Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United StatesCrosby, Frank
History
Life of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States
Crosby, Frank
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
“The emancipation will be unsatisfactory to the advocates of
perpetual slavery; but the length of time should greatly mitigate
their dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the
evils of sudden derangement--in fact, from the necessity of any
derangement--while most of those whose habitual course of thought
will be disturbed by the measure, will have passed away before its
consummation. They will never see it. Another class will hail the
prospect of emancipation, but will deprecate the length of time.
They will feel that it gives too little to the now living slaves.
But it really gives them much. It saves them from the vagrant
destitution which must largely attend immediate emancipation in
localities where their numbers are very great; and it gives the
inspiring assurance that their posterity shall be free forever. The
plan leaves to each State, choosing to act under it, to abolish
slavery now, or at the end of the century, or at any intermediate
time, or by degrees extending over the whole or any part of the
period; and it obliges no two States to proceed alike. It also
provides for compensation, and, generally, the mode of making it.
This, it would seem, must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of
those who favor perpetual slavery, and especially of those who
are to receive the compensation. Doubtless, some of those who are
to pay, and not to receive, will object. Yet the measure is both
just and economical. In a certain sense, the liberation of slaves
is the destruction of property--property acquired by descent, or
by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true
for having been often said, that the people of the South are not
more responsible for the original introduction of this property,
than are the people of the North; and when it is remembered how
unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar and share the profits of
dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say, that the South
has been more responsible than the North for its continuance. If,
then, for a common object, this property is to be sacrificed, is it
not just that it be done at a common charge?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account