862
22
Giles 1264
23
Giles 1264
24
Bennett- did Lincoln?