Word: lincolnisms
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...close friend of John Brown's throughout the 1850s and had championed his militant abolitionist efforts. In 1859 Brown had invaded Harpers Ferry, Va., as part of a scheme to free the slaves but was captured and hanged for treason. While Douglass considered Brown a hero and martyr, Lincoln had referred to him as a criminal and madman. Yet now Lincoln was borrowing from Brown by conceiving a similar raid. Douglass had not gone with Brown to Harpers Ferry because he had correctly predicted that Brown would fail in the attempt. But Douglass eagerly accepted Lincoln's proposal and began...
...Lincoln's strategy resembled John Brown's efforts to invade the South and free the slaves. He wanted Douglass to organize a band of black scouts "to go into the rebel states, beyond the lines of our armies, and carry the news of emancipation, and urge the slaves to come within our boundaries," as Douglass recalled. If the plan worked, it would preserve the Union and end slavery...
Douglass came away from the meeting deeply moved and resumed recruiting. What most impressed him was Lincoln's honesty and sincerity--"there was no vain pomp and ceremony about him ... In his company I was never in any way reminded of my humble origin, or of my unpopular color." He sensed a kindred spirit in Lincoln, someone "whom I could love, honor, and trust without reserve or doubt." The respect was mutual; Lincoln regarded Douglass as "one of the most meritorious men, if not the most meritorious man, in the United States...
Through the recruiting controversy, Lincoln had also realized that he badly needed Douglass. It would be a virtually impossible task without him, and without blacks on Lincoln's side, he could scarcely win the war and preserve the Union. Many of his generals felt that "the emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion," Lincoln noted...
...year later, in August 1864, Lincoln decided that he needed Douglass again and requested a second, urgent meeting with him. He was dejected about Northern opposition to the war and his gloomy prospects for re-election. Almost everyone, it seemed, wanted peace, and most people felt that Lincoln's antislavery policy prevented a peaceful settlement with the Confederacy. Conservatives had nominated McClellan for President, and Lincoln was worried that if he failed to be re-elected, there would be a negotiated peace with slavery still intact. He had a plan, but Douglass had to help him carry...