  Emancipation and Colonization: Views Of Jefferson, Clay and Lincoln If it be urged that Virginia had reached the conclusion that without the dispersion or colonization of the whole or a large portion of her slave population emancipation was impracticable, it may be acknowledged that to a qualified extent this was true. The position, however, did not involve an abandonment of the principle of emancipation, but rather the insistence that with emancipation should go the work of solving the race problem by a method which gave some assurance of complete success. That this attitude of Virginia cannot be regarded as wholly unreasonable or reactionary will appear when we consider the views of some of the leading friends of negro emancipation. From the number of those whose sanity kept pace with their zeal, we select Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln. VIEWS OF JEFFERSON AND CLAY Mr. Jefferson in 1820 wrote: "Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free; nor is it less certain than that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government. Nature, habit, opinion, have drawn indelible lines of distinction between them." Writing to Jared Sparks, President of Harvard College, in 1824, he said: "In the disposition of these unfortunate people there VIEWS OF CLAY Mr. Clay's attitude with respect to the institution of slavery will appear from his oft-quoted declaration: "Those who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ultimate emancipation must do more than put down the benevolent efforts of the Colonization Society, they must go back to the era of our liberty and independence, and muzzle the cannon that thunders its annual joyous return—they must blot out the moral lights around us—they must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate the light of reason and the love of liberty." His sentiments, however, with respect to the wisdom and necessity for colonizing the manumitted slaves were equally decided. In an address before the Colonization Society of Kentucky at Frankfort, December 17, 1829, Mr. Clay presented at length his reasons for supporting the movement to colonize all ex-slaves in the Republic of Liberia. In the course of this address he said: "If the question were submitted, whether there should be either immediate or gradual emancipation of all the Continuing, he said: "Is there no remedy I again ask for the evils of which I have sketched a faint and imperfect picture? Is our posterity doomed to endure forever not only all the ills flowing from the state of slavery, but all which arise from incongruous elements of population, separated from each other by invincible prejudices and by natural causes? Whatever may be the character of the remedy proposed, we may confidently pronounce it inadequate, unless it provides efficaciously for the total and absolute separation, by an extensive space of water or of land, at least of the white portion of our population from that which is free of the colored." In conclusion he said: "If we were to invoke the greatest blessing on earth, which Heaven, in its mercy, could now bestow on this nation, it would be the separation of the two most numerous races of its population and their comfortable establishment in distinct and different countries." VIEWS OF LINCOLN The biographers of Abraham Lincoln, Nicolay and Hay, declare: "The political creed of Abraham Lincoln embraced among other tenets, a belief in the value and promise of Speaking at Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857, Mr. Lincoln said: "I have said that the separation of the races is the only perfect prevention of amalgamation. I have no right to say that all the members of the Republican Party are in favor of this nor to say that as a party they are in favor of it. There is nothing in their platform directly on the subject. But I can say a very large proportion of its members are for it and that the chief plank in that platform—opposition to the spread of slavery—is most favorable to that separation. Such separation, if ever effected at all, must be effected by colonization.... The enterprise is a difficult one but where there is a will there is a way; and what colonization needs most is a hearty will. Will springs from the two elements of moral sense and self-interest. Let us be brought to believe it is morally right, and at the same time favorable to, or, at least, not against our interests, to transfer the African to his native clime, and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be." Upon his assumption of the office of President Mr. Lincoln sought to carry into effect his colonization views. In his first annual message to Congress—December, 1861—after alluding to the act "to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes," enacted by Congress at its extra session, under the operations of which thousands of slaves had come into the custody of the Federal authorities and the further fact that some of the states might adopt "In such cases I recommend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from such states according to some mode of valuation in lieu pro tanto of direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such states respectively; that such persons, on such acceptance, by the General Government, be at once deemed free, and that in any event steps be taken for colonizing both classes (or the first mentioned if the other shall not be brought into existence) at some place or places in a climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider too whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization. "To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be expended in the territorial acquisition. Having practised the acquisition of territory for nearly sixty years the question of constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one with us.... "If it be said that the only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes for white men this measure effects their object, for the emigration of colored men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson however placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on providing room for population. On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the acquisition of territory, does not expediency amount to absolute necessity—that without which the government itself cannot be perpetuated." As a result of these urgent representations Congress, at its session of 1862, placed at the disposal of the President the sum of $600,000.00 to be expended at his discretion in colonizing with their consent free persons of African Mr. Lincoln, with a view of carrying out this act of Congress, invited a number of prominent colored men to meet him at the White House on the 14th of August, 1862, and then and there urged upon them the wisdom of availing themselves of the opportunity thus offered to make for themselves a home beyond the borders of this country. Mr. Lincoln said that the action of Congress in placing at his disposal a sum of money for the purpose of aiding the colonization of the people of African descent made it his duty, as it had for a long time been his inclination, to favor that cause. Continuing, he said: "And why should the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should you leave this country? This is perhaps the first question for proper consideration. You and we are different races. We have between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both as I think. Your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this be admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. "The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but on this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would." In conclusion he said: In his special message to Congress April 16th, 1862, after alluding to the passage of the bill abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, he approves the same and declares: "I am grateful that the principles of compensation and colonization are both recognized and practically applied in this act."
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