People reading this quote, get this through your heads. This was during the Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 to determine the Senator of Illinois. Of course, Stephen A. Douglas won, but this ushered Lincoln to become a major political force of the nation. During the debates, he stated that he thought that blacks had the right to eat what they sow and earn a living. This caused some to become wary of him, so he showed his honest opinion on blacks in this quote. In the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, Lincoln needed to take a different approach to the black question, so to gain the support of abolitionists and to give the Union new morale and objective, Lincoln stated to remove slavery in rebelling Confederate areas. This did not include the Border states that were for the Union, because Lincoln did not want to discourage them from staying with the Union. Lincoln was NOT an abolitionist. He was simply against the expansion of slavery. He WAS racist, as was the norm of society during this time. Even abolitionists never thought that blacks could get the same rights as a white could. Of course, they were wrong and now all races have the potential to show their true selves in society. No race or gender is dominant over the other. Only individuals are dominant over others due to intelligence, piety, wisdom, determination, humility, and other noble characteristics.