Reply #92: Lincoln evolved ... [View All]

[RoyGBiv]

I hate these discussions.

Others have pointed out that Lincoln was a man of his times and as such had opinions and beliefs that would be considered abhorrent today, and thus we shouldn't judge too harshly.

Be that as it may, Edmund Ruffin was a man of his times, as was Jefferson Davis, Nathan Bedford Forrest along with Horace Greely, the Grimke Sisters, and Thaddeus Stevens. They all had widely divergent opinions and beliefs that were shaped by the same time period.

The fact of the matter is that Lincoln, like most people, evolved as a person throughout his life. He wasn't born an abolitionist, and for the majority of his politically aware life thought the best idea regarding the "slavery question" was to block expansion along the Free Soiler ideology and encourage emigration of former slaves and other free blacks to African or the Caribbean ... or anywhere else actually. But time and experience shaped him as it shapes everyone. His association with Frederick Douglass in particular caused him to re-evaluate his belief system and check his own prejudices.

He was, in fact, a racist by modern standards up to the end of his life. He had also evolved greatly to be one of the more advanced thinkers on the subject of race and race relations by the time of his death.