racicism is ill will towards members of a certain race of people. three, racism is racially motivated indifference to the welfare of members of a certain race of people. being a racist according to any of these three definitions is a serious moral failing, but very clearly lincoln was never a racist according to any of these three definitions. he never thought that anyone was justified in exploiting or enslaving members of certain races, and he was never hostile or indifferent to the welfare of blacks or members of other races. a fourth definition is as follows. racism is the belief that certain races are morally or intellectually superior to other races. it's unclear whether or not lincoln was a racist in this sense. nowhere in any of his writings or speeches does he say that whites are inherently or morally or intellectually superior to blacks but nowhere does he explicitly deny this either. but lincoln clearly endorsed unjust racial discrimination during most if not all of his political career. he defended unjust laws that denied free african-ame