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The Legacy Of Abraham Lincoln 's Presidency

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Throughout the time of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, Lincoln made a vast number of speeches and wrote many letters. These letters and speeches focused on a variety of topics and issues that were prominent before, during, and after the time of the Civil War. During this time, slavery was one of, if not the top main issue in the United States. Lincoln was very outspoken on his views of slavery, what he wanted to happen, and what he did not want to happen with the institution. One of the main points that Lincoln makes throughout his series of speeches and letters is that slavery is in fact a moral issue. He describes slavery as a social, moral and political wrong, and places a large emphasis on the morality of slavery. Lincoln describes his beliefs and opinions with great detail of why he sees slavery as a moral issue. Prior to his election, on October 15, 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave a speech during his last debate. During this debate, Lincoln focused on the issue of discerning the right and wrong of slavery. This topic had become a large key aspect to Lincoln’s president campaign. One point that Lincoln made about slavery was that he had an issue with the fact that slavery took away opportunities from the negro to ever be anything other than someone else’s property. Lincoln thought of it as “…having a tendency to dehumanize the negro-to take away from him the right of ever striving to be a man” (William E. Gienapp, ed., This Fiery Trial: The Speeches and Writings of Abraham

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