So what if Lincoln was racist. Back then everyone was and even the Abolitionist movement didn't want total equality. ----- Lincoln still arguably did more to advance civil rights than any other president in our history and we should all be thankful.

The context of these statements are a large public debate in which Lincoln was answering a question of whether he favored "producing a perfect equality between the negroes and white people." He said these things with sarcasm and the crowd roared with laughter. Read the speech here: < href=http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;idno=lincoln3;rgn=div2;view=text;cc=lincoln;node=lincoln3%3A20.1http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=lincoln;idno=lincoln3;rgn=div2;view=text;cc=lincoln;node=lincoln3%3A20.1 There is no doubt Lincoln believed in freedom for blacks while at the same time acknowledging the divisions of the day. Without Lincoln, the freedoms enjoyed today in the US by all races might not exist.