How do you think Lincoln would have replied to Douglass? Lincoln might have replied that while he was personally opposed to slavery, his principal official duty was to save the Union, not to save or destroy slavery. Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation primarily as a war weapon, not as an act of conscience.
Full Answer
—Frederick Douglass, quoted in Battle Cry of Freedom How do you think Lincoln would have replied to Douglass? Lincoln might have replied that while he was personally opposed to slavery, his principal official duty was to save the Union, not to save or destroy slavery.
In the middle of the 19th century, as the United States was ensnared in a bloody Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass stood as the two most influential figures in the national debate over slavery and the future of African Americans.
" To fight against slaveholders, without fighting against slavery, is but a half-hearted business, and paralyzes the hands engaged in it." —Frederick Douglass, quoted in Battle Cry of Freedom
Confederate troops attempt invasions of the North in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania Do you think Lincoln's decision to fire McClellan was a good one? Why or why not? I think Lincoln's decision to fire McClellan was a good one because Instead of pursuing the battered Confederate army and possibly ending the Civil War, McClellan did nothing.
Invited to Lincoln's second inaugural address, Douglass was stunned by the president's eloquence, writing in Life and Times that the 703-word speech “sounded more like a sermon than a state paper.” Reflecting years later on the White House reception that followed, Douglass conceded that while he looked upon himself as ...
“I was an ex-slave, identified with a despised race, and yet I was to meet the most exalted person in this great republic.” As he entered, Lincoln stated, “I know who you are Mr. Douglass. Sit down.
I saw you in the crowd today.” Lincoln asked Douglass how he liked it. Douglass responded, “Mr. Lincoln, I must not detain you with my poor opinion, when there are thousands waiting to shake hands with you.”
During the Civil War, Douglass was a consultant to President Abraham Lincoln and helped convince him that slaves should serve in the Union forces and that the abolition of slavery should be a goal of the war.
In his last autobiography, Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Douglass noted that Lincoln considered him a friend, although at times Douglass was critical of the late president. Lincoln honored Douglass with three invitations to the White House, including an invitation to Lincoln's second inauguration.
For Douglas, slavery was not a moral issue, and for him, it did not matter if African Americans were enslaved or not, as he did not think of them as ordinary citizens. Lincoln insisted that the problem of slavery should be dealt with by the federal government.
What is Douglass's conclusion about Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation? Douglass concluded that Lincoln's attention was shifting from keeping the Union together to end slavery. Douglass wrote about his meeting with Lincoln almost 20 years later.
“It is one of the might-have-beens that lie in the shadow of Lincoln's assassination.” Several weeks after Lincoln's death, on the National Day of Mourning, Douglass delivered a eulogy at New York's Cooper Union.
In his inaugural address, Lincoln promised not to interfere with the institution of slavery where it existed, and pledged to suspend the activities of the federal government temporarily in areas of hostility. However, he also took a firm stance against secession and the seizure of federal property.
In the seven Lincoln-Douglas debates—all about three hours along—Lincoln argued against the spread of slavery while Douglas maintained that each territory should have the right to decide whether it would become free or allow slavery.
One of the biggest differences between Douglas' and Lincoln's views on slavery is that, unlike Lincoln, Douglas did not consider slavery a moral issue, an agonizing dilemma, nor was it an issue that would tear the Union apart.