Throughout high school I had always seen Abe Lincoln as a hero because of his fight in freeing slaves. But after reading this letter my idea of this president has completely changed. Although we talked about this in class on 2/4/19, I was still shocked to read that his main focus was just saving the Union. His words, “If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that” (A. Lincoln). This clearly shows that it did not matter to him what happened to the slaves, his main focus was saving the Union and preserving its ideas. There was no focus on the thoughts, feelings, or morality of the slaves. They were still indeed seen as property, not human. After reading this I will no longer see him as a hero although he had a major role in freeing the slaves within the United States. I will simply see him as another individual that made their decision based on what would be best for themselves and the people who held the same beliefs as them.
A history of Black America