Consistency and Change in Lincoln's Rhetoric about Equality

Consistency and Change in Lincoln's Rhetoric about Equality David Zarefsky In the current climate of political cynicism, it is easy to assume that a politician's public statements represent pandering to the audience and that changes in one's position (denigrated as "waffling") are proof of insincerity. But this complaint is undoubtedly overstated. After all, a politician who ignores the audience will not succeed and one whose belief system excludes the possibility of change will not survive . To avoid these extremes, one must successfully navigate a paradox: remaining consistent in one's basic principles while also adapting to changing circumstances and audiences. This is hardly a new problem. A very similar paradox confronted Abraham Lincoln, whose thinking about race relations, as revealed in his public statements, was both ahead of and constrained by the culture of his time. He was neither the always-decisive leader sometimes remembered in folklore, nor the passive man controlled by events as portrayed in the recent biography by David Herbert Donald.1 Rather, he had strong core antislavery convictions, but the ways in which they were expressed and the policies he derived from them evolved over time. Lincoln's opponents charged him with inconsistency and hypocrisy; he insisted that such charges were without foundation. This essay, by analyzing Lincoln's public discourse, explores his management of the paradox of consistency and change. It traces the evolution of his thinking from his earliest public statements to the last years of his life. Special attention is given to two texts—the Springfield speech of June 1857 and the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858—in which Lincoln worked through the issue of equality and articulated a nuanced view of the matter. David Zarefsky is Dean of the School of Speech and Professor of Communication Studies at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He wishes to acknowledge the valuable research assistance ofKirtley H. Wilson. An abbreviated version of portions of this argument was presented as the 1996 William Norwood Brigance Lecture at Wabash College. © Rhetoric & Public Affairs Vol. 1, No. 1,1998, pp. 21-44 ISSN 1094-8392 22 Rhetoric & Public Affairs Lincoln held a consistently limited view of racial equality until midway through the Civil War when, under the force of military necessity, it began slowly to change. Yet he articulated his position in a way that also permitted a more expansive view of equality once the time was right. Antecedents Lincoln's views on equality developed slowly. His thinking, though basically consistent , evolved as he was confronted with new situations that the categories in his discourse could not encompass. The changes in the way he spoke about slavery and equality both reflected and constituted refinements in his thought. Before 1854, Lincoln spoke only rarely on the subject of slavery. His first public comment was as a member of the Illinois legislature in 1837, when he denounced the institution as "founded on both injustice and bad policy" but went on to add that "the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its evils."2 This earliest statement reveals the ambivalence of Lincoln's position. He condemned slavery, but did not see abolition as a satisfactory alternative, and certainly did not advocate equality. Twice during the 1840s, Lincoln represented clients who raised issues about the laws governing slavery. He won the case of a black girl who was sold despite her residence in free Illinois, thereby striking a small blow against the peculiar institution. But he lost the case representing a master who was seeking to reclaim a fugitive slave. Apparently, he was willing to defend clients on either side of the issue. During his single term in Congress, from 1847 to 1849, Lincoln focused much more on opposition to the Mexican War than on the institution of slavery. Upon retiring from Congress and resuming his law practice, he tended not to speak out on public questions at all. It was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854 that brought Lincoln back into politics. His passion was aroused by the Act's repeal of the Missouri Compromise and the possibility that slavery might be extended into territory then free. He spoke in favor...