April 11th is the also the day that Lincoln gave the speech that convinced Booth to carry out the assassination.
The amount of constituency, so to speak, on which the new Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all, if it contained fifty, thirty, or even twenty thousand, instead of only about twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, “Will it be wiser to take it as it is, and help to improve it; or to reject, and disperse it?” “Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining, or by discarding her new State government?”
Are you suggesting that Lincoln is publicly suggesting that some former slaves should have the franchise, while privately suggesting that they be sent to colonies?
Regardless, this is an idea that obviously intrigued Lincoln at one point. It would not shock me if he had explored it again in his second term. But, as others have pointed out, participation would have been voluntary, and it likely would have gone nowhere again.
If I recall properly, the Whites in the Confederacy were not allowed to vote. From the perspective of these people, Lincoln had not only destroyed their lands, homes and killed their people, he had evaporated their capital, their industry, and now intended to put their former slaves above them as their masters by giving them the vote which they no longer had.
In fact, several majority black legislatures were created by this method, but it's hard to find any references to this anymore. Because it became embarrassing to the Union, they quickly undid it. The references to these events appear to be nearly scrubbed off the internet. I haven't found a source for this (for how embarrassing were the doings of these legislatures for the Union officials running the South at that time.) for a long time, but I recall reading it in several history books decades ago.
Are you suggesting that Lincoln is publicly suggesting that some former slaves should have the franchise, ...
Actually I thought he went about it in the most reasonable manner possible. His suggestion that it be "conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers." is as good a way as any to attempt selling this idea politically, but no matter what he did, the idea would not be welcomed at that time in the South.
...while privately suggesting that they be sent to colonies?
So far as sending them to the colonies, he had proposed that they be hired by the Federal Government to build a Canal across Panama, and once they were settled in Panama, they could send for their wives and families. That was his Panama plan. He was trying for inducement at this point in time. (1863 I think) He had been pushing various "Get them out of America" plans since the 1840s, I think.
Regardless, this is an idea that obviously intrigued Lincoln at one point. It would not shock me if he had explored it again in his second term. But, as others have pointed out, participation would have been voluntary, and it likely would have gone nowhere again.
I think a voluntary plan would have gone nowhere again. Yes, I think that's correct. The point in bringing it up at all is to demonstrate that Lincoln didn't believe the "all men are created equal" anymore than did the founders four score and seven years earlier.