See, that's what I mean when I say it's not actually true. All he wrote in his memoirs anywhere close to that effect is what I mentioned about them not being able to adapt to society, but somehow it gets stretched into that.
Pretty sure he said they weren't as smart as whites or had smaller brains or some shit also. I remember we did a big debate section on this in African American History in college.
My professor was less than amused with me because he created two sides of debate where 1. Was Lincoln was racist and only did what he did because he had to for the union or 2. Lincoln was a good person and freed the slaves because he felt slavery was wrong.
I was on side 2 but my professor got mad at me when I argued that Lincoln was actually racist but it did not preclude that he was a good person and freed the slaves because he felt slavery was wrong either and he in fact did do.
There is contradictory reporting about whether he supported or opposed "negro citizenship" in Illinois in his debates with Douglass in 1858 (written later when he was running for president). In these, there is a line attributing "physical differences" as the reason why blacks and whites can't live together. Whether or not he wrote much less delivered speeches with such content, it does seem to actually contradict what his own memoirs on these subjects. That doesn't disqualify them as things he ever said for the purpose of getting elected, but it is 2nd hand versus 1st hand sources.
But even in those, I don't think these speeches ever clearly indicated a difference in intelligence or brain size.
However, it does strike me as odd he would say such things for the purpose of getting elected in Illinois, but not for the purpose of getting elected president only 2 years later.
Hillary explained this: with some people he used some arguments, and with other people he used other arguments. ---
September 1, 2003; November 4, 2007; September 2, 2013 Congratulations to DP Oblivion in the Guru Contest!