Lincoln and His Stand on Slavery Essays

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Lincoln and his stand on slavery
Abraham Lincoln strongly voiced his opinion against slavery multiple times. He believed that America would never be able to reach its full potential and be able to fill its purpose. The purpose of fighting against the British was to give the American people the right to be free to be who they want to be and do what they want to within reason. After reading the Lincoln – Douglas debate, reading the chapter that talked about Lincoln and his opinion on slavery and also through common knowledge, I have come to realize how much he opposed slavery. Although I believe that he was afraid to really tell the people of America how much he hated the whole aspect of slavery. One of the main concerns of Abraham Lincoln was to keep the Union intact and he said, “ I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never be another slave state admitted into the union;” This clearly shows that he was willing to go to any extent to make sure that the Union stayed one. (Document, paragraph 2) Also, going back to the statement I made about his opinion on how he felt that if the slaves wouldn’t be freed, this country wouldn’t be serving its purpose. In his famous “House Divided” speech, he quoted the bible, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He also predicted, “the American society, cannot endure permanently half slave and half free…It will become all one thing, or all the other.” This clearly shows how he felt about slavery and how being divided up, they could never be a strong nation. (Textbook, page 412) Another argument that Abraham Lincoln made against Douglas was by attacking him and labeling him as a racist. Abraham Lincoln said that the reason why he thought it was a good idea to free the slaves was not for equal political rights but rather for economic opportunity. In my opinion, this was Lincoln’s way of being a good politician and getting the “business” people on his side. (Textbook, page 412) Abraham Lincoln was definitely a reasonable man. He did not say he would abolish slavery right away rather give people time to make adjustments. He said that the abolishment of slavery would happen gradually, that qualified voters would have a right to make the decision by voting and also slave owners that are not willing to let go off their slaves would be compensated in some way. (Debate, paragraph 3) I also believe that Abraham Lincoln’s decision about abolishing slavery had a lot to do with his childhood. Growing up, he was