Abolitionist Study Part 4

Fredrick Douglass was aware of the inherent racism in the new Lincoln administration and probably knew that for every decision related to the slavery issue that Lincoln stood strong on, he lost some of his political support. None of the politicians knew how the Civil War would end but most would come to know enough about Lincoln's plan to redistribute the land in the south to the slaves. Politicians and the rest of the country knew that the Civil War would be a fight to the death for one of the factions involved in the war between the states, and I believe that remaining flexible, politically, was better than committing to an uncertain future.

To the south losing the Civil War would mean way more than simply losing a war, it would also mean losing a way of life that had existed for hundreds of years on this continent, and from what Lincoln could see the Confederates were intent upon winning the war to preserve their way of life. Douglass saw fighting the Civil War without the use of free colored people and slave the same as the Union fighting the war with only some of its available resources. The New York Tribune published "The Prayer of Twenty Millions" encouraging Lincoln to emancipate the slaves and in effect joining the Douglas Monthy publication in a call to bringing Africa into the Civil War.

Lincoln's response was:


My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing one slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it...



Lincoln's focus on saving the Union with little consideration given to the thought of slavery, except where the issue might promote his cause was his presidential stance to the press and public. However, Lincoln himself secretly shared many of his fellow politician's fears about arming thousands of African Americans to do battle with the southern states. President Abraham Lincoln would eventually overcome his fear that a well-trained, well-armed regiment of colored people could help take the war to the south, and overcome his anxiety that weapons issued to the slaves would end up in Confederate hands.

History would later show that colored Americans wore the uniforms of the north and the south, and fought on both sides of the Civil War. Colored businessmen in New Orleans, after being refused by Robert E. Lee to join up with regular Confederate force, would take up defensive positions to protect their businesses in the south. Northern color Americans fought to be completely apart of the Union, and slaves from the north and the south would fight for promised freedom and better treatment for their military service in a war that would create veterans on both sides.

The Abolitionist Study Part 3

Abolitionist, Thomas Garrett, a well-known operator on the clandestine system set up to assist fugitive slaves called the Underground Railroad, was saved by his community who stepped forward as the war between the states became a reality. As far as politics went, you might say that Lincoln's worst fears were realized. The nation had pulled itself apart and settled itself into two warring factions, North and South, on his watch.

With the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln had to realize that normal politics had failed and that his first step in trying to preserve the union of states, or what was left of it, was to issue notice, to the Confederate forces, that the union planned to reclaim all of its forts, compounds, and territories, up to and including Fort Sumter, that had been taken over by the rebel forces. For Lincoln, it was a time for consorting with his generals and deploying his forces to answer all of the unknown questions necessary for a rookie commander and chief to prosecuting a war that would pit Americans against Americans.

His new presidency starting with a Constitutional crisis Lincoln public addresses turned more toward managing the war. Knowing his enemies strengths, and understanding his own militaries standing was key to prosecuting the war with the Confederates, Another consideration for Lincoln was managing the worries presented to him by those gathered around him. Could the Union end up in a war with a superpower and the Confederacy? Could the British be talked into joining the south in its battle against the Union to preserve Great Britain's southern supply of cotton? 

During that time Fredrick Douglass recognized that the words in Lincoln's speeches to the public continued to assure the south that the newly elected president did not intend to ignore enforcing fugitive slave laws. Prompting stories that reached Douglass that told of Union Generals turning away fugitive slave along with any useful intelligence they must have had.  Fredrick Douglass continued to speak to the public too, through his publication the Douglass Monthly. In his May 1861 issue, Douglass put forth the idea in print that free colored people and slaves be called up for military service, but where Douglass saw the formation of a liberating free black regiment trampling on the moral of the south, Lincoln saw adding more fuel to an already out of control fire.

When the reality of "war" began to sink into Washington DC politics many of the politicians were suddenly concerned about appeasing the Confederacy, further complicating Lincoln's ability to map out a clear war plan I'm sure, and perhaps the real reason Lincoln's words, when it came to the issue of slavery, fell so flat on Fredrick Douglass' ears.

The Abolitionist Study Part 2

The months leading up to Abraham Lincoln's inauguration, in 1861, were filled with telegraph reports of states like Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida taking their leave from the Union as one by one the southern states recombined themselves into the Confederate States of America. The Confederacy had taken the step that Douglass has assumed they would not. As Lincoln entered the presidency he became commander and chief of a military slowly spreading itself apart with two factions the abolitionist and the confederates ready for war. Even though newly in office Lincoln also knew the conditions were right for civil conflict.

On the slavery issue, the middle ground seemed to be disappearing and it was time to pick a side. With the secession of the southern states, Lincoln had to have realized that he no longer had to play by southern rules with regard to the agreements made about fugitive slaves, and southern slave hunters. Separating themselves from the union meant the south would have to use its own guns and could no longer count on northern support when it came to southern slaves.

But where the Confederates were unified against the abolitionist north and the abolitionist north just as unified against the Confederacy, as commander and chief, Lincoln has to mount a defense with union forces that were in many ways a mixture of both sides. So where Frederick Douglass might have said: "forward into battle men to free the slaves." Lincoln might have said, "Forward into battle men to preserve the union."

The war was on, and I'm sure that mothers in the south, as well as mothers in the north, cautioned their sons going off to war to remember that they might have relatives, driven into the conflict between the states just as they were, fighting on the other side. Battlefields in the north and south would be soaked in blood over the next few years as American fought against each other sacrificing their limbs, their youth, their lives and I suspect in some cases even their relatives on the other side of the battlefield. Both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass knew that no matter who won the war the U.S. would be changed forever.

Just as the gloves were off for President Lincoln with the secession of the southern states, when it came to the southern demands on the north where slavery was concerned, the Confederates in many ways felt the same and as a result. Many prominent white Abolitionist suddenly found themselves in needed 24-hour protection from southerners and southern sympathizers. In the case of Thomas Garrett, the community around him including many African Americans armed themselves and protected the valuable member of their community day and night. (To be continued)

The Abolitionist Study Part 1

In my studies of the abolitionist Frederick Douglass has always stood out to me because of his interaction and contentious relationship with Abraham Lincoln. Before the civil war, both Lincoln and Douglass traveled the country speaking about the effects of slavery on the nation. Frederick Douglass, in my opinion, was more to the point and backed by white abolitionist spoke about the total abolishment of slavery. Abraham Lincoln, on the other hand, seemed to take the more political approach which forced him to walk the line between slavery, and the total abolishment of slavery a situation that endeared him to neither side of the argument. For those in favor of abolition Lincoln's words were not strong enough, and for those in favor of slavery, his words lacked the confidence of a true conviction to preserving the institution of slavery in America.

One side wanted to see slavery abolished, over with and gone. The other side not only wanted to preserve slavery but also wanted to expand slavery into new territories. Frederick Douglass himself was surprised that the south would choose secession. From what he had heard of Lincoln's speeches he had come to the conclusion that the institution of slavery would be safe with the political appeasement and seeming desire to please both sides of the slavery argument that came from Lincoln's address to the crowds. 

Being direct in the political arena meant choosing a side, and choosing a side made it clear where you stood. Neither the abolitionist nor the southern Democrats had a problem with that because they were in total opposition to each other. Douglass understood that even if Lincoln was elected president the slave killing pledges and slave hunting would continue, it was after all the law, and while Lincoln might be in favor of changing those laws once in office he would still have to support and carry out those laws until, if or when, the laws were changed. 

So to Douglass, it was simple Lincoln is at heart a politician and while some things might change with the election of Abraham Lincoln, the major issue that drove  Frederick Douglass, the complete and total abolition of slavery, would basically stay the same. Frederick Douglass did not see Abraham Lincoln as an ally to the abolitionist, not a very reliable one anyway, in Frederick Douglass' mind only the total emancipation of the African Americans as the only path to a lasting peace.

In December of that year (1860) word reached Washington that Charleston, South Carolina had formally terminated its relationship with the Union of states.  Not since the ratification of the Constitution seventy-two years earlier had this country faced such a crisis; and things went from bad to worse, there was no internet back then but telegraph offices all over this nation coming apart at the seams constantly turn out news of states leaving the Union, I believe the secession of southern states from the union changed Lincoln's calculus. (To be continued)