Abraham Lincoln and slavery

Abraham Lincoln's position on slavery in the United States is one of the most discussed aspects of his life. Lincoln frequently expressed his moral opposition to slavery. In 1858, he said, "I have always hated slavery, I think as much as any Abolitionist". Yet, as this statement implies, though Lincoln believed that slavery was a moral, social, and political wrong, he was not an abolitionist. He stated, "The Congress of the United States has no power, under the constitution, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the different states," and, though "the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy; ... the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils".

The question of what to do about slavery and how to end it, given that it was so firmly embedded in the nation's constitutional framework and in the economy of much of the country, even though concentrated in only the Southern United States, was complex and politically challenging. There was also the question, which Lincoln had to deal with, of what would become of the four million slaves if liberated: how they would earn a living in a society that had almost always rejected them or looked down on their very presence. One solution that Lincoln contemplated until late in the Civil War was the voluntary colonization of former slaves in Africa or Latin America.