ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SLAVERY, AND THE CIVIL WAR - Essay Example

During his childhood, a bitter, disturbing, controversial argument over the right and wrong of slavery was waged. The church to which the Lincoln’s belonged abhorred slavery, although, the region had more than a thousand slaves; the Lincoln’s owned none. It s recorded that in 1809, 15 members of a church relocated due to the issues of slaveholding. This has been detested by a number of historians some claiming that it was because of economic reasons rather than antislavery beliefs. However, it should be made clear that Lincoln did not get to see a large number of black slaves until the year 1828 when he made his debut boat trip to New Orleans.

A study of his life reveals congruence with societal transformations that were critical in shaping the future of America. The main question that characterized this period of transformation was if the United States could transform and grow with the system of slavery, or it had to be abolished; Abraham was branded as the great emancipator because of his efforts in trying to abolish the institution of slavery. In his campaigns to political office in 1858 and 1860, Lincoln’s stand against slavery resonated throughout his campaign speeches and debates.

During this period, there was a lot of hostility between the Northern states and the Southern states; Free states against the pro-slavery states. This meant that one had to be either in support of one of the two camps. Lincoln’s childhood and Christian beliefs led him to support the anti-slavery camp, which was agitating for the abolition of the institution (Johnson 29). In the period characterizing the senate elections in 1858, there were a series of debates in the fall totaling to seven. The debates were held at various locations within the state of Illinois.

The debates pitted Douglas against Lincoln in all the debates with sometimes a crowd of up to ten thousand listeners. The debates were termed as being of an unequal