Abraham Lincoln and the Politics of Black Colonization

The last day of 1862 was a busy one for Abraham Lincoln. Aside from his daily trudge to the War Office, which in the wake of recent Union army defeats in the East at Fredericksburg and in the West at Vicksburg (the first assault) had become even ghastlier in its dependable gloom, the commander-in-chief also had to make final preparations for his boldest measure so far, the Final Emancipation Proclamation, which he was to sign the next day. Early in the day he presided over the final discussion of the proclamation with his cabinet.

That afternoon, with painstaking care, he began to write out the final document. Late into the night and into the dawn, Lincoln finished the document, although perhaps still not to his satisfaction. He knew, as he told Senator Charles Sumner, 'that the name connected with this document will never be forgotten.'1On that same day, December 31, 1862, Lincoln connected his name to a document that many of his adherents and later apologists would gladly forget: a contract with Bernard Kock, an ambitious and unscrupulous venturer, to use federal funds to remove some five thousand black men, women, and children from the United States to a small island off the coast of Haiti.

It was Lincoln's last effort at colonizing blacks outside the United States, executed only one day before he was to sign a proclamation putting into effect his first official effort at permanently freeing slaves in the country.2The juxtaposition of these two efforts — colonization, a remnant of a former generation's conservative approach to slaves and free blacks, and outright emancipation, a more progressive program with no provisions for sending freed slaves abroad or compensating their former owners — has long perplexed and frustrated historians, just as it did Lincoln's contemporaries. Although most historians have conceded that Lincoln was motivated by politics as well as principle in his approach to emancipation and equal rights for blacks, there has been unending debate on his commitment to racial equality.3 On the specific issue of colonization, scholars have focused far less on Lincoln's political calculations and far more on possible racial motivations.4 Those who tend to see Lincoln as a racist usually assume that he never gave up the idea of deporting all free blacks, while those who believe in Lincoln as a racial egalitarian typically assert that his racial views matured as he realized that colonization could not work and that he came to believe that blacks had a legitimate claim to remaining in the United States.An examination of Lincoln's efforts, and not just his rhetoric, in favor of colonizing blacks outside the United States suggests that Lincoln was as much motivated by political concerns as by his personal views toward blacks. His strategy was to propose colonization to sweeten the pill of emancipation for conservatives from the North and the border states, the slave states that did not secede during the Civil War; at the same time, he used political manipulation to prevent radicals from thwarting the colonization program and thus jeopardizing his ultimate goal of making emancipation an acceptable war aim to the Union cause.

Lincoln, always a careful politician, admitted nothing of political motives behind his advocacy of colonization, so we are left only with his actions and the opinions of his contemporaries to lend insight into his true intentions. Yet even with such limited evidence, a clear picture emerges of Lincoln using the prospect of black colonization to make emancipation more acceptable to conservatives and then abandoning all efforts at colonization once he made the determined step toward emancipation in the Final Emancipation Proclamation.As a young politician in Illinois before the Civil War, Lincoln often voiced his belief that blacks and whites would live best if they lived separately. It was a belief he shared with the two American statesmen he revered most: Thomas Jefferson, an early advocate of gradual, voluntary emigration of blacks; and Henry Clay, a leader of the Whig party during the 1830s and 1840s and a founder of the American Colonization Society.

The society, founded in 1816, sought to remove black Americans voluntarily to Africa. In 1821 the society purchased land in northwest Africa and set up the colony of Liberia, which remained a U.S. colony until it gained independence in 1846. The colonization movement foundered in the late 1840s but was resuscitated in the early 1850s as the American Colonization Society intensified its recruitment of black emigrants.5Lincoln first proclaimed an interest in colonization during his eulogy for Henry Clay in 1852, when he admitted his allegiance to the esteemed Kentuckian's dual creed of gradual emancipation coupled with colonization.

If slavery could be eliminated and the slaves returned to 'their long-lost fatherland,' claimed Lincoln, 'it will indeed be a glorious consummation.' Impressed by Lincoln's commitment to colonization, the members of the Illinois Colonization Society repeatedly asked him to speak at their meetings, and he obliged them in 1853 and again in 1855. Although by no means a leader of the colonization movement in Illinois, Lincoln still could use the issue to attach himself to the political tradition of Clay and, as inheritor of Clay's stately mantle, to become a leading politician of the West.6Lincoln's belief in colonization also worked to his advantage in many debates with Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas.

In 1854, while Douglas campaigned for reelection and Lincoln campaigned for the anti-Douglas coalition, the two met in a series of debates on the issue of the Kansas-Nebraska bill and its doctrine of popular sovereignty, which Douglas had helped formulate. Under Douglas's proposal, the people of any territory seeking admission to the Union would determine whether slavery could exist in the territory. Lincoln stood firmly against popular sovereignty and the extension of slavery that it would allow, but his stance left him politically vulnerable to Douglas's charge that he favored racial equality.

Racism was prevalent in the Midwest in the 1850s. When Douglas tried to portray Lincoln as the friend of the blacks, Lincoln countered, as he did in a speech at Peoria, Illinois, by denying that he saw blacks as equals and by advocating the colonization of freed slaves in Liberia. Lincoln was aware, however, of the practical difficulties of such a program: 'If they were all landed there [Liberia] in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days,' he stated.7Three years later in Springfield, Lincoln again debated Douglas.

Now the issue was the Dred Scott case, and Douglas, the dominant force behind the Democratic party in Illinois and throughout the nation, accused not only Lincoln but also the entire newly formed Republican party of favoring black equality. Lincoln sidestepped Douglas's charge by discussing colonization instead: 'I can say a very large proportion of its members are for it.' Lincoln wanted the audience to believe that his advocacy of colonization was more than just a whimsical hope, that it was in fact a genuine party policy, albeit an unstated one. During the Senate race in 1858, Lincoln again invoked colonization, as well as an occasional statement of white superiority, to counter Douglas's charges that he favored racial equality.

All through the debates Lincoln walked a narrow political path by refuting Douglas's support of slavery without claiming equal rights for blacks. Colonization, like no other issue, helped him stay the course.8But Lincoln did not invoke colonization only when it was politically expedient to do so. In his first few months as president, at a time when there was no particular demand for a plan of colonization, Lincoln took important steps toward such a plan.

In October 1861, he asked Caleb B. Smith, secretary of the interior, to look into a proposal for colonizing blacks on the isthmus of Chiriqui, a small area in the northwest of present-day Panama.9In his annual message to Congress in December of that year, Lincoln made his first public statement as president in support of colonization. Former slaves seeking refuge across Union lines, who were regarded as contraband, had aroused the racist fears of northern whites and threatened to become an economic burden.

To alleviate the problem, Lincoln suggested that Congress appropriate funds for colonizing the slaves. He also advocated an additional step. 'It might be well to consider,' he submitted, 'whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization.'10 Thus he called for not just a relief plan for the freedmen, but for a full program of racial separation.Congress answered Lincoln's call in the next few months. Although few legislators considered full separation of the races either desirable or practical, many of the Republicans, who held a majority in Congress, were willing to vote for small-scale colonization projects.

During March and April 1862, as Congress debated whether to emancipate slaves in Washington, D.C., Senator James R. Doolittle of Wisconsin argued for appropriations for the voluntary emigration of the freed slaves from the District. His arguments incurred angry rebuttal from Senator Garrett Davis of Kentucky and many other border state Unionists who favored forced deportation of the former slaves.

If the freedmen were not forced to leave, Davis said, 'The negroes that are and that in this will become a and a and a charge the white Doolittle such with for the of voluntary colonization. In he argued against on the president use the for colonization. It was only Doolittle on this from a northern of that he suggested a of be on of a advocate of colonization, Lincoln's in the of On April 1862, the day slavery was in Washington, D.C., admitted that had to the freed in any but proclaimed his the of colonization in a he said, the idea of on and in not only in colonization as a to and racial but also well the of colonization could the political of in the can make emancipation acceptable to the of at the by it with the of colonization.

The very of race which the their to the slave in will them to in a which will them of the of The arguments of in the and Doolittle in the Senate helped to a of to be used by the president for colonizing the freedmen of the months on 1862, Congress more for the colonization of any other freedmen the which to free slaves held by only months a colonization policy, Lincoln had in who have the colonization issue assert that Lincoln called for colonization and Congress in the of support of colonization in a into the in the an the Lincoln and the Congress that has from such scholars as who the that Lincoln was the force behind the during the Civil War and for a more of the of Congress in Lincoln's Civil War such an approach could more insight into the colonization than that Congress was to Lincoln's historians might with their Lincoln's before Lincoln took and Doolittle had argued for colonization, and Senator had a specific plan of colonization in may have Lincoln's toward in a colonization plan. He could only be that Congress, in its to slavery in the of emancipation to his of and colonization and in the before Lincoln his annual message of 1861, he had support for a plan of colonization in from the of who had once in and Lincoln. that were shared by his in the and in his Lincoln could be of support as he in his for to for the of time the appropriations for colonizing blacks in April 1862, and Lincoln's of an plan of colonization months Lincoln had more than just of he had an Yet he until much later that before any toward such a had many from which to Caleb Smith, his secretary of the interior, had him on of who in and of these of colonization might be said, as long as the United States did not the of the the United States and which either from sovereignty over in a on the of the to the of Congress and the of the in favor of the of colonization by the of April Lincoln in any of he was more than willing to use the prospect of colonization for political In an to from the border states on he his for gradual He the that in for colonization can be and in His to of the area most to be suggests that he less the of colonization than it as a of border state of Lincoln held all of colonization in at this time he was more to on the issue of During the ten his with the border state he took steps toward freeing the slaves. On he told of and of that he was emancipation, and on he to his a to blacks as to them as and to them in the was the first time Lincoln the colonization issue to the cabinet. to of colonization was and at the the next day, it was while the other two were Lincoln had just an for colonization, he obliged to up the issue with his cabinet.

Yet he was not so to it that he would force the issue at the of members that might the two remaining or the Emancipation Proclamation, the first of which Lincoln to his at the was still however, to the idea that emancipation had to be to colonization. to December 1862, as he came to a final Emancipation Proclamation, he tried to effect a plan of colonization. he sought to Lincoln set the in by James as of emigration on first was to a of five black to with the president at the on that the first and only time he would the proposal of colonization to blacks, Lincoln the of a for race there could not be he and he on to their as the He had up as an for colonization there was and blacks to on the American he although not by as an area in even a small of might When the black the he with 'It the to of of Lincoln's proposal for freed blacks, one of the with which a might to out of his some or the of some blacks angry with Lincoln's still his Henry a advocate of the plan as most and movement which this or any other has for the of the no for black to his Lincoln He was not even on from the Henry that the in were of the Lincoln and a contract with the land who the and he Senator of as his of colonization. began blacks for the by the a who had to on the issue of blacks, Lincoln to be making some and Although he had told the black to full in making a the he himself with the before whether would He the in Chiriqui, but then to He a contract with the of his secretary of the who considered a Lincoln's most was the of as colonization a leading of the in the had in an emigration and he had favor with Lincoln by his at the the president had the that was a a of personal interest in the in his to the Lincoln have been of a who had appropriations for colonization in April of that and who in had the idea of colonization by in its a measure to freed slaves with their former to be in by colonization and they the of the The Democratic voiced nothing but The by the James that the of such a program would the of the the and of the and of The Republican was Henry gave its The blacks without the at the of the 'The blacks can be across the or through to the and these on the most limited Lincoln would have to look for support of the members of the American Colonization Society over the that it had been for the of the leading of time of the of all such one for the society, by Lincoln's On 1862, Lincoln had met with and president of Liberia, and told them that he a free blacks could than an he the plan to the black at Lincoln's in the and the entire all such and such to with the plan in the of such may have been on a political It was of 1862, and Union were still Lincoln was to issue the Emancipation as as there was a Union but he the of such a proclamation could be on the Emancipation without colonization may have to Lincoln so a that it could only in the of the Republican party in Congress and in the northern state Lincoln his Emancipation of 1862, he had to the plan from American to any such without a Yet the had its by Lincoln to claim that he had for the colonization effort to of he in the Emancipation Proclamation, their this or with the of the will be In however, the president was not so He told that he was by he had of the and some of his using funds to colonization to on October 1862, Lincoln the plan from Senator that blacks had already for in his proclamation not to with colonization without first into with the American states, Lincoln his to that the United States make with in to remained against such of War was and to some All the Lincoln so long to the plan to the of his full suggests political to colonization. He had the colonization issue from 1862, when the issue threatened to his from him and from other on the of and, until the of he had on his in the late he had colonization into his proclamation and the had threatened to the United States in a Lincoln had to the issue to the cabinet. that had an for colonization in its support to the might be as a to the steps Congress and Lincoln had toward colonization. in appropriations to the president, and for him to it was clear to all that colonization was more than possible might in Lincoln's at political Smith, and had colonization, while and had and held the Lincoln met concerns by to for more In 1862, the secretary had colonization. over the next two he came to support the of Congress, by which any who might to would be in such as might be them by other States or The behind may have been the of his Senator was by from of colonization to leading of the movement and by Lincoln's to in one of his colonization issue may again have a in when Lincoln to Caleb as secretary of the in December had been a of colonization, and as secretary of interior, had its to 'It if the free states of the and by the that they are to be by negroes made free by the it will those in for they will see that their from them and them to In Lincoln in the of by his in his commitment to of colonizing the freedmen, Lincoln to a colonization at a small island off the coast of by land Bernard claimed to have a with that would the United States to his although no one to the of his before was a a of colonization, called these Lincoln to set up a contract with and on December 31, one day before the Final Emancipation Proclamation, he a contract for the of five thousand blacks to more Lincoln had into a with a to blacks in a to Lincoln the the again to in the of the The political of emancipation to colonization had become so in Lincoln's that he may have any plan of emancipation that did not colonization would be as a program of racial equality. much Lincoln's racial views had matured by he was not to make such a In his Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln had to colonizing blacks and had voiced his for gradual He these in with political conservatives and in his annual message to Congress on December 1862, which called for a for the colonization of blacks outside the United To through on his of colonization, he had to through on one of the made to the plan as as if not it to the of Lincoln the Final Emancipation Proclamation, he took interest in the He made no public of colonization his annual message to Congress one before the and he contract when on that he wanted to the When that was a the contract was the and Charles two of to as On April the which Lincoln later five of the five thousand blacks for other blacks the first made the to and in less than a the October the could 'The effort of the to of on the coast of has a was to contract with to these people to their many of them of while to more desirable The the in and who had charge of the tried to the in the by the Congress to an to colonization. On March of a bill in the Senate all funds for colonization.

Congress the measure on and Lincoln the by Congress for colonization, the Lincoln had only had up on colonization long before Congress funds for the the of the in April the president, while to efforts of and to had nothing to his of colonization had to the In early who the as a a to Lincoln, to whether he to his of colonizing blacks, thousand of had for there no to believe that Lincoln colonization he the Final Emancipation who that Lincoln still to blacks the proclamation on only two of On the day before Congress to its colonization Lincoln's personal in his that has off that idea of a leading Union claimed that early in Lincoln told him of the black 'I believe that it would be to them all to some with a which they could have to Yet at best and for the that Lincoln had up the idea before not to Lincoln gave up his idea of colonization. Union party in in the border states and all the northern states but the on Lincoln to racist against the Emancipation if Lincoln had to support colonization, blacks never to Lincoln's colonization from who colonization as for white had never blacks had a in the and the of sending abroad against the counter to and to colonization outside the United States had more than any of Lincoln's efforts as colonization in and program in may have Lincoln a that blacks could have a in this to Lincoln who had once the of colonization on colonization Lincoln had so far, to the president in just formed the of that the War toward blacks the of the of be over to the admitted that the freedmen the made far more than sending them the behind the that colonization was no practical or he had Lincoln a plan of colonization and him a plan to of blacks as well as white on a Washington, D.C., and than the of Lincoln would up the idea of colonization the of he held on to the idea as long as he Lincoln's advocacy of colonization from more than just the racist belief of the time that whites and blacks could not live in the same Lincoln also to have made a political that he could not propose emancipation without at the same time colonization. It was a well by the of the who the which the of by the but who that colonization might have to be to make emancipation acceptable to — if these the him have from the political of Thomas and Henry Clay and into the of Lincoln the colonization an in with the politically issue of would be with slaves freed during the In using colonization as an expedient for emancipation during late 1862, Lincoln may have the two even more in his making it for him to believe that one could exist without the March the of the of colonization, up the was left of the — and black men, women, and by a of to the black again the of an of the came not in the of outside the of their but in an of and even a small in for their in the Union the to the of a who their just before it in to the against the was a to Lincoln's final colonization with the of colonization and the of public against and that blacks could their than Lincoln would and the of a movement to blacks and whites into an effort to the two races in against a