Civil War Dbq

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“As a nation of free men we must live through all time, or die by suicide,” (qtd. in Humes 12) This quote by Abraham Lincoln clearly defines, to this day, the metaphorical weight held on the shoulders of the United States. The nation can only be destroyed from within, no impending force will extinguish the flame of freedom. There were many causes of the perilous civil rebellion that Lincoln was thrust into as president. One of the most commonly known causes is slavery. Contrary to common belief, the Civil War was not started just because of slavery but because of rights. Lincoln had to value both the removal of American rights for the institution of slavery, and the elimination of rights caused by forcing Southern states to give up their property.…show more content…
in Humes 25). In this he is referring to the contradiction of how one man’s freedom can be the jeopardy of another’s. He implies that freeing the slaves would impair the independent liberty of all the currently ordained citizens of the country. “...he [the black man] is my equal, ...and the equal of every living man,” (Mr. Lincoln’s Reply bartleby.com) In his reply in the Lincoln-Douglas debates of Ottawa, Illinois, Lincoln stated that slaves are equal to white men, but he also said, “I have no purpose to introduce political and social equality between the white and the black races,” (Mr. Lincoln’s Reply bartleby.com). Was he here stating that he was in full knowledge of a wrongdoing, but was not willing to do anything about that said wrongdoing? Was this a foreshadowing of the Emancipation Proclamation, a virtually useless document that only freed slaves only where there were no slaves? The will to get something done and actually getting it done are two very different things. Lincoln exhibits the will, but not the way to do something about his said ‘opinion’ on the matter of slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation and some of his responses in the presidential debates are two examples of this hypocrisy. Taking all of this information into consideration, are we sure that Lincoln was the man that we

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