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Debunking the Abraham Lincoln Myth
An Analysis by Dr. Sabri Bebawi, PhD
My Republican friends and colleagues, now former in both respects, always intrigued me when I asked why they identified as Republicans. Their answers were often strikingly similar, almost as if they were hesitant to reveal their affiliation: "We are Abraham Lincoln Republicans." I would smile and remain silent.
It seems that Republicans are aware of the negative perceptions often associated with their party—racism, hatred, a Machiavellian belief that the ends justify the means, and a willingness to use and exploit others in their pursuit of happiness. To distance themselves from this reputation, they frequently invoke Abraham Lincoln, pointing to his role in the Emancipation Proclamation as a symbol of righteousness.
In this analysis, we will examine Abraham Lincoln and dismantle the myth that he was one of the greatest presidents of the United States. Let’s begin by understanding who he really was. Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.
Unlike many modern Republicans, Lincoln was indeed a very intelligent man. He had a remarkable gift for words, and his eloquence stirred emotions and earned him widespread admiration. Some of his most famous quotes include:
- “Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”
- “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.”
However, Lincoln’s views on slavery were complex and often contradictory. In a three-hour speech in Peoria, Illinois, in the fall of 1854, Lincoln articulated his moral, legal, and economic opposition to slavery, yet he admitted uncertainty about what could be done within the existing political system. He did not believe that blacks should have the same rights as whites. Although Lincoln argued that the founding fathers’ phrase “All men are created equal” applied to both blacks and whites, this did not mean he believed in equal social and political rights for all races.
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation
Lincoln, unlike any modern Republican, was a shrewd politician and a skilled strategist. To secure victory in the Civil War, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. This decision was driven less by a moral opposition to slavery and more by a strategic intent to weaken the South by encouraging enslaved people to join the Northern Army. It was a calculated move aimed at undermining the South's morale and bolstering the Union’s military power, rather than a declaration of equality or affection for the black population. Lincoln himself continued to hold racist views and did not believe in the social and political equality of blacks.
On September 22, 1862, Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as of January 1, 1863, all slaves in states rebelling against the Union "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free."
However, Lincoln was not an abolitionist in the truest sense. While he believed slavery was morally wrong, he did not consider himself a part of the abolitionist movement. It was through emancipation and his eventual support of the 13th Amendment that he gained the favor of committed abolitionists.
Although Lincoln acknowledged that "all men are created equal," he did not believe that blacks should enjoy the same rights as whites. This belief was evident in his debates with Douglas and his general opposition to racial equality. Over time, Lincoln’s views on social and political equality for African Americans evolved, but they never fully aligned with the ideals of equality. In his final speech, delivered on April 11, 1865, Lincoln supported limited black suffrage, arguing that black men who served the Union during the Civil War should have the right to vote.
For much of his career, Lincoln believed that colonization—or relocating African Americans to Africa or Central America—was the best solution to the problem of slavery. Influenced by political figures like Henry Clay and Thomas Jefferson, who both supported colonization despite being slave owners, Lincoln initially advocated for sending freed slaves to Liberia.
Lincoln viewed emancipation primarily as a military strategy rather than a moral imperative. Although he detested slavery, his primary focus during the Civil War was preserving the Union, not freeing the enslaved. When emancipation was finally enacted, it was a gradual process aimed at undermining the Confederacy's strength.
As the Civil War progressed, thousands of enslaved people fled Southern plantations and sought refuge with Union forces, compelling the federal government to develop a policy. Lincoln recognized emancipation as a tool to further destabilize the Confederacy and to bolster the Union army with additional manpower.
During his early political career, Lincoln viewed slavery not as a moral wrong but as an economic impediment. Even after the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision in 1857, which declared that African Americans were not citizens, Lincoln did not fully embrace the idea of racial equality.
Throughout the Civil War, Lincoln took unprecedented actions, such as suspending the writ of habeas corpus and arresting suspected Confederate sympathizers without warrants. These actions demonstrate the lengths to which he was willing to go to preserve the Union, even if it meant stretching his presidential powers.
Despite his reputation as a champion of freedom, Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave. It applied only to Confederate states in rebellion where the Union had no control, and it exempted border slave states that remained loyal to the Union. Nevertheless, the Proclamation marked a crucial turning point in Lincoln’s views on slavery and in the course of the Civil War.
By the end of the war, approximately 200,000 black men had served in the Union Army and Navy, delivering a significant blow to slavery and paving the way for its eventual abolition through the 13th Amendment.
white-dominated state legislatures consolidated control and effectively reestablished the Black codes in the form of so-called 
Jim Crow laws, a system of segregation that would remain in place for nearly a century.
In the 1950s and ‘60s, securing voting rights for African Americans in the South became a central focus of the civil rights movement. While the sweeping Civil Rights Act of 1964 finally banned segregation in schools and other public places, it did little to remedy the problem of discrimination in voting rights.
The brutal attacks by state and local law enforcement on hundreds of peaceful marchers led by Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights activists in Selma, Alabama in March 1965 drew unprecedented attention to the movement for voting rights. Later that year, President Lyndon Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act, which banned literacy tests and other methods used to disenfranchise Black voters. In 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections that poll taxes (which the 24th Amendment had eliminated for federal elections in 1964) were unconstitutional for state and local elections as well.
SOURCE: https://www.history.com/news/african-american-voting-right-15th-amendment
KENNEDY AND ALABAMA, SEPTEMBER 10, 1963
https://www.al.com/birmingham-news-stories/2013/09/kennedy_federalized_national_g.html
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Written by DR. Sabri Bebawi
Edited by GPT