“The Principle of Humanity”
“The Principle of Humanity”
Lincoln in Germany and Italy, 1859–1865
This chapter examines the influence of Abraham Lincoln's principle of humanity on European politics, particularly in Italy and Germany, during the period from 1859 to1865. It explains that the issues of slavery, national unification, independence and democracy raised by the American Civil War has immediate relevance in contemporary European politics because patriots and revolutionaries in Italy, Germany, Hungary and Poland were then striving to secure independence and national unification. It also discusses how the democratic enthusiasm of the 1860s turned into the social imperialism of the 1890s and how Lincoln became militarism and the forcible suppression of secession and rebellion.
Keywords: Abraham Lincoln, European politics, Italy, Germany, slavery, national unification, independence, democracy, imperialism, militarism
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