Do we move to a more spiritual level and make ourselves less the center of the universe? Or, do we start out self absorbed and stay that way?
The *great* men and women of renown may not have always been the ones we read of in the history books. Consider the words of The Great Emancipator a scant seven years before his death...
“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.”
by:
Abraham Lincoln
(1809-1865) 16th US President
Source:
Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858
(The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume III, pp. 145-146.)
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*Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to
the proposition that all men are created equal.*
I guess you could say he "evolved"...(sarcasm intended)
ReplyDelete... Don't tell the Creationists ...
DeleteAn amazing correlation you've made with the use of these two Lincoln quotes... Very nice.
ReplyDeleteEach of us should endeavor todevelop and that is what he did ..
DeleteYou dont get it. When LIncoln uttered those words, most people would not piss on a black child to put out a fire. Even in the North, most people thought of blacks more like dogs that could talk, and who smelled worse than dogs.
ReplyDeleteLincoln was trying to win election. When he showed up, people would shout out "NIGGER LOVER". His opponent would accuse him of the horrible crime of being for equal rights. How Lincoln handled this mattered.
Lincoln haters now like to use selected quotes like this to piss on Lincoln. What you DONT get is what Lincoln said AFTER that quote. And what he did.
What Lincoln did was genius -- though you dont see it that way. No one -- no one -- tried this, but Lincoln. He would seem to agree with the that sentiment -- apparently agreeing anyway. But then he would do a rope-a-dope. That's the part they don't show you. Lincoln would then double back, after he seemed to agree with the prejudice, and beat the living FUCK out of that sentiment in a way no one could refute. He did not stop the speech there -- he went on. And by going on- he changed everything.
He would say then that while he did not see blacks -- perhaps -- as equal in all respects (he parsed words better than anyone) -in all the rights under God and in our constitution, those blacks were equal to ANY MAN. ANY MAN. He said they were the equal of him, or of Judge Douglas, or ANY MAN. You didn't show that.
Lincoln haters never do.
So you quoted only part of it. And you left out what he did.
Lincoln set up the killer punch, if you want to see it that way. If Lincoln had got up and said "You are damn right blacks are equal" he probably would have been shot or attacked. So he said did that dance-- I have never said blacks and whites are equal-- yada yada. But in as much as one race -- do you see the parsing? Then he came with "they are the equal to ANY MAN".
It's sad that people miss this now.
Ironically there is a movie clip from 1939 movie about LIncoln which h appens to show this exact technique. You should see it, its on you tube. Shows this perfectly, literally.
The screenplay used nearly exact words from the actual Lincoln Douglas debates, though they combined several cities into one speech, but both men's actual positions are well represented, and the words almost exact, though a compilation.
You can see Lincoln do what I told you above.
Lincoln was not so much "growing" as he was reaching the audience. And you can't understand that if you don't know his audience. Probably one 1 person in 500 wanted equality for races. And LIncoln's goal was to stop the spread of slavery at that point. You forget that too. The whole thing was about the spread of slavery vs non-spread. That's what the LIncoln Douglas debates were about.
Anyway, go see this youtube
,http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFpmPNaMa_8
By the way, Lincoln did this "rope a dope" in almost every speech. For example, you can take his Peoria speech and make it SEEM like he was gung ho for colonization. The words are there.
ReplyDeleteBut then read the ENTIRE speech. yes, he SEEMED to agree with it -- but then, he would double back, like I told you about above. He would double back and obliterate that very thing he just moments ago seem to agree with.
Plus, re colonization, you don't get it -- you don't get what was going on. Southern governers openly discussed the need to KILL slaves "with our bare hands" if they freed them. The refused to kill them, their speeches said, they grew up with slaves, God entrusted slaves to them, they would not kill them. There fore, they would not free them. SOciety would be ruined, whites would be debased -- widespread poverty of both races and sexual connections would happen. In other words, Southern leaders made their case WHY they would never free the slaves, in fact, slavery had to spread.
Bet you didn't know that. Bet you never heard that Southern leaders talked about killing their slaves- - not as a threat, but as reason they would not free them. Freeing them would make it necessary to kill then, that was not going to happen. Dont misunderstand me, that they promised to kill their slaves, they were in fact saying they refused to do that.
But THAT is what was going around -- why they could never free slaves. Lincoln spoke of this -- slavery was like a cancer and would kill the host. So LIncoln SEEMED to agree -- spoke of colonization. But then in the SAME speech said that was impossible and unjust.
You probably don't know either that it was common, very common, for Southern leaders to equate freeing slaves with death of whites, just letting slave numbers grow so high, so dense, was a threat to life - Robert Toombs shouted "EXPAND SLAVERY OR WE WILL BE EXTERMINATED"
People don't grasp this now. Read the Southern papers from 1855 -1861 and you will see this spoken of. Slave owners had a tiger by the tail -- either slave territory was going to increase, or "we will be burned slowly to death" said the governor of Florida, which had only a small ration of slaves. Other areas -- SC and Miss - had very high concentration of slaves, and the fear of slave uprising was fever pitch.
SO you need to know the context, and the complete speeches, and why LIncoln used the rope a dope.