Abraham Lincoln - Essay Example

On 1861 March, Abraham Lincoln took an oath of office being the 16th president of the U.S. The country had long struggled with slavery for long. Kansa City was affected since laws against slavery had been broken. Anti-slavery and pro-slavery partisans did engage in a war aimed at control of the territorial government. Lincoln’s supporters in 1860 preferred union preservation as opposed to the abolition of slavery. On the contrary, Lincoln's election was not emanating from his followers, most of them Republicans that wanted the complete abolishment of slavery (Erick, 134).

Abraham Lincoln became a martyr following his assassination in 1865. In history books, he has been portrayed as a crusader in anti-slavery. In death, he became a great emancipator. However, he refused to play this role in life. The interest of Lincoln in slavery seems to be political as opposed to a moral agenda. This is a fact that has made modern historians vilify Abraham Lincoln.  Many prominent political figures and historians have since the recent past concluded that Lincoln deserves credit for introducing the slavery issue to the public in America (Erick, 257).

Abraham Lincoln is termed as ‘the great emancipator’, because of his actions that were evident during and after the Civil War. Though many people still believe that he does not deserve the accolade, the argument against it is not well supported with concrete evidence and hence many reasons exist as to why Lincoln should maintain the title ‘The Great Emancipator’. In assessing whether or not Abraham Lincoln deserves the name, the Great Emancipator’ should ensure the description of ‘great’ by examining. In addition, many people should believe and attribute greatness to personally, believe in the cause of their fight, accomplish something admirable intentionally, and incorporate public opinion into the decision-making process (Erick, 323).

Abraham Lincoln, however, was a racist. For approximately 100 years after his death, African Americans regarded him widely as a paternalistic figure. Modern historians started publicizing the truth that Lincoln was as racist just as other whites of his time. One of the incidents cited as evidence of racism is whereby the blacks had to kneel at Lincoln’s feet. He advocated for the return of newly freed slaves to Africa and openly stated the primary goal of the civil war was the preservation of the union and not ending slavery. Lincoln was led by political as opposed to moral reasons as a result of his concern for slavery. His critics used these revelations in order to portray him as being complicit in the creation of false mythology for personal gain. However, prominent African Americans as well as the current president have concluded that Lincoln broached the slavery issue. Albeit Lincoln had no intention of completely ending slavery, his effort of raising the awareness of the public on the issue deserves credit (Erick 415).

In conclusion, Lincoln seems not to have complete emancipation support in the beginning, but this does not mean he was after it personally. His motives are honorable because he was principally and morally at ending slavery. His personal beliefs were always opposed to slavery. He did believe in the effort of the founding fathers who put slavery towards extinction, while he wanted to pursue that path. He was, however, hesitant at emancipation due to political than other reasons. He was afraid he would lose much of this support and was focused extremely on saving the union, his major priority always. He wanted to practice a better-compromising emancipation form that included colonization and compensation, but putting the concept of unionism prior to emancipation does not guarantee his greatness.