Why did Abraham Lincoln want to help the slaves?

Answer 1

Abraham Lincoln knew perfectly well that slavery was an evil institution which was a tremendous injustice inflicted upon the slaves, who had done nothing to deserve slavery. I know of an interesting quote from a private letter that Lincoln wrote, in which he said "If slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong." I have to agree. The evil of slavery is extremely obvious. Human beings deserve certain rights; as the Declaration of Independence says, "all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness". Slaves lose those rights, and not because of any crime they have committed, but just because someone decided to enslave them or their parents. If we cannot respect each other as human beings, then there is no morality in the world, it is all a sham. We would just be selfish monsters.

Answer 2

Lincoln was opposed to slavery, but in the Civil War, he fought to maintain the federal union, not to end slavery. His Emancipation Proclamation, which applied only to the rebelling states, was a strategy to cause trouble in the South.

He recognised that in the Declaration of Independence it states that all men were created equal, and that slavery was unjust and went against the universal Deceleration of Human Rights, but he also recognized a Constitutional right to maintain slaves.

Lincoln felt that slavery made life difficult on poor whites because it made it harder for them to find jobs. Lincoln wanted to gradually emancipate slaves, compensate their former owners, and deport the freed slaves from the nation, perhaps to Central or South America. Congress passed the Second Confiscation Act on July 17, 1862, nearly six months before Lincoln's so-called 'Emancipation Proclamation'. His proclamation was a back-pedaling, as it was not nearly as far-reaching as Congress' Act. He was not an abolitionist.

During the Lincoln-Douglas debates, he said 'I will say, then, that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races-that I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of making voters or jurors of Negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this, that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I, as much as any other man, am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.'

Answer 3

Because he had a heart, and he knew what was going on was wrong, so he changed it.

Answer 4

it was creating really bad arguments and he didn't want people to get hurt... :I

Answer 5

because he believed everyone should have the right to be a free man.

Answer 6

to keep the union together if it would of broke the union apart he would of not gotten rid of it and there would still be slavery today.

Answer 7

yes