Lincoln Writing the Emancipation Proclamation (House Divided Project).
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When should leaders stand on principle?
When Abraham Lincoln spoke at his inauguration on March 4th, 1861, he emphasized loyalty to the union and preserving the nation’s founding ideals. He called slavery “wrong” but pushed for sectional compromise. By contrast, Frederick Douglass defined the secession crisis as “an abolition war” almost right from the beginning. Both Lincoln and Douglass opposed slavery, but President Lincoln acted as the moderate while the famous activist and editor Douglass stood for radical change. Eventually, their views converged on emancipation and with a shared belief in the “new birth of freedom,” but it was not easy getting there. When should leaders stand on principle? By using moderate politics, Lincoln showed how to fight for change without promoting anarchy. Though radicals like Douglass were certainly right to challenge traditional and misguided beliefs about slavery, they were partly blind to the consequences of their radicalism. In this case, radicals and moderates worked together toward a common cause, but national leadership required caution when it came to standing on the most radical of principles –human freedom.
About the author
Site created by Caroline Eagleton, student intern at the House Divided Project. Caroline is a second-semester junior attending Dickinson College pursuing a Bachelor's degree in History and American Studies