Lerone Bennett Is Still Preaching His Gospel of Lincoln Hatred

Lerone Bennett recently gave a lecture on Abraham Lincoln's "true" legacy as a racist, hate filled demon that wished to make America a white nation. Thankfully the crowd that gathered to hear this disgusting brand of pseudo-history numbered under fifty.

The Ithaca Journal reported:

"“He was not a great emancipator, he was not a small emancipator, he was not even a regular-sized emancipator,” Bennett said, drawing laughs."

Bennett a raised the usual half-baked arguments such as this: "“The Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves; the 13th Amendment to the Constitution freed the slaves. If you meet a historian in Ithaca who says the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves, call the police — because you are either dealing with a charlatan or an innocent who needs to be protected from himself.”"

Yes, Mr. Bennett, the Emancipation Proclamation itself did not free any slaves. And yes it was the 13th Amendment that officially freed all the Nation's slaves. However, the proclamation gave authority to the Union Army to free any slave that they came across throughout the South. With the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln made emancipation the policy of the executive branch and the US military. After January 1, 1863 all Union Armies were now made into a tool of emancipation. Bennett, in his book Forced Into Glory, made a habit ignoring this fact because it did not fit the story he was trying to tell.

Bennett also ignored that many former slaves, as historian Allen Guelzo has argued, dated their freedom to the day that they heard about the proclamation. Lincoln didn't physically free the slaves, but rather most slaves freed themselves. Lincoln's proclamation, however, made sure that those who ran away to Union armies were not returned to their masters.

Bennett also made the claim that Lincoln "opposed equal rights for blacks and Latinos, and supported the deportation of all blacks living in the states. As a lawyer in Illinois, Lincoln sent runaway slaves back to slavery, he said."

Where do I start? The issue of Latino rights in 1863 was not a pressing issue because outside of Texas, California, and the lands of the Mexican Cession there were not that many Latinos living in the United States.

Lincoln was opposed to equal rights for blacks as was just about everyone else in America. Here is where I will make a concession to Bennett. Lincoln did hold some racist views, which was normal for the era. He did not think that blacks were equal to whites, but he also didn't think that they should be slaves. Lincoln also favored giving blacks the right to vote, which is what some historians believe was a deciding factor in his murder at the hands of John Wilkes Booth.

Bennett was partially correct when he argued that Lincoln wanted to deport all African Americans to Latin America or Africa. Lincoln did favor colonization for a brief time because he believed that blacks and whites would not be able to live peacefully with each other. He quickly abandoned this scheme when he was met by fierce resistance on the part of many black leaders including Frederick Douglass. Lincoln's colonization scheme was just one of many ideas that he proposed to solve the slavery problem.

I will make another concession to Bennett. Lincoln, as an Illinois lawyer, did return a slave to slavery. He hated the institution of slavery, which is generally accepted among historians, but Lincoln was also a firm believer in the supremacy of the law over personal beliefs. This was an unfortunate episode in Lincoln's law career, but it should in no way be interpreted as anything other than a dumb choice on the part of Lincoln.

Over the years, Bennett has garnered some praise for his stance on Lincoln's legacy, but those who offer this praise are usually other Lincoln hating, pseudo-historians. Bennett should not be and is not taken seriously by professional historians. He has revealed himself to be exactly what he accuses Lincoln of being: a hateful, bigoted, racist, shameful, disgusting man.

For those who want to read a much better analysis of Lincoln the emancipator, I recommend reading Allen Guelzo's Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. Guelzo's book also contains a devastating critique of Bennett's 600 plus page screed, Forced into Glory.