Of the many icons that represent Abraham Lincoln, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., is clearly one of the most recognizable. Open twenty-four hours a day, it enjoys over three and a half million visitors every year. The focal point of this remarkable structure is the large seated sculpture, the work of Daniel Chester French.
Beneath that sculpture is a basement gift shop, and a room with large marble slabs that have etched in them significant quotes and statements of our sixteen president. One such quote doesn't match the political history that, if taught at all, is taught in the public schools in America. All that is taught about Lincoln is that he was the "Great Emancipator". Anyone who disagrees with that moniker is usually labeled as a "far-right-wing-red-necked bigot", ignoring what is etched in stone in the very memorial built to honor this historical figure's memory.
Twelve years ago, we visited that memorial, and when I read this particular slab, I was stunned at the brazened misrepresentation of government education. I was compelled to take a picture of the quote, but unfortunately, the technology I was using back then required a flash which obliterated a portion of the quote. The quotation engraved in this slab is taken from a letter written by Lincoln to Horace Greeley on August 22, 1862. Here is the balance of that quote:
"My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. 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. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause." -- August 22, 1862 - Letter to Horace Greeley
Here is another quote that very rarely sees the light of day:
"I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in anyway 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. I say upon this occasion I do not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the negro should be denied everything." -- September 18, 1858 - Fourth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas at Charleston, Illinois
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There are certainly well-documented quotes of Lincoln impugning slavery and slave owners. It doesn't take long to find those, but it does take some doing to find these. In today's world, Abraham Lincoln's career would have ended in Illinois, BUT, on the other hand, Barack Obama's didn't, either.
