Lincoln and Slavery in the Southern States
Abraham Lincoln was sworn in as the president of the United States during the time of the national crisis. Lincoln sought to reassure the people of the Southern states stating that he had no intention of any form of interference with their possessions and slaves (Chacón and Jensen 2020). This reassurance was confirmed during Lincoln’s inaugural address. According to Lincoln’s submission, it is evident that Lincoln had no intention of interfering with the peace and the activities of the trade unionists in the South.
The southerners had great apprehension and were very fearful of the republican’s administration. A closer analysis of Lincoln’s votes in the Southern States reveals that Lincoln had won almost a zero percent vote in the South (Dirck 2015). This, therefore, a cause for alarm as there were tangible beliefs and reasons why the southern states feared the Lincoln presidency. It is much easy to accept that Abraham had been entirely rejected in the South. Many confederate citizens who existed in the southern states supported the Unionists. With the existence of trade unionists in these states, there was a significant disconnect which existed between the trade unionist and those voters who supported Lincoln’s election. Many southerners who rejected Lincoln’s election were indifferent about Lincoln’s views on slavery. Many of the Southerners did not believe that slavery was not a serious issue, and there was no need to resolve it. Many Southerners believed very strongly that Lincoln had intended to make changes to the slavery issue (Chacón and Jensen, 2020). According to Lincoln’s opinions and speeches, it was obvious that Lincoln believed that slavery was an issue that required a solution. This made many Southerners to fear Lincoln’s presidency as they thought that their properties-salves- were endangered.
According to the preliminary analysis, it is apparent that Lincoln’s opinions were against slavery. He had sought to reassure the Southerners that he could have no much influence on the issue as the Constitution tied him. He had told the Southerners through his address that he had no intention of interfering with the slavery institution which existed in the Southern States. This confirms the fact that Lincoln’s words opposed slavery but he pressured by the constitutional and the trade unionist who existed in the Souter States.
Several reasons contributed towards the fear of Lincoln by the Southerners. Many southerners feared Lincoln because of his divided speech. Many Southerners thought that Abraham Lincoln was firmly against and would cause serious realignment in terms of the slavery system, which existed in the South. Most people in the South, therefore, strongly feared him because they knew that Lincoln would side with slaves. Southerners believe that Lincoln could not be easily controlled, and his presidency would have a lot of implications in terms of redefining their future (Dirck 2015). Southerners believed that the Lincoln presidency would, therefore, interfere with their culture, so many people in the South decided to believe the worst. More threats were also being posed by Lincoln’s power to nominate four judges who were against slavery, and most southerners thought that these powers would pose a lot of threat to their slave institution in the South.
Bibliography
Chacón, Mario L., and Jeffrey L. Jensen. “Democratization, De Facto Power, and Taxation: Evidence from Military Occupation during Reconstruction.” World Politics 72, no. 1 (January 1, 2020): 1–46. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0043887119000157.
Dirck, Brian R. Abraham Lincoln, and the Rise of White America. Project MUSE. University Press of Kansas, 2015. https://muse.jhu.edu/book/40550.