Abraham Lincoln is a symbol of freedom and equality, as an influential figure that is respected and praised by the people of America throughout the entirety of history. He has a place in the history of the United States as someone that is held in the highest regard in the way that he exemplified what it meant to fully be American through his actions as a state official and later as president of the United States of America. He invincibly cemented his place in the word of civil rights as one of the most influential promoters of civil rights with his announcement of Emancipation Proclamation capping off a lifelong commitment to fighting the racial disparity that plagued American society. The virtue of Lincoln’s actions throughout his life propelled him as a person
Born in a log cabin in Hardin County, Kentucky on February 12, 1809, Lincoln was born into a poverty stricken family, and so he had a tough upbringing very much similar to millions of other Americans living in the Midwest during the early 1800s. His early adolescent years were made more difficult after the death of his mother, due to food poisoning, when he was at the tender age of nine. Similarly with the lives of many influential people in history, Lincoln’s early childhood served as a major influence in shaping him as a person and also giving him an outlook on life from the same perspective of the common man, which would later prove to be key in his rise to power and connection to the people of the United States. He connected with the common man and people that were oppressed, because his own life was not a “walk in the park” like the majority of his colleagues who were often born into family wealth. A story of rags to riches, Lincoln exemplified the American dream, what meant to work hard and bring yourself up the ladders of society into success and prominence, while still incorporating the virtues of equality and fighting for the equality of those who were oppressed in America. As a predominantly white country, for centuries America had a heavy racial barrier that between whites and blacks, while a social ladder was mindedly constructed that allowed the continuous domination of all other races by whites.
Lincoln’s involvement with racial activism was not a sudden event but a long and continuous journey that he had chose to take in his quest to fulfilling his partial call in life by bringing equality to those who were oppressed. He had for long been an ardent opposer to slavery expansion and against those who held views that supported the continuity of the cruel institution to be part of the future of the United States. From the early years of the Mexican-American War, when he voted for the Wilmot Proviso, which denied the expansion of slavery to newly acquired western territories, to his overall disdain of the rationale of the manifest destiny and America’s right to rule over the land with complete authority because of a god given proclamation, Lincoln was a progressive mind in the midst of many others who were engulfed and overrun with the thoughts of the influx of current events. For Lincoln, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Kansas Civil War, and the Dred Scott case were all part of a plan to spread slavery to the West. In terms of how the situation of slavery was handled, the majority of state governments in America maintained that the discriminatory legislation, enacted around the ratification of the Constitution, which pointed toward an assumption that the newly created polity did not embrace free black people. If their treatment of enslaved black people provides any indication, the framers considered them wholly expendable to the needs of the federal system. The Constitution thus left them at the mercy of the states in which they lived, and it made no provision, barring amendment, to incorporate them later. As a result of the U.S constitution not specifically having laws in place to control the treatment of slaves in new territories, slave states had dominion over how to enforce their rule over them, and also when it came to spreading it to newly acquired territories. The vagueness of the Constitution left blacks in a state of disarray where they lived life to the tune of the white man's song. Lincoln, as a congressman during and after the Mexican-American War, fought to ensure that slavery would be an institution that would be controlled to prevent further growth because of the helplessness of the black race in controlling the situation. Enter here more examples to prove the details about the previous statements.
To further his involvement against the institution of slavery, as an employee of the Illinois government, and as a congressman in Washington DC, Lincoln was involved in bringing equality to those that were oppressed and fighting against the spread of slavery from the state level up to the national platform. Consequentially, as an avid believer of equality he proposed plans to slowly eradicate slavery from the District of Columbia. Lincoln took initiative by discussing his opinions and plans with fellow Democrats about how he thought the issue of slavery should be dealt in the nation's capital. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas being two of the most prominent representatives of Illinois, had disagreements over the issue of slavery. Douglas, because of his relationship with the South held sympathetic views on the issue of slavery while Lincoln was fiercely against it and wanted progressive abolition that would eventually be complete.
As a counterpoint given by many people that were pro-slavery, there was an argument about Lincoln’s true beliefs on the issue of slavery. About seven months before the election of 1860, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of his most renowned speeches to 1,500 antislavery New Yorkers at the Cooper Institute in Astor Place. He brought up points that were supposed to help people understand the immorality of slavery but to many his speech came off as bigoted and made him look like a chameleon in front of the general public that read the speech. He argued how the founding fathers wanted slavery to exist only where it had traditionally been, in the South, and he proclaimed that any spread into further U.S territories was contradictory to what the wishes of the founding fathers. In addition, he argued that federal rule over the issue of the spread of slavery had dominion over state constituents.
As one of his most monumental actions taken as president, Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, setting slaves free in rebel controlled states after the huge Union “victory” in the Battle of Antietam. It was key that the Union army got a victory before the Emancipation proclamation was announced because a win for the Union would carry more weight and invalidate the Confederate army as a fighting power in the United States, cutting of their support from foreign nations and shattering their already weakened morale. Another major figure in the Civil, more for negative reasons than positive ones, General MccLellan of the Union army was a foe of Lincoln as they had disagreements about battle strategies and Lincoln always fearing the loyalty of Mcclellan because he felt that his views about slavery were hindering his decisiones on the battlefield against the Confederate army. As a one of the major generals in the Union army, MccLellan’s situation regarding his beliefs was a huge question mark because he was trusted to do a job that was key to the future of the country. The doubts about his loyalty to the Union bothered Lincoln and compromised the plans of the Union in their plan to win the war. Before and during the war General MccLellan held views that resonated more with Confederate leaders than the Union administration. He felt that preserving the union and having more federal control in the government were the reasons he was fighting in the war while the war had turned to a war about slavery. The fundamental difference in the way that Lincoln and MccLellan thought about the magnitude of slavery as a major problem in context with the Civil War was a thorn in Lincoln’s back that bothered him from a personal and militaristic perspective. More details on the relationship between Lincoln and MccLellan(Specifically Battle of Antietam). During the war it is important not to forget the involvement of slaves on ensuring their freedom somewhat “illegally” because there was not a law that stated the freedom of slaves, as they ran away from plantations to nearby Union posts, and there were also minor rebellions. Because the Emancipation Proclamation eradicated slavery only in Confederate states, it was vital that slaves had to do some work in ensuring their freedom by escaping to Union posts and uprising from the inside.
Lincoln’s actions were as president set a precedent for future laws that were put in place to further the freedom and integration of African Americans to the American society. Most specifically with the 13th, 14th, and 15th fully granting blacks freedom from slavery, citizenship as U.S citizens, and finally allowing black men the right to vote. Lincoln’s actions as president were vital to the pavement of roads that would lead to more rights and benefits being given to the newly freed 4 million or so former slaves all over the United States. He served as a figure that was the representative of freedom and equality because the emancipation Proclamation had positive repercussions that would lead to the most important three amendments in black history in the United States of America. There is also a romanticized part of Lincoln’s death as the events that happened after his death were honorary and how he would’ve wanted things to pan out after the end of the Civil War. He served as an example and a light for others who had been in the dark because of their fear of being against the majority.