Eric Foner

The lecture that Eric Foner gave was one of the best lectures I had seen. He mixed humor with historical knowledge. He also did a tremendous job mixing Civil War history with modern day events. Most of the points that Eric Foner made were things that we had already talked about in class. 

Lincoln hated slavery as much as abolitionist, but not for moral reasons. Lincoln considered slavery a theft. It was stealing the right of blacks to prosper off their fruits of their labor. Slavery also went against the Declaration of Independence, and natural rights that Jefferson based the Declaration off of, because slaves did not have the right to liberty as discussed in the Declaration of Independence. 

Lincoln did not want to end slavery just because he thought it went against natural rights, but Lincoln thought that slavery went against democracy. Lincoln revered the Constitution, unlike abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison who burned the Constitution because it allowed slavery, and wanted to expand democracy. This was one of the reasons that Lincoln opposed the Mexican War. Lincoln wanted to expand democracy by example, and slavery was hypocritically of the principles of democracy. 

Lincoln believed in freeing the slaves, but did not want to have free black living in the United States. Lincoln believed in colonization, along with many other famous politicians such as Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson stated that he did not want blacks and whites living together, because then the races would mix, and that was a negative according to Jefferson. Lincoln did not want blacks holding office or voting in the United States. Lincoln also supported the idea of colonization, because he knew that blacks could never enjoy their freedom, and would face racism if they lived in the United States. 

The Emancipation Proclamation was maybe the most interesting part of Lincoln's presidency, because it was immediate. Lincoln had always advocated gradual emancipation of the black population, and reparation for loss of property. The Emancipation Proclamation was immediate, and did not pay for loss of property.