History 108
Dr. Thomas Heaney
Race and the Man from Illinois After reading these articles about slavery, I have come to conclusion that Abraham Lincoln has different points of view on slavery. In my opinion I think that President Lincoln was more against slavery. He says, “…I am naturally anti-slavery.” If he is “anti-slavery,” then he should be supporting the slaves and helping them fight for their freedom and some citizenship. I think in the next couple years he knows that there will be no difference between the blacks and whites. President Lincoln cannot change the way of what people think of each other but can try to persuade them to think in good ways. He states in his reply to Stephan A. Douglas, “I have never said anything to the contrary, but I hold that notwithstanding all this, there is no reason in the world why the Negro is not entitled to all the natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to these as the White man;” This says that he cannot understand why white people don’t see blacks equal to them. He believes that just because their skin is different colors, it doesn’t make them any less equal to white people, they are still people. I think that there are some contradictions that occur. He writes a letter to Mary Scott about how blacks are bought and sold to men who take them away from their families, but he can see how the