Lincoln was a proponent of gradual compensated emancipation. He hoped that between 1860 and 1900 that slavery would be eliminated. However, he wanted the the dissolving of slavery to be tied to colonization abroad. He believed that slaves who would willingly move to the Caribbean and Central America would not only give the former slaves a place to go, but would also strengthen America’s present abroad.

Did Lincoln view slavery as the the irritant that culminated in the Civil War? Why did the Emancipation Proclamation not include anything about colonization? How did Lincoln’s view of colonization get taken advantage of by other political actors? What did Frederick Douglass think of colonization? Should we continue to put Lincoln up on a pedestal, when in reality, he was a proponent of relocating freed slaves to the Caribbean and Central America?

Further Reading:

Colonization After Emancipation: Lincoln and the Movement for Black Resettlement, written by Phil Magness

Abraham Lincoln: Campaigns and Elections, written by Michael Burlingame

How Republicans went from the party of Lincoln to the party of Trump, written by Andrew Prokop

Related Content:

Lincoln the Colonizationist Part 1, with Phil Magness, Liberty Chronicles Podcast

Abraham Lincoln and the Abolitionists, written by George H. Smith

James Birney, Colonization, and Abolitionism, written by George H. Smith

 

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