“Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves.”
That’s what I was taught growing up. Later, I would learn that the truth was a bit more nuanced. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, all right, but only in the Confederate States. Other slaves would have to wait for freedom until the end of the Civil War. Hmmmmm.
It turns out that life is more nuanced than legend. Abe Lincoln provides an excellent example of how that works.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Racist?
It depends on the standard you use. If you are judging by 2026 standards, then he certainly was. He used the n-word in casual conversation. He believed that whites were superior. He surely held many prejudices common in the mid-19th Century.
But “racism” wasn’t even a concept then. The word didn’t come into common use until almost 100 years after Lincoln’s death. Calling Lincoln a racist applies our values to his time. It’s not fair.
We Are All Complex and Flawed.
Lincoln may have been a racist by our current standards, but he was against slavery from the beginning of his life. He spoke against slavery long before there was any political advantage.
That’s how it is with us. We’re a mix of good and bad, strong and weak, generous and miserly. The mightiest of us have “feet of clay.” We can’t achieve perfection, no matter how hard we try.
Benjamin Franklin certainly tried. In his autobiography, Franklin outlines his “bold and arduous project of arriving at moral perfection.” He identified 13 virtues that he wanted to acquire. They were temperance, silence, order, resolution, frugality, industry, sincerity, justice, moderation, cleanliness, tranquility, chastity, and humility.
He monitored his performance every day, recording his offenses against each virtue. Each week, he concentrated on a single virtue. Guess what? He never had a single day without an offense against the virtue he was concentrating on that day.
The Golden Rule
We’ve all known the Golden Rule since we were small children. It says that we should treat others the way we want to be treated. Many learned it in Sunday School; every major religion teaches it with different words.
How do I want to be treated? I want others to recognize that we all have flaws. Martin Luther King dreamed that his children would be judged based on their character. I want others to remember that I am a product of my times and my experiences.
I should judge others the same way. I should judge Abraham Lincoln the same way. Lincoln was a flawed human being. He was a product of his time and experience.
When I think that way, I see Abraham Lincoln as a great man. He may be a racist by 21st-century standards, but he was a fervent abolitionist and called for an end to slavery early in his political career. He knew criticism was inevitable, both then and later, when he was President.
Abraham Lincoln was a great, but flawed, human being. I can understand that some of his values and behaviors would not be acceptable today, yet still recognize his greatness.
~
When you judge others, do you expect perfection or apply the Golden Rule?
-o0o-
Terry Moore, CCIM, is the author of Building Legacy Wealth: How to Build Wealth and Live a Life Worth Imitating. Read his “Welcome to My Blog.“