| In the early 19th century,in order to solve the problem of free blacks at home,some American politicians formed the American Colonization Society(ACS),the goal of which was to carry out colonization program that was to transports freeblacks to the African continent.At the very begining,the ACS decided to seek the funding from the Federal government and take a variety of measures to gain the public support.By the end of 1820 s and the beginning of 1830 s,great progress was made on the colonization movement.At the same time,in the late 1820s and 1830s,the issue of slavery gradually moved to the center of the field of American politics.Colonizationist,abolitionist as well as pro-slavery Americans took part in the great debate on slavery.Through the colonization movement,they hoped to abolish slavery in a gradually,compensated and colonial way.However,such a way of solving the problem slavery was strongly condemned by pro-slavery Americans and abolitionist.In this situation,Colonizationist insisted on their middle ground,that was to abolish slavery on the premise of respecting for the rights of the slaveholders.During the Civil War,Lincoln as a Colonizationist also attempt to reach a compromise between the North and South by taking advantage of this middle gr ound.In the 1830s,the "gradual abolition" advocated by the Colonizationist and the "immediate abolition" advocated by the abolitionist were in opposition.In the 1850 s,with the collapse of the second party system,Republican Party was formed on the basis of opposing the expansion of slavery,thus opening the way of political abolition of slavery.Because of the most Republican'support,the colonization movement entered the national political arena.As the leader of the Republican Party,Lincoln always regarded the colonization movement as one of the way to solve the problem of slavery during the Civil War.As a result,the "gradual abolition" became a part of political abolition of slavery. |
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