ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE PROGRESS

MADE BY BLACK PEOPLE

DURING THE CIVIL WAR

 

IN THE YEAR 1860:

  • As candidate, Lincoln pledges he will not interfere with Slavery; his main goal will be to keep the Union intact.
  • 3.5 to 4 million Black people are slaves; there are about 500,000 free Blacks.
  • Lincoln is elected in the fall; gets 40% of the vote (among four candidates).
  • Numerous presidents before Lincoln either owned slaves themselves or came from slave-owning families.
  • The South sees Lincoln’s election as a triumph for anti-Slavery forces.
  • South Carolina decides to secede in December.

 

IN THE YEAR 1861:

  • Other southern states secede.
  • The Confederacy launches an attack on Fort Sumter in April.
  • Lincoln calls for 75,000 troops; starts studying military history and strategy.
  • War begins in earnest / first Union generals are not effective.
  • One Union officer suggests that slaves could be considered “contraband” and begins freeing Blacks / Lincoln countermands the order. Black laborers in the Union camps are allowed to stay and work but not serve as soldiers.
  • Lincoln works hard to keep four border slave states loyal to the Union: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri. He needs their men, resources, and the right of the Union Army to move freely through their territory without meeting armed resistance; he promises not to interfere with slavery there.

 

IN THE YEAR 1862:

  • The war is not going well for the North.
  • In September Lincoln writes a response to Horace Greeley; he repeats his goal is to preserve the Union but has already written a first draft of the Emancipation Proclamation; he is waiting for a Union victory to announce it.
  • September: he reads draft to Cabinet.

 

IN THE YEAR 1863:

  • Jan. 1, 1863: The Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect, freeing slaves in states in rebellion but does not apply to slaves in states loyal to the Union.
  • Blacks may now enlist in the Union Army; they are paid $3 less than white soldiers. Protest begins; equal pay is later approved.  Black men are now in uniform, drilling and training; they are issued weapons and prepare to fight in battle.
  • Segregated units are maintained—Black soldiers have white officers.
  • All Black regiments are created / they soon earn a reputation for bravery in battle.
  • South threatens to shoot or enslave captured Black Union soldiers. Lincoln’s response: if that happens, he will issue orders for a Confederate prisoner to be shot for every Black soldier killed.
  • July 1863: General Grant takes Vicksburg, Mississippi.
  • July 1863: Battle of Gettysburg, a Union victory, becomes the turning point of the Civil War.
  • 1863: Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address at dedication ceremony for a national cemetery for those who died there; it is considered one of Lincoln’s greatest speeches.

 

IN THE YEAR 1864:

  • Lincoln is re-elected to a second term.
  • He delivers Second Inaugural Address: “With malice toward none and charity toward all.”
  • War turns ever more strongly in favor of the North.
  • Lincoln dreams of his own death.
  • Lincoln writes to the Governor of Louisiana in March of 1864 to suggest that in the new state constitution he consider letting some Black people vote, particularly “the very intelligent and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks”. And a year later: “On April 11 [1865] Lincoln suggests to the public for the first time that free African Americans be allowed to vote.” (Holzer, Lincoln, p. 95)

 

IN THE YEAR 1865:

  • April 9: Civil War ends with surrender of General Lee at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia.
  • 13th Amendment passed, outlawing slavery everywhere; Lincoln works hard for its passage.
  • April 1865: Lincoln visits Richmond and is cheered by Black people:

“In reference to you, colored people, let me say God has made you free.  Although you have been deprived of your God-given rights by your so-called masters, you are now as free as I am, and if those that claim to be your superiors do not know that you are free, take the sword and bayonet and teach them that you are—for God created all men free, giving to each the same rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” (from W.E.B. DuBois’ Black Reconstruction in America 1860-1880, p. 112).

  • Affectionately called “Father Abraham” by Black people.
  • April 14: Lincoln is shot.  The nation goes into mourning.  His body lies in state for Americans to see, after which Lincoln’s funeral train begins the long journey home to Springfield, Illinois. 
  • Eleven years later, his friend Frederick Douglass delivers a stirring eulogy at the unveiling of a statue of Lincoln provided by the Freedmen’s Bureau.  Lincoln is remembered for his courage and leadership.

 

IN THE YEARS 1860-1865:

In each of these years there is a remark or action of Lincoln’s that can be described as prejudiced and yet there is a deeper underlying current that is carrying Lincoln and the nation forward.  By comparing 1860 to 1865, we see the tremendous changes that have occurred in the fortunes of Black people while Lincoln was president.

In 1860, the overwhelming majority of Black people were slaves.  Five years later they were free.  By 1863 Black men were serving as regular soldiers and sailors in the Union Army; by 1864 they were receiving equal pay with white soldiers.

A select few became non-commissioned officers and two were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, America’s highest military decoration.  By 1865 Slavery had been abolished throughout the land by both the Emancipation Proclamation and the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution.

By 1864, Lincoln was suggesting privately that Black people be allowed to vote.  He did so publicly in remarks addressed to a crowd that came to serenade him on April 11, three days before his visit to Ford’s Theater where the fatal pistol shot was fired that took his life.

We can only speculate in which direction and to what extent his moral beliefs would have evolved further had he lived. Born in the slave state of Kentucky in 1809, Lincoln died in 1865 in a boarding house in Washington D.C. after serving four years as president of the United States—after accomplishing his mission, as president, to preserve the Union.  During the Civil War itself he saw his way clear, as a war measure, to strike a decisive blow against slavery.

When we discuss the beliefs and contributions of any person in American history, it is important to remember the larger historical context.  We must not let a few unwise remarks (by modern standards) outweigh respect for the  good accomplished over the span of an entire lifetime.

Lincoln had said on a number of occasions that he would sooner be assassinated than abandon his dedication to the principles of the Declaration of Independence.  He kept his promise to remain true to those principles, even at the cost of his own life.  As a later song would phrase it: “Lincoln went down to his grave / to free the slave!”

Lincoln never regained consciousness.  He lingered on through the night, his strong body refusing to give up despite the fatal wound from which it was impossible to recover.

When Lincoln neared the end, the doctor put his hand on Lincoln’s heart and held his wrist to feel his pulse.  He recorded the exact moment of Lincoln’s death. Secretary of War Stanton remarked: “Now he belongs to the ages.”

Although frequently criticized from nearly all sides while alive, Lincoln now became a martyr.  His body lay in state for several days so thousands of people could view him.  His funeral train, draped in black, moved slowly along the same tracks by which he had first come to Washington D.C., passing through America’s largest cities.

All along the tracks thousands of people gathered; estimates say that more than a million people in Ohio paid their final respects in this way.  Many were weeping; mothers and fathers held their children high on their shoulders so they could treasure this sublime moment in American history.

Lincoln had left Springfield, Illinois four years before.  In his farewell speech he had said he did not know when, if ever, he would return.  Now the people of Springfield knew.  He was coming home to them, the tall lanky youth who had made them laugh and who had made so many deep and lasting friendships.

He was to be buried in highest honor after having given his own last full measure of devotion–his life–to that most holy of causes: preserving the Union (with emancipation) while remaining true to the cherished principles of the Declaration of Independence.  The people of Springfield had Lincoln’s answer: he was coming home.

                                                                     “Now he belongs to the ages . . .”