Abraham Lincoln

Résumé du document

Abraham Lincoln is considered to be one of the greatest American presidents who expressed himself as not simply a forceful war while demonstrating the vast power inherent in the presidency, but as a dictator, albeit in many accounts a benevolent and constitutional dictator. Lincoln, it is said, took the law into his own hands in meeting the attack on Fort Sumter and subsequently in dealing with the problems of internal security, emancipation, and Reconstruction. The author of a well-known treatise on emergency government in the Western political tradition states that "it was in the person of Abraham Lincoln that the constitutional dictatorship was almost completely reposed. . . ." In the following paper I would like to discuss Abraham Lincoln's policies during the civil war. The discussion will be structured in the way that will shape President's motives in actual conducting the war and mostly pointed into defining whether the reasons were to abolish slavery or receive economic benefit. Faced with heavy Union losses and the destructive nature of the war, Abraham Lincoln, an antislavery proponent, gradually adopted slave emancipation as the most prudent means of ending the conflict between North and South, bringing an end to the war, and thus paving the way to a reunited nation. Lincoln's role in the destruction of the institution of slavery during the Civil War and afterward is widely accepted to be the reason of Civil War as the institution of slavery, so instrumental in dividing the nation, provided Lincoln with an effective tool for ending the conflict. Slowly, at a pace too deliberate for most blacks and many Republicans, Lincoln gradually approached emancipation through the Confiscation Acts, compensation plans, and the Emancipation Proclamation (Abbott, 1968).

Extraits

[...] «Lincoln and Civil Liberties." Abraham Lincoln Quarterly (September 1951), 374- Cole A. C. «Lincoln and the American Tradition of Civil Liberty." Illinois State Historical Society Journal ( October 1926-January 1927), 102- Kelly Alfred H. "The Fourteenth Amendment Reconsidered: The Segregation Decision." Michigan Law Review (1956), 1049- Kinoy Arthur. "The Constitutional Right of Negro Freedom." Rutgers Law Review (1967), 387- Moreno Paul. "Racial Classifications and Reconstruction Legislation." Journal of Southern History (1995), 271-304. [1]Allan Nevins, «War Becomes Revolution", Vol of The War for the Union (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959-71) [2]«Lincoln Emancipation Proclamation, Jan 1863», CWL :30. [...]

[...] And a Confederate Missouri and Kentucky would give the rebels potential bases from which to invade Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. So Lincoln rejected emancipation in part to appease the loyal border. In view of above discussion and careful consideration of numerous literature that broadly discusses the issue of Abraham Lincoln's Presidency and his policies during the Civil War, I can conclude, that the reasons and motives for the war were extremely of slavery abolishing motives. Subsequently, this motive greatly helped in getting economic benefit for the country in the future. Bibliography 1. Abbott Richard H. [...]

[...] Under congressional statutes, he concluded, Negro soldiers were entitled to the pay and allowances specified in the Militia Act. Stanton accepted Whiting's opinion, and on June it became official War Department policy in the form of a general order to all commanders (Kenneth, 1956). Three basic positions as for Lincoln's policies during the Civil War may be distinguished in the literature. The first, represented in the work of Dunning, adopted a critical if not openly hostile attitude toward the idea of presidential dictatorship. [...]

[...] In France the same conversion occurred. The semi- official organs of Napoleon and the government, the Constitutionnel, Moniteur, and Patrie, all had earlier denounced secession and slavery. The Pays, also a spokesman of the regime, had asserted that the "abolition of slavery is a noble cause to defend and bring to a triumphant conclusion." French observers, however, soon became equally perplexed and angry because of Lincoln's emphasis on the Union. Adams in London put his finger on the problem by noting that the British people "do not comprehend the connection which slavery has with [the war], because we do not at once preach emancipation. [...]

[...] Already shaky in their Unionism, they might join the South and virtually assure its independence. Having partly discussed Lincoln's policies during the Civil War I can define that in his actions President was ruled with the aim to abolish slavery rather than to receive economic benefit for his country. Beginning with the proposition that before July 1862 blacks were legally excluded from the militia, the regular army, and the volunteers, Whiting's opinion reviewed the provisions of the Confiscation Act and the Militia Act under which Negroes might be enrolled in the service. [...]