Tuesday, December 15, 2015

On the Assertion that Abe Lincoln Was de Facto Less of a Racist than Jefferson Davis

I don't have an absolute answer here. But the fact that a) Lincoln's '61 inaugural was basically a slavery in perpetuity speech (even going as far as to make nullification of the Fugitive Slave Act illegal), b) he never once opposed the virulently racist black codes of his own state of Illinois, and c) he was trying up til his dying breaths to figure out a way get black people out of the country (through "colonization" and as a contingency plan in lieu of emancipation) leads me to think that at the very minimum it's close.

2 comments:

Rusty Shackelford said...



Will, you shouldn't equate 1860 morals to todays. Different time and very different beliefs, its apples and oranges.

Will "take no prisoners" Hart said...

That's fair. I'm just challenging the leftist historical notion that the North and Lincoln were enlightened while the South was backward and racist.