Here's a shocking quote from Abraham Lincoln. (Thanks to Richard Dawkins for pointing it out.)
"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Here's the source, for those readers who can't believe he actually said this.
"I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races; that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say, in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And in as much as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race."
Here's the source, for those readers who can't believe he actually said this.
4 Comments:
That Abraham Lincoln made public statements about the superiority of the white race is not shocking in the least when you consider that:
1) The quote comes from before he was elected President
and 2) Very few black people could vote.
If he had said he believed that all men were created equal, Douglas would have won the 1860 election, and the course of human history would be very, very different.
To decry historical figures for not espousing modern beliefs is as absurd as it would be for us to consider our current ways in the context of ancient beliefs.
We're not better for have been born later, only luckier.
By Chris, at 8:15 PM
Thanks for the insightful comments (which I agree with). It's possible that Lincoln didn't believe what he was saying and said it merely because he knew doing otherwise would be political suicide. And it's probably true that I'm raising the bar too high in evaluating historical figures independent of the zeitgeist of their times. But moral relativism feels like a convenient excuse and merely serves to delay moral progress if people believe that they won't be viewed negatively for going along with current mainstream views. I find it very difficult to hold up our founding fathers as worthy of emulation when they owned slaves, even if this was considered acceptable at the time. I want to encourage people to live as if the future will judge them in absolute rather than relative terms.
By howtolive.org, at 10:25 AM
Don't want to pile on here, but -- to build on what Chris said -- I challenge howtolive to find a statement like this from Lincoln after 1863. I worked as a researcher on the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum -- our job was to take Lincoln "off the pedestal" and see who he really was. Lincoln was a decent man who came into office with prejudices of someone born in Kentucky. His generals (esp. McClellan) insisted that blacks wouldn't fight, and mustn't be included in the army. Frederick Douglass insisted they would fight, and demanded they be included. Blacks fought ferociously in the war for their own freedom -- from that moment, Lincoln never, ever expressed a sentiment like the one you use. Lincoln is loved not because of his perfection, but because (unlike our current President) he was humble enough to allow his consciousness to evolve, so wisdom could emerge.
By Anonymous, at 1:17 PM
It seems unlikely that the intent of howtolive.org was to defame Lincoln. The point of this site is to inspire enlightenment, not to rebuke public figures, it just seems that these people and events involving them usually are among the only examples we have that the public could recognize as veridical. As the second comment shows, the quote from Lincoln was a pertinent example of the zeitgeist during the civil war and if there was any attack from this site it was on people's inability to discard the public's opinion when on the search for truth and equality in a momment when they have influence or will have influence.
By ClandestineEnder, at 2:29 PM
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