Abraham Lincoln was the 16th president and one of the most well-known presidents to hold office. He is famous for many things, from his work as a lawyer to his involvement in the Lincoln-Douglas debates. Most of all, Lincoln is known for being the “Great Emancipator”, for finally ending slavery centuries after its inception. Based on his work in passing the 13th Amendment to the Constitution and his decision to make the Civil War about slavery through the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln largely deserves the credit he is given for abolishing slavery; however, he is certainly not solely responsible for abolition, and without the help of others pushing for change, abolition might never have happened.
First, we come to this idea of the passing …show more content…
Obviously, the moral duty is apparent to us now, but for the 1850s the idea to free the slaves was certainly pretty radical. In his 2nd Inaugural Address, he mentioned how he believed that the war was God’s punishment for immorally enslaving millions of people, saying that “If God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-men’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn by the sword...so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.’” (Lincoln). Clearly, Lincoln knew that slavery was wrong, and in his work towards the passing of the 13th Amendment he showed his true values on this …show more content…
For the first time in American history, “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (Emancipation Proclamation). Again, however, this is where many will argue that because Lincoln failed to free the half a million slaves in border states, he does not warrant his title. But this too misses the point of Lincoln’s role in abolition: he was not solely responsible for the change, but he was the link between all of the pieces that led to
First, we come to this idea of the passing …show more content…
Obviously, the moral duty is apparent to us now, but for the 1850s the idea to free the slaves was certainly pretty radical. In his 2nd Inaugural Address, he mentioned how he believed that the war was God’s punishment for immorally enslaving millions of people, saying that “If God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-men’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn by the sword...so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.’” (Lincoln). Clearly, Lincoln knew that slavery was wrong, and in his work towards the passing of the 13th Amendment he showed his true values on this …show more content…
For the first time in American history, “all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free” (Emancipation Proclamation). Again, however, this is where many will argue that because Lincoln failed to free the half a million slaves in border states, he does not warrant his title. But this too misses the point of Lincoln’s role in abolition: he was not solely responsible for the change, but he was the link between all of the pieces that led to