LINCOLN'S NEGRO POLICY

"I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States,
and commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do
hereby proclaim and declare that . . . it is my purpose upon
the next meeting of Congress to again recommend . . . the
immediate or gradual abolishment of Slavery . . . and that
the effort to colonize persons of African descent, with their
consent, upon the continent or elsewhere, with the
previously obtained consent of the government existing
there, will be continued; that on the first day of January, in
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty
three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or any
designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be
in rebellion against the United States, shall be then,
thenceforward and forever free;"

LINCOLN AND JEFFERSON

The racial philosophy of Abraham Lincoln differs little,
if any, from that of Thomas Jefferson. Each weighed the
"alternatives" and each chose separation. They considered
the issues involved in holding the races together. Mr.
Jefferson said, "Nothing is more certainly written in the
book of fate than that these people are to be free: nor is it
less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in
the same government." He declared that he wished for the
Negroes the full liberties of men, but in a country of their
own in a climate congenial to them.
Shortly before his election to the Presidency, Mr. Lincoln
went into more detail in this respect. In a Douglas-Lincoln
debate, Senator Douglas had said, "For one I am opposed to
Negro citizenship in any and every form. I believe this
government was made by white men, for the benefit of
white men and their posterity forever." To these sentiments
Mr. Lincoln replied, "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 inter-marry 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."

There could be no better preface for President Lincoln's
executive acts than his precise statement in a debate with
Senator Douglas, "Such separation if effected at all, must be
effected by colonization: and no political party as such is
now doing anything directly for colonization. Party
operations at present only favor or retard colonization incidentally
. . . what colonization most needs is a hearty will .
. . Let us be brought to believe that it is morally right, and at
the same time favorable to, or at least not against, our
interests to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the
task may be."

In his First
Annual Message he referred to this class of liberated Negroes and
proposed that Congress consider colonizing them "at some place
or places in a climate congenial to them. . . If it be said that the
only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes
for white men, this measure effects that object: for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white
men remaining or coming here".

SOUTHERN ECONOMY
President Lincoln knew that Southern economy was
based on cheap Negro labor and white men's labor made
cheap through competition with Negro labor. He was of
Anglo-Saxon descent, born in the South. He knew that the
"upper class" Southerners, so called, while boasting of
Saxon blood, for the first time in Saxon history were maintaining
an economy under which the poor of the race were
compelled to compete against the lowly and helpless Negro
in order to get food for their children. Again, in his Second
Annual Message, he refers to the competition of the races—
"Reduce the supply of black labor by colonizing the black
laborer out of the country, and by precisely so much you
increase the demand for, and wages of, white labor."

ALL CLASSES
The question of what classes of Negroes would be
entitled to government assistance in the President's scheme
of colonization is easily settled—his plans included all
classes. There were three classes: free Negroes, slaves held
by loyal citizens, and slaves held by persons in arms against
the general government. July 12, 1862, the President assembled
members of Congress from the border States and
told them he favored compensated emancipation and
colonization. August 14 he assembled free Negroes in the
White House, urged colonization upon them, and asked for
volunteers. September 22 he issued the Emancipation
Proclamation which would affect slaves held by citizents in
arms against the Union, and more than half of that
document, prior to announcing freedom for the slaves, is
given to the question of Negro colonization