I made a rather serious mistake. My old English Lit teacher would call it a "howler".
Lincoln said, "My enemies say I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition."
I assumed he meant that the strict abolitionists were his enemies. But re-reading it I can see he was saying that those who were opposed to abolition were his enemies. That would be those who wanted to "conciliate" the south by returning the blacks to slavery. Lincoln was saying that if they were allowed to prevail in Congress the black men who had risked and lost so much to fight for freedom would be returned to slavery. And if that happened the Union would earn the enmity of not only the white south but all the blacks who had been promised freedom and fought for it only to be betrayed. These former slaves had fought in the blue uniform, thousands had given their lives, and now they held territory that there were not enough white soldiers to keep. So Lincoln had come to realize that only through freedom, through giving freedom to the slaves, could this war be won and finished. On consideration, I can see that Lincoln was making enemies of those who thought he was doing too much too fast by making his "new birth of freedom" – yes, that was his vision even at Gettysburg on November 9, 1863 – and at the same time he was making enemies of those who wanted not peace but revenge. He had talked of "malice toward none, charity for all". Did he mean charity for the rebels, leniency for the traitors? Lincoln was walking a tightrope between radicals on both sides. No wonder he had his infamous dream of being hurried through darkness and storm to some ominous and hidden future and then seeing his own dead body lying in state.
I made a rather serious mistake. My old English Lit teacher would call it a "howler".
Lincoln said, "My enemies say I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition."
I assumed he meant that the strict abolitionists were his enemies. But re-reading it I can see he was saying that those who were opposed to abolition were his enemies. That would be those who wanted to "conciliate" the south by returning the blacks to slavery. Lincoln was saying that if they were allowed to prevail in Congress the black men who had risked and lost so much to fight for freedom would be returned to slavery. And if that happened the Union would earn the enmity of not only the white south but all the blacks who had been promised freedom and fought for it only to be betrayed. These former slaves had fought in the blue uniform, thousands had given their lives, and now they held territory that there were not enough white soldiers to keep. So Lincoln had come to realize that only through freedom, through giving freedom to the slaves, could this war be won and finished. On consideration, I can see that Lincoln was making enemies of those who thought he was doing too much too fast by making his "new birth of freedom" – yes, that was his vision even at Gettysburg on November 9, 1863 – and at the same time he was making enemies of those who wanted not peace but revenge. He had talked of "malice toward none, charity for all". Did he mean charity for the rebels, leniency for the traitors? Lincoln was walking a tightrope between radicals on both sides. No wonder he had his infamous dream of being hurried through darkness and storm to some ominous and hidden future and then seeing his own dead body lying in state.