Lincoln and Citizenship

Abstract

The Concise Lincoln Library series, published by Southern Illinois University Press since 2011, now contains about twenty-eight volumes. One of the most recent is Mark E. Steiner's Lincoln and Citizenship, which follows the series format of a short book intensely focused on a particular Lincoln-related topic.Steiner sets the stage for his study by posing the following question: Whom did Abraham Lincoln mean when he addressed a crowd as “fellow citizens”? Did it mean the same thing to him as when he said “ladies and gentlemen”? Taking a chronological approach, Steiner shows how Lincoln's concept of citizenship changed over time.In his first comment about citizenship, a campaign statement published in the Sangamo Journal on June 18, 1836, Lincoln seems to have taken a step back from the then-popular universal white male suffrage, already a feature of the 1818 Illinois state constitution. He would offer suffrage only to whites who met obligations to the state, such as militia duty and paying taxes, and, in an aside, mentioned that this could include taxpaying women, although Lincoln was never an advocate of woman suffrage. Steiner explains this viewpoint as part of a Whig campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Martin Van Buren in 1836 and 1840, although other Whigs did not want to return to limiting white male suffrage. Lincoln did not continue to advocate taxpayer suffrage.In the antebellum period, nativism was very strong in the United States, particularly in the Northeast. The effort to restrict the rights of recent immigrants led to the founding of the American or “Know-Nothing” party in the 1850s. Lincoln always opposed nativism, and welcomed naturalized white males to citizenship, particularly German immigrants who supported the Republican Party.Lincoln was anti-slavery in his opinions, opposed to the extension of slavery into the territories, but not an abolitionist, favoring the immediate end of slavery. A moderate and gradualist, Lincoln favored voluntary colonization of freed blacks through late 1862, but he was not an active member of a colonization society.The issue of possible black citizenship, disallowed by the Dred Scott decision in 1857 and then made possible by the Civil War, as well as Lincoln's changing views on the subject, occupy the final two chapters of the book. In his campaign statements during some of the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates, Lincoln proclaimed his opposition to black political and social equality. He nevertheless believed, and stated, that blacks were equal in their rights to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” as found in the Declaration of Independence. In other words, blacks had “natural” rights and should also have some civil rights (to improve their condition, to own property, and to testify in court, for example). These complicated and sometimes contradictory opinions by Lincoln have been the subject of much discussion in a number of previous books. Steiner provides a clear and concise examination of the issues.During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln went from advocating and urging compensated emancipation and the voluntary colonization of freed blacks to suggesting black male suffrage, at least for men who had served in the army or were obviously “intelligent.” Neither abolitionists nor free blacks themselves supported the idea of colonization, most Latin American countries refused to permit the establishment of such a colony on their land, and the several attempts to begin these colonies were disasters. Lincoln initially opposed using blacks as soldiers because he feared it would drive the border states out of the Union and some other Union soldiers out of the army. However, the need for more soldiers—military necessity—brought black men into the ranks, despite Lincoln's fears that they would prove to be cowardly. However, blacks’ loyal attitudes and impressive performance as soldiers, as well as meetings with Frederick Douglass and other qualified and cultured black men, encouraged Lincoln to view at least some black males as ready for citizenship and suffrage.As Steiner examines each of Lincoln's opinions on citizenship, he carefully provides the context for those opinions. Among other things, he compares and contrasts Lincoln's views with those of other Illinoisans, as well as national attitudes of Whigs, Know-Nothings, and Republicans. Steiner concludes that while Lincoln was lagging behind more inclusive Whig and national opinions on citizenship in 1836, his later views were quite typical of Whigs and Republicans during the rest of the antebellum period and most of the Civil War. However, by early 1865, Lincoln was ahead of public opinion by proposing suffrage for veterans and intelligent blacks. And these views got him killed.Steiner explains his points clearly, if occasionally a bit repetitively. Overall, the book does exactly what it is supposed to do. It provides a concise examination of the issues of American citizenship generally and the concerns associated with citizenship for blacks, especially as seen by Lincoln. Its length makes the book a good introduction to the topic for the general reader and a starting place for the student and scholar.