Abraham Lincoln on slavery

Abraham Lincoln's position on freeing the slaves is often surprising and controversial today, despite the frequency and clarity with which he sometimes stated it in the speeches that are better known today. Lincoln is well-known for his objections to slavery in the United States and his support of the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery in 1865. Not as well-known is his repeated expression that slavery had to be tolerated in slave states where it already existed, at least temporarily.

Related Topics:
Lincoln - Slavery in the United States - Thirteenth Amendment - 1865 - Slave states

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Before the American Civil War and even in the war's early stages Lincoln had said that the Constitution prohibited the federal government from abolishing slavery where it already existed, but that he was intent on prohibiting its spread to the territories acquired by the Mexican Cession after Mexican-American War.

Related Topics:
American Civil War - Constitution - Federal government - Abolishing slavery - Territories - Mexican Cession - Mexican-American War

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Though he thought it was essentially a reaffirmation of terms already in the Constitution, Lincoln was a driving force behind the compromise Corwin amendment that would have explicitly prohibited congressional interference with slavery in states where it already existed. His later Emancipation Proclamations and his support of the Thirteenth Amendment are therefore regarded as inconsistent with his earlier stated position.

Related Topics:
Corwin amendment - Emancipation Proclamation

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