Lincoln, the overrated emancipator?

Abraham Lincoln (Photo credit: George Eastman House)

The film Lincoln has reminded everyone about the great emancipator, trumpeted as one of the greatest president in American history. But I personally think he may be a little overrated, Now I’m not saying he wasn’t a good leader or an intelligent but I think his legacy has become distorted overtime and his achievement have become warped, For one, the 13th amendment to the constitution was the actually legislation that ended slavery. This was passed by Congress and not even ratified till after his death. Lincoln was not a great supporter of equal rights or a man before his time. Lincoln was a man of his time, he displayed an apathy to blacks and was happy to use racial slurs when referring to them. It is reported that he said he would have freed all of the slave or none of the slave to win the civil war. Lincoln was a great war leader he was willing to do whatever it took to win the war and keep the Union intact. However this was not out of some great abolitionist conviction merely the desire to keep the Union together. Essentially the freedom of the slaves was simply a by product of a calculated plan to win political support. So really does he deserve the mantle of great emancipator? Sure he emancipated the slaves butnot  because he had a conviction they had the right to be free. Also I should probably point out that the emancipation proclamation, though rhyming and fun to say, essentially useless. Seriously, read it. It says the slaves are free in the all the places in the south where Lincoln has no control or authority. So really that wasn’t going to do anything. In the document occupied states, cities and counties are even excluded. So basically the slaves in the areas that are controlled by the Union weren’t free, and the one in the areas that the Union couldn’t control were. Added to this the fact that Lincoln suspended the right to habeas corpus and declared martial law, I think we can conclude that Lincoln maybe wasn’t the great crusader of freedom he’s often made out to be. But on the plus side he did have a pretty sweet hat.