Lincoln asked Britain to help set up
colony for freed slaves
President had 'secret talks' with British to set
up a Belize settlement
By Matthew Barakat
Sunday, 6 March 2011
Abraham Lincoln told freed slaves they should found a colony in Latin
America, and even made contact secretly with the British about making
land available in what was then British Honduras, now Belize, according
to a new book.
As America celebrates the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's first
inauguration this week, a new book by researchers at George Mason
University in Fairfax, Virginia, makes the case that Lincoln was more
committed to colonising black people than previously thought. The book,
Colonization After Emancipation, is based in part on newly uncovered
documents that authors Phillip Magness and Sebastian Page found at the
British National Archives in Kew and in the US National
Archives.
It claims, among other things, that in 1862 Lincoln urged a White House
audience of "free blacks" to leave the US and settle in Central
America. He told them: "For the sake of your race, you should
sacrifice something of your present comfort for the purpose of being as
grand in that respect as the white people." He went on to say that
those who envisioned a permanent life in the US were being
"selfish" and he promoted Central America as an ideal location
"especially because of the similarity of climate with your native
land – thus being suited to your physical condition".
Lincoln's views about colonisation are well known to historians, even if
they don't make it into most schoolbooks. Lincoln even referred to
colonisation in the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, his September
1862 warning to the South that he would free all slaves in southern
territory if the rebellion continued.
Unlike some others, Lincoln always promoted voluntary, rather than
enforced, colonisation. But historians differ on whether or not he moved
away from the concept after he issued the Emancipation Proclamation on 1
January 1863.
The new book suggests Lincoln continued to support colonisation, engaging
in secret diplomacy with the British to establish a colony in British
Honduras. Among the records found at Kew is an 1863 order from Lincoln
granting a British agent permission to recruit volunteers for a
colony.
"He didn't let colonisation die off. He became very active in
promoting it in the private sphere, through diplomatic channels," Mr
Magness said. He surmises that Lincoln grew weary of the idea which had
become enmeshed in scandal and were criticised by many
abolitionists.
Dr Magness found a notation from as late as 1864 that Lincoln asked the
attorney general whether he could continue to receive counsel from James
Mitchell, his colonisation commissioner, even after Congress had
withdrawn funding for the office. However, Tom Schwartz, a research
director at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in Illinois, said
that there is evidence that Lincoln's views evolved away from
colonisation in the final years of the civil war.
Lincoln gave several speeches referring to the rights black people had
earned by enlisting in the Union Army, for instance. And his secretary
John Hay wrote in July 1864 that Lincoln had "sloughed off"
colonisation. "Most of the evidence points to the idea that Lincoln
was looking at other ways" to resolve the transition from slavery,
besides colonisation, at the end of his presidency, Dr Schwartz
said.
Dr Magness said that nobody can claim definitive knowledge of Lincoln's
views, especially on a topic as complex as race relations. "He never
had a chance to complete his vision. Lincoln's racial views were evolving
at the time of his death," he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/lincoln-asked-uk-to-help-ship-freed-slaves-to-own-colony-2233616.html
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