Abraham Lincoln Good Or Bad Essay

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Abraham Lincoln, along with other leaders we look up to like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Edison, and George Washington were all influential people, all did something to change the world, and each one of these people also dealt with a considerable amount of flaws. Every one of them were ordinary people prone to good and bad intentions and making mistakes and learning from them. We are often told to ignore the wrong doings and look the other way. As humans, we enjoy focusing on the good these people have done for us, because it makes us feel better about the world and gives us faith in humanity. But does Lincoln’s righteous deeds outdo his unacceptable actions? Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, in a one room log cabin on Nolin Creek in the …show more content…
Abolitionism was a movement to end the African and Indian slave trade and set the slaves free. As the nation approached its third year of the bloody Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The Emancipation Proclamation did not actually free all the slaves, since the Proclamation was a military measure. It didn’t apply to border slave states like Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, all of which had remained loyal to the Union. Lincoln, also, didn’t believed that blacks and whites should have the same social and political rights. In a series of debates in 1858, Lincoln made his view on the matter clear by saying: “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races,”[3] He then stated that he opposed blacks having the right to vote, to serve on juries, to hold office, and to intermarry with whites. Although, he did believe that like all men, blacks had the right to improve their condition in society and to enjoy the fruits of their labor. [3] Is that really considered free? Would you feel like a free man if you still didn’t have the same rights as everyone

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