Suppressing the Rebellion, 1861 |
As a new president, Lincoln vowed to protect the Union and to avoid interfering with the South’s use of slavery striving to maintain peace in the nation. After the Civil War began in April 1861, however, there was a steady shift in Lincoln’s strategy and according to historian James Oakes, he began pushing for various types of freedom policies, such as protecting runaways or “contrabands” and encouraging voluntary abolition in the Union border states. [5]
Yet Douglass was not impressed. The abolitionist’s 1861 editorials indicated not only his push for full-fledged emancipation policies, but also real equality measures, such as bringing the African Americans into the war. He wanted formerly enslaved men to join the Union military as soldiers and sailors, asserting their power and rights as American citizens. His editorials during the war pleaded for the employment of black troops, Douglass viewed Lincoln’s reluctance on this matter as a terrible, missed opportunity. [6] |
Lincoln and Douglass from First Coast News
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Image of Emancipation courtesy of Library of Congress.
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Lincoln and Douglass attitudes remained at odds over emancipation until late in 1862. During most of the war’s first year and a half, Lincoln viewed ending slavery as a possible obstacle to saving the Union whereas Douglass believed emancipation would shift the tide of the war. But a series of measures in 1862 brought about a convergence, in James Oakes’s words, that witnessed Lincoln using “conservative means” to gain “radical ends.” [7]
As the war continued into 1862, Lincoln started to pursue a two-track approach, encouraging voluntary abolition in the border states combined with the promise of military emancipation in the rebel areas. Yet Lincoln struggled to gain public approval for these policies and his party suffered setbacks in the midterm elections. However, ultimately, Lincoln’s deliberate strategizing helped to put the proclamation into successful action by the beginning of 1863. This steady determination finally impressed Douglass, who claimed, “Abraham Lincoln is not the man to reconsider, retract, and contradict words and purposes solemnly proclaimed over his official signature.” [8] The “new birth of freedom” was slow in coming, but the cautious shift towards abolition helped to save the union and without union there could be no liberty at all. |