9. Lincoln’s anti-slavery leanings emerged while he was in the state legislature
In the 1830s abolitionist societies, supported by newspapers which argued their anti-slavery position, began to emerge in the northern and western states. The Illinois legislature introduced a resolution condemning the formation of abolitionist societies, which claimed that the right of, “property in slaves is sacred to the slaveholding states”, and that “they cannot be deprived of that right without their consent”. Lincoln was one of the six legislators who voted in opposition to the resolution, against the 77 who supported it, though his vote at the time was made without him voicing his argument. Lincoln had more pressing goals on his political agenda at the time, and again demonstrating his political savvy he decided to wait until he had achieved his main goal of the session (relocating the state capital to Springfield) before entering the slavery debate for the first time.
On March 3, 1837, his other goals achieved, Lincoln submitted a written opposition to the legislature’s action, stating “the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy”. Lincoln was equally critical of the abolitionist societies, which he believed exacerbated the issue by inflaming the debate, overwhelming reason with rhetoric, and justice with vengeance. Lincoln both condemned the practice of slavery and defended the sanctity of the rights of the people in the states which allowed it, writing that only they, through their congressional representatives, could abolish slavery in their own state, and not because of an overwhelming majority of anti-slavery votes from outside states. When Lincoln wrote his autobiography 23 years later, he stated that his attitude towards slavery at the time remained more or less the same.