Role Of Abraham Lincoln In Thomas J. Dilorenzo's The Real Lincoln

In Thomas J. DiLorenzo’s book, The Real Lincoln, is about who the common American thinks Lincoln is, to who Lincoln really was. The Real Lincoln gives just that. “Anyone who embarks on a study of Abraham Lincoln…must first come to terms with the Lincoln myth. The effort to penetrate the crust of legend that surrounds Lincoln…is both a formidable and intimidating task. Lincoln, it seems, requires special considerations that are denied it other figures…”(Johannsen) page 1. The introduction in chapter one goes into more detail on how Abraham Lincoln is sought out to be some great political figure when many people think differently. Roy Basler, the editor of Lincoln’s Collected Works, wrote that Lincoln barely ever mentioned the issue of slavery …show more content…
Abraham Lincoln was a master politician, which means that he was a master at manipulation and a down right liar to the people. An economist, Murray Rothbard even said, “Lincoln was a master politician, which means that he was a consummate conniver, manipulator, and liar (11). Abraham Lincoln at many debates would be in favor of slavery when everyone thinks that he is the one that ended slavery. Lincoln wanted to give the people wanted and most people still wanted slavery. According to the book, Abe Lincoln had the same views on slavery that Henry Clay did. Clay was opposed to slavery but he owned slaves (15). If both Lincoln had the same views on slavery then Lincoln did not want to end slavery, he just wanted it to be controlled. Abe Lincoln had an interesting view on colonization for a guy that “ended slavery” “According to Roy Basler, the editor of Lincoln’s collected works, as of 1857 Lincoln had no solution to the problem of slavery “except the colonization idea which he inherited from Henry Clay” (16). In simple terms Abe Lincoln was trying to eliminate all blacks from America and have them colonize to Africa. In an article called, Lincoln, Race, and the spirit of ’76 by Lucas E. Morel, goes on to explain about the debate between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas about slavery. He goes on to say that, Some argue that the “race card” was played not only by Stephen Douglas, but also by Lincoln. A careful reading of the Lincoln–Douglas debates and other speeches and writings by both men shows that if Lincoln played the race card, Douglas dealt the whole deck” (Morel 1). To sum up this chapter, Abraham Lincoln was inturtpited to be a man that stands up for the blacks and wanted them to be free, but from after reading that chapter Abraham Lincoln was a man of manipulation that still wanted slavery but he just wanted it