Abraham Lincoln The Great Emancipator Analysis

The biggest myth about Abraham Lincoln is the perception of his views on slavery and the idea that he was the “Great Emancipator” (Zilversmit). Lincoln is often put on a pedestal when it comes to the topic of slavery. Countless Children’s books and grade school level textbooks have credited him for ending slavery. Even some authors of Abraham Lincoln biographies have written him down as the freer of slaves, such as the author of The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Josiah Gilbert Holland, who wrote: “he was a savior of the republic, emancipator of race, true Christian, true Man” (qtd. Oates 5). Abraham Lincoln did oppose slavery and he often spoke about it in his speeches such as his speech in Peoria, in Illinois on October 16, 1864; “I can not …show more content…
The Emancipation Proclamation did state “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are, and henceforward shall be free” (“Primary Sources”), but there was a few problems with the proclamation. The Proclamation was very limited, the emancipation of slavery only applied it states that had rebelled against the union, so any states that were still apart of the union still had slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free a single slave. Most revisionist Historians like Lerone Bennett and Ludwell Johnson, even believe that Lincoln was a “reluctant emancipator” (qtd. Zilversmit) and use proof from a letter that Lincoln wrote to Horace Greeley that stated “I would save the Union. … If I could save the Union without freeing any slave” (“Primary Sources”) Opposed to the revisionist view, historians like Stephen B. Oats and Constitutional historian Herman Belz, believe it “was the most revolutionary measure ever to come from an American president up to that time”
(qtd. Zilversmit). Oates and Belz focus on the idea that it inspired abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, and slaves, knowing that slavery will be coming to the end