The strange Relation between Lincoln and Obama
Nov, 6, 2008
Posted by“As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.”
In his speeches the newly elect president Barack Obama often recalls the achievements of Abraham Lincoln. Having pressed for unity among the Americans and the abolition of slavery he is considered and worshipped as one of the greatest presidents the country has ever had.
At school (I went to a German High-School, a so called “Gymnasium”), our history classes obviously focused on German history (most of all on the shameful Nazi-period), so that the approach to other countries’ affairs has been more synthetic. As far as concerns Abraham Lincoln, thinking back I remember that our school books mentioned that Lincoln was so apt to achieve certain noble goals due to economic and political circumstances.
Reading Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” it becomes clear though that Abraham Lincoln regarded colored people inferior to whites, so his slate was not that clean. Zinn lists several quotations that most explicitly underline Lincoln’s point of view in behalf of colored people, which I would like to share with the readers of this blog.
In his 1858 campaing in Illinois for the Senate he told a Charleston audience:
“I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races (applause); 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 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.”
In response to a New York Tribune journalist that urged him in a letter to “execute” the Confiscation Act Lincoln wrote:
“Dear Sir: [...] I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. [...] My paramount object 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 do 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 it helps to save this Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union…”
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