Writing about the Known World

Once a person, or people, have been enslaved, can they ever be truly emancipated?

Abe Lincoln's bid for Illinois Senate Seat in 1858
When running for Senate from Illinois in 1858, Lincoln and his opponent, Stephen Douglas, engaged in a series of political debates many of which focused on the issue of slavery and the rights the of the states in the Union. During the fourth debate Lincoln explained his opinion of blacks and the rights to which they are entitled:

I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway 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 inasmuch 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. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything.

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, "Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois" (September 18, 1858), pp. 145-146.

President Lincoln's Response to the Southern States
Although Lincoln lost the Senate race to Douglas he won the presidency in 1860 as the Republican candidate. The immediate response to his election by several southern states was secession from the Union. These seceded states created their own Constitution, elected their own President (Jefferson Davis) and legislature and adopted a name for their nation (Confederate States of America) which indicated their interpretation of the rights of the states relative to their federal authority. The Civil War began shortly thereafter when Lincoln sent Union war ships to re-supply the federal military fort, Fort Sumter, and those ships drew fire from the Confederacy. For the duration of the war Lincoln refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of the Confederacy, referring to them only as states in rebellion.

President Lincoln on Abolition
Four years after the war began, in private correspondence with Horace Greeley, Lincoln offered the following assessment of the status of blacks in the nation:

"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause."

The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume V, "Letter to Horace Greeley" (August 22, 1862), p. 388.

This letter indicates that Lincoln's actual assessment of slaves in the U.S. ran contrary to the perception of Lincoln as the emancipator of the slaves. Similarly, the Emancipation Proclamation, erroneously credited with freeing the slaves, was issued by Lincoln as a military, not humanitarian, measure in that he only offered emancipation to those slaves in states in rebellion - states over which he had no authority. The proclamation did not emancipate the slaves in any of the five border states which did not secede in which slavery was legal.

President Lincoln on Life After the War
One year after the issuing of the proclamation, Lincoln ran for re-election and won with only the north, the Union, voting. In his second inaugural address he attempted to steer the nation toward a resolution of the conflict:

It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

The Avalon Project : Second Inaugural Address of Abraham Lincoln

Certainly Lincoln's assessment of the obligations of the government to the nation and its individual citizens and residents evolved over the course of the Civil War. In fact, his assessment of the rights to which people were entitled seems to have evolved with experience.

Could Lincoln's ambitions for the nation at the close of the Civil War be realized?  Once a person, or people, have been enslaved, can they ever be truly emancipated? Consider the enslavement and emancipation of:

Step 1:
Write a prospectus for us. What is a prospectus you ask? If you didn't ask, YOU SHOULD HAVE. Before you begin your essay you must submit to us a description or explanation of your plan for this essay. What are you going to write about? Why? HDYK that it will work? Based on what you know about yourself as a thinker and writer, why is this a good plan for you? What will you need to accomplish this?

We will review your plan and give you feedback on its efficacy (look up this word, too) before you begin the essay. Hopefully we will all be spared a painful first draft during which you try to figure out what the heck you are actually going to do.

Step 2:
Review with your small group (to then be shared with the class) possible strategies that will enhance your thinking about these issues and questions.

Step 3:
Choose a strategy and have at it!

Anticipated Questions:
When is this due?
Prospectus due Wednesday, December 20
Essay due Friday, January 5

How long should it be?
As long as it needs to be to be good, thorough and interesting; you are not writing your PhD dissertation.

Do we have to write about all of these characters?
No. Choose the ones that work for your purpose, but choose from both columns (literary and historical).

THE RUBRIC