Nathan Bedford Forrest During The Civil War And African-American Movement

The Civil War brought about many things, such as revolution, justice, and tragedy, but it also birthed two truly great minds of their time. These individuals were Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. One led the North as president of the United States, while the other was a Lieutenant General of the Confederate Army. While both were brilliant and truly outstanding amongst their peers, one man truly outshined the other in regards to a stronger and more efficient leadership. While Lincoln faced more success in a national sense, Nathan Bedford Forrest clearly possessed more respected authority and was a stronger overall leader than Abraham Lincoln. Forrest’s methods may have been unorthodox and downright immoral, but at the end of the day he was feared by the Union and revered by the South. This is the true mark of a great leader. They should be respected by their followers and hated by their enemies. While the South ultimately lost the Civil War, the legacy of Forrest as a remarkable leader lived on, as he was immortalized in history and respected amongst his community.

Abraham Lincoln influenced america and other historical figures. Martin Luther King Jr. and Lincoln were one of the most prominent leaders when it came to slavery. He showed courage to stand up for what’s right and fight against for what’s wrong. Without Abe Lincoln we would not be in the position and success we have in the modern world (smithsonian). Abe Lincoln was a “Progressive man”, he made strides to free the slaves and to abolish slavery(smithsonian1). He was one of the most known and recognized leaders in american history.

This clearly shows that Lincoln was not out for the Negro but just to preserve the union. He says in many other debates that he thought the Negro had a physical difference from the white man as well as an intellectual difference (Lincoln-Douglas, n. pag.). Lincoln was considered by many in the south to be a bigot, a white supremacist who wanted segregation and opposed civil and political rights for blacks (Oates 21). Stephen B. Oates talks of many of the theories in his book, like that many southerners concluded that Lincoln was with them in the matters of race (22). Many of these examples show that Lincoln was a hypocrite of some sorts. He would appeal to the southerners by making statements that led them to believe that he was against the Negro. Yet he was writing the emancipation proclamation that was supposed to free all of the slaves. This also is debatable that the proclamation freed any slaves at all. The emancipation proclamation is looked at by some as one of the most far-reaching pronouncements ever issued in the United States (Oates 25). Also it is said that the proclamation freed few if any bondsman (Oates 26).

Douglass and President Lincoln agreed that slavery needed to be abolished and the Nation needed to be united as one. Lincoln realized that he needed to bring in Frederick Douglass; the combination of a strong and influential black leader and the President of the United States could now create a cohesive group of abolitionists and the Union. Frederick Douglass realized that President Lincoln’s own personality and political judgment would help him free slaves across the country. Realizing each other’s strengths, both men were able to be effective through the use strong actions and powerful words of one another; their relationship played a key role in changing the nations views on slavery and race.

During the Civil War, there were two remarkable men:, Abraham Lincoln and Nathan Bedford Forrest. Lincoln presided over the Union victory in the American Civil War as the a 16th president of America, while Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Civil War and before the war Forrest was a fortune amassed a planter and real estate investor and a slave trader. Both of them had a struggling childhood, growing up poor and received almost no formal education.

During the time of Reconstruction, which was from 1865-1877, president Abraham Lincoln and abolitionist Frederick Douglass had many goals that they wanted to achieve during the Reconstruction period. They shared a common goal of trying to abolish slavery, however, Douglass and Lincoln did have different goals as well that they believed were priorities. Douglass’s goal was to have equality and equal rights among the races and Lincoln’s main goal was to unify the Union after the destruction caused by the Civil War. The nation did achieve Douglass and Lincoln’s shared goal of abolishing slavery and Lincoln did manage to unify the Union after a lot of hard work, but did not achieve Douglass’s dream for equality among the races.

The author says that defenders and supporters of Lincoln can always back up his remarks with a redeeming quality. Lincoln admitted his feelings of racial equality; instead he always stated the feeling of white people. He didn’t always carefully construct his answers when speaking about his position of certain topics, although he tried. Lincoln wanted all questions about race removed from all discussion. His strategy to do so was to agree with the Democratic Party that there was no equality between blacks and whites. He used racism strategically to eliminate it. Lincoln did admit that he was in support of colonization because he truthfully believed that blacks and whites could not live together equally. To a man like Frederick Douglass, what Lincoln and the Republicans stood for was disjointed. And to me, while this may have all been a strategy for Lincoln, I feel it necessary to take Douglass’ side of the issue.

Lincoln wanted freedom and equality for everyone no matter the color of their skin or the race they were born. Lincoln wanted everyone to have the same rights because he didn’t believe in inequality. According to a speech give in July 1858 Lincoln stated,

Lincoln was always against slavery. He never thought of slaves as better than white Americans, but still thought they should be considered as equal to the law. Lincoln agreed with the founding fathers' phrase “All men are created equal,” which he also thought that it should have applied to black and white people. “The Declaration and the Constitution enshrined these rights: the right to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’. In essence, to Lincoln this implied the right to be free, to enjoy the fruits of his labour, to have a family and to acquire property.”

Abraham Lincoln was one the best leaders and commanders this country has ever had. And that wasn’t just noticed by a few people, it was noticed by many. Frederick Douglass describes Lincoln in his “Oration in Memory of Abraham Lincoln” and being “swift, zealous, radical, and determined.” He ended his statement by saying “his memory will be precious forever” (Document K). Another quality that made Lincoln such a great leader was that he thought of the country as a whole before himself.

The Civil War was one of the greatest wars in American history, consisting of more than 50 major battles and estimating more than 620,000 deaths overall. This war not only abolished slavery, but it firmly redefined the United States as a single, unified nation, rather than a poorly bound assembly of independent states. It was a war that saw many “firsts”, such as America’s first military draft, the first battle between ironclad ships, and the first broad use of black soldiers and sailors in the U.S. service. All of these things could not have been done without two extremely hardworking and inspiring leaders in our country, Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant. Although the achievements of Generals Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant were similar in certain ways, the differing results at the peak of their careers ultimately changed the entire direction of the nation.

Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president, and served during an incredibly fragile and monumental age in America’s growth. As president during the civil war, and creator of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, he was controversially viewed as either an innovator or a wrongdoer. In any light, his presidency and murder created shockwaves throughout America during their time of post-war healing and grief, and sparked change that led the U.S to be the country it is today. The assassination of Abraham Lincoln was unjust because he was an influential leader and active abolitionist who made great changes for equality in America, but he completely disregarded the needs of the confederate movement during their time in the Civil War.

Lincoln sought to balance the party’s belief that slavery was morally wrong and oppose the expansion of it with a promise to protect it in states where it already existed. Lincoln did not advocate political or social equality for blacks but rather their inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. He carefully detailed his views on the limits to racial equality of black and white people. Lincoln knew that the majority of northern voters, while not believing in slavery, considered blacks inferior and wanted nothing to do with them.

Firstly, Abraham Lincoln was never a person who said that a african american and white person were equal but instead said that they were man like them so they should be allowed to obtain property like theirs. In his personal life Abe had a unique upbringing and adulthood as he lived. His upbringing with a father who had no education, but was successful in life with what he did and a religious family to beat. Nevertheless, his uneducated father found a way to live a prosperous life being one of the most successful farmers in Kentucky. To boot, his family was one with morals and that came with being a family that was religious just like a great majority of southern culture all of them attended church on Sunday. Next, it came to his adulthood later on in his life he was a lawyer and even a statesman before doing anything else. He became a lawyer after studying for only 18 hours and started to practice law immediately; becoming very successful with the way he could use his words in court. While he was a

Even though he naively believed that white men were the supreme race, he was staunchly against slavery as an institution and felt that the Declaration of Independence included black persons. In the same debate, Lincoln goes on to state that he “[does] not perceive that because the white man is to have the superior position the Negro should be denied every thing” (Lincoln). He believed that ‘the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,’ as outlined in the Declaration of Independence, applies to all men, regardless of their color, ethnicity, or culture. This may be attributed to the fact that he had not had many encounters with Black slaves until when he was in his late teens, where it had a profound impact on him (Foner 8).