Emancipation Proclamation



Emancipation Proclamation

Introduction

We will consider how we can best understand through biography and other sources the leadership with respect to the rights of African Americans of the most famous U.S. president, Abraham Lincoln. First, biographies are not useless. They convey a great deal of information about both leaders and leadership that might be very difficult to obtain otherwise. Human beings are imperfect perceivers of each other, and of the several ways that that is true. One must realize the fact the different perspectives that different historians and biographers have on different leaders. As we will see in the case of Lincoln, a number of articles have been published. If biographers agree, especially biographers from different political or intellectual perspectives, there is perhaps some correction for bias. Maybe the leadership of a particular figure is well triangulated by observers with diverging points of view. But then again, perhaps they are all making the same social perception errors. It's hard to know. Ronald Reagan once said about negotiating with the Soviet Union, trust but verify. That's good advice for people picking up the biography of a leader. (Freehling)

Thesis Statement

Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest American presidents of all time. During his presidency, the Civil War was fought and won (by the Union), and “American Slavery,” “one of those offenses, which in the providence of God, must needs come,” was removed. Because Lincoln's 200th birthday passed recently, his life and career have been scrutinized to an extraordinary degree. And appraisals of Lincoln are still being contested, even though he is usually rated as our greatest president, or if not the greatest, just behind George Washington or Franklin D. Roosevelt. For example, a piece in the February 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine by presidential scholar Philip Kunhardt asks whether Lincoln was the “Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist?” Different biographers, historians, and other commentators have addressed that question differently. Their different answers depend on many matters of perspective. However, one thing that seems plain is that Lincoln's views evolved in some ways but endured in others. Fortunately, we have his words, in speeches, letters, and official messages, to help us answer our question. All biographies use these materials to some extent. (Perman). Of course, the war came, the four upper South states seceded, but the four Border States did not. And the war created exigencies with respect to slavery that none had anticipated before ...