# PBS Civil War Documentary - Is this accurate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525 "2013-01-08T19:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/41 "2013-01-10T03:00:18Z")
Gerritt Smith is another example of a white abolitionist who not only opposed slavery but also believed in racial equality. Smith also believed that women should have equal rights to men. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/42 "2013-01-10T05:34:44Z")
Some other Lincoln quotations that may be of interest: “I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of Negroes, be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that ‘all men are created equal.’ We now practically read it ‘all men are created equal, except Negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read ‘all men are created equal, except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.’ When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty - to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.” (1855) “The eternal struggle [is] between these two principles - right and wrong - throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity, and the other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, ‘You toil and work and earn bread, and I’ll eat it.’ No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.” (1858) “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” (1859) “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.” (1862) “When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.” (1865) And consider: “In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular colour.” - Frederick Douglass ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2013, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/43 "2013-01-10T18:03:44Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Thaddeus Stevens, who had a black common-law wife (he couldn’t legally marry her), and who, buried in this small integrated cemetery, put on his tombstone: > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Gerritt Smith is another example of a white abolitionist who not only opposed slavery but also believed in racial equality. Smith also believed that women should have equal rights to men. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Barnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bob\_Barnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Barnett)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/44 "2013-01-23T10:46:51Z")
had the proposed Constitutional Amendment … [http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29503](http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29503) "… In this view I recommend the adoption of the following resolution and articles amendatory to the Constitution of the United States: Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of both Houses concurring), That the following articles be proposed to the legislatures (or conventions) of the several States as amendments to the Constitution of the United States, all or any of which articles, when ratified by three-fourths of the said legislatures (or conventions ), to be valid as part or parts of the said Constitution, viz: ART.–. Every State wherein slavery now exists which shall abolish the same therein at any time or times before the 1st day of January., A. D. 1900, shall receive compensation from the United States as follows, to wit: The President of the United States shall deliver to every such State bonds of the United States bearing interest at the rate of per cent per annum to an amount equal to the aggregate sum of\_\_\_\_for each slave shown to have been therein by the Eighth Census of the United States, said bonds to be delivered to such State by installments or in one parcel at the completion of the abolishment, accordingly as the same shall have been gradual or at one time within such State; and interest shall begin to run upon any such bond only from the proper time of its delivery as aforesaid. Any State having received bonds as aforesaid and afterwards reintroducing or tolerating slavery therein shall refund to the United States the bonds so received, or the value thereof, and all interest paid thereon. ART–All slaves who shall have enjoyed actual freedom by the chances of the war at any time before the end of the rebellion shall be forever free; but all owners of such who shall not have been disloyal shall be compensated for them at the same rates as is provided for States adopting abolishment of slavery, but in such way that no slave shall be twice accounted for. ART.–Congress may appropriate money and otherwise provide for colonizing free colored persons with their own consent at any place or places without the United States. I beg indulgence to discuss these proposed articles at some length. Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery it could not continue. …" ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Barnett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Bob\_Barnett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Barnett)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/45 "2013-01-23T10:52:48Z")
> [@chargerrich](#): > > I was reading a preview for “The Abolitionists” which is premiering tomorrow evening on PBS when I was surprised to read the claims that: > > Lincoln supported colonization plans to ship willing slaves back to Africa and that Lincoln also once floated a peace treaty offer to the Confederates that would allow them to keep slaves until 1900 if they surrendered. > > [Cite](http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/08/showbiz/slavery-pbs/index.html?hpt=hp_c1) > > Is there any historical evidence that these claims are true? I replied with a citation and link but forgot to quote this message… ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/46 "2013-01-23T11:09:49Z")
By the end of his presidency, Lincoln was obviously overtly anti-slavery. In his second inaugural address he said that God would be perfectly just in allowing the war to “continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.” ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/47 "2013-01-23T12:34:11Z")
Please note that the greatest abolitionist of all, [John Brown of Osawatomie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Brown_(abolitionist)), was an exception: He regarded Blacks as equals. ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/48 "2013-01-23T15:04:14Z")
Snippets from [Lincoln’s first inaugural address](http://www.bartleby.com/124/pres31.html): > [@Abraham Lincoln in First Inaugural address on March 4](#): > > … > 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. > … > This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing Government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. > … > I understand a [proposed amendment to the Constitution](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corwin_Amendment)—which amendment, however, I have not seen—has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Government shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments so far as to say that, holding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express and irrevocable. Lincoln certainly was threading a fine line. Much of his first inaugural address focused on preservation of the Union. He states his belief that he has no power to take action with regards to slavery. He goes on to address that certain issues regarding slavery are written into the Constitution and that seems to be his limiting factor. He seems to agree that, whether or not he personally favors the institution of slavery it was protected under law. Lincoln adds that a Constitution cannot possibly cover every eventuality and it does not cover how slavery is to be treated in the territories > [@](#): > > No foresight can anticipate nor any document of reasonable length contain express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. He spends a fair amount of his address covering the perpetuity of the Union, and yet he adds a line about the people’s “revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.” IMHO, rather a curious line for someone so dedicated to the idea of a perpetual union. At least in 1861 I think Lincoln made it perfectly clear that preservation of the Union was his sole concern and that slavery was to at least be tolerated so long as the Constitution and law so permitted. ---
**Author:** ![FrankJBN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@FrankJBN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrankJBN)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525/49 "2013-01-23T17:42:45Z")
" Most plantations were actually making the money they needed to stay afloat by breeding and selling slaves. " TTBOMK, cotton was booming at the beginning of the Civil War. Could you provide any support for the claim above? Besides being contrary to most I have read, it is also counter-intuitive that humans were bred for profitable sale. Beeves are sold generally within 2 years. Not that much of a market for 4-5 year old humans as workers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pbs-civil-war-documentary-is-this-accurate/646525.md?page=2)