Contrary to what many think the USA was not the only country that had black slaves. England and France had slaves in their colonies and on the islands. They did away with slavery -- it is only the USA that went to war over it. Lincoln did not believe that blacks were equal to whites in any way. He wanted them out of the country. He made reference to this in another speech. In fact he had Ambrose Thompson, a wealthy shipping magnate with land in Panama look into shipping them down there to work in coal mines and on coffee and fruit plantations.