Roman Paluch-Machnik

Slavery and Freedom in the Antebellum South

Professor Erin Austin Dwyer
Spring 2014

Slavery and Freedom Final Paper: Emancipation/ Impacts of Freedom

In this paper, it will be argued that the role of Abraham Lincoln is of vital importance
in understanding not only emancipation, but how freedom would take shape in the south, and
the experiences of black populations following the end of the civil war. To gain an
understanding of Lincolns presidency and its relationship to the institution of slavery, this
paper will first look at the inaugural address of Lincoln in 1861 and the Emancipation
Proclamation for which he is so commonly associated and celebrated (Dirck, 2007). Through
close analyses of the themes and wording of these speeches, particularly his first inaugural
address given its complexities and tense climate in which it was given, I will argue that
Lincoln very clearly showed himself to prioritize maintenance of the union over calls for
freedom. Emancipation was a subject he sought to avoid, and whether or not he privately
believed in freeing the enslaved population, his public addresses belied any such belief. After
looking at these speeches, and the contradictions and ambiguities evidenced by Lincoln in
Americas relationship with the institution of slavery, I will look at how this hesitation in
bringing emancipation manifested itself in the south, and the period of reconstruction.
In Lincolns first inaugural address we see a number of themes reoccur throughout the
speech, which suggest Lincolns penchant for diplomacy rather radicalism, specifically with
regards to slavery. The tone of the speech is immediately set with his first words admitting
that the address would not discuss matters of which, there is no special anxiety, or
excitement instead immediately going on to address apprehensions of the southern states
(Lincoln, 1861). From this point on, Lincolns entire speech seems to almost explicitly be
directed at the south. As such, it seems the sole motivation for the views expressed in his
inaugural address, and context behind which his presidency would be based, were ensuring
the maintenance of the union, rather than freedom for the enslaved population. Many more of
the ideas expressed in this speech seem to support such a bases for Lincolns presidency,
making the great emancipator role he has often been cast as in the history of slavery, far
more questionable. (Dirck, 2007) His emphasis on unconditionally upholding the
constitution, be it the fugitive slave act, or a lack of provision for states to secede, can be seen
to exemplify Lincolns attempts at diplomacy and avoid further confrontation between north
and south. In trying to induce common ground between them, i.e. the constitution and its
sovereignty over the nation, Lincoln sought to mediate peace between the two regions.
It is interesting to see Lincoln in this address invoke the history of America as a means
of defending and ensuring the continuation of the union. It is precisely through his attempts at
inducing nationalist sentiment, that his tacit acceptance of the institution of slavery becomes
clear, seemingly content to leave a large portion of the union enslaved. In his recital of the
history of the constitution, the document which was, to form a more perfect union, Lincoln
makes no recognition of the institution to which this history is intrinsically linked (Lincoln,
1861) In the speech, Lincoln clearly prioritizes the union over emancipation, reassuring
southern agitators that his calls for the continuation of the union should, not be regarded as a
menace. (Lincoln, 1861) In so doing, he not only fails to make any calls for emancipation,
but also shows no recognition of the immorality of slavery. This lack of acknowledgement is
but one example of Lincolns need to frame the entire speech within the context of southern
ideologies of the time.
This perception of Lincolns address is not simply based on the language he does not
use, but more importantly in the language, and rhetoric he does use. Apprehension exists
among the southern states that their property, peace and security are to be endangered.
(Lincoln, 1861) While Lincoln goes on to make clear, in no uncertain terms, that he has no
plans to intervene in any way with the institution of slavery where it already exists, it is his
repeated use of the term property, that is most revealing of his publicly held opinions on
slavery. In using such a term we can again clearly see Lincoln catering his address to a
southern audience. By repeatedly referring to the property belonging to southerners, a term
used to reiterate slaveholders legal right to own a person, Lincoln both acknowledges this
right, and reinforces it, in both using the term, and proposing no change to it. Another
example of how Lincolns rhetoric seems to enforce rather than undermine the existence of
slavery in America, comes again when he tries to connect with the south through nationalism,
Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of national fabric, with all its
benefits, its memories, and its hopes (Lincoln, 1861) When Lincoln emotes the idea of the
American nation here as something that should be preserved as much for its memories as
anything else, this positive and idealized impression implicitly denies any existence of
slavery in the national history, and the memories black Americans would have of the
institution and their imaginings of what America is.
In this analysis of Lincolns inaugural address, there is one more quote that best
exemplifies the contradictions of Lincolns speech, between the rhetoric of the union
expressed and its realities. In posing the rhetorical question of when a plainly written
provision of the Constitution has ever been denied Lincoln surmises that, If, by the mere
force of numbers, a majority should ever deprive a minority of any clearly written
constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution. (Lincoln, 1861)
Was this not the entire bases upon which the existence of black people in America was
predicated. It is hard to believe that Lincoln made such a statement without any consideration
for the institution of slavery. As such this is perhaps the most damning indictment of
Lincolns attitudes toward slavery, and his unwillingness to challenge the deep-rooted nature
of the institution. This quote also best illustrates the contradictions evidenced throughout the
speech. On numerous occasions claiming his presidency would be one of upholding every
letter of the constitution, he simultaneously ignores any attempts to make black people free
and equal. Giving them the opportunity for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness that he
claimed had never been denied to any of the population.
Although the very enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation, by Lincoln, could be
cited as a counter argument to the above analysis of his attitudes toward slavery, when
looking at the proclamation, it can arguably still be read as supporting the idea of Lincolns
lack of conviction in undergoing the process of emancipating slaves. Despite the subject of
the proclamation, and the effects it would have, Lincolns speech is still very clearly pursuing
the path of diplomacy, and avoids any inflammatory language. While his speech does
necessarily make clear the legal ramifications of the declaration, it is an extremely technical
speech, devoid of any personal attachment to passing such a piece of landmark legislation.
The only recognition for the morality of the proclamation comes at the end of the speech,
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution,
upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind (Lincoln, 1863)
Even in this quote we see Lincoln qualify the act of justice with the constitutional right to
enact it, as well as undermining the legal freedom of black people as a measure of military
necessity. Such a lack of recognition of the deserved nature of this law in the face of the
centuries of black oppression that America practiced, can again be seen, with Lincoln
suggesting the Emancipation Proclamation, as a fit and necessary war measure for
suppressing said rebellion (Lincoln, 1863) Rarely addressing the very people who this
proclamation would be directly influencing, this speech makes clear, as the above quotes
suggest, that the proclamation was introduced within the wider military context of 1863. A
means to help end the war, and defeat the rebels seeking to split from, and destroy the union.
As such, despite its effects, this proclamation seems to very clearly continue Lincolns public
attitude of prioritizing the union over emancipation, which was so prevalent in his inaugural
address. At no point does Lincoln make any claim for the freedom brought about by
emancipation, to be a right that should have been fundamentally enjoyed by the black
population. Furthermore, the very date of the proclamation, enacted over a year into the civil
war, can be seen as tangible evidence of Lincolns hesitation in passing it. The lack of gravity
with which the law was received in the south, with fifty thousand of the possible four million
enslaved people emancipated upon its enactment, could be said to reflect Lincolns delay in
enacting the Emancipation Proclamation (Dwyer lecture, 04/09). This figure is not being
stated to undermine the importance of the enactment of the emancipation proclamation
however, but given the preliminary proclamation that was given one hundred days prior to its
actual enforcement on January 1
st
, slaveholders were informed in advance that this was the
day they were to emancipate their slaves. In this respect, the fifty thousand of a possible four
million, can be seen as a reflection of the hegemonies of white supremacy that endured in the
south, which this paper, through the analysis of his first inaugural address and emancipation
proclamation, showed Lincoln to do very little to confront.
In analysing Lincolns presidency through these two key speeches we clearly see the
ideologies upon which his presidency was predicated. In failing to attempt to tackle the
extremely racialised nature of southern society, even catering to those ideologies in his
inaugural address, Lincoln, while he cant be solely blamed for the continuation of white
supremacist attitudes in the south, made little attempt to dispel those attitudes. Such an
approach could be revealing of Lincolns own views towards the black population, and is
certainly evidence of his ambivalence toward equality between white and black Americans.
Given that his presidency was filled with such turmoil and decisive moments in the history of
America, the lack of precedent in changing race relations, despite the emancipation
proclamation, allowed reconstruction to develop on the bases of pre-existing racial
hegemonies, And so the patterns of racial violence and reprisals, echoes from the days of
slavery, continued after emancipation. (Clinton, 1992, p.318) In describing the patterns of
white on black violence, and continuation of antebellum era racialised practices that
persevered during reconstruction, this quote by Catherine Clinton exemplifies the argument
put forward in this paper. While the article is not a commentary on Lincoln or his presidency,
in framing reconstruction within the context of emancipation, she emphasizes its
shortcomings in establishing equality between races. Not only this, but her analysis of
continued white violence during reconstruction, with former slaves recognizing the
limitations to federal support, rarely resorting to calls for union troops to aid them, doing so,
only in utter desperation showed an understanding of the role that union troops played in
south during reconstruction. (Clinton, 1992, p.319) For the emancipated, an acceptance of the
limited time and presence of their emancipators in the south after the war, can be seen as
problematic in understanding Lincolns role in the freedom that would follow emancipation.
This seems clear evidence of the nature of Union presence in the south. One predicated on
defeating the confederate rebellion and maintenance of the union. With little emphasis upon
emancipation, or in light of the union victory, equality, clear vestiges of the rhetoric upon
which Lincolns presidency was based.
In a speech given by Frederick Douglass by the name of what the black man wants,
while never making any direct mention of Lincoln, it is clear the failings he perceived of the
presidency, specifically in the nature behind calls to maintain the union. Racial hegemonies
of the antebellum era, and sentiments upon which the confederacy fought, were continued
under reconstruction (Clinton, 1992, Harcourt, 2002) Yet in this speech, delivered in 1865,
Douglass accurately predicts that such a process would manifest itself in the south, You will
see those traitors, handing down, from sire to son, the same malignant spirit which they have
manifested and which they are now exhibiting (Douglass, 1865) Douglass in going on to
explain these beliefs, while never mentioning Lincolns name, directly criticizes the union
and its role in reinforcing racist ideologies which would continue to reduce the position of the
black man in society. [war] was begun, I say, in the interest of slavery on both sides. The
South was fighting to take slavery out of the Union, and the North was fighting to keep it in
the Unionthe South fighting for new guarantees, and the North fighting for the old
guarantees;--both despising the Negro, both insulting the Negro. (Douglass, 1865) Such
condemnation of the union, and its motivations, seem to be a direct criticism of Lincolns
administration. In a speech given the same month of Lincolns assassination, April 1865,
making no mention of the man who introduced the emancipation proclamation, Douglass
speech can be interpreted as a direct criticism of Lincoln, and his failings in asserting and
creating provisions for the application of equality between black and white people after
freedom was given. In Douglass assertion of the norths motivations for war as fighting for
old guarantees, the understanding of Lincolns presidency put forward by this paper,
particularly in the reading of his inaugural address, bare similarities to the sentiments of
Douglass speech and his criticisms of the motivations behind maintenance of the union. At
the core of Douglass argument is his belief that the only way to ensure equality for black
people is through, the "immediate, unconditional, and universal" enfranchisement of the
black man Without this, his liberty is a mockery he is the slave of society. (Douglass,
1865) In this quote, Douglass speech can again be interpreted as a fairly direct criticism of
the Lincoln administration. In not giving the black population complete enfranchisement, for
the emancipated, his liberty is a mockery. Douglass not only argues that full equality had
not been realized for black people, and would be reproduced as such throughout the south,
but specifically cites how he believed to ensure equality for black people. In all of these
ideas, we see Douglass undermine the importance of recent emancipation and more
importantly, how the union, or Lincoln, was culpable for these shortcomings.
In accordance with the views expressed by Douglass, practices that continued to
enforce the ideologies of white supremacy across the south, could be said to be a symptom of
the failings in condoning, and attempting to enforce measures for black equality, such as the
vote, by Lincoln. In Carl Schurz analysis of the south after the war, he observes of white
southerners who supported the confederacy an insistence, plainly that they would submit
only to what they could not resist and as long as they could not resist it. (Schurz, 1865, p.4)
This quote encapsulates much of the sentiment of the south during reconstruction, as much of
white society strived to live in as close a proximity to the conditions of the antebellum era as
possible. Where possible, conditions of the antebellum era were continued. We again see in
his report, the impotent nature of the Emancipation Proclamation, with the rural areas of the
south, where union soldiers had never been seen and none were near, people were at first
hardly aware of the catastrophe, and strove to continue in their old ways of living. (Schurz,
1865) Scholars have also emphasized this observation by Schurz, in the southern attempts at
perpetuating ideologies from the slave era in the wake of the civil war. Events such as the
whipping of Richard Moore, a black man questionably accused of assaulting a white woman,
is described by John Harcourt as an event that was, in many ways an unexceptional event in
the context of reconstruction. (Harcourt, 2002, p.261) Clearly hegemonies of the south had
not been overcome by the war, or emancipation. As Schurzs analysis of the south suggests,
the only reason for any southern practices that existed before the war, to be changed after it,
was through an inability to resist the change. Any practices over which southerners had
agency, therefore, were to attempted to be maintained. The introduction of the black codes
across the south, in this regard, is of vital importance to the maintenance of racialized
southern society.
In Lincolns failure to introduce more meaningful and legally enforced conditions for
the equality of black people, the Mississippi black code for example, sought to fill these
ambiguous voids created by emancipation, with no provisions provided to enforce equality
that should have been an inherent aspect of the freedom granted to black people. As such,
among the numerous provisions introduced by the Mississippi black code, black people could
not, rent or lease any land or tenaments, legally carry a weapon and faced imprisonment for
the numerous technicalities of so called vagrancy (MS Black Code, 1865). All sheriffs,
justices of the peace, and other civil officers could indenture children who were orphaned,
or whose parents were deemed to have not the means to support a child, and provided the
legal right to pursue or recapture indentured children or adults (MS Black Code, 1865). As
well as discouraging any interaction between white and black people, including the provision
that it shall not be lawful for any non-white person, to marry a white person (MS Black
Code, 1865). In the introduction of such laws, we see the fears expressed in Douglass speech
fulfilled. Without further reform introduced in a time that seemed optimal for the fulfillment
of black equality, in the face of union success, confederacy defeat and slaves emancipation,
a lack of conviction showed by Lincoln to pursue such reforms, allowed the space for
southern society to continue practice and policy that would subject black people to further
oppression, and prolonged the wait for full equality.
Whether Lincoln himself believed in the inferiority of black people or not is
unimportant. In his inaugural address, supposedly addressing the nation, although clearly
directed at the south, Lincoln showed his willingness to avoid the subject of freedom and
inequalities of the south. While it is true to say he never explicitly condones the institution of
slavery, he neither chastises it in his inaugural address, or Emancipation Proclamation. In a
time fraught with opposing views on the nature of slavery, preceded by years of public and
political debate on the subject, Lincolns avoidance of a position on the subject had a
resounding message. For a man whose memory in American history is held in the highest
regard, and whose name is almost intrinsically associated with emancipation, the realities of
his presidency and its legacy are far more complex. In assessing his speeches as exemplifying
Lincolns lack of conviction and commitment to emancipation as well equality, the formative
years of reconstruction, I have argued, reflected the ambiguities of his Presidency.























Bibliography:
Clinton, Catherine. (1992). Bloody terrain: Freedwomen, sexuality and violence during
reconstruction. The Georgia Historical Quarterly, 313-332.

Dirck, Brian. (2007). Changing Perspectives on Lincoln, Race, and Slavery. OAH Magazine
of History, 21(4), 9-12.

Douglass, Frederick. (1865). What the Black Man Wants. April, 1865. Available at:
http://www.frederickdouglass.org/speeches/

Dwyer, Erin. Austin. (2014). Lecture: Debating Slavery on the Eve of War. April 9
th
, 2014

Harcourt, Edward. John. (2003). The whipping of Richard Moore: reading emotion in
reconstruction America. Journal of Social History, 36(2), 261-282.

Lincoln, Abraham. (1861). First Inaugural Address. March 4
th
, 1861. Available at:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1861lincoln-aug1.asp

Lincoln, Abraham. (1863). The Emancipation Proclamation. January 1
st
, 1863. Available at:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/emancipation_proclamation/transcript.
html

Schurz, Carl. (1865). Report on the Condition of the South, 39
th
Congress, 1
st
Session.
December, 1865. Available at:
http://books.google.com/books?id=x_bPFPZRoMAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Carl+Schurz
+report+on+the+condition+of+the+south&source=bl&ots=lFt_gJIcnM&sig=LqAIq9xYZMfi
nsZVcyFjYFUFD4M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=eOIqUNyyG8bg2AWoroGYAQ&ved=0CEEQ6AE
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