Lincoln and the emancipation that wasn't...

http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.com/2012/06/abraham-lincoln-forced-into-glory.html

the “mythology” of this act.
The testimony of sixteen thousand
books and monographs to the contrary notwithstanding, Lincoln did not
emancipate the slave, greatly or otherwise….
John Hume, the Missouri anti-slavery leader…said the Proclamation “did
not…whatever it may have otherwise accomplished at the time it was issued,
liberate a single slave.”
…Lincoln himself knew that his most
famous act would not of itself free a single Negro. The second and most damaging point is that “the
great emancipator” did not intend for it to free a single Negro, for he
carefully, deliberately, studiously excluded all Negroes within “our military
reach.”
What Lincoln did – and it was so
clever that we ought to stop calling him honest Abe – was to “free” slaves in
Confederate-held territory where he couldn’t free them and to leave them in
slavery in Union-held territory where he could have freed them.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.com/2012/06/abraham-lincoln-forced-into-glory.html

the “mythology” of this act.
The testimony of sixteen thousand
books and monographs to the contrary notwithstanding, Lincoln did not
emancipate the slave, greatly or otherwise….
John Hume, the Missouri anti-slavery leader…said the Proclamation “did
not…whatever it may have otherwise accomplished at the time it was issued,
liberate a single slave.”
…Lincoln himself knew that his most
famous act would not of itself free a single Negro. The second and most damaging point is that “the
great emancipator” did not intend for it to free a single Negro, for he
carefully, deliberately, studiously excluded all Negroes within “our military
reach.”
What Lincoln did – and it was so
clever that we ought to stop calling him honest Abe – was to “free” slaves in
Confederate-held territory where he couldn’t free them and to leave them in
slavery in Union-held territory where he could have freed them.

It's complicated. Here's some more information.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Lincoln_and_slavery

This one passage from that wiki page probably explains it best.

_______________________________

On August 22, 1862, just a few weeks before signing the Proclamation and after he had already discussed a draft of it with his cabinet in July, he wrote a letter in response to an editorial by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune which had urged complete abolition. Lincoln differentiates between "my view of official duty"—that is, what he can do in his official capacity as President—and his personal views. Officially he must save the Union above all else; personally he wanted to free all the slaves:

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to 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 save 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 I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

Bob wrote:This one passage from that wiki page probably explains it best.

_______________________________

On August 22, 1862, just a few weeks before signing the Proclamation and after he had already discussed a draft of it with his cabinet in July, he wrote a letter in response to an editorial by Horace Greeley of the New York Tribune which had urged complete abolition. Lincoln differentiates between "my view of official duty"—that is, what he can do in his official capacity as President—and his personal views. Officially he must save the Union above all else; personally he wanted to free all the slaves:

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to 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 save 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 I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

A staunchly Republican friend warned me right before the election that Obama plans to give out 1.5 billion dollars to descendants of Black farmers who got scammed out of their property in the thirties.

A staunchly Republican friend warned me right before the election that Obama plans to give out 1.5 billion dollars to descendants of Black farmers who got scammed out of their property in the thirties.

Oh Yea!!! Time for me to be looking for black farm lady to marry. thanks for the heads up.

By the way I saw the Lincoln movie today. And one of the really interesting players in that whole episode of American history was Thaddeus Stevens (portrayed by Tommy Lee Jones in the movie).

http://www.stevensandsmith.org/index.php/info/thaddeus_stevens/