Political Science

Abraham Lincoln was known as a great emancipator on the account of his passing of the Emancipation Proclamation.  From the very beginning of his political career, Lincoln was very vocal on the issue of slavery and had foreseen how this would lead to strife in the long run.  In one of his arguments of slavery, he cited that the framers of the Constitution made a mistake in skirting the issue of slavery when a compromise was made among the pro-slavery signatories from the South and the anti-slavery advocates in order to keep the peace and to ensure that the Constitution will be signed and eventually ratified.  Lincoln apparently shared the same sentiments as the anti-slavery advocates because what he saw was a case of  short-term gain, long-term pain.   By prioritizing the need to ratify the Constitution, they were delaying the inevitable   conflict.

Lincoln saw the consequences it brought as new territories in the west were added to the Union.  Tensions were mounting on whether or not slavery would be allowed in these states during the administration of James Polk as the south appeared to be  influence-peddling  to win these states at their side as the issue on slavery was creating tensions in an apparent clash of the authority of the federal government over the autonomy of the states.  He also carried this issue in his debates with Stephen Douglas whose stand was to allow states to decide who wanted slavery or not.  Lincoln felt this was wrong and stated his famous  house divided  remarks as a metaphor to describe the current situation (Guelzo, 1999).  He believed that the anti-slavery advocates held the moral edge, and it showed in the Unions final victory in the Civil War .

What was avoided in 1787 still happened.  In the final analysis, Lincoln was proven correct.  The skirting of the issue nonetheless led to the end of slavery in the Union for he believed that it lacked moral supremacy.