In 1817, a society called the American Colonization Society (ACS) was formed. It advocated, as you might imagine, the re-colonization of freed blacks and the eventual and gradual emancipation and re-colonization of slaves.

Thomas Jefferson was a supporter, James Madison was a one-time officer late in his life, and several important people were part of the society at one time. This society met, had satellite state organizations in several states, and was well known for almost three decades.

It was NOT abolitionist. Its mission towards emancipation was so gradual as to be ambiguous. Nor was it integrationist. It made no demands in favor of a bi-racial society. Nevertheless, the ACS, in an organizational sense, was the conspicuous point of contact for discussions on slavery (with the exception of Quaker newspapers). It was sometimes endorsed by opposing factions. Some pro-slavery factions endorsed it because it saw a way of eliminating free blacks which were considered to be a bad influence on slaves. Some anti-slavery factions endorsed re-colonization since it saw a way of encouraging emancipation without racial confrontation. Both factions would see it as a way of eliminating potential uprisings.

For a short time, the ACS actually began to control the destiny of the African country of Liberia for a while during the Monroe administration (the capital “Monrovia” is named after James Monroe). Several ships of free blacks were transported in 1820 and again in subsequent years. Although partially successful, there were fewer than 200 freed blacks overall on those early ships and only 5000 by 1843. The idea generated some press, but early enthusiasm began to wane by the 1840s . Eventually, Liberia would come to hold about 10,000 re-colonized Africans before the Civil War, but only about 20% of blacks by that time were thought to be sympathetic to the aims of re-colonization.

The evolution of open dialog on slavery continued during the second quarter of the 19th century. The Second Great Awakening in the early 1800s brought on a new type of religious thinking. These new “evangelists” were also political activists for a new consideration of the slave issue. These newcomers would morph and splinter into a group known to have "immediast" views of the emancipation of slaves. According to them, slaves states should free their slaves NOW... because "gradual" was beginning to mean "never." These were the real abolitionists. Their new society was the American Anti-slave Society (AAS). They were a breed of evangelist-abolitionists that would continue for three decades prior to the Civil War –eventually yielding militant men like John Brown (although I have no idea if he was a member).

Abraham Lincoln's early life showed no interest in these types of evangelizing abolitionists. Lincoln's hero early on was Henry Clay - a devout ACS man who had maintained some public financing for re-colonization while in the Adams administration. Lincoln stayed true to the re-colonization wing of political thought - which really remained more popular than abolition - but still nowhere near as popular as the idea of, acceptable slavery in its various forms as it was promoted by southerners and many northern Democrats.

The abolitionists work in the 1830s, amid much hatred even in the north, would slowly spread and yield the abolitionists of the 1850s and then the 1860's when abolitionism finally became more kosher. The first abolitionist killed was in Illinois in the 1840s, and Lincoln made a passing reference to the case as a young lawyer. The AAS splintered again politically and formed the Liberty Party – which ran a presidential candidate in 1840 and 1844. Although the American Colonization Society went defunct in 1847, the AAS stood firm until 1870 when it was no longer needed.

That was the milieu that Lincoln grew up in. Although he was against slavery, his views fell just left of center for a northerner. He toyed with re-colonization all the way up until 1865 when he finally discussed the subject in-depth with white congressmen and finally a group of interested blacks at the White House. At that point, blacks were decidedly cold on the subject of re-colonization, and the white abolitionist opinion far less pronounced in that direction. Lincoln gave up the idea of re-colonization at that point according to biographer David Donald and worked toward other reconstructionist views until his death months later.

Although the re-colonization movement was racist at its core, there were several ways of viewing it. Lincoln himself told the blacks he feared white retribution after emancipation (and he was correct) and many who were attached to re-colonization thought splitting the races would decrease the chance for violence in the south. Nevertheless, the white mind set was generally that the two races were incompatible and this was probably true as a majority rule if you took a poll of every living American at that point.

However, the public discourse on slavery went through a significant change from 1800 until 1860. It was a growing topic of considerable debate.