he understood local people were very much in accord with stephen douglas. and so he wanted to convince them that his views were not that inconsistent with theirs. and so he can be forgiven for some of the things that he said. against a shrewd politician. and there is some truth to that and we need to remember that lincoln was a son of the south. he was someone who shared some of the racial views ad did the southern white man and southern women and northern white men and women during that era. lincoln believed that the inferiority he was seeing was a consequence of slavery. that that institution degraded black people. it did not give them the opportunity of a fair chance in the race of whites, as she put it. and so he was different in that way. and so slavery, he could not abide slavery, because it did not give people the opportunity. that doesn't mean that he felt that black people could be equal to him. he was not at that time. and we look at him over the period, from 1858 to the end of the war and we see that he relates very well to individual african ame

anyway, stephen douglas. was reinforcing white supremacy and lincoln was doing what he could to shake his population his his constituents loose of that by just reminding them of something they knew in their heart of hearts that black people had the same rights as white people because guess what they're people i'll point out that that 1853 law if an african-american moved into the state of illinois the free state of illinois got arrested and fined. i think it was $50 if they couldn't pay the $50 they would be auctioned off and someone could purchase their labor until the debt was paid and we think about the free state of illinois for is not really free in the way that we would normally think edna. i want to come over to you. we see changes in lincoln's policies and positions over the course of his political career. can you talk about that evolution? and how do we account for it? it's great that you started with the lincoln douglas debates of 58 because when we talk about that evolution over time, we usually st

i'm sorry, i'm sorry, sir reg anchorum from quincy, illinois the the city that elected both stephen douglas and warble hickman browning to the us senate from the fifth congressional district. my question is this this morning you've mentioned four times the 13th amendment that followed the civil war but not once the 13th amendment that preceded the civil war in which abraham lincoln was indicated during his inaugural dress. he was willing to accept slavery and willing to make it unamendable. he was willing to accept but go ahead. yeah and will but the crittenden a minute did make it he was the core one amendment did say it was going to be made permanent and undementable. i'm wondering doesn't that indicate that the straight line you talk about was actually a pretty wide circle. no. um, but it's an important question because it comes up all the time the corwin amendment. reaffirms the federal consensus. it asserts that the constitution shall not be changed. so as to allow the federal government to abolish slavery in a state, but everybody already agreed that congress could not abolish slavery

this put lincoln in direct opposition to northern democrats like stephen douglas, who read the declaration demean that only white people are created equal. and just a pro slavery southerners like john c calhoun and jefferson davis, who argued that only states were created equal. for a link, in all men are created equal meant everyone. men and women, black and white, all were entitled to the natural right of liberty. if the negro is a man, he once said, my good faith tells me that all men are created equal. although lincoln had always hated, slavery he had never been much of a racial egalitarian. but as his commitment to the anti slavery constitution intensified, as the principal of fundamental human equality became the organizing theme of his politics, his views on race shifted subtly in a more a gala therrien direction. if the spirit of the constitution was anti slavery, so is the text. here, lincoln confrontation with the pro slavery constitution was directed an ambiguous. over the decades, at a northern activists, writers than politicians steadily develop the anti slavery interpretation

it would be what he said at the charleston debate with stephen douglas in 1858, about social equality. and then this moment in august of 1862. so, the context is that, in the september of 1862, lincoln has decided to issue an emancipation proclamation. william seward persuades him to wait until there is a victory on the battlefield, because the war has been going badly for the union in the spring and summer of 62. the peninsula campaign, which went right through where i am here in newport, west virginia, was a disaster for the union. so, seward was concerned that, if lincoln issued an emancipation proclamation then, that it would look like an act of desperation. it would lead england and france to recognize the confederacy as illegitimate nation. and so, lincoln agrees and lincoln decides to wait until there is a union victory. the problem is, lincoln's generals can't get their act together, so there is a major loss at manassas and august and that is not a victory until september, september 17th, at antietam. while this is going, on wellington is waiting for this victory to come, he d