The Real Honest Abe

Throughout the process of researching Abraham Lincoln’s motives for issuing the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, my perception of his character has dramatically changed. He is world renown of being the Great Emancipator and Honest Abe, but his morals and character weren’t as pure as people thought. During my research I discovered that Abe didn’t release the slaves from the hell of slavery for moral reasons, but only to save the Union from decimation. Not only this, Lincoln explicitly said that blacks would never amount to what white people were and supported the mass migration of black back to Africa.

            This new founded information changed my perception of Abraham Lincoln. In grade school, it was explicitly taught that Abraham Lincoln was a superbly just and moral President in America’s rich history. A majority of the information that I’ve researched claims that Abraham Lincoln was only interested in leveling the playing field between the North and South on an economic level, not in the civil rights of blacks. There are so many monuments and sculptures across the country dedicated to Abraham Lincoln that exemplifies his integrity and honesty. Although he was honest when giving his opinion on the status of blacks in America, his integrity has been misinterpreted by a majority of the general public by placing him in a brighter light than he deserves. When studied in depth, the reasons that Abraham Lincoln had for the freedom of slaves are perfectly understandable. He was desperate to turn the tide of the war and freeing the slaves was the only weapon he had at his disposal. It was essential for the Union to stifle the Confederates’ economy and destroying their cotton market to diminish the amount of capital available to be spent on ammunition and freeing the slaves accomplished this. Without Lincoln’s boldness to oppose white societies customs in a time of great controversy, the country may have taken a different course. The real reason the 13^th Amendment was issued should be taught in schools to diminish Lincoln’s historical contribution to African American’s advance in America’s society and amplify their success as a result of the struggle and determination of African Americans during the years after the Emancipation Proclamation.