This week the president took to writing his views on slavery. it was constantly an issue. Mr. Lincoln took to thinking about it often, and tweaking his stance frequently. This week he wrote "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not think so, and feel. I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgement and feeling on slavery. I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assume this ground, and now avow it."
Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln have attended the theater regularly over the last several weeks, seeing plays including King Lear, Der Freischutz, and Faust. It is one of Mr. Lincoln's fondest pleasures, attending theater. I for one am not enamored by his insistence on attending as I see the theater as an unsafe place for him to be seen. Not that my input has the slightest impact on his decision to go. He wants to hear my input, but just as quick to dismiss it.
His scheduled trip to Fortress Monroe to check on the troops was postponed. Mrs. Lincoln was not feeling well.
Interesting post. Lincoln sometimes gets criticized for being too soft on slavery, but we must recognize that things were very different then. He was a practical man.
ReplyDelete