“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.”
by: Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
Source: Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
(The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, pp. 145-146.)
"The War is waged by the government of the United States not in the spirit of conquest or subjugation, nor for the purpose of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or institutions of the states, but to defend and protect the Union."
-This resolution was passed unanimously by Congress on July 23, 1861.
The above quote contradicts the quote below where Lincoln says the negroe race is the reason for the Civil War:
“See our present condition—the country engaged in war! Our White men cutting one another’s throats! And then consider what we know to be the truth.
But for your race among us there could not be war, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or another. “Why should the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should they leave this country? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. It is better for both, therefore, to be separated.” [bold face mine]
— Spoken at the White House to a group of black community leaders, August 14th, 1862, from COLLECTED WORKS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Vol 5, page 371.
the purpose of the meeting was to get the black leaders to take part in his colonization plan. Wisely, they didn't.
Lincoln did not care about freeing the slaves! He incorrectly believed there was another reason that threatened the Union:
"If I could save the Union without freeing any slaves, I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it, and if I could do it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also so that"
Letter to Horace Greeley
-Lincoln, (Voices of America, p.138).
It is my purpose to colonize persons of African descent, with their consent, upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously obtained consent of the government existing there.
He later said, in discussing the options of colonizing them with segregated areas of Texas, Mississippi, and South Carolina:
If we turn 200,000 armed Negroes in the South, among their former owners, from whom we have taken their arms, it will inevitably lead to a race war. It cannot be done. The Negroes must be gotten rid of.
Ben Butler responded to this by saying: “Why not send them to Panama to dig the canal?”
Lincoln was delighted with this suggestion, and asked Butler to consult Seward at once.
Only a few days later, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln and one of his conspirators wounded Seward.
From: The Real Lincoln by, Thomas DiLorenzo
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