The Crooked Path to Abolition: Abraham Lincoln and the Antislavery Constitution

by James Oakes

“something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.”

When it comes to the problem of slavery, as with many other issues great and small, it is simply not possible to discern a unified group of founders whose intentions can be readily discerned.

At the very least it was a plausible inference, based on the text, that the principle of fundamental human equality was “embodied” in the Constitution.

After a succession of “imperial” presidents, it is sometimes hard to remember that Lincoln lived in a world where the Constitution limited at least as much as it empowered.