According to a survey taken on factmonster.com America has labeled Abraham Lincoln as one of our greatest presidents. As most of us learn in our primary education Lincoln is responsible for freeing the slaves. Celebrated as the "Great Emancipator," he is widely regarded as a backer of black freedom who supported social equality of the races, and who fought the American Civil War to free the slaves. While it is true that Lincoln regarded slavery as an evil and harmful institution, it is also true, as this paper will show, that he shared the conviction of most Americans of his time, and of many prominent statesmen before and after him. Lincoln really wasn't opposed to slavery, he did
             not believe blacks should vote or serve on juries, and he thought blacks should be colonized in other countries. With the societal conditions of the time any president elected by popular vote would have taken the same actions as Lincoln did towards the emancipation of blacks.
             Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809, near Hodgenville, Kentucky, the son of Nancy Hanks and Thomas Lincoln, pioneer farmers. At the age of two he was taken by his parents to nearby Knob Creek, and at eight to Spencer County, Indiana. The following year his mother died. In 1819 his father married Sarah Bush Johnston, a kindly widow, who soon gained the boy's affection. Lincoln grew up a tall, lanky youth, who could hold his own in physical contests and also showed great intellectual promise, although he had little formal education.
             In 1831, after moving with his family to Macon County, Illinois, he struck out on his own, taking cargo on a flatboat to New Orleans, Louisiana where he stayed for a short time. He then returned to Illinois and settled in New Salem, a short-lived community on the Sangamon River, where he split rails and clerked in a store. He gained the respect of his fellow townspeople, and was elected captain of his company in the Black Hawk War in 1832(Arno...