After the Lincoln movie and all of the buzz about it I did some Lincoln reading. I've been reading about Abraham Lincoln all my life with my continuing interest in 19th Century American history.
Lincoln was stanchly anti-slavery. No one can deny his anti-slavery credentials. What you can say is that maybe his stance was mostly economic rather than moral and that his intent was to rid the country of African Americans believing that whites and blacks could not live together in peace. Like his mentor Henry Clay, Lincoln favored voluntary emigration or colonization of blacks from the country. He made his last public support of this idea in his message to Congress in December of 1862. Did Lincoln ever abandon his idea of colonization?
My conclusion is that it is impossible to know for sure. Historians can make a case either way.
Does is really matter one way or the other?This is a different question and one that I have not seen addressed by any historian that I have read.
Abraham Lincoln is a subject of endless fascination for 19th Century students of American history.
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