G@G Lincoln Lectures: The Fiery Trial”—The Evolution of Lincoln’s Thoughts on Race and Democracy
10:30-noon
The Gathering Space
Mick Chantler, Instructor
The Fiery Trial”—The Evolution of Lincoln’s Thoughts on Race and Democracy
Lincoln came of age at a time when Americans’ attitudes on race and slavery were hardening. In the early days of the Republic, there was hope that these social and economic issues could be solved in time. But as the decades rolled on, that no longer seemed possible. Lincoln had to overcome a general cultural consensus that African Americans could not live in our country as equals. We will trace the course of Lincoln’s thinking on these knotty problems, and see how he managed to extricate his mind—to a significant extent at least—from the seemingly hopeless dead end on the subject that the country had come to by 1840.