Debate Between Douglas And Lincoln 1858

Debate Between Douglas And Lincoln 1858prompt Bunion Offic

Prompt A: Debate between Douglas and Lincoln 1858Prompt B:Union officials met with black ministers in savannah Georgia Select ONE of the prompts below and respond with at least 400 words (about 2 pages). It should include at least two quotes from the relevant primary sources. Prompt A: In his 1858 debates with Stephen Douglass, Abraham Lincoln assured audiences that while he was opposed to the extension of slavery into the territories, he had “no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it [already] exists.†Five years later, Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation and had proclaimed at Gettysburg that the Civil War was being fought to bring about a “new birth of freedom.†Why and how did Lincoln’s position shift in these five years?

Your answer need not be comprehensive. Instead, it should identify two or three major developments that pushed Lincoln towards freeing the slaves in the Southern states and towards his new sense of the war’s purpose.

Prompt B: In 1865, Union officials met with twenty black ministers in Savannah, Georgia. When asked how the freedmen might best secure their freedom and independence, the spokesman for the ministers, Garrison Frazier, said the following: “The way we can best take care of ourselves is to have land, and turn it and till it by our own labor… and we can soon maintain ourselves and have something to spare.†Did most of the freedmen in the South get the land that Frazier said was essential for freedom and independence?

Did sharecropping, the economic arrangement under which many landless freedmen labored, provide independence and freedom? Were the sharecroppers truly free? In your answer, make sure to use specific examples from the sharecropping contract to make your case.

Paper For Above instruction

The evolution of Abraham Lincoln’s stance on slavery between his debates with Stephen Douglas in 1858 and his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 encapsulates one of the most significant ideological shifts in American history. This transformation was driven by complex political, military, and moral developments that collectively redefined Lincoln’s objectives during the Civil War. Additionally, the question of whether freedmen in the South truly achieved the independence and freedom envisioned by Garrison Frazier in 1865 calls into question the efficacy of postwar economic arrangements like sharecropping in establishing genuine emancipation.

Lincoln’s Shift in Position from 1858 to 1863

In 1858, Lincoln positioned himself as opposed to the expansion of slavery into new territories but committed to respecting slavery in states where it already existed. In his debates with Douglas, Lincoln stated, “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists.” This stance was primarily a political strategy aimed at uniting Free States opposed to the spread of slavery without provoking sectional conflict that could threaten the Union.

However, several pivotal developments over the subsequent five years catalyzed a fundamental shift in Lincoln’s views and policies. One critical moment was the outbreak of the Civil War itself, which made the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery deeply intertwined objectives. Lincoln recognized that to effectively wage a war aimed at preserving the Union, he had to manipulate the institution of slavery, leading to the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. This document declared all slaves in Confederate-held territory to be free, transforming the war into a moral crusade against slavery and expanding the purpose of the conflict.

Furthermore, Lincoln's recognition of emancipation as a strategic military necessity also contributed to his evolving stance. By 1863, it was evident that freeing enslaved African Americans would weaken the Confederacy’s labor system and bolster Union forces, as well as galvanize abolitionist support and discourage foreign powers from recognizing the Confederacy. As Lincoln himself acknowledged, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery.” Yet, his subsequent actions, including advocating for the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, reflected a commitment to ultimate abolition, which he saw as aligned with the moral imperatives and the strategic needs of winning the war.

The Role of Morality and Political Realities

Lincoln’s shift was also driven by the moral imperatives coming to the fore. As he grew increasingly aware of the fundamental injustice of slavery, he came to view abolition not only as a war measure but also as a moral necessity. His famous Gettysburg Address made clear that the Civil War was a “new birth of freedom,” signaling a redefinition of government based on equality and liberty for all Americans.

Thus, Lincoln’s evolving policy marked a strategic and moral journey from limited opposition to slavery’s expansion to full emancipation, intertwined with the Union’s preservation and the ideals of liberty.

The Postwar Freedoms and Sharecropping

The aspiration expressed by Garrison Frazier in 1865, advocating for land to enable self-sufficiency for freedmen, highlights a vision of true independence rooted in land ownership. However, most freedmen did not secure land immediately after emancipation. The federal government’s Major Land Policy, which attempted to distribute land through the Freedmen’s Bureau, largely failed due to political opposition and economic constraints.

Instead, many freedpeople entered into sharecropping arrangements, under which they rented land from landowners and paid with a portion of their crop. While sharecropping was purportedly a way for freedmen to work independently, in practice, it often perpetuated economic dependency and debt. Sharecropping contracts typically favored landowners, with stipulations that kept freedmen in a cycle of debt and poverty. For example, contracts set the rent as a fixed percentage of the crop, but prices for supplies and farm equipment were often inflated by landlords, trapping sharecroppers in a cycle of indebtedness that undermined true freedom and independence.

The absence of land redistribution and the exploitative nature of sharecropping meant that most freedmen remained economically dependent on landowners, limiting their ability to fully realize the independence Frazier envisioned. While some freedmen did manage to acquire land later, the systemic barriers and economic arrangements prevalent during Reconstruction often deprived them of the freedom and self-sufficiency Frazier believed was essential for true emancipation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Lincoln’s strategic, political, and moral considerations prompted a significant evolution of his stance on slavery between 1858 and 1863, transforming a position of limited opposition into one of emancipation and moral purpose. Meanwhile, despite the promises of independence articulated by Garrison Frazier, economic realities such as sharecropping largely failed to provide true freedom, perpetuating cycles of dependency that hindered genuine emancipation for most Southern freedmen.

References

• Foner, Eric. Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War. Oxford University Press, 1970.
• Lincoln, Abraham. “Remarks at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania,” November 19, 1863.
• McPherson, James M. Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era. Oxford University Press, 1988.
• Frazier, Garrison. Statement in Savannah, Georgia, 1865.
• Wilentz, Sean. The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln. W.W. Norton & Company, 2005.
• Stampp, Kenneth M. The Era of Reconstruction, 1865–1877. Vintage Books, 1965.
• Hahn, Steven. A Nation Under Our Feet: Black Political Struggles in the Rural South from Slavery to the Great Migration. Harvard University Press, 2003.
• Du Bois, W.E.B. The Souls of Black Folk. A.C. McClurg & Co., 1903.
• Gallagher, Gary W. The Union War. Harvard University Press, 2011.
• Klein, Herbert S. The Political Culture of the American Civil War. Tulane University Press, 1972.