Chapter 23: Lincoln’s Early Views About Slavery

Abe’s first encounter with human beings in chains comes at age nineteen during his 1828 flatboat voyage to New Orleans. It has a profound impact, and leaves him convinced of one thing, as he later writes: “if slavery is not wrong, then nothing is wrong.”

At the same time, his contact with black people is very limited, and he shares some of the negative stereotypes that convince him of the improbability of their ever assimilating into white society. So, like his political mentor, Henry Clay, he long supports the Colonization movement.

Abe’s conviction about the immorality of slavery never wavers, and his racial judgments will change dramatically once he moves from Springfield to Washington.

In 1837 the assassination of abolitionist editor Elijah Lovejoy in Alton, Illinois captures his attention and he addresses the local Lyceum about the dangers of social violence.