Background Despite being known as the “Great Emancipator,” Abraham Lincoln did not pass the Emancipation Proclamation due to strong morals; he passed this piece of legislation for its military benefit: isolating the South from Europe. In his First Inaugural Address, Lincoln(1861) says, “I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so” (par. 6). Though Lincoln literally freed the slaves, he did nothing-even if he had intentions to shield the slaves social inequalities engrained for so long. For roughly 200 years, the southern segments of the United States of America had been dependent upon the racism toward Africans which allowed slavery to persist. The slaves were the people who-begrudgingly- supported the massive amounts of cotton …show more content…
If freedmen had started out immediately with the imitation equal rights granted to blacks during Reconstruction, then African Americans would sooner achieve truly equal rights. This would jump-start the overthrowing of racist social institutions and the renewal of expectations, for, as S. Mintz and S. McNeil(2013) said, “Reconstruction helped set the pattern for future race relations and defined the federal government's role in promoting racial equality”(par. 2). However, I don’t believe that African Americans could’ve started out in post-Civil War U.S. with completely equal rights because of the lingering racism toward blacks possessed by the Democrats and moderate Republicans, who were necessary to gaining a two-thirds majority on any piece of legislature. Strong racism in all parts of the country would be awakened at full force if African Americans were allowed equal rights