Assuring Freedom to the Free

Jefferson’s Declaration and the Conflict over Slavery

          In this article, Tewell attempts to better qualify the northern antislavery sentiments through an argument stemming from Jefferon's philosophy in the Declaration of Independence. Tewell initially examines several other potential causes for northern antislavery movements, including ethnocultural and moral theories that Tewell believes to fall short. He also briefly examines Foner's long-standing economic theory which states that Northerners had an economic interest in removing slavery in order to preserve their own economic structure. However, Tewell points out that while the economic reasons do fit the puzzle, they do not account for the distinction between Northern democrats and republicans, who should ideally have the same economic interests. Tewell focuses instead of the ideology championed by Lincoln, in that in the Declaration, the equality of all men should be guaranteed. Building upon that, Lincoln and other Republicans argued that denying the freedom and liberty of one man, whether black or otherwise, was an avenue to do the same to any other man, including whites. In this way, the institution of slavery provided an avenue for potentially denying the freedoms of white men, and the only way to ensure security against oppression was to guarantee liberty for all men. The Republicans argued that this was already guaranteed by the Declaration of Independence, and that if it were to be modified to justify the oppression of the black population, then a precedence will have been set to justify the oppression of any other population as well. This was actually a strategy that Lincoln used more than once, as he could look to the Declaration of Independence for justification of his political goals instead of being forced to deal with the Constitutional questions of his decisions. As Lincoln put it himself, “in giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free—honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.” For Tewell, this argument best accounts for the strong political divide between Northern democrats and republicans who might otherwise share very similar interests.

source:

Tewell, Jeremy J. "Assuring Freedom to the Free: Jefferson's Declaration and the Conflict over Slavery." Civil War History 58, no. 1 (2012): 75-96.