Lincoln was no racist and only shallow people here think so. He sought to preserve the Union: he tried to appease the south; he did not want to be pushed into what many then would have seen as extreme positions, positions that were still open questions as late as the 1960's! He was no racist! The Southern people KNEW he wanted blacks liberated--that's why they broke off! He was a great man--far greater than the tiny bitter minds here that judge him out of context (trying to win the presidency and not have it go to Slave State candidates who were agreeable to more slave states). He did not want to precipitate a war if he could avoid it. But read his other speeches. Its clear what he thought: liberation for all. How sad that people who are the beneficiaries of is genius won't bother to inform themselves of the truth. What next? Assume that FDR was pro Nazi because he promised to keep us out of WWII?