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ALEXANDER GOLDSTEIN 
 
The Speeches of 
 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
 Including Inaugurals and 
 
 Proclamations 
 
 With Biographical Introductions 
 and Prefatory Notes 
 
 Lincoln Centenary Association 
 New York 
 

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 Copyright 1908, by 
 LINCOLN CENTENARY ASSOCIATION 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 INTEREST in Lincoln, as man and politician "type, 
 flower, and representative of all that is worthily Ameri 
 can " in his historic day will, as it has been confidently 
 predicted, never die. Nor should we of our day be in 
 any haste to forget one whose many public virtues and 
 estimable personal character have shed glory on the 
 nation he so assiduously and patriotically served and 
 loved. The popular heart, at least, will certainly not be 
 blamed for continuing to go out warmly to the lovable, 
 unostentatious man, whose human nature overflowed 
 with sympathy for his kind, and whose devotion to public 
 duty was that of a true patriot and a devoted, heroic 
 figure at a most critical era in the nation s annals. That 
 his many admirable and thoughtful Addresses and State 
 Papers continue to be constantly referred to and read 
 shows what hold Lincoln had upon the men and events 
 of his time, and how effectively and beneficently he in 
 fluenced the trend of affairs in his day. If the Fates did 
 not suffer him to live to deal with the great problem of 
 Reconstruction, there was much of magnitude that in his 
 era he honestly and fearlessly dealt with, and that with 
 signal ability, as well as with marvellous clearness, logical 
 precision, and sagacity. These characteristics of the 
 martyr President are manifestly well brought out in the 
 following collection of his more important Speeches and 
 Addresses, and especially so in his Inaugurals and Mes 
 sages to Congress, together with a phenomenal power of 
 reaching the core of a subject and of imparting to his 
 audiences his views and conclusions thereon with justice, 
 force, and lucidity. The present Collection, it need 
 
 i 
 
 773200 
 
{{ PREFACE. 
 
 hardly be said, is not an attempt to vie with the ex 
 haustive and authoritative one prepared under the able 
 editorship of President Lincoln s private secretaries, 
 Messrs. Nicolay and Hay, and published by The Century 
 Co., of New York. The volume has a much more limited 
 aim and modest purpose namely, to produce in popular 
 and more compendious form selections from some of the 
 chief public utterances of Mr. Lincoln of abiding interest ; 
 and so help to perpetuate the well-deserved fame and 
 extend the range and scope of public familiarity with the 
 great " Liberator s " career and work. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abraham Lincoln, 1864 - Frontispiece 
 
 Birthplace of Lincoln . - $ 
 
 Earliest Portrait of Lincoln, 1848 12 
 
 Home of Lincoln, Springfield, III. - 73 
 Lincoln Statue, by St. Gaudens, Chicago - - 162 
 
 Lincoln as President- Elect, I860 - 259 
 
 Lincoln Portrait by Sartain - 300 
 
 Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation 
 
 before the Cabinet - S62 
 
 Assassination of Lincoln 403 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGE 
 
 oreneral Introduction by the Editor 
 
 1837 (Jan. 27) The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions : 
 Address to Young Men s Lyceum, Spring 
 field, 111 1 
 
 1848 (Jan. 12) Speecli in the U. S. House of Representatives. 12 
 
 1852 (July 16) Eulogy on Henry Clay, delivered in the State 
 
 House, Springfield, 111 24 
 
 1854 (Oct. 16) Speecli in Reply to Judge S. A. Douglas, at 
 
 Peoria, 111 34 
 
 1858 (June 16) Speech at Springfield, 111., at the close of the 
 
 Republican State Convention that nomi 
 nated Mr. Lincoln as United States Senator 52 
 
 (July 10) Speech at Chicago, 111 62 
 
 (July 17) Speech at Springfield, 111.. 77 
 
 (Aug. 21) Speecli at Ottawa, 111., in Debate with 
 
 Judge Douglas 94 
 
 (Aug. 27) Speech at Freeport, 111., in Douglas Debate, 
 
 with Lincoln s Rejoinder 110 
 
 (Sep. 15) Speech at Jonesboro, 111., in Douglas Debate.. 129 
 (Sep. 18) Speech at Charleston, 111., in Douglas Debate. 151 
 (Oct. 7) Speech at Galesburg, 111., in Douglas Debate.. 162 
 
 (Oct. 13) Speech at Quincy, 111., with Rejoinder 185 
 
 (Oct. 15) Speech at Alton, 111., in Douglas Joint Debate 195 
 
 1859 (Mar. 1) Speech at Chicago, on night of Municipal Elec 
 
 tion 224 
 
 (Sep. 17) Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio 228 
 
 1860 (Feb. 27) Address at Cooper Institute, New York 259 
 
 (Mar. 6) Address at New Haven, Conn 283 
 
 1861 (Feb. 15) Speech at Pittsburg, Pa , 296 
 
 (Feb. 18) Address to Legislature of New York, at 
 
 Albany , N. Y 301 
 
 iii 
 
IV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGK 
 
 (Feb. 22) Address at Independence Hall, Philadelphia.. 303 
 Address to Legislature of Penri., at Harris- 
 burg 305 
 
 (Mar. 4) First Inaugural at Washington, D. C 308 
 
 1861 (July 4) Message to Congress in Special Session 320 
 
 (Aug. 12) Proclamation of a National Fast-Day 339 
 
 (Dec. 3) Annual Message to Congress 341 
 
 1862 (Mar. 6) Message to Congress recommending Compen 
 
 sated Emancipation 348 
 
 (April 10) Proclamation recommending Thanksgiving 
 
 for Victories 350 
 
 (Sep. 22) Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation 351 
 
 (Dec. 1) Annual Message to Congress 354 
 
 1863 (Jan. 1) Emancipation Proclamation , 363 
 
 (July 15) Proclamation for Thanksgiving 366 
 
 (Nov. 19) Gettysburg Cemetery Address 368 
 
 (Dec. 8) Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction. 369 
 
 Annual Message to Congress 373 
 
 1864 (April 18) Address at Sanitary Fair, at Baltimore, Md. 393 
 (June 16) Address at Sanitary Fair, at Philadelphia, 
 
 Penn 396 
 
 (Aug. 22) Address to 166th Ohio Regiment 398 
 
 (Aug. 31) Address to 148th Ohio Regiment 399 
 
 (Oct. 20) Proclamation of Thanksgiving 400 
 
 (Nov. 10) Response to a Serenade 402 
 
 (Dec. 6) Annual Message to Congress, 404 
 
 1865 (Mar. 4) Second Inaugural Address 409 
 
 (April 11) Last Public Address 412 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, THE EMANCIPATOR 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 FULLY two-score years Have passed since the assas 
 sination, at Ford s Theatre, Washington, of Abraham 
 Lincoln, " the great Emancipator " President, whose 
 martyr death has consecrated his name to all coming 
 generations of freemen and enshrined it indelibly in the 
 hearts of every lover of Humanity. The tragic death of 
 this " first of Americans," though it whelmed the nation 
 he loved in sorrow when news of it fell upon the appalled 
 ear, was yet a glorious and triumphal one, since it was 
 the crowning sacrifice of a life spent in Freedom s cause 
 and in the loved service at once of his kind and of his 
 country. His lamented death and the hideous manner of 
 his taking off were but the sad sequel of a period of ca 
 lamitous strife in the nation s annals, when the South, 
 seeking to preserve its cherished institution of slavery 
 a vile traffic which Lincoln ever held in dire abhorrence 
 and defying the moral sense of the North against the 
 hideous wrong, plunged the nation into one of the most 
 terrible wars in history. The conflict, as all know, en 
 tailed a loss of nearly a million lives and the expenditure 
 of about thirty-five hundred million dollars ; but it had 
 at length its happy consummation, not only in reuniting 
 and cementing the riven Union, but by the great edict of 
 Emancipation, the work we might almost say alone of 
 the kindly, humane President, in abolishing slavery for 
 ever from the country and elevating the slave to the 
 rights and privileges of freemen. What the conse- 
 
v j INTRODUCTION. 
 
 quences of the edict were in the issues of the war there is 
 little need to relate. As an act of astute and noble- 
 minded statesmanship, " war measure " though it was 
 deemed, it achieved its high and memorable purpose, of 
 putting an end to the mighty conflict, restoring peace to 
 the blood-sodden nation, and reestablishing it in its entire 
 integrity, with undivided authority. The far-seeing de 
 vice of Lincoln and his administration, with its beneficent 
 results in banning slavery for all time from the country 
 and relieving the oppressed black man from his shackles, 
 was naturally hailed by the plaudits of the world. Care 
 ful personally not to go beyond the Constitution in seek 
 ing to liberate the slave in whatever State or Territory 
 he was in bondage, Lincoln had heretofore bided his 
 time to put his Emancipation measure in force, which 
 was to end the hitherto " irrepressible conflict " and re 
 store the dissevered Union. But when the fit occasion 
 came, at a favorable turn in the protracted and harrow 
 ing conflict, he, " the providential man raised up for his 
 era," obeyed the behests of his own conscience and heart 
 and launched with confident hand and will the tactful 
 yet merciful edict. How potent and instant were its 
 effects, we all know ; though we also know how, in cer 
 tain quarters at the time, it was fought against and dis 
 credited, and what wrath was loosed to descend upon the 
 great chieftain s head who was alone responsible for its 
 issuance and promulgation. 
 
 This biding his time to abolish slavery has almost in 
 explicably raised the question whether Lincoln really 
 cared to put an end to the vile traffic, or whether he 
 merely used the Emancipation edict as a war measure 
 tactically directed against the South in rebellion. We 
 need hardly argue the point with those who have raised 
 it, since nothing, we hold, is plainer in the entire history 
 of Lincoln s career than his sympathy for the slave and 
 his abhorrence of an institution that kept him in a hated 
 and cruel bondage. He was not, it is true, a negrophilist ; 
 
INTRODUCTION. VU 
 
 but nothing, on the other hand, is more self-evident than 
 that he was ever an abolitionist and opposed in his heart 
 of hearts to the giant evil of slavery, which not only 
 shocked his moral sense, but was emphatically alien to 
 his kindly, humane nature. In proof of this, we need but 
 mention his early threat against the institution at the 
 period of his flat-boat trip down the Mississippi, when he 
 saw slaves bought and sold like dumb cattle in the slave 
 marts of New Orleans, or when he witnessed, with 
 strained heart, the poor blacks manacled and cruelly 
 flogged at whipping-posts by their tyrannous masters 
 That threat, that some day " he would hit the institution 
 hard," he long kept in his heart, while he knew that it 
 never could be compromised with, and therefore sought 
 by all means within his power to keep the infamous 
 traffic within bounds and to hinder its extension wherever 
 it was not law. Hardly less indicative of the great 
 Emancipator s early attitude in opposition to the slave 
 traffic is the stand he took in regard to the Dred Scott 
 case, that slavery deprived the black man of the rights 
 and privileges of citizenship, or that memorable assertion 
 he made in 1858, at the Springfield (111.) Convention that 
 nominated Lincoln for the United States Senate, when 
 he told its members, in his appeal for unity, that " the 
 Government of the country cannot endure permanently 
 half-slave and half- free," adding that " a house divided 
 against itself cannot stand." Still more emphatic were 
 his words in 1864, when war was devastating the land, 
 and when all knew that Secession had mainly been 
 brought about by the imperious wish to perpetuate sla 
 very in the South. Lincoln s words then were the once 
 familiar dictum of Abolition orators, that " if slavery is 
 not wrong, then nothing is wrong " a dictum of unmis 
 takable cogency and truth. It took, as we know, a great 
 crisis in the affairs of the nation to get rid of the " hated 
 thing ; " but this does not detract from the credit due to 
 Lincoln for abolishing it, and thus striking down, by an 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 effective and fatal blow, the distinctive barrier, socially 
 and politically, between North and South, and applying a 
 remedy that determined the issues in the great Rebellion 
 conflict. The controversy once rife over this matter is 
 surely to-day in need of no further argument, any more 
 than there is need to argue again the question, also once 
 rife, as to the religious character of the great President 
 and the precise complexion of his religious belief. In re 
 gard to the latter, there can, we think, be little room for 
 contention, since though Lincoln was himself chary of 
 giving expression in words to the character and extent of 
 his faith in God, his life, we know, was a highly moral 
 and righteous one, and conspicuously human in its tend 
 erness. Though in his early career he may have been 
 indifferent to religion, his personal and public life was 
 later on marked by a deep sense not only of responsibility 
 to a Higher Power than that of man, but of an abiding 
 trust in a Divine Being, whose will and purposes he 
 sought to obey and give effect to in the administration of 
 his great office. Notable also was his reverent consecra 
 tion of himself to the service of his fellow-man and to the 
 heavy and exacting calls of the nation. The spirit in 
 which he addressed himself to the accomplishment of the 
 great task he assumed at Washington is manifest in his 
 parting words, at Springfield, 111., to his fellow citizens, 
 on taking leave of them to engage in the arduous duties 
 of the Presidency. "Friends," he said to them, "one 
 who has never been placed in a like position can little 
 understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive 
 sadness I feel at this parting. I go to assume a task more 
 difficult than that which devolved upon Washington. 
 Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with and 
 aid me, I must fail ; but if the same Omniscient mind and 
 Almighty arm that directed and protected him shall 
 guide and support me, I shall not fail, I shall succeed." 
 Here, undoubtedly, we have the true Lincoln, and see the 
 spirit of inner trust and dependence in which he wrought 
 
INTRODUCTION. { X 
 
 and achieved his work. With this manifestation of the 
 real man, can we doubt the secret of his meditative 
 moods, amid all his jocularities and racy story- tellings, 
 which endeared him to everyone and brought him into 
 close and kindly touch with his kind ? 
 
 Curious as well as interesting is it to trace in Lincoln s 
 early years the makings of this extraordinary, self-made 
 man. Nothing could well be moro humble and obscure 
 than the beginnings of his life, in cabin or camp, in the 
 Kentucky scenes of his origin, or in the rough wilderness 
 home in which he was " raised " in Indiana. In the latter 
 State he early lost his mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln; 
 though in his shiftless father s second wife, the kindly 
 and sensible Sally Johnston, he was fortunate to find a 
 worthy substitute, to whom Honest Abe was ever greatly 
 attached and of whom he grew to be gratefully and duti 
 fully fond. At his parents humble home, at Pigeon 
 Creek, Abe spent his youth time, snatching what irre 
 gular and limited schooling he could obtain in the neigh 
 borhood, while contributing to his growth by an active 
 life in the woods, catching coons and opossums, inter 
 spersed by " doing chores " at home for his stepmother, 
 or helping his father in cutting the family firewood or in 
 felling timber for rustic cabins for the more well-to-do 
 settler. At this period, Abe, who had meantime grown 
 up a tall, lanky, ill-knit lad, of homely appearance and 
 somewhat rough though kindly manners, was deemed by 
 those who knew him as lazy and disinclined to work, but 
 who delighted to spin yarns with his fellows when he was 
 not lying prone under a shade tree or up in the cabin- 
 loft reading, ciphering or scribbling. About this time he 
 began to develop gifts of native oratory, and when op 
 portunity offered would take with avidity to political 
 speech-making, enlivening his stump efforts with witty 
 jokes and amusing stories. His ambition now became 
 earnest to prepare himself for the public arena, and in 
 this creditable purpose he became more assiduous after 
 
x INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his trading expedition to New Orleans and when his 
 father had immigrated to Illinois, where, however, he 
 soon died. His son, Abraham, now settled near Salem, 
 on the Sagamon river, some twenty miles or so northwest 
 of Springfield. Here the future President became clerk 
 in a store, captain of a militia company, which took part 
 in what is known as the Black Hawk war, and after some 
 brief experience as a surveyor he studied law and associ 
 ated himself with a Mr, Herndon in a legal partnership, 
 meanwhile acting temporarily as village postmaster and 
 seeking election to the Illinois State Legislature. To the 
 latter, on a second candidature, young Lincoln was suc 
 cessful, and he now began to make a local reputation in 
 politics, the while commending himself to his constitu 
 ents as a staunch supporter of schemes for internal im 
 provement and development. 
 
 In storekeeping, Lincoln hadn t the plodding, steady- 
 going habits that would enable him to succeed ; while as 
 a lawyer, though he was neither widely nor soundly read 
 in jurisprudence, he won for himself a respectable and 
 even an honored position. Moreover, he was too honest 
 to accept fees from suitors whose cases he knew or 
 suspected were not such as should commend them to a 
 man of scrupulous conscience and moral judgment. In 
 the Legislature, while he was loyal to the wants of his 
 own section of the State, and strove to advance its inter 
 ests, he seems at times to have been too inconsiderate of 
 the State purse when demands were made upon it for 
 railway projects and schemes for improved river naviga 
 tion. He was however careful not to lend himself to 
 party jobbery, still less to log-rolling schemes of ques 
 tionable morality; while he became widely known for 
 his manly, consistent probity and his sensitiveness to 
 matters affecting his personal honor. As a speaker in and 
 out of the Legislature, he interested his audiences by his 
 effective utterances, set forth in plain, terse language, 
 seasoned with humor and at times with a biting wit. His 
 
INTRODUCTION. XI 
 
 manner of address was usually awkward, but was often 
 impassioned and full of fire ; while his great fund of aptly 
 told stories enabled him always to draw large and de 
 lighted gatherings of people, whenever he was known or 
 expected to appear on the stump. , 
 
 It was at this, or rather at an earlier, period of his 
 career that Lincoln had his unhappy experience of love- 
 making, the first episode ending calamitously in the death 
 of Ann Rutledge, a young lady to whom the now rising 
 Western publicist and orator seems to have been tenderly 
 attached. The shock of her early death, we are told, 
 threw the devoted lover into transports of grief, which 
 appears for a time to have threatened his reason. With 
 the assuagement of Time and preoccupation in his pro 
 fessional and political life, Lincoln, as we know, however, 
 got over his early bereavement, and in 1842 married 
 Mary Todd, of Lexington, Ky. This marriage, it is ad 
 mitted, was not a happy one, owing partly to the lady s 
 superior education and higher social position, though per 
 haps more truly to incompatibility of temper. Of the al 
 liance, Lincoln, however, was never known to complain, 
 obviously influenced in this respect by motives which did 
 him honor ; while he ever bore himself towards his wife 
 as became a considerate and leal-hearted gentleman. 
 
 Great issues were now commencing to loom on the 
 political horizon, when Lincoln was to take a prominent, 
 and at length a commanding, position in their discussion 
 and direction. To the consideration and handling of 
 these issues the orator s phenomenal gifts and qualities 
 of heart and brain were very helpful in enabling him 
 to unravel the knots, and in leading him to divine the 
 course the issues ought to take in the broadest interests 
 of the nation. Before this era, the frontier " rail-splitter " 
 had provisionally become a member of Congress ; but it 
 was not until the year 1854, four years after Clay s Mis 
 souri Compromise Bill had transferred the preponder 
 ance of power to the South, by opening the territories to 
 
x ii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the extension of slavery and enforcing the Fugitive- 
 Slave Law, that Lincoln s political career actively and 
 influentially began. It was at this juncture also that 
 Judge Stephen A. Douglas, an Illinois senator, came into 
 national prominence and influence. With the latter, 
 " the little giant " as Douglas was popularly called, Lin 
 coln had ere this crossed swords in heated debate, when 
 in 1858 both men were in the running for the United 
 States Senate, Lincoln on the Republican and anti-slavery 
 side, and his opponent on the Democratic ticket, favoring 
 the South and its eagerness for non-interference with its 
 peculiar institution and opposing sectional limitation to 
 the extension of slavery. By this time, the die was now 
 about to be cast, the several political parties ranging 
 themselves in opposing camps, and heralding the coming 
 of the "irrepressible conflict/ which for years was to 
 sunder the nation and bring on the dire horrors of the 
 War of the Rebellion. Meanwhile Lincoln s notable 
 controversy with Douglas greatly enhanced the reputa 
 tion the orator had gained as a debater, while it brought 
 him favorably into notice as a likely candidate for the 
 Republican nomination to the Presidency. His availa 
 bility for the high post was further shown when an Illi 
 nois committee that had favored his claims despatched 
 Lincoln to make a speech at New York and rouse the 
 East by his discussion of the momentous questions of the 
 time. The mission was Lincoln s opportunity, and 
 grandly did he rise to the occasion, as we see in the 
 memorable speech he delivered in Feb. 1860, before 
 an immense and enthusiastic audience at the Cooper In 
 stitute, New York. The speech, which was remarkable 
 for its earnestness and moral force, as well as for its 
 astute use of constitutional logic, created a furore and 
 spread the Western orator s fame throughout the East, 
 where his name was already spoken of as a possible 
 nominee for the chief office in the nation. The speech 
 was followed by other effective utterances in New Eng- 
 
INTRODUCTION, xiii 
 
 land, where, in his inimitable way, Lincoln made a deep 
 impression, despite his rough, almost uncouth, appear 
 ance, and the caution that had been given him, which he 
 literally obeyed, to refrain from diverting his audiences 
 with his witticisms and amusing Western stories. On 
 his return to Illinois, political matters advanced rapidly, 
 and Mr. Seward, Honest Abe s chief rival for the Presi 
 dency, was soon to hear of the two great political parties 
 ranging themselves in hostile array, and to see the North 
 dividing itself into a preponderating element, styled Lin 
 coln States. This was followed by party dissensions 
 and waverings, and by an ominous split in the Democra 
 tic camp, hastened by the rising indignation in the North 
 over the threat of Southern Secession and the precipita 
 tion of armed strife. 
 
 The nation now neared the era of its heavy and sore 
 trial, at the approach of which Buchanan, then chief 
 magistrate, stood perplexed and irresolute, unable to meet 
 and deal with, far less to avert, the coming crisis. His 
 term of office was to expire in the following March (1861), 
 and in the month of May, 1860, the National Republican 
 Convention met at Chicago to select a candidate to suc 
 ceed Buchanan in the Presidency. That the choice was 
 likely now to be a Western man was pretty evident, 
 since of late the centre of political power had crept West 
 ward ; while the " available " man, as we have indicated, 
 appeared to be the plain, modest, undistinguished lawyer 
 of Springfield, 111., a man thought to be eminently " safe " 
 from the politician s point of view, yet who was exceed 
 ingly popular in his own State, and was now beginning 
 to be widely known for his great oratorical and logical 
 powers, his moderate views, and his intimate acquaint 
 ance with the distracting questions of the time. The 
 contest, on the Republican side, was between Seward, 
 Chase, and Lincoln ; on the Democratic side, the rival 
 candidates were Breckinridge, the Southern favorite ; 
 Douglas, the representative of Northern Democracy ; and 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Bell (Governor of Tennessee), the standard-bearer ol 
 what was then termed the Constitutional Union Party. 
 Of these various men in the field for the high prize, Lin 
 coln, in the estimation of the political wirepullers, was 
 deemed the least likely to win, for, in comparison with 
 his rivals, he was comparatively unknown ; while even 
 up to this period few persons, as it has been said, " real 
 ized the grandeur of Lincoln s character, his splendid 
 common sense, and his marvellous insight into the real 
 nature of things." He moreover represented, as the same 
 authority (Prof. Edward Channing) has expressed it, 
 " that which was best in American life, under every dis 
 advantage of birth and breeding, he raised himself by his 
 own exertions to the level of the best statesmen of the 
 day. His sincerity, his straightforwardness, his keen 
 perception of right and wrong, were all enforced by a 
 sense of humor and a kindliness of bearing that endeared 
 him to all with whom he came in contact." He was, 
 moreover, as we know, ever near to the people, and had 
 that gentleness of nature which put him in sympathy with 
 the masses and tender towards human hearts in trouble. 
 As the critic, Mr. Hamilton Mabie, writes : " It was this 
 deep heart of pity and love in him which carried him far 
 beyond the reaches of statesmanship or oratory, and gave 
 his words the finality of expression which marks the 
 noblest art." Of his poetic temperament, the same 
 writer thoughtfully remarks, " that there was a deep vein 
 of poetry in Mr. Lincoln is clear to one who reads the 
 story of his early life ; and his innate idealism, set in sur 
 roundings so harsh and rude, had something to do with 
 his melancholy. The sadness which was mixed with his 
 whole life, was, however, largely due to his temperament ; 
 in which the final tragedy seemed always to be predicted. 
 In that temperament, too, is hidden the secret of the 
 rare quality of nature and mind which suffused his pub 
 lic speech and turned so much of it into literature. 
 There was humor in it, there was deep human sympathy, 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv 
 
 there was clear mastery of words for the use to which he 
 put them ; but there was something deeper and more 
 persuasive, there was the quality of his temperament; 
 and temperament is a large part of ge nius. The inner 
 forces of his nature played through his thought; and 
 when great occasions touched him to the quick, his whole 
 nature shaped his speech and gave it clear intelligence, 
 deep feeling, and that beauty which is distilled out of the 
 depths of the sorrows and hopes of the world." 
 
 Such was the manner, and such were the characteristic 
 qualities, of the man whom Providence had now raised 
 up to preside over the destinies of the nation at a most 
 grave and calamitous crisis in its historic annals. What 
 his political education had been, and what success he had 
 hitherto gained, we have, in the course of this article, 
 endeavored to point out, and especially the fame he had 
 won as a speaker and debater after his contest with Judge 
 Douglas over the senatorship, a contest, as the present 
 writer has elsewhere said, " that showed in a remarkable 
 manner what his powers were in the field of national as 
 well as of local politics, and how effectively he had 
 mastered the constitutional and other questions of the 
 time that enabled him to vanquish his adversary. Other 
 gifts and qualities as a debater brought him success, 
 particularly those that extort admiration from an in 
 telligent, dispassionate audience, namely, restraint in the 
 speaker, that puts a check upon unfair as well as incon 
 clusive argument, and the absence of temper and of any 
 thing bitter or personal in the style and manner of his 
 address. In these respects, the future President was 
 invariably honest with himself, as well as with his 
 opponent and his hearers, and never allowed himself to 
 utter an unbecoming taunt or fling at those opposed to 
 him, even in the most heated of party controversies. 
 Such, as we have said, were the traits of the man who, 
 when great issues were beginning to loom on the troubled 
 political horizon, was to take a commanding position in. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 their discussion and direction, and who brought with him 
 the potent influences of a clean, high heart, and a record 
 for all that was worthy and honorable in one aspiring to 
 usefulness and patriotic duty in public life." 
 
 But let us here return to the meeting at Chicago, in 
 Nov. 1860, of the National Republican Convention, where 
 the practical step was taken in the nomination of a 
 president, in succession to Mr. Buchanan, a nomination 
 that ranged the forces of slavery and freedom into deadly 
 conflict in the struggle for supremacy in the government 
 of the nation. To the attitude and decision of the Con 
 vention the eyes of the whole country were naturally at 
 the period turned to the prairie State, and keen was the 
 interest felt by all when, after the third ballot, Lin 
 coln was found to be the unanimous choice of the body 
 for the presidency, with Hannibal Hamliri, of Maine, for 
 the office of Vice-president. The election presently 
 followed, the popular vote resulting in these figures. 
 Lincoln, 1,866,462 ; Douglas, 1,875,157 ; Breckinridge, 
 847,953 ; Bell, 590,631. The electoral vote showed the 
 following results: Lincoln, 180; Douglas, 12; Breckin 
 ridge, 72 ; and Bell, 39. The sequel to this triumph of 
 the Northern anti-slaver} 7 " platform was, as all know, the 
 secession of South Carolina and the Gulf States, followed 
 some few months later by that of the border Slave States, 
 and the outbreak of the Civil War. For the next four 
 years, the life of Abraham Lincoln becomes merged in 
 that of the nation, and is inseparable from the tragic 
 story of the fratricidal conflict which ensued, with the 
 terrible period of strain through which both President 
 and nation passed in its dire happenings. In March, 
 1861, Mr. Lincoln was quietly though impressively in 
 stalled in office, on which occasion he made an earnest 
 plea for peace and union, at the same time deprecating 
 Southern apprehension of menace or danger arising from 
 the accession of a Republican Administration. Address 
 ing the South and its sympathizers particularly, Presi- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xv il 
 
 dent Lincoln closed his address with these cautionary 
 though friendly words : " In your hands, my dissatisfied 
 fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous 
 issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. 
 You can have no conflict without yourselves being the 
 aggressors. You have no oath registered in heaven to 
 destroy the government ; while I shall have the most 
 solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it. . We 
 are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies : 
 though passion may have strained, it must not break our 
 bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, 
 stretching from every battle-field and patriot grave to 
 every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad 
 land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union when again 
 touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of 
 our nature." With such wise restraint and extreme 
 tenderness, did Lincoln appeal to the erring South at 
 this critical juncture of affairs, the unhappy answer to 
 which, only five weeks later, was the firing upon and 
 capture by the Southern forces in the field of Fort 
 Sumter. Meanwhile, other United States forts and 
 arsenals had been seized by the seceders, and a Con 
 federate Government had been created, with Jefferson 
 Davis as President, and the States of Mississippi, Florida, 
 Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had joined 
 South Carolina in passing ordinances of secession. Later 
 on, the States of Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and 
 Tennessee joined the new-pledged Confederacy and took 
 themselves out of the Union. 
 
 While these momentous events were happening, the 
 machinery of the Washington Government was organized, 
 Mr. Lincoln calling to his Cabinet a number of able and 
 experienced men, some of whom had been his rivals in 
 the contest for the Presidency. Of these notable men 
 called to the councils of the nation, Mr. Seward ac 
 cepted the post of Secretary of State ; Salmon P. Chase, 
 who had been a senator and governor of Ohio, was made 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Secretary of the Treasury ; Gideon Welles became Secre 
 tary of the Navy ; Montgomery Blair, Postmaster- 
 General ; Edward Bates, of Missouri, Attorney -General ; 
 Caleb B. Smith, Secretary of the Interior ; while the 
 Secretary of War was Simon Cameron, of Pennsylvania, 
 later on succeeded by Edwin M. Stanton. Of these states 
 men, strong and able though they severally were, the 
 master hand in the rule of the nation was Lincoln him 
 self, as we see in his effective though quiet rebuke to 
 Seward, who had showed a disposition shortly after the 
 President s installation, if not to take the direction of 
 affairs into his own hand, to assert his own individuality 
 as chief minister of the State. Not to be borne was this 
 impatience of Mr. Seward, for Mr. Lincoln s capacity was 
 undoubted to manage both affairs and men under him, 
 while doing no violence constitutionally by any arbitrary 
 proceedings of his own, or in vital matters overriding the 
 wise, legitimate counsels of his Cabinet. 
 
 The aggressive act of the Confederacy in its attack on 
 Fort Sumter, while it startled the North and inflamed its 
 people with a righteous indignation, was promptly and 
 vigorously met by President Lincoln, by an instant call, 
 as commander-in-chief, for 75.000 men of the Union 
 militia a call that was immediately and enthusiastically 
 responded to. With its issue as a retort to the Southern 
 challenge to battle, Mr. Lincoln commanded the seced 
 ing States in arms to disperse and return peacefully to 
 their homes within twenty days, while he at the same 
 time appealed " to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, 
 and aid the effort to maintain the honor, the integrity 
 and existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity 
 of popular government." This was followed by placing 
 the Southern ports under blockade, and by calls for 
 larger levies of troops to cope with the crisis, which, on 
 and after the battle of Bull Run (July 21, 1861) assumed 
 menacing and destructive proportions. So grave was the 
 emergency, and so protracted as well as disastrous at 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 first to the Northern arms was the struggle, that the 
 cares and responsibilities of his exalted office bore heavily 
 on the President and put a most serious and constant 
 strain upon him and his Administration. Especially 
 onerous were the duties and depressing the effects upon 
 Mr. Lincoln when a year even had elapsed with no 
 decisive results, although at this time 200,000 men had 
 been put in the field and experiment after experiment 
 had been tried with the generals who had been succes 
 sively appointed to chief command in the War. Amid 
 the perplexities of the time, and the many discourage 
 ments and saddening military reverses that marked his 
 four years incumbency of office, only a resolute, patriotic 
 purpose and an undaunted, invincible spirit could have 
 sustained Mr. Lincoln in his duties until light at length, 
 happily, broke through the gloom and the North emerged 
 triumphant from the conflict. 
 
 The details of the mighty struggle, we need hardly say, 
 it is foreign to the motif of the present volume here to 
 relate ; nor is there need obviously of this, with the 
 many histories of the war and biographies of its several 
 chief commanders available to the reader. Our purpose 
 rather is to follow, in as brief compass as possible, the 
 main incidents in the career of President Lincoln, as an 
 introduction to his chief Speeches and Addresses, and to 
 throw light upon the mental and moral character of the 
 man and on his equipment as an orator and debater of 
 the first eminence among great American Statesmen. As 
 we have said, the conflict, with its repeated disasters and 
 dismays throughout the dark days of its early conduct, 
 told heavily upon the President ; and great was the tax 
 upon his energies and anxieties in directing and manag 
 ing affairs and in keeping the nation in heart to pursue 
 the war to a successful close. Nor was the task made 
 easier with dissension in the Cabinet, and criticisms from 
 the outside, including all manner of misrepresentations 
 and sometimes ridiculings and malignings, uncomplain- 
 
xx INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ingly borne, with the sturdiness and chivalry of his 
 kindly, inoffensive nature. Obviously, moreover, the 
 matter of selecting and appointing the generals- in- chief 
 placed a heavy responsibility upon the President s 
 shoulders, and often, unfortunately, was he called to this 
 duty, in consequence of the successive failures or tardi 
 ness in movement of those in chief command. The re 
 straint he placed upon himself in the matter of emanci 
 pating the slaves was a further trial to Lincoln, since, 
 however anxious he was to resort to the measure, which 
 finally led to the discomfiture of the South and brought 
 the War to a close, he was long deterred from putting 
 the liberating edict in force until it became indispensable 
 (as well as justifiable) as a means " to the preservation of 
 the Constitution through the preservation of the nation." 
 At length, the time came when the peremptory decree of 
 Emancipation could with reason and certain effectiveness 
 be launched ; and this was done Jan. 1, 1868, with obvious 
 and fortunate results. Almost instantly thereafter there 
 were signs of breaking day, in the events that followed 
 in the siege and capture of Vicksburg and the clearing 
 and opening of the Mississippi; in the military move 
 ments that led to the cutting of the Confederate States in 
 twain ; and in the operations, later on, such as the great 
 battle of Chattanooga, Sheridan s driving the enemy from 
 the Valley of the Shenandoah, the capture of Mobile, and 
 the movements of Grant on his onward march upon 
 Richmond, with Lee s rout and surrender at Appomattox 
 and the finale of the war. The conflict, on both sides, 
 had its appalling losses of both life and treasure ; but the 
 end, forecast even before his passing tragically from the 
 scene, was to cheer Lincoln s heart and gladden his soul, 
 despite all the sacrifices, on the Northern side, entailed 
 to preserve the L T nion. 
 
 Though the war in many quarters had its numberless 
 active and noisy opponents, and though many, more 
 reasonably, grumbled at the entailed alarming deprecia- 
 
INTRODUCTION. XXI 
 
 tion of the currency and the heaping up of financial 
 deficits, with burdening pension-list imposts, Mr. 
 Lincoln, at the expiring of his first term, was reflected 
 in 1864, with Andrew Johnson, of Tennessee, on the 
 ticket with him for Vice- President. Mr. Lincoln s 
 election for a new term gave occasion for the preparation 
 and delivery of the great Chief s Second Inaugural 
 Address (delivered at Washington, Mar. 4. 1865), an 
 utterance of brief, but dignified and memorable, interest. 
 In the address, as it has been observed, are to be noted 
 Mr. Lincoln s characteristic " tenderness and compassion, 
 blended with stern energy and iron firmness of will, 
 which shrank from bloodshed and violence, yet counted 
 any sacrifice of blood and treasure as of little account in 
 comparison with the transcendent blessing of national 
 union and liberty." It closes with the following fine 
 adjuration : " With malice toward none ; with charity for 
 all ; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the 
 right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to 
 build up the nation s wounds ; to care for him who shall 
 have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan 
 to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and last 
 ing peace among ourselves, and with all nations." More 
 brief still, but surpassing the Second Inaugural in pathetic 
 tenderness and high literary interest, is Mr. Lincoln s 
 address at the Dedication (Nov. 19, 1863) of the Gettys 
 burg National Cemetery. For simple but fervid eloquence 
 and unstudied beauty of rhetoric, the Address has hardly 
 its equal among the immortal utterances of the world s 
 oratory. Especially noteworthy is the dignity of its 
 rhythmic sentences, as are its reticence and its remark 
 able condensation. How true and touching, as well as 
 beautiful, is the following passage : " We cannot dedicate, 
 we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. 
 The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, 
 have consecrated it far above our power to add or detract. 
 The world will little note nor long remember what we 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It 
 is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the 
 unfinished work which they who fought here have thus 
 far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here 
 dedicated to the great task remaining before us: that 
 from these honored dead we take increased devotion to 
 that cause for which they gave the last full measure of 
 devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead 
 shall not have died in vain ; that this nation, under God, 
 shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that Government 
 of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not 
 perish from the earth." 
 
 The auspicious aspect of affairs in 1865, in the prospect 
 of a speedy termination of the prolonged and disastrous 
 war, spread elation over the North and was an immense 
 relief to all classes of the people. By President Lincoln 
 it was hailed with manifest inward satisfaction ; while 
 great was his delight at the coming peaceful reunion of 
 the nation. Happily, ere his own tragic death came, he 
 was to learn of almost the final incident in the long 
 chronicle of internecine strife, for at Appomattox, on 
 April 9th, Lee, the great leader of the Southern arms, 
 surrendered the army of Northern Virginia to General 
 Grant, and practically the end came of the rebellion. In 
 startling and pitiful contrast to the return of peace over 
 the land, was the event which sent a thrill of horror 
 throughout and beyond the nation, the striking down of 
 the loved President, at Ford s Theatre in Washington, 
 on the evening of April 14th, by the weapon of the assas 
 sin, J. Wilkes Booth, " a demented sympathizer with the 
 cause of disunion." Early in the morning of the follow 
 ing fateful day, Lincoln s soul passed from its earthly 
 tenement, and a pall of deep gloom spread over the land, 
 broken only by" the lamentations of the people he loved 
 so well. The funeral obsequies of the martyred chief 
 tain a day or two later followed, and Lincoln s remains 
 were borne amid mighty pageantries to their last resting- 
 
INTRODUCTION. xx iii 
 
 place in Springfield, 111., the patriot President s former 
 home. The Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, we need 
 hardly relate, succeeded to the office of the chief magis 
 tracy of the Republic ; while the great war reached its 
 close with the fall of Richmond, the flight and subse 
 quent capture of Jefferson Davis, and the clement issue 
 of a proclamation of amnesty, with the happy return of 
 the Union soldiers and sailors to private life. The work 
 of Reconstruction, to which Lincoln had begun to address 
 himself before his sadly-mourned death, now passed to 
 other hands, while the nation lost in this important task 
 what doubtless would have been of rich and priceless 
 service to it. Though passed from earth, the memory of 
 the great Emancipator is enshrined in the hearts of his 
 admiring countrymen ; while he has a no less abiding- 
 place in history and on the proud roll of a nation s 
 benefactors. 
 
 " Our children shall behold his fame, 
 
 The kindly, earnest, brave, foreseeing man, 
 Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame, 
 New birth of our new soil, the first American." 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 BY TOM TAYLOR, IN LONDON Punch, APRIL, 1865. 
 
 " How humble, yet how hopeful, he could be ; 
 How, in good fortune and in ill. the same ; 
 Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he. 
 Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame. 
 
 He went about his work such work as few 
 Ever had laid on head and heart and hand, 
 
 As one who knows, where there s a task to do, 
 Man s honest will must Heaven s good grace command ; 
 
 Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow, 
 That God makes instruments to work his will, 
 
 If but that will we can arrive to know, 
 Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 So he went forth to battle, on the side 
 That he felt clear was Liberty s and Right s, 
 
 As in his peasant boyhood he had plied 
 His warfare with rude Nature s thwarting mights ; 
 
 The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, 
 
 The iron-bark that turns the lumberer s axe, 
 
 The rapid that o erbears the boatman s toil, 
 The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer s tracks. 
 
 So he grew up, a destined work to do, 
 And lived to do it ; four long-suffering years, 
 
 Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report, lived through, 
 
 And then he heard the hisses, changed to cheers, 
 
 The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise, 
 And took both with the same unwavering mood ; 
 
 Till, as he came on light, from darkling days, 
 And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood, 
 
 A felon hand, between the goal and him, 
 Reached from behind his back, a trigger prest, 
 
 And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim , 
 Those gaunt, long-laboring limbs were laid to rest ! 
 
 The words of mercy were upon his lips. 
 Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen. 
 
 When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse 
 To thoughts of peace on earth, good will to men." 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THE PERPETUATION OF OUR POLTICAL 
 INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 [An Address, delivered Jan. 27, 1837, to a Young Men s Lyceum 
 organization in Springfield, 111., which Mr. Lincoln had taken 
 part in founding for the mutual improvement of its members. 
 In it, it will be seen, how thoughtfully Lincoln refers to the 
 prevalent evils of mob rule, and points out the danger that 
 menaces political institutions in a lack of reverence for law and 
 the displacement of reason by passion and wild appeals to 
 passion]. 
 
 IN the great journal of things happening under the 
 sun, we, the American people, find our account run 
 ning under date of the nineteenth century of the 
 Christian era. We find ourselves in the peaceful pos 
 session of the fairest portion of the earth as regards 
 extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of 
 climate. We find ourselves under the government of a 
 system of political institutions conducing more essen 
 tially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than 
 any of which the history of former times tells us. We, 
 when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves 
 the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. 
 We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of 
 them ; they are a legacy bequeathed us by a once hardy, 
 brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed, 
 race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly 
 they performed it) to possess themselves, and through 
 themselves us, of this goodly land, and to uprear upon 
 its hills and its valleys a political edifice of liberty 
 and equal rights; t is ours only to transmit these 
 the former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, the 
 latter undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by 
 
 1 
 
2 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 usurpation to the latest generation that fate shall 
 permit the world to know. This task gratitude to our 
 fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love 
 for our species in general, all imperatively require ua 
 faithfuHyto perform. 
 
 How then shall we perform it? At what point shall 
 we expect -the. approach of danger? By what means 
 shall we fortify against it?. Shall we expect some 
 transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and 
 crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, 
 Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the 
 earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with 
 a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take 
 a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue 
 Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. 
 
 At what point then is the approach of danger to be 
 expected? I answer, If it ever reach us it must spring 
 up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If de 
 struction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and 
 finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through 
 all time, or die by suicide. 
 
 I hope I am over wary ; but if I am not, there is even 
 now something of ill omen amongst us. I mean the 
 increasing disregard for law which pervades the coun 
 try the growing disposition to substitute the wild and 
 furious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of courts, 
 and the worse than savage mobs for the executive 
 ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fear 
 ful in any community; and that it now exists in ours, 
 though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a 
 violation of truth and an insult to our intelligence 
 to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs 
 form the every-day news of the times. They have per 
 vaded the country from New England to Louisiana; 
 they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the 
 former nor the burning suns of the latter; they are not 
 the creature of climate, neither are they confined to the 
 slaveholding or the non-slaveholding States. Alike 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 3 
 
 they spring up among the pleasure-hunting masters of 
 Southern slaves, and the order-loving citizens of the 
 land of steady habits. Whatever then their cause may 
 be, it is common to the whole country. 
 
 It would be tedious as well as useless to recount the 
 horrors of all of them. Those happening in the State 
 of Mississippi and at St. Louis are perhaps the most 
 dangerous in example and revolting to humanity. In 
 the Mississippi case they first commenced by hanging 
 the regular gamblers a set of men certainly not follow 
 ing for a livelihood a very useful or very honest occupa 
 tion, but one which, so far from being forbidden by 
 the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the legis 
 lature passed but a single year before. Next, negroes 
 suspected of conspiring to raise an insurrection were 
 caught up and hanged in all parts of the State; then, 
 white men supposed to be leagued with the negroes; 
 and finally, strangers from neighboring States, going 
 thither on business, were in many instances subjected 
 to the same fate. Thus went on this process of hang 
 ing, from gamblers to negroes, from negroes to white 
 citizens, and from these to strangers, till dead men 
 were seen literally dangling from the boughs of trees 
 upon every roadside, and in numbers almost sufficient 
 to rival the native Spanish moss of the country as a 
 drapery of the forest. 
 
 Turn then to that horror-striking scene at St. Louis. 
 A single victim only was sacrificed there. This story 
 is very short, and is perhaps the most highly tragic of 
 anything of its length that has ever been witnessed in 
 real life. A mulatto man by the name of Mclntosh 
 was seized in the street, dragged to the suburbs of the 
 city, chained to a tree, and actually burned to death; 
 and all within a single hour from the time he had been 
 a freeman attending to his own business and at peace 
 with the world. 
 
 Such are the effects of mob law, and such are the 
 scenes becoming more and more frequent in this land 
 
4 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 so lately famed for love of law and order, and the 
 stories of which have even now grown too familiar to 
 attract anything more than an idle remark. 
 
 But you are perhaps ready to ask, " What has this to 
 do with the perpetuation of our political institutions? " 
 I answer, " It has much to do with it." Its direct con 
 sequences are, comparatively speaking, but a small evil, 
 and much of its danger consists in the proneness of 
 our minds to regard its direct as its only consequences. 
 Abstractly considered, the hanging of the gamblers at 
 Yicksburg was of but little consequence. They con 
 stitute a portion of population that is worse than use 
 less in any community; and their death, if no per 
 nicious example be set by it, is never matter of reason 
 able regret with any one. If they were annually swept 
 from the stage of existence by the plague or smallpox, 
 honest men would perhaps be much profited by thts 
 operation. Similar too is the correct reasoning in re 
 gard to the burning of the negro at St. Louis. He had 
 forfeited his life by the perpetration of an outrageous 
 murder upon one of the most worthy and respectable 
 citizens of the city, and had he not died as he did, he 
 must have died by the sentence of the law in a very 
 short time afterward. As to him alone, it was as well 
 the way it was as it could otherwise have been. But 
 the example in either case was fearful. When men take 
 it in their heads to-day to hang gamblers or burn mur 
 derers, they should recollect that in the confusion 
 usually attending such transactions they will be as 
 likely to hang or burn some one who is neither a 
 gambler nor a murderer as one who is, and that, act 
 ing upon the example they set, the mob of to-morrow 
 may, and probably will, hang or burn some of them 
 by the very same mistake. And not only so ; the inno 
 cent, those who have ever set their faces against viola 
 tions of law in every shape, alike with the guilty fall 
 victims to the ravages of mob law; and thus it goes on, 
 step by step, till all the walls erected for the defense 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 5 
 
 of the persons and property of individuals are trodden 
 down and disregarded. But all this, even, is not the 
 full extent of the evil. By such examples, by instances 
 of the perpetrators of such acts going unpunished, the 
 lawless in spirit are encouraged to become lawless in 
 practice; and having been used to no restraint but 
 dread of punishment, they thus become absolutely un 
 restrained. Having ever regarded government as their 
 deadliest bane, they make a jubilee of the suspension 
 of its operations, and pray for nothing so much as its 
 total annihilation. While, on the other hand, good 
 men, men who love tranquillity, who desire to abide by 
 the laws and enjoy their benefits, who would gladly 
 spill their blood in the defense of their country, seeing 
 their property destroyed, their families insulted, and 
 their lives endangered, their persons injured, and seeing 
 nothing in prospect that forebodes a change for the 
 better, become tired of and disgusted with a govern 
 ment that offers them no protection, and are not much 
 averse to a change in which they imagine they have 
 nothing to lose. Thus, then, by the operation of this 
 mobocratic spirit which all must admit is now abroad 
 in the land, the strongest bulwark of any government, 
 and particularly of those constituted like ours, may 
 effectually be broken down and destroyed I mean the 
 attachment of the people. Whenever this effect shall 
 be produced among us; whenever the vicious portion of 
 population shall be permitted to gather in bands of 
 hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage 
 and rob provision-stores, throw printing-presses into 
 rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious 
 persons at pleasure and with impunity, depend on it, 
 this government cannot last. By such things the feel 
 ings of the best citizens will become more or less 
 alienated from it, and thus it will be left without 
 friends, or with too few, and those few too weak to 
 make their friendship effectual. At such a time, and 
 under such circumstances, men of sufficient talent and 
 
6 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ambition will not be wanting to seize the opportunity, 
 strike the blow, and overturn that fair fabric which for 
 the last half century has been the fondest hope of the 
 lovers of freedom throughout the world. 
 
 I know the American people are much attached to 
 their government ; I know they would suffer much for 
 its sake; I know they would endure evils long and 
 patiently before they would ever think of exchanging 
 it for another, yet, notwithstanding all this, if the 
 laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their 
 rights to be secure in their persons and property are 
 held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the 
 alienation of their affections from the government is 
 the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, 
 it must come. 
 
 Here then is one point at which danger may be ex 
 pected. 
 
 The question recurs, " How shall we fortify against 
 it? " The answer is simple. Let every American, every 
 lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity swear 
 by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the 
 least particular the laws of the country, and never to 
 tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of 
 seventy-six did to the support of the Declaration of 
 Independence, so to the support of the Constitution 
 and laws let every American pledge his life, his prop 
 erty, and his sacred honor let every man remember 
 that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of 
 his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his 
 children s liberty. Let reverence for the laws be 
 breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe 
 that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in 
 seminaries, and in colleges; let it be written in primers, 
 spelling-books, and in almanacs; let it be preached from 
 the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced 
 in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the 
 political religion of the nation; and let the old and 
 the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. f 
 
 of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, 
 sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. 
 
 While ever a state of feeling such as this shall uni 
 versally or even very generally prevail throughout the 
 nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every 
 attempt, to subvert our national freedom. 
 
 When I so pressingly urge a strict observance of all 
 the laws, let me not be understood as saying there are 
 no bad laws, or that grievances may not arise for the 
 redress of which no legal provisions have been made. 
 I mean to say no such thing. But I do mean to say that 
 although bad laws, if they exist, should be repealed as 
 soon as possible, still, while they continue in force, 
 for the sake of example they should be religiously 
 observed. So also in unprovided cases. If such arise, 
 let proper legal provisions be made for them with the 
 least possible delay, but till then let them, if not too 
 intolerable, be borne with. 
 
 There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress 
 by mob law. In any case that may arise, as, for in 
 stance, the promulgation of abolitionism, one of two 
 positions is necessarily true that is, the thing is 
 right within itself, and therefore deserves the protec 
 tion of all law and all good citizens, or it is wrong, 
 and therefore proper to be prohibited by legal enact 
 ments ; and in neither case is the interposition of mob 
 law either necessary, justifiable, or excusable. 
 
 But it may be asked, " Why suppose danger to our 
 political institutions? Have we not preserved them for 
 more than fifty years? And why may we not for fifty 
 times as long? " 
 
 We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all 
 danger may be overcome; but to conclude that no 
 danger may ever arise would itself be extremely dan 
 gerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many 
 causes, dangerous in their tendency^ which have not 
 existed heretofore, and which are not too insignificant 
 to merit attention. That our government should have 
 
3 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 been maintained in its original form, from its estab 
 lishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. 
 It had many props to support it through that period, 
 which now are decayed and crumbled away. Through 
 that period it was felt by all to be an undecided ex 
 periment; now it is understood to be a successful one. 
 Then, all that sought celebrity and fame and distinc 
 tion expected to find them in the success of that ex 
 periment. Their all was staked upon it; their destiny 
 was inseparably linked with it. Their ambition as 
 pired to display before an admiring world a practical 
 demonstration of the truth of a proposition which had 
 hitherto been considered at best no better than proble 
 matical namely, the capability of a people to govern 
 themselves. If they succeeded they were to be immor 
 talized; their names were to be transferred to counties, 
 and cities, and rivers, and mountains ; and to be revered 
 and sung, toasted through all time. If they failed, 
 they were to be called knaves, and fools, and fanatics 
 for a fleeting hour; then to sink and be forgotten. 
 They succeeded. The experiment is successful, and 
 thousands have won their deathless names in making 
 it so. But the game is caught; and I believe it is true 
 that with the catching end the pleasures of the chase. 
 This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is already 
 appropriated. But new reapers will arise, and they too 
 will seek a field. It is to deny what the history of the 
 world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition 
 and talents will not continue to spring up amongst 
 us. And when they do, they will as naturally seek the 
 gratification of their ruling passion as others have 
 done before them. The question then is, Can that grati 
 fication be found in supporting and maintaining an 
 edifice that has been erected by others? Most certainly 
 it cannot. Many great and good men, sufficiently 
 qualified for any task they should undertake, may ever 
 be found whose ambition would aspire to nothing be 
 yond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presiden- 
 
I 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 9 
 
 tial chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion, 
 or the tribe of the eagle. What ! think you these places 
 would satisfy an Alexander, a Cresar, or a Napoleon? 
 Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It 
 seeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinc 
 tion in adding story to story upon the monuments of 
 fame erected to the memory of others. It denies that 
 it is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scorns 
 to tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, however 
 illustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; and 
 if possible, it will have it, whether at the expense of 
 emancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it un 
 reasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed of 
 the loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient to 
 push it to its utmost stretch, will at some time spring 
 up among us? And when such an one does, it will re 
 quire the people to be united with each other, attached 
 to the government and laws, and generally intelli 
 gent, to successfully frustrate his designs. 
 
 Distinction will be his paramount object, and al 
 though he would as willingly, perhaps more so, ac 
 quire it by doing good as harm, yet, that opportunity 
 being past, and nothing left to be done in the way of 
 building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling 
 down. 
 
 Here then is a probable case, highly dangerous, and 
 such an one as could not have well existed heretofore. 
 
 Another reason which once was, but which, to the 
 same extent, is now no more, has done much in main 
 taining our institutions thus far. I mean the powerful 
 influence which the interesting scenes of the Revolu 
 tion had upon the passions of the people as distin 
 guished from their judgment. By this influence, the 
 jealousy, envy, and avarice incident to our nature, and 
 so common to a state of peace, prosperity, and con 
 scious strength, were for the time in a great measure 
 smothered and rendered inactive, while the deep-rooted 
 principles of hate, and the powerful motive of revenge, 
 
}Q SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 instead of being turned against each other, were 
 directed exclusively against the British nation. And 
 thus, from the force of circumstances, the basest princi 
 ples of our nature were either made to lie dormant, or 
 to become the active agents in the advancement of the 
 noblest of causes that of establishing and maintain 
 ing civil and religious liberty. 
 
 But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has 
 faded, with the circumstances that produced it. 
 
 I do not mean to say that the scenes of the Revolu 
 tion are now or ever will be entirely forgotten, but that, 
 like everything else, they must fade upon the memory 
 of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse 
 of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and 
 recounted, so long as the Bible shall be read; but even 
 granting that they will, their influence cannot be what 
 it heretofore has been. Even then they cannot be so 
 universally known nor so vividly felt as they were by 
 the generation just gone to rest. At the close of that 
 struggle, nearly every adult male had been a participa 
 tor in some of its scenes. The consequence was that of 
 those scenes, in the form of a husband, a father, a 
 son, or a brother, a living history was to be found in 
 every family a history bearing the indubitable testi 
 monies of its own authenticity, in the limbs mangled, 
 in the scars of wounds received, in the midst of the 
 very scenes related a history, too, that could be read 
 and understood alike by all, the wise and the ignorant, 
 the learned and the unlearned. But those histories 
 are gone. They can be read no more forever. They 
 were a fortress of strength; but what invading foe- 
 man could never do, the silent artillery of time has 
 done the leveling of its walls. They are gone. They 
 were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-restless hurri 
 cane has swept over them, and left only here and there 
 a lonely trunk, despoiled of its verdure, shorn of its 
 foliage, unshading and unshaded, to murmur in a few 
 more gentle breezes, and to combat with its mutilated 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. n 
 
 limbs more ruder storms, then to sink and be no 
 more. 
 
 They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now 
 that they have crumbled away that temple must fall 
 unless we, their descendants, supply their places with 
 other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober 
 reason. Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. 
 It will in future be our enemy. Reason cold, cal 
 culating, unimpassioned reason must furnish all the 
 materials for our future support and defense. Let 
 those materials be molded into general intelligence, 
 sound morality, and, in particular, a reverence for the 
 Constitution and laws; and that we improved to the 
 last, that we remained free to the last, that we revered 
 his name to the last, that during his long sleep we per 
 mitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his 
 resting-place, shall be that which to learn the last 
 trump shall awaken our Washington. 
 
 Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as 
 the rock of its basis, and, as truly as has been said of 
 the only greater institution, " the gates of hell shall 
 not prevail against it." 
 
12 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF KEPRESENTA- 
 TIVES, WASHINGTON JAN. 12, 1848. 
 
 [The following is the earliest of Mr. Lincoln s printed speeches 
 in Congress, delivered during the Honorable Member s first Con 
 gressional Session. The era was that of the War with Mexico, 
 and the burden of the speech is a difference with President 
 Polk over the cause of the War, in the vexed question at the 
 period as to the true boundary of Texas, then recently admitted 
 as a State of the Union. In the uncertainty as to the true 
 boundary of the State, whether at the Nueces River, in South 
 western Texas, or at the Rio Grande, Lincoln held that the 
 Administration had done wrong to sanction the erection of 
 Fort Brown, on the Rio Grande, and that the nation was guilty 
 of aggression on Mexican territory, which led to " the shedding of 
 American blood on American soil." The arraignment of the 
 President, it will be seen, is a tart one, and in the forced issue 
 it was naturally unpopular at the era, when the nation was 
 exultant over the achievements of the War]. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: Some if not all the gentlemen on the 
 other side of the House who have addressed the com 
 mittee within the last two days have spoken rather 
 complainingly, if I have rightly understood them, of 
 the vote given a week or ten days ago declaring that 
 the war with Mexico was unnecessarily and unconsti 
 tutionally commenced by the president. I admit that 
 such a vote should not be given in mere party 
 wantonness, and that the one given is justly censurable, 
 if it have no other or better foundation. I am one of 
 those who joined in that vote; and I did so under my 
 best impression of the truth of the case. How I got 
 this impression, and how it may possibly be remedied, 
 I will now try to show. When the war began, it was 
 my opinion that all those who because of knowing too 
 little, or because of knowing too much, could not con 
 scientiously oppose the conduct of the President in the 
 beginning of it should nevertheless, as good citizens 
 

 Earliest Portrait of Lincoln, 1848 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 
 
 and patriots, remain silent on that point, at least till 
 the war should be ended. Some leading Democrats, 
 including ex-President Van Buren, have taken this 
 same view, as I understand them; and I adhered to it 
 and acted upon it, until since I took my seat here ; and 
 I think I should still adhere to it were it not that the 
 President and his friends will not allow it to be so. 
 Besides the continual effort of the President to argue 
 every silent vote given for supplies into an indorse 
 ment of the justice and wisdom of his conduct; besides 
 that singularly candid paragraph in his late message 
 in which he tells us that Congress with great una 
 nimity had declared that u by the act of the Republic of 
 Mexico, a state of war exists between that Government 
 and the United States," when the same journals that 
 informed him of this also informed him that when that 
 declaration stood disconnected from the question of 
 supplies sixty-seven in the House, and not fourteen 
 merely, voted against it; besides this open attempt to 
 prove by telling the truth what he could not prove 
 by telling the whole truth demanding of all who will 
 not submit to be misrepresented, in justice to them 
 selves, to speak out, besides all this, one of my col 
 leagues [Mr. Richardson] at a very early day in the ses 
 sion brought in a set of resolutions expressly indors 
 ing the original justice of the war on the part of the 
 President. Upon these resolutions when they shall be 
 put on their passage I shall be compelled to vote; so 
 that I cannot be silent if I would. Seeing this, I went 
 about preparing myself to give the vote understand- 
 ingly when it should come. I carefully examined the 
 President s message, to ascertain what he himself had 
 said and proved upon the point. The result of this ex 
 amination was to make the impression that, taking for 
 true all the President states as facts, he falls far short 
 of proving his justification ; and that the President 
 would have gone farther with his proof if it had not 
 been for the small matter that the truth would not per- 
 
14 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 mit him. Under the impression thus made I gave the 
 vote before mentioned. I propose now to give con 
 cisely the process of the examination I made, and how 
 I reached the conclusion I did. The President, in his 
 first war message of May, 1846, declares that the soil 
 was ours on which hostilities were commenced by 
 Mexico, and he repeats that declaration almost in the 
 same language in each successive annual message, thus 
 showing that he deems that point a highly essential 
 one. In the importance of that point I entirely agree 
 with the President. To my judgment it is the very 
 point upon which he should be justified, or condemned. 
 In his message of December, 1846, it seems to have oc 
 curred to him, as is certainly true, that title owner 
 ship to soil or anything else is not a simple fact, but 
 is a conclusion following on one or more simple facts; 
 and that it was incumbent upon him to present the 
 facts from which he concluded the soil was ours on 
 which the first blood of the war was shed. 
 
 Accordingly, a little below the middle of page twelve 
 in the message last referred to he enters upon that 
 task ; forming an issue and introducing testimony, ex 
 tending the whole to a little below the middle of page 
 fourteen. Now, I propose to try to show that the whole 
 of this issue and evidence is from beginning to end 
 the sheerest deception. The issue, as he presents it, 
 is in these words : " But there are those who, conceding 
 all this to be true, assume the ground that the true 
 western boundary of Texas is the Nueces, instead of 
 the Rio Grande; and that, therefore, in marching our 
 army to the east bank of the latter river, we passed the 
 Texas line and invaded the territory of Mexico." Now 
 this issue is made up of two affirmatives and no nega 
 tive. The main deception of it is that it assumes as 
 true that one river or the other is necessarily the boun 
 dary ; and cheats the superficial thinker entirely out 
 of the idea that possibly the boundary is somewhere 
 between the two, and not actually at either. A further 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^5 
 
 deception is that it will let in evidence which a true 
 issue would exclude. A true issue made by the Presi 
 dent would be about as follows: "I say the soil was 
 ours, on which the first blood was shed; there are those 
 who say it was not." 
 
 I now proceed to examine the President s evidence as 
 applicable to such an issue. When that evidence is 
 analyzed, it is all included in the following proposi 
 tions: 
 
 (1) That the Rio Grande was the western boundary 
 of Louisiana as we purchased it of France in 1803. 
 
 (2) That the Republic of Texas always claimed the 
 Rio Grande as her western boundary. 
 
 (3) That by various acts she had claimed it on paper. 
 
 (4) That Santa Anna in his treaty with Texas recog 
 nized the Rio Grande as her boundary. 
 
 (5) That Texas before, and the United States after, 
 annexation had exercised jurisdiction beyond the 
 Neuces between the two rivers. 
 
 (6) That our Congress understood the boundary of 
 Texas to extend beyond the Neuces. 
 
 Now for each of these in its turn. His first item is 
 that the Rio Grande was the western boundary of 
 Louisiana, as we purchased it of France in 1803; and 
 seeming to expect this to be disputed, he argues over 
 the amount of nearly a page to prove it true ; at the end 
 of which he lets us know that by the treaty of 1819 we 
 sold to Spain the whole country from the Rio Grande 
 eastward to the Sabine. Now, admitting for the pres 
 ent that the Rio Grande was the boundary of Louisiana, 
 what, under heaven, had that to do with the present 
 boundary between us and Mexico? How, Mr. Chair 
 man, the line that once divided your land from mine 
 can still be the boundary between us after I have sold 
 my land to you is to me beyond all comprehension. 
 And how any man, with an honest purpose only of prov 
 ing the truth, could ever have thought of introduc 
 ing such a fact to prove such an issue is equally incom- 
 
1Q SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 prehensible. His next piece of evidence is that " the 
 Republic of Texas always claimed this river (Rio 
 Grande) as her western boundary." That is not true, 
 in fact. Texas has claimed it, but she has not always 
 claimed it. There is at least one distinguished excep 
 tion. Her State constitution the republic s most 
 solemn and well-considered act ; that which may, with 
 out impropriety, be called her last will and testa 
 ment, revoking all others makes no such claim. But 
 suppose she had always claimed it. Has not Mexico 
 always claimed the contrary? So that there is but 
 claim against claim, leaving nothing proved until we 
 get back of the claims and find which has the better 
 foundation. Though not in the order in which the 
 President presents his evidence, I now consider that 
 class of his statements which are in substance nothing 
 more than that Texas has, by various acts of her Con 
 vention and Congress, claimed the Rio Grande as her 
 boundary, on paper. I mean here what he says about 
 the fixing of the Rio Grande as her boundary in her 
 old constitution (not her State constitution), about 
 forming congressional districts, counties, etc. Now all 
 of this is but naked claim; and what I have already 
 said about claims is strictly applicable to this. If I 
 should claim your land by word of mouth, that cer 
 tainly would not make it mine; and if I were to claim 
 it by a deed which I had made myself, and with which 
 you had had nothing to do, the claim would be quite 
 the same in substance or rather, in utter nothingness. 
 I next consider the President s statement that Santa 
 Anna in his treaty with Texas recognized the Rio 
 Grande as the western boundary of Texas. Besides 
 the position so often taken, that Santa Anna while a 
 prisoner of war, a captive, could not bind Mexico by a 
 treaty, which I deem conclusive besides this, I wish 
 to say something in relation to this treaty, so called 
 by the President, with Santa Anna. If any man would 
 like to be amused by a sight of that little thing which 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 
 
 the President calls by that big name, he can have it 
 by turning to " Niles s Register," Vol. L, p. 336. And 
 if any one should suppose that u Niles s Register " is a 
 curious repository of so mighty a document as a solemn 
 treaty between nations, I can only say that I learned 
 to a tolerable degree of certainty, by inquiry at the 
 State Department, that the President himself never 
 saw it anywhere else. By the way, I believe I should 
 not err if I were to declare that during the first ten 
 years of the existence of that document it was never by 
 anybody called a treaty that it was never so called till 
 the President, in his extremity, attempted by so call 
 ing it to wring something from it in justification of 
 himself in connection with the Mexican war. It has 
 none of the distinguishing features of a treaty. It does 
 not call itself a treaty. Santa Anna does not therein 
 assume to bind" Mexico ; he assumes only to act as the 
 President-Commander-in-Chief of the Mexican army 
 and navy; stipulates that the then present hostilities 
 should cease, and that he would not himself take up 
 arms, nor influence the Mexican people to take up arms, 
 against Texas during the existence of the war of inde 
 pendence. He did not recognize the independence of 
 Texas ; he did not assume to put an end to the war, but 
 clearly indicated his expectation of its continuance; 
 he did not say one word about boundary, and, most 
 probably, never thought of it. It is stipulated therein 
 that the Mexican forces should evacuate the territory 
 of Texas, passing to the other side of the Rio Grande; 
 and in another article it is stipulated that, to prevent 
 collisions between the armies, the Texas army should 
 not approach nearer than within five leagues of what 
 is not said, but clearly, from the object stated, it is of 
 the Rio Grande. Now, if this is a treaty recognizing 
 the Rio Grande as the boundary of Texas, it contains 
 the singular features of stipulating that Texas shall not 
 go within five leagues of her own boundary. 
 Next comes the evidence of Texas before annexation, 
 2 
 
18 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and the United States afterward, exercising jurisdic 
 tion beyond the Nueces and between the two rivers. 
 This actual exercise of jurisdiction is the very class or 
 quality of evidence we want. It is excellent so far 
 as it goes; but does it go far enough? He tells us it 
 went beyond the Nueces, but he does not tell us it went 
 to the Rio Grande. He tells us jurisdiction was ex 
 ercised between the two rivers, but he does not tell us 
 it was exercised over all the territory between them. 
 Some simple-minded people think it is possible to cross 
 one river and go beyond it without going all the way to 
 the next, that jurisdiction may be exercised between 
 two rivers without covering all the country between 
 them. I know a man, not very unlike myself, who 
 exercises jurisdiction over a piece of land between the 
 Wabash and the Mississippi ; and yet so far is this from 
 being all there is between those rivers that it is just 
 one hundred and fifty-two feet long by fifty feet wide, 
 and no part of it much within a hundred miles of 
 either. He has a neighbor between him and the Miss 
 issippi that is, just across the street, in that direction 
 whom I am sure he could neither persuade nor force 
 to give up his habitation; but which nevertheless he 
 could certainly annex, if it were to be done by merely 
 standing on his own side of the street and claiming it, 
 or even sitting down and writing a deed for it. 
 
 But next the President tells us the Congress of the 
 United States understood the State of Texas they ad 
 mitted into the Union to extend beyond the Nueces. 
 Well, I suppose they did. I certainly so understood it. 
 But how far beyond? That Congress did not under 
 stand it to extend clear to the Rio Grande is quite 
 certain, by the fact of their joint resolutions for admis 
 sion expressly leaving all questions of boundary to 
 future adjustment. And it may be added that Texas 
 herself is proved to have had the same understanding 
 of it that our Congress had, by the fact of the exact 
 conformity of her new constitution to those resolu 
 tions. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 19 
 
 I am now through the whole of the President s evi 
 dence ; and it is a singular fact that if any one should 
 declare the President sent the army into the midst of a 
 settlement of Mexican people who had never submitted, 
 by consent or by force, to the authority of Texas or of 
 the United States, and that there and thereby the first 
 blood of the war was shed, there is not one word in all 
 the President has said which would either admit or 
 deny the declaration. This strange omission it does 
 seem to me could not have occurred but by design. 
 My way of living leads me to be about the courts of 
 justice; and there I have sometimes seen a good lawyer, 
 struggling for his client s neck in a desperate case, em 
 ploying every artifice to work round, befog, and cover 
 up with many words some point arising in the case 
 which he dared not admit and yet could not deny. 
 Party bias may help to make it appear so, but with all 
 the allowance I can make for such bias, it still does 
 appear to me that just such, and from just such neces 
 sity, is the President s struggle in this case. 
 
 Some time after my colleague [Mr. Richardson] in 
 troduced the resolutions I have mentioned, I introduced 
 a preamble, resolution, and interrogations, intended to 
 draw the President out, if possible, on this hitherto 
 untrodden ground. To show their relevancy, I propose 
 to state my understanding of the true rule for ascer 
 taining the boundary between Texas and Mexico. It 
 is that wherever Texas was exercising jurisdiction was 
 hers; and wherever Mexico was exercising jurisdiction 
 was hers ; and that whatever separated the actual exer 
 cise of jurisdiction of the one from that of the other 
 was the true boundary between them. If, as is prob 
 ably true, Texas was exercising jurisdiction along the 
 western bank of the Nueces, and Mexico was exercising 
 it along the eastern bank of the Rio Grande, then 
 neither river was the boundary; but the uninhabited 
 country between the two was. The extent of our ter 
 ritory in that region depended not on any treaty- 
 
20 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 fixed boundary (for no treaty had attempted it), but 
 on revolution. Any people anywhere being inclined 
 and having the power have the right to rise up and 
 shake off the existing government, and form a new 
 one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, 
 a most sacred right a right which we hope and be 
 lieve is to liberate the world. Nor is this right con 
 fined to cases in which the whole people of an existing 
 government may choose to exercise it. Any portion of 
 such people that can may revolutionize and make their 
 own of so much of the territory as they inhabit. More 
 than this, a majority of any portion of such people may 
 revolutionize, putting down a minority, intermingled 
 with or near about them, who may oppose this move 
 ment. Such minority was precisely the case of the 
 Tories of our own revolution. It is a quality of revo 
 lutions not to go by old lines or old laws; but to break 
 up both, and make new ones. 
 
 As to the country now in question, we bought it of 
 France in 1803, and sold it to Spain in 1819, according 
 to the President s statements. After this, all Mexico, 
 including Texas, revolutionized against Spain; and 
 still later Texas revolutionized against Mexico. In 
 my view, just so far as she carried her resolution by 
 obtaining the actual, willing or unwilling, submission 
 of the people, so far the country was hers, and no far 
 ther. Now, sir, for the purpose of obtaining the very 
 best evidence as to whether Texas had actually carried 
 her revolution to the place where the hostilities of 
 the present war commenced, let the President answer 
 the interrogatories I proposed, as before mentioned, 
 or some other similar ones. Let him answer fully, 
 fairly, and candidly. Let him answer with facts and 
 not with arguments. Let him remember he sits where 
 Washington sat, and so remembering, let him answer 
 as Washington would answer. As a nation should not, 
 and the Almighty will not, be evaded, so let him at 
 tempt no evasion no equivocation. And if, so answer- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^1 
 
 ing, he can show that the soil was ours where the first 
 blood of the war was shed, that it was not within an 
 inhabited country, or, if within such, that the inhabi 
 tants had submitted themselves to the civil authority 
 of Texas or of the United States, and that the same is 
 true of the site of Fort Brown, then I am with him for 
 his justification. In that case I shall be most happy to 
 reverse the vote I gave the other day. I have a selfish 
 motive for desiring that the President may do this I 
 expect to gain some votes, in connection with the war, 
 which, without his so doing, will be of doubtful pro 
 priety in my own judgment, but which will be free 
 from the doubt if he does so. But if he can not or will 
 not do this, if on any pretense or no pretense he shall 
 refuse or omit it then I shall be fully convinced of 
 what I more than suspect already that he is deeply 
 conscious of being in the wrong; that he feels the blood 
 of this war, like the blood of Abel, is crying to Heaven 
 against him; that originally having some strong mo 
 tive what, I will not stop now to give my opinion con 
 cerning to involve the two countries in a war, and 
 trusting to escape scrutiny by fixing the public gaze 
 upon the exceeding brightness of military glory, that 
 attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood 
 that serpent s eye that charms to destroy, he plunged 
 into it, and has swept on and on till, disappointed in 
 his calculation of the ease with which Mexico might 
 be subdued, he now finds himself he knows not where. 
 How like the half-insane mumbling of a fever dream is 
 the whole war part of his late message! At one time 
 telling us that Mexico has nothing whatever that we 
 can get but territory; at another showing us how we 
 can support the war by levying contributions on 
 Mexico. At one time urging the national honor, the 
 security of the future, the prevention of foreign inter 
 ference, and even the good of Mexico herself as among 
 the objects of the war; at another telling us that "to 
 reject indemnity, by refusing to accept a cession of 
 
22 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 territory, would be to abandon all our just demands, 
 and to wage the war bearing all its expenses, without 
 a purpose or definite object." So then this national 
 honor, security of the future, and everything but ter 
 ritorial indemnity may be considered the no-purposes 
 and indefinite objects of the war! But, having it now 
 settled that territorial indemnity is the only object, we 
 are urged to seize, by legislation here, all that he 
 was content to take a few months ago, and the whole 
 province of Lower California to boot, and to still carry 
 on the war to take all we are fighting for, and still 
 fight on. Again, the President is resolved under all 
 circumstances to have full territorial indemnity for 
 the expenses of the war; but he forgets to tell us how 
 we are to get the excess after those expenses shall 
 have surpassed the value of the whole of the Mexican 
 territory. So again, he insists that the separate 
 national existence of Mexico shall be maintained; but 
 he does not tell us how this can be done, after we shall 
 have taken all her territory. Lest the questions I have 
 suggested be considered speculative merely, let me be 
 indulged a moment in trying to show they are not. 
 The war has gone on some twenty months ; for the ex 
 penses of which, together with an inconsiderable old 
 score, the President now claims about one half of the 
 Mexican territory, and that by far the better half, so 
 far as concerns our ability to make anything out of it. 
 It is comparatively uninhabited; so that we could 
 establish land offices in it, and raise some money in 
 that way. But the other half is already inhabited, as 
 I understand it, tolerably densely for the nature of the 
 country, and all its lands, or all that are valuable, 
 already appropriated as private property. How then 
 are we to make anything out of these lands with this 
 encumbrance on them? or how remove the encum 
 brance? I suppose no one would say we should kill 
 the people, or drive them out, or make slaves of them ; 
 or confiscate their property. How, then, can we make 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 
 
 much out of this part of the territory? If the prosecu 
 tion of the war has in expenses already equaled the 
 better half of the country, how long its future prose 
 cution will be in equaling the less valuable half is not a 
 speculative, but a practical, question, pressing closely 
 upon us. And yet it is a question which the President 
 seems never to have thought of. As to the mode of 
 terminating the war and securing peace, the President 
 is equally wandering and indefinite. First, it is to 
 be done by a more vigorous prosecution of the war in 
 the vital parts of the enemy s country; and after ap 
 parently talking himself tired on this point, the Presi 
 dent drops down into a half-despairing tone, and tells 
 us that " with a people distracted and divided by con 
 tending factions, and a government subject to con 
 stant changes by successive revolutions, the continued 
 success of our arms may fail to secure a satisfactory 
 peace." Then he suggests the propriety of wheedling 
 the Mexican people to desert the counsels of their own 
 leaders, and, trusting in our protestations, to set up a 
 government from which we can secure a satisfactory 
 peace; telling us that " this may become the only mode 
 of obtaining such a peace." But soon he falls into 
 doubt of this too ; and then drops back onto the already 
 half-abandoned ground of " more vigorous prosecu 
 tion." All this shows that the President is in nowise 
 satisfied with his own positions. First he takes up one, 
 and in attempting to argue us into it he argues himself 
 out of it, then seizes another and goes through the same 
 process, and then, confused at being able to think of 
 nothing new, he snatches up the old one again, which he 
 has some time before cast off. His mind, taxed beyond 
 its power, is running hither and thither, like some tor 
 tured creature on a burning surface, finding no posi 
 tion on which it can settle down and be at ease. 
 
 Again, it is a singular omission in this message that 
 it nowhere intimates w r hen the President expects the 
 war to terminate. At its beginning, General Scott was 
 
24; SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 by this same President driven into disfavor, if not dis 
 grace, for intimating that peace could not be conquered 
 in less than three or four months. But now, at the end 
 of about twenty months, during which time our arms 
 have given us the most splendid successes, every de 
 partment and every part, land and water, officers and 
 privates, regulars and volunteers, doing all that men 
 could do, and hundreds of things which it had ever be 
 fore been thought men could not do after all this, this 
 same President gives a long message, without showing 
 us that as to the end he himself has even an imaginary 
 conception. As I have before said, he knows not where 
 he is. He is a bewildered, confounded, and miserably 
 perplened man. God grant he may be able to show 
 there is not something about his conscience more pain 
 ful than all his mental perplexity. 
 
 EULOGY ON HENRY CLAY. 
 
 [The following is the substance of a laudatory Address, de 
 livered July 16, 1852, by Mr. Lincoln in the State House at 
 Springfield, 111., on the life and distinguished services of Henry 
 Clay, who died at Washington, D. C., on the 29th of the preced 
 ing month, in his seventy-fifth year. The Eulogy of the eloquent 
 and eminent statesman is a well-reasoned and appreciative one, 
 dwelling on Mr. Clay s great services to the nation throughout 
 his lengthened and useful career, during which he wielded a 
 potent as well as salutary influence in legislation. Mr. Lincoln, 
 it will be seen, speaks justly and approvingly of Mr. Clay s dis 
 tinctive service in effecting the Missouri Compromise of 1850, a 
 measure which, unhappily, was repealed four years later. The 
 speech appeared at the time in the Illinois State Journal]. 
 
 ON the fourth day of July, 1776, the people of a few- 
 feeble and oppressed colonies of Great Britain, inhabit 
 ing a portion of the Atlantic coast of North America, 
 publicly declared their national independence, and 
 made their appeal to the justice of their cause and to 
 the God of battles for the maintenance of that declara 
 tion. That people were few in number and without re- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 
 
 sources, save only their wise heads and stout hearts. 
 Within the first year of that declared independence, 
 and while its maintenance was yet problematical, 
 while the bloody struggle between those resolute rebels 
 and their haughty would-be masters was still waging, 
 of undistinguished parents and in an obscure district 
 of one of those colonies Henry Clay was born. The in 
 fant nation and the infant child began the race of life 
 together. For three quarters of a century they have 
 traveled hand in hand. They have been companions 
 ever. The nation has passed its perils, and it is free, 
 prosperous, and powerful. The child has reached his 
 manhood, his middle age, his old age, and is dead. In 
 all that has concerned the nation the man ever sympa 
 thized; and now the nation mourns the man. 
 
 Henry Clay was born on the twelfth day of April, 
 1777, in Hanover County, Virginia. Of his father, who 
 died in the fourth or fifth year of Henry s age, little 
 seems to be known, except that he was a respectable 
 man and a preacher of the Baptist persuasion. Mr. 
 Clay s education to the end of life was comparatively 
 limited. I say " to the end of life," because I have un 
 derstood that from time to time he added something 
 to his education during the greater part of his whole 
 life. Mr. Clay s lack of a more perfect early education, 
 however it may be regretted generally, teaches at least 
 one profitable lesson : it teaches that in this country 
 one can scarcely be so poor but that, if he will, he can 
 acquire sufficient education to get through the world 
 respectably. In his twenty-third year Mr. Clay was 
 licensed to practise law, and emigrated to Lexington, 
 Kentucky. Here he commenced and continued the 
 practice till the year 1803,. when he was first elected to 
 the Kentucky legislature. By successive elections he 
 was continued in the legislature till the latter part of 
 1806, when he was elected to fill a vacancy of a single 
 session in the United States Senate. In 1807 he was 
 
26 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 again elected to the Kentucky House of Representa 
 tives, and by that body chosen Speaker. In 1808 he 
 was reflected to the same body. In 1809 he was again 
 chosen to fill a vacancy of two years in the United 
 States Senate. In 1811 he was elected to the United 
 States House of Representatives, and on the first day 
 of taking his seat in that body he w r as chosen its 
 Speaker. In 1813 he was again elected Speaker. 
 Early in 1814, being the period of our last British war, 
 Mr. Clay was sent as commissioner, with others, to 
 negotiate a treaty of peace, which treaty was concluded 
 in the latter part of the same year. On his return 
 from Europe he was again elected to the lower branch 
 of Congress, and on taking his seat in December, 1815, 
 was called to his old post the Speaker s chair, a posi 
 tion in w r hich he was retained by successive elections, 
 with one brief intermission, till the inauguration of 
 John Quincy Adams, in March, 1825. He w r as then ap 
 pointed Secretary of State, and occupied that im 
 portant station till the inauguration of General Jack 
 son, in March, 1829. After this he returned to 
 Kentucky, resumed the practice of law, and continued 
 it till the autumn of 1831, when he was by the legisla 
 ture of Kentucky again placed in the United States 
 Senate. By a reelection he was continued in the 
 Senate till he resigned his seat and retired, in March, 
 1848. In December, 1849, he again took his seat in the 
 Senate, which he again resigned only a few months be 
 fore his death. 
 
 By the foregoing it is perceived that the period from 
 the beginning of Mr. Clay s official life in 1803 to the 
 end of 1852 is but one year short of half a century, and 
 that the sum of all the intervals in it will not amount 
 to ten years. But mere duration of time in office con 
 stitutes the smallest part of Mr. Clay s history. 
 Throughout that long period he has constantly been 
 the most loved and most implicitly followed by friends, 
 and the most dreaded by opponents, of all living Ameri- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 
 
 can politicians. In all the great questions which have 
 agitated the country, and particularly in those fearful 
 crises, the Missouri question, the nullification question, 
 and the late slavery question, as connected with the 
 newly acquired territory, involving and endangering 
 the stability of the Union, his has been the leading and 
 most conspicuous part. In 1824 he was first a candi 
 date for the Presidency, and was defeated; and al 
 though he was successively defeated for the same office 
 in 1832 and in 1844, there has never been a moment 
 since 1824 till after 1848 when a very large portion of 
 the American people did not cling to him with an 
 enthusiastic hope and purpose of still elevating him to 
 the Presidency. With other men, to be defeated was 
 to be forgotten ; but with him defeat was but a trifling 
 incident, neither changing him nor the world s esti 
 mate of him. Even those of both political parties who 
 have been preferred to him for the highest office have 
 run far briefer courses than he, and left him still shin 
 ing high in the heavens of the political world. Jack 
 son, Van Buren, Harrison, Polk, and Taylor all rose 
 after, and set long before him. The spell the long- 
 enduring spell with which the souls of men were 
 bound to him is a miracle. Who can compass it? It 
 is probably true he owed his preeminence to no one 
 quality, but to a fortunate combination of several. He 
 was surpassingly eloquent; but many eloquent men 
 fail utterly, and they are not, as a class, generally 
 successful. His judgment was excellent; but many 
 men of good judgment live and die unnoticed. His 
 will was indomitable; but this quality often secures to 
 its owner nothing better than a character for useless 
 obstinacy. These, then, were Mr. Clay s leading quali 
 ties. No one of them is very uncommon; but all to 
 gether are rarely combined in a single individual, and 
 this is probably the reason why such men as Henry 
 Clay are so rare in the world. 
 
 Mr Clay s eloquence did not consist, as many fine 
 
2g SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 specimens of eloquence do, of types and figures, of 
 antithesis and elegant arrangement of words and sen 
 tences, but rather of that deeply earnest and impas 
 sioned tone and manner which can proceed only from 
 great sincerity, and a thorough conviction in the 
 speaker of the justice and importance of his cause. 
 This it is that truly touches the chords of sympathy; 
 and those who heard Mr. Clay never failed to be moved 
 by it, or ever afterward forgot the impression. All 
 his efforts were made for practical effect. He never 
 spoke merely to be heard. He never delivered a Fourth 
 of July oration, or a eulogy on an occasion like this. 
 As a politician or statesman, no one was so habitually 
 careful to avoid all sectional ground. Whatever he 
 did he did for the whole country. In the construction 
 of his measures, he ever carefully surveyed every part 
 of the field, and duly weighed every conflicting interest. 
 Feeling as he did, and as the truth surely is, that the 
 world s best hope depended on the continued Union of 
 these States, he was ever jealous of and watchful for 
 whatever might have the slightest tendency to separate 
 them. 
 
 Mr. Clay s predominant sentiment, from first to last, 
 was a deep devotion to the cause of human liberty a 
 strong sympathy with the oppressed everywhere, and 
 an ardent wish for their elevation. With him this was 
 a primary and all-controlling passion. Subsidiary 
 to this was the conduct of his whole life. He loved 
 his country partly because it was his own country, 
 and mostly because it was a free country; and he 
 burned with a zeal for its advancement, prosperity, 
 and glory, because he saw in such the advancement, 
 prosperity, and glory of human liberty, human right, 
 and human nature. He desired the prosperity of his 
 countrymen, partly because they were his countrymen, 
 but chiefly to show to the world that free men could be 
 prosperous. 
 
 That his views and measures were always the wisest 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 
 
 needs not to be affirmed; nor should it be on this oc 
 casion, where so many thinking differently join in 
 doing honor to his memory. A free people in times of 
 peace and quiet when pressed by no common danger 
 naturally divide into parties. At such times the 
 man who is of neither party is not, cannot be, of any 
 consequence. Mr. Clay therefore was of a party. Tak 
 ing a prominent part as he did, in all the great political 
 questions of his country for the last half century, the 
 w r isdom of his course on many is doubted and denied 
 by a large portion of his countrymen ; and of such it is 
 not now proper to speak particularly. But there are 
 many others, about his course upon which there is little 
 or no disagreement amongst intelligent and patriotic 
 Americans. Of these last are the war of 1812, the 
 Missouri question, nullification, and the now recent 
 compromise measures. In 1812 Mr. Clay, though not 
 unknown, was still a young man. Whether we should 
 go to war with Great Britain being the question of the 
 day, a minority opposed the declaration of war by 
 Congress, while the majority, though apparently in 
 clined to war, had for years wavered, and hesitated to 
 act decisively. Meanwhile British aggressions multi 
 plied, and grew more daring and aggravated. By Mr. 
 Clay more than any other man the struggle was 
 brought to a decision in Congress. The question, 
 being now fully before Congress, came up in a variety 
 of ways in rapid succession, on most of which occasions 
 Mr. Clay spoke. Adding to all the logic of which the 
 subject was susceptible that noble inspiration which 
 came to him as it came to no other, he afoused and 
 nerved and inspired his friends, and confounded and 
 bore down all opposition. Several of his speeches on 
 these occasions were reported and are still extant, but 
 the best of them all never w r as. During its delivery 
 the reporters forgot their vocations, dropped their 
 pens, and sat enchanted from near the beginning to 
 quite the close. The speech now lives only in the mem* 
 
30 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ory of a few old men, and the enthusiasm with which 
 they cherish their recollection of it is absolutely as 
 tonishing. The precise language of this speech we 
 shall never know; but we do know we cannot help 
 knowing that with deep pathos it pleaded the cause 
 of the injured sailor, that it invoked the genius of the 
 Revolution, that it apostrophized the names of Otis, 
 of Henry, and of Washington, that it appealed to the 
 interest, the pride, the honor, and the glory of the na 
 tion, that it shamed and taunted the timidity of friends, 
 that it scorned and scouted and withered the temerity 
 of domestic foes, that it bearded and defied the British 
 lion, and, rising and swelling and maddening in its 
 course, it sounded the onset, till the charge, the shock, 
 the steady struggle, and the glorious victory all passed 
 in vivid review before the entranced hearers. 
 
 Important and exciting as was the war question of 
 1812, it never so alarmed the sagacious statesmen of 
 the country for the safety of the Republic as afterward 
 did the Missouri question. This sprang from that un 
 fortunate source of discord negro slavery. When our 
 Federal Constitution was adopted, we owned no terri 
 tory beyond the limits or ownership of the States, ex 
 cept the territory northwest of the River Ohio and east 
 of the Mississippi. What has since been formed into 
 the States of Maine, Kentucky, and Tennessee, was, I 
 believe, within the limits of or owned by Massachusetts, 
 Virginia, and North Carolina. As to the Northwestern 
 Territory, provision had been made even before the 
 adoption of the Constitution that slavery should never 
 go there. On the admission of States into the Union, 
 carved from the territory we owned before the Con 
 stitution, no question, or at most no considerable ques 
 tion, arose about slavery those which were within the 
 limits of or owned by the old States following re 
 spectively the condition of the parent State, and those 
 within the Northwest Territory following the pre 
 viously made provision. But in 1803 we purchased 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 3^ 
 
 Louisiana of the French, and it included with much 
 more what has since been formed into the State of 
 Missouri. With regard to it, nothing had been done to 
 forestall the question of slavery. When, therefore, in 
 1819, Missouri, having formed a State constitution, 
 without excluding slavery, and with slavery already 
 actually existing within its limits, knocked at the door 
 of the Union for admission, almost the entire repre 
 sentation of the non-slaveholding States objected. A 
 fearful and angry struggle instantly followed. This 
 alarmed thinking men more than any previous ques 
 tion, because, unlike all the former, it divided the 
 country by geographical lines. 
 
 Mr. Clay was in Congress, and, perceiving the danger, 
 at once engaged his whole energies to avert it. It 
 began, as I have said, in 1819 ; and it did not terminate 
 till 1821. Missouri would not yield the point; and 
 Congress that is, a majority in Congress by repeated 
 votes showed a determination not to admit the State 
 unless it should yield. After several failures and great 
 labor on the part of Mr. Clay to so present the ques 
 tion that a majority could consent to the admission, it 
 was by a vote rejected, and as all seemed to think, 
 finally. A sullen gloom hung over the nation. All felt 
 that the rejection of Missouri was equivalent to a 
 dissolution of the Union, because those States which 
 already had what Missouri was rejected for refusing 
 to relinquish would go with Missouri. All deprecated 
 and deplored this, but none saw how to avert it. For 
 the judgment of members to be convinced of the neces 
 sity of yielding was not the whole difficulty; each had 
 a constituency to meet and to answer to. Mr. Clay, 
 though worn down and exhausted, was appealed to by 
 members to renew his efforts at compromise. He did 
 so, and by some judicious modifications of his plan, 
 coupled with laborious efforts with individual members, 
 and his own overmastering eloquence upon that floor, 
 he finally secured the admission of the State. Brightly 
 
32 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and captivating as it had previously shown, it was 
 now perceived that his great eloquence was a mere 
 embellishment, or at most but a helping hand to his 
 inventive genius, and his devotion to his country in 
 the day of her extreme peril. 
 
 After the settlement of the Missouri question, al 
 though a portion of the American people have differed 
 with Mr. Clay, and a majority even appear generally 
 to have been opposed to him on questions of ordinary 
 administration, he seems constantly to have been re 
 garded by all as the man for a crisis. Accordingly, in 
 the days of nullification, and more recently in the re 
 appearance of the slavery question connected with our 
 territory newly acquired of Mexico, the task of devis 
 ing a mode of adjustment seems to have been cast 
 upon Mr. Clay by common consent and his perform 
 ance of the task in each case was little else than a 
 literal fulfilment of the public expectation. 
 
 Mr. Clay s efforts in behalf of the South Americans, 
 and afterward in behalf of the Greeks, in the times of 
 their respective struggles for civil liberty, are among 
 the finest on record, upon the noblest of all themes, 
 and bear ample corroboration of what I have said was 
 his ruling passion a love of liberty and right, un 
 selfishly, and for their own sakes. 
 
 Having been led to allude to domestic slavery so fre 
 quently already, I am unwilling to close without re 
 ferring more particularly to Mr. Clay s views and con 
 duct in regard to it. He ever was on principle and in 
 feeling opposed to slavery. The very earliest, and one 
 of the latest, public efforts of his life, separated by a 
 period of more than fifty years, were both made in 
 favor of gradual emancipation. He did not perceive 
 that on a question of human right the negroes were 
 to be excepted from the human race. And yet Mr. Clay 
 Was the owner of slaves. Cast into life when slavery 
 was already widely spread and deeply seated, he did 
 not perceive, as I think no wise man has perceived, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 
 
 how it could be at once eradicated without producing 
 a greater evil even to the cause of human liberty itself. 
 His feeling and his judgment, therefore, ever led him to 
 oppose both extremes of opinion on the subject. Those 
 who would shiver into fragments the Union of these 
 States, tear to tatters its now venerated Constitution, 
 and even burn the last copy of the Bible, rather than 
 slavery should continue a single hour, together with 
 all their more halting sympathizers, have received, 
 and are receiving, their just execration ; and the name 
 and opinions and influence of Mr. Clay are fully and, 
 as I trust, effectually and enduringly arrayed against 
 them. But I would also, if I could, array his name, 
 opinions, and influence against the opposite extreme 
 against a few but an increasing number of men who, 
 for the sake of perpetuating slavery, are beginning to 
 assail and to ridicule the white man s charter of free 
 dom, the declaration that " all men are created free 
 and equal." So far as I have learned, the first 
 American of any note to do or attempt this was the late 
 John C. Calhoun ; and if I mistake not, it soon after 
 found its way into some of the messages of the Gov 
 ernor of South Carolina. We, however, look for and 
 are not much shocked by political eccentricities and 
 heresies in South Carolina. 
 
 But Henry Clay is dead. His long and eventful life 
 is closed. Our country is prosperous and powerful ; 
 but could it have been quite all it has been, and is, and 
 is to be, without Henry Clay? Such a man the times 
 have demanded, and such in the providence of God 
 was given us. But he is gone. Let us strive to deserve, 
 as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine 
 Providence, trusting that in future national emergen 
 cies He will not fail to provide us the instruments of 
 safety and security. 
 3 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES. 
 
 [In the subjoined speech of Mr. Lincoln s, delivered at Peoria, 
 111., Oct. 16, 1854, in reply to Judge Stephen A. Douglas, after 
 ward Democratic Senator from Illinois, we have the begin 
 nings of a series of notable debates, which marked especially 
 the year 1858, when the two men were to engage in a close 
 and exciting contest for a United States Senatorship, and at 
 the same time thresh out, on opposite sides, the great slavery 
 question, in the struggle soon afterwards to ensue between North 
 and South for sectional supremacy. What immediately pre 
 cipitated the oratorical strife between these two political adver 
 saries and gladiators of debate was the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise, the result of the passing in Congress of the 
 Douglas Act for the organization of the Territories of Kansas 
 and Nebraska, with the proviso that they should be free to 
 regulate their domestic institutions (including the vexed and 
 menacing slavery question) each in its own way, subject only to 
 the Constitution of the United States. On this ground, that of 
 popular, or " squatter," sovereignty, as it was at the period called, 
 Douglas was a candidate for the Presidency in 1852, in 1856, 
 and again in 1860 against Lincoln, whom two years before he 
 had beaten in the race for the U. S. Senatorship. In the final 
 outcome, it is only fair here to state, what must be known to all, 
 that Senator Douglas reconsidered, and afterwards practically 
 withdrew, his extreme views of local self-government, when he 
 saw to what they logically and of necessity led ; and that to the 
 close of his life, in 1861, he remained ever staunchly loyal to 
 the Union, while he reprobated Secession and the dissevering 
 doctrine of State-rights. In Mr. Lincoln s case, we all know 
 also, what honor and preferment were his in consequence of his 
 taking the line he did in opposition to Judge Douglas; and 
 though, in 1858, he lost the Senatorship from his State, his 
 candidature and the fame he gained throughout the country by 
 championing so ably the anti-slavery cause and that of the 
 integrity of the nation, were compensations he well won, together 
 with his subsequent elevation to the Chief Magistracy]. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 
 
 SPEECH AT PEORIA, ILL. (OCT. 16, 1854) IN 
 REPLY TO SENATOR STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 
 
 I INSIST that if there is anything which it is the 
 duty of the whole people never to intrust to any hands 
 but their own, that thing is the preservation and per 
 petuity of their own liberties and institutions. And if 
 they shall think, as I do, that the extension of slavery 
 endangers them more than any or all other causes, how 
 recreant to themselves if they submit the question, and 
 with it the fate of their country, to a mere handful of 
 men bent only on self-interest. If this question of 
 slavery extension were an insignificant one one hav 
 ing no power to do harm it might be shuffled aside in 
 this way; and being, as it is, the great Behemoth of 
 danger, shall the strong grip of the nation be loosened 
 upon him, to intrust him to the hands of such feeble 
 keepers ? 
 
 But Nebraska is urged as a great Union-saving meas 
 ure. Well, I too go for saving the Union. Much as I 
 hate slavery, I would consent to the extension of it 
 rather than see the Union dissolved, just as I would 
 consent to any great evil to avoid a greater one. But 
 when I go to Union-saving, I must believe, at least, 
 that the means I employ have some adaptation to the 
 end. To my mind, Nebraska has no such adaptation. 
 
 It hath no relish of salvation in it. 
 
 It is an aggravation, rather, of the only one thing which 
 ever endangers the Union. When it came upon us, all 
 was peace and quiet. The nation was looking to the 
 forming of new bonds of union, and a long course of 
 peace and prosperity seemed to lie before us. In the 
 whole range of possibility, there scarcely appears to me 
 
36 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to have been anything out of which the slavery agita 
 tion could have been revived, except the very project of 
 repealing the Missouri Compromise. Every inch of 
 territory we owned already had a definite settlement of 
 the slavery question, by which all parties were pledged 
 to abide. Indeed, there was no uninhabited country on 
 the continent which we could acquire, if we except 
 some extreme northern regions which are wholly out 
 of the question. 
 
 In this state of affairs the Genius of Discord himself 
 could scarcely have invented a way of again setting us 
 by the ears but by turning back and destroying the 
 peace measures of the past. The counsels of that 
 Genius seem to have prevailed. The Missouri Com 
 promise was repealed ; and here we are in the midst of 
 a new slavery agitation, such, I think, as we have never 
 seen before. Who is responsible for this? Is it those 
 who resist the measure, or those who causelessly 
 brought it forward and pressed it through, having 
 reason to know, and in fact knowing, it must and would 
 be so resisted? It could not but be expected by its 
 author that it would be looked upon as a measure for 
 the extension of slavery, aggravated by a gross breach 
 of faith. 
 
 Argue as you will and long as you will, this is the 
 naked front and aspect of the measure. And in this 
 aspect it could not but produce agitation. Slavery is 
 founded in the selfishness of man s nature opposition 
 to it in his love of justice. These principles are an 
 eternal antagonism, and w T hen brought into collision 
 so fiercely as slavery extension brings them, shocks 
 and throes and convulsions must ceaselessly follow. 
 Repeal the Missouri Compromise, repeal all compro 
 mises, repeal the Declaration of Independence, repeal 
 all past history, you still cannot repeal human nature. 
 It still will be the abundance of man s heart that 
 slavery extension is wrong, and out of the abundance of 
 his heart his mouth will continue to speak. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 
 
 The structure, too, of the Nebraska bill is very pecu 
 liar. The people are to decide the question of slavery 
 for themselves; but when they are to decide, or how 
 they are to decide, or whether, when the question is 
 once decided, it is to remain so or is to be subject to an 
 indefinite succession of new trials, the law does not 
 say. Is it to be decided by the first dozen settlers who 
 arrive there, or is it to await the arrival of a hundred? 
 Is it to be decided by a vote of the people or a vote of 
 the legislature, or, indeed, by a vote of any sort? To 
 these questions the law gives no answer. There is a 
 mystery about this; for when a member proposed to 
 give the legislature express authority to exclude 
 slavery, it was hooted down by the friends of the bill. 
 This fact is worth remembering. Some Yankees in the 
 East are sending emigrants to Nebraska to exclude 
 slavery from it; and, so far as I can judge, they expect 
 the question to be decided by voting in some way or 
 other. But the Missourians are awake, too. They 
 are within a stone s-throw of the contested ground. 
 They hold meetings and pass resolutions, in which not 
 the slightest allusion to voting is made. They resolve 
 that slavery already exists in the Territory ; that more 
 shall go there; that they, remaining in Missouri, will 
 protect it, and that Abolitionists shall be hung or 
 driven away. Through all this bowie-knives and six- 
 shooters are seen plainly enough, but never a glimpse 
 of the ballot-box. 
 
 And, really, what is the result of all this? Each 
 party within having numerous and determined backers 
 without, is it not probable that the contest will come 
 to blows and bloodshed? Could there be a more apt in 
 vention to bring about collision and violence on the 
 slavery question than this Nebraska project is? I do 
 not charge or believe that such was intended by Con 
 gress ; but if they had literally formed a ring and placed 
 champions within it to fight out the controversy, the 
 fight could be no more likely to come off than it is. 
 
38 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 And if this fight should begin, is it likely to take a very 
 peaceful Union-saving turn? Will not the first drop 
 of blood so shed be the real knell of the Union? 
 
 The Missouri Compromise ought to be restored. For 
 the sake of the Union, it ought to be restored. We 
 ought to elect a House of Representatives which will 
 vote its restoration. If by any means we omit to do 
 this, what follows? Slavery may or may not be es 
 tablished in Nebraska. But whether it be or not, we 
 shall have repudiated discarded from the councils of 
 the nation the spirit of compromise; for who, after 
 this, will ever trust in a national compromise? The 
 spirit of mutual concession that spirit which first 
 gave us the Constitution, and which has thrice saved 
 the Union we shall have strangled and cast from us 
 forever. And what shall we have in lieu of it? The 
 South flushed with triumph and tempted to excess; 
 the North, betrayed as they believe, brooding on wrong 
 and burning for revenge. One side will provoke, the 
 other resent. The one will taunt, the other defy; one 
 aggresses, the other retaliates. Already a few in the 
 North defy all constitutional restraints, resist the exe 
 cution of the fugitive-slave law, and even menace the 
 institution of slavery in the States where it exists. 
 Already a few in the South claim the constitutional 
 right to take and to hold slaves in the free States de 
 mand the revival of the slave-trade and demand a 
 treaty with Great Britain by which fugitive slaves 
 may be reclaimed from Canada. As yet they are but 
 few on either side. It is a grave question for lovers of 
 the Union, whether the final destruction of the Missouri 
 Compromise, and with it the spirit of all compromise, 
 will or will not embolden and embitter each of these, 
 and fatally increase the number of both. 
 
 But restore the compromise, and what then? We 
 thereby restore the national faith, the national con 
 fidence, the national feeling of brotherhood. We there 
 by reinstate the spirit of concession and compromise, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 
 
 that spirit which has never failed us in past perils, and 
 which may be safely trusted for all the future. The 
 South ought to join in doing this. The peace of the 
 nation is as dear to them as to us. In memories of the 
 past and hopes of the future, they share as largely as 
 we. It would be on their part a great act great in its 
 spirit, and great in its effect. It would be worth to the 
 nation a hundred year s purchase of peace and pros 
 perity. And what of sacrifice would they make? They 
 only surrender to us what they gave us for a considera 
 tion long, long ago ; what they have not now asked for, 
 struggled or cared for ; what has been thrust upon them, 
 not less to their astonishment than to ours. 
 
 But it is said we cannot restore it; that though we 
 elect every member of the lower House, the Senate is 
 still against us. It is quite true that of the senators 
 who passed the Nebraska bill, a majority of the whole 
 Senate will retain their seats in spite of the elections of 
 this and the next year. But if at these elections their 
 several constituencies shall clearly express their will 
 against Nebraska, will these senators disregard their 
 will? Will they neither obey nor make room for those 
 w r ho will? 
 
 But even if we fail to technically restore the com 
 promise, it is still a great point to carry a popular vote 
 in favor of the restoration. The moral weight of such 
 a vote cannot be estimated too highly. The authors 
 of Nebraska are not at all satisfied with the destruction 
 of the compromise an indorsement of this principle 
 they proclaim to be the great object. With them, Ne 
 braska alone is a small matter to establish a principle 
 for future use is what they particularly desire. 
 
 The future use is to be the planting of slavery wher 
 ever in the wide world local and unorganized opposi 
 tion cannot prevent it. Now, if you wish to give them 
 this indorsement, if you wish to establish this principle, 
 do so. I shall regret it, but it is your right. On the 
 contrary, if you are opposed to the principle, intend 
 
46 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to give it no such indorsement, let no wheedling, no 
 sophistry, divert you from throwing a direct vote 
 against it. 
 
 Some men, mostly Whigs, who condemn the repeal of 
 the Missouri Compromise, nevertheless hesitate to go 
 for its restoration, lest they be thrown in company 
 with the Abolitionists. Will they allow me, as an old 
 Whig, to tell them, good-humoredly, that I think this 
 is very silly? Stand with anybody that stands right. 
 Stand with him while he is right, and part with him 
 when he goes wrong. Stand with the Abolitionist in 
 restoring the Missouri Compromise, and stand against 
 him when he attempts to repeal the fugitive-slave law. 
 In the latter case you stand with the Southern dis- 
 unionist. What of that? you are still right. In both 
 cases you are right. In both cases you expose the 
 dangerous extremes. In both you stand on middle 
 ground, and hold the ship level and steady. In both 
 you are national, and nothing less than national. This 
 is the good old Whig ground. To desert such ground 
 because of any company, is to be less than a Whig 
 less than a man less than an American. 
 
 I particularly object to the new position which the 
 avowed principle of this Nebraska law gives to slavery 
 in the body politic. I object to it because it assumes 
 that there can be moral right in the enslaving of one 
 man by another. I object to it as a dangerous dal 
 liance for a free people a sad evidence that, feeling 
 prosperity, we forget right; that liberty, as a principle, 
 we have ceased to revere. I object to it because the 
 fathers of the republic eschewed and rejected it. The 
 argument of " necessity " was the only argument they 
 ever admitted in favor of slavery; and so far, and so 
 far only, as it carried them did they ever go. They 
 found the institution existing among us, which they 
 could not help, and they cast blame upon the British 
 king for having permitted its introduction. Before the 
 Constitution they prohibited its introduction into the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 
 
 Northwestern Territory, the only country we owned 
 then free from it. At the framing and adoption of the 
 Constitution, they forbore to so much as mention the 
 word " slave " or " slavery " in the whole instrument. 
 In the provision for the recovery of fugitives, the slave 
 is spoken of as a " person held to serve or labor." In 
 that prohibiting the abolition of the African slave-trade 
 for twenty years, that trade is spoken of as " the migra 
 tion or importation of such persons as any of the 
 States now existing shall think proper to admit," etc. 
 These are the only provisions alluding to slavery. Thus 
 the thing is hid away in the Constitution, just as an 
 afflicted man hides away a wen or cancer which he 
 dares not cut out at once, lest he bleed to death, with 
 the promise, nevertheless, that the cutting may begin 
 at a certain time. Less than this our fathers could 
 not do, and more they would not do. Necessity drove 
 them so far, and further they would not go. But this 
 is not all. The earliest Congress under the Constitu 
 tion took the same view of slavery. They hedged and 
 hemmed it in to the narrowest limits of necessity. 
 
 In 1794 they prohibited an outgoing slave-trade 
 that is, the taking of slaves from the United States to 
 sell. In 1798 they prohibited the bringing of slaves 
 from Africa into the Mississippi Territory, this Ter 
 ritory then comprising what are now the States of 
 Mississippi and Alabama. This was ten years before 
 they had the authority to do the same thing as to the 
 States existing at the adoption of the Constitution. 
 In 1800 they prohibited American citizens from trading 
 in slaves between foreign countries, as, for instance, 
 from Africa to Brazil. In 1803 they passed a law in 
 aid of one or two slave-State laws, in restraint of the 
 internal slave-trade. In 1807, in apparent hot haste, 
 they passed the law, nearly a year in advance, to take 
 effect the first day of 1808, the very first day the Con 
 stitution would permit, prohibiting the African slave- 
 trade by heavy pecuniary and corporal penalties. In 
 
42 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 1820, finding these provisions ineffectual, they declared 
 the slave-trade piracy, and annexed to it the extreme 
 penalty of death. While all this was passing in the 
 General Government, five or six of the original slave 
 States had adopted systems of gradual emancipation, 
 by which the institution was rapidly becoming extinct 
 within their limits. Thus we see that the plain, un 
 mistakable spirit of that age toward slavery was hos 
 tility to the principle and toleration only by necessity. 
 But now it is to be transformed into a " sacred right." 
 Nebraska brings it forth, places it on the highroad to 
 extension and perpetuity, and with a pat on its back 
 says to it, " Go, and God speed you." Henceforth it is 
 to be the chief jewel of the nation the very figure 
 head of the ship of state. Little by little, but steadily 
 as man s march to the grave, we have been giving up the 
 old for the new faith. Near eighty years ago we began 
 by declaring that all men are created equal; but now 
 from that beginning we have run down to the other dec 
 laration, that for some men to enslave others is a 
 " sacred right of self-government." These principles 
 cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God 
 and Mammon; and who ever holds to the one must 
 despise the other. When Pettit, in connection with his 
 support of the Nebraska bill, called the Declaration of 
 Independence " a self-evident lie," he only did what con 
 sistency and candor require all other Nebraska men to 
 do. Of the forty-odd Nebraska senators who sat pres 
 ent and heard him, no one rebuked him. Nor am I 
 apprised that any Nebraska newspaper, or any Ne 
 braska orator, in the whole nation has ever yet rebuked 
 him. If this had been said among Marion s men, 
 Southerners though they were, what would have become 
 of the man who said it? If this had been said to the 
 men who captured Andre, the man who said it would 
 probably have been hung sooner than Andre was. If it 
 had been said in old Independence Hall seventy-eight 
 years ago, the very doorkeeper would have throttled 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 43 
 
 the man and thrust him into the street. Let no one be 
 deceived. The spirit of seventy-six and the spirit of 
 Nebraska are utter antagonisms; and the former is 
 being rapidly displaced by the latter. 
 
 Fellow-countrymen, Americans, South as well as 
 North, shall we make no effort to arrest this? Already 
 the liberal party throughout the world express the ap 
 prehension " that the one retrograde institution in 
 America is undermining the principles of progress, and 
 fatally violating the noblest political system the world 
 ever saw." This is not the taunt of enemies, but the 
 warning of friends. Is it quite safe to disregard it to 
 despise it? Is there no danger to liberty itself in dis 
 carding the earliest practice and first precept of our 
 ancient faith? In our greedy chase to make profit of 
 the negro, let us beware lest we " cancel and tear in 
 pieces " even the white man s charter of freedom. 
 
 Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. 
 Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white in 
 the spirit, if not the blood, of the Revolution. Let us 
 turn slavery from its claims of " moral right " back 
 upon its existing legal rights and its arguments of 
 " necessity." Let us return it to the position our 
 fathers gave it, and there let it rest in peace. Let us 
 readopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it 
 the practices and policy which harmonize with it. Let 
 North and South let all Americans let all lovers of 
 liberty everywhere join in the great and good work. If 
 we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union, but 
 we shall have so saved it as to make and to keep it for 
 ever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it 
 that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the 
 world over, shall rise up and call us blessed to the latest 
 generations. 
 
 At Springfield, twelve days ago, where I had spoken 
 substantially as I have here, Judge Douglas replied to 
 me ; and as he is to reply to me here, I shall attempt to 
 anticipate him by noticing some of the points he made 
 
44 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 there. He commenced by stating I had assumed all 
 the way through that the principle of the Nebraska bill 
 would have the effect of extending slavery. He denied 
 that this was intended, or that this effect would follow. 
 
 I will not reopen the argument upon this point. 
 That such was the intention the world believed at the 
 start, and will continue to believe. This was the count 
 enance of the thing, and both friends and enemies in 
 stantly recognized it as such. That countenance 
 cannot now be changed by argument. You can as 
 easily argue the color out of the negro s skin. Like the 
 " bloody hand," you may wash it and wash it, the red 
 witness of guilt still sticks and stares horribly at you. 
 
 Next he says that congressional intervention never 
 prevented slavery anywhere; that it did not prevent it 
 in the Northwestern Territory, nor in Illinois; that, in 
 fact, Illinois came into the Union as a slave State; 
 that the principle of the Nebraska bill expelled it from 
 Illinois, from several old States, from everywhere. 
 
 Now this is mere quibbling all the way through. If 
 the ordinance of 87 did not keep slavery out of the 
 Northwest Territory, how happens it that the northwest 
 shore of the Ohio River is entirely free from it, while 
 the southeast shore, less than a mile distant, along 
 nearly the whole length of the river, is entirely covered 
 with it? 
 
 If that ordinance did not keep it out of Illinois, what 
 was it that made the difference between Illinois and 
 Missouri? They lie side by side, the Mississippi River 
 only dividing them while their early settlements were 
 within the same latitude. Between 1810 and 1820, the 
 number of slaves in Missouri increased 7211, while in 
 Illinois in the same ten years they decreased 51. This 
 appears by the census returns. During nearly all of 
 that ten years both were Territories, not States. Dur 
 ing this time the ordinance forbade slavery to go into 
 Illinois, and nothing forbade it to go into Missouri. 
 It did go into Missouri, and did not go into Illinois. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 
 
 That is the fact. Can any one doubt as to the reason of 
 it? But he says Illinois came into the Union as a slave 
 State. Silence, perhaps, would be the best answer to 
 this flat contradiction of the known history of the 
 country. What are the facts upon which this bold 
 assertion is based? When we first acquired the 
 country, as far back as 1787, there were some slaves 
 within it held by the French inhabitants of Kaskaskia. 
 The territorial legislation admitted a few negroes from 
 the slave States as indentured servants. One year after 
 the adoption of the first State constitution, the whole 
 number of them was what do you think? Just one 
 hundred and seventeen, while the aggregate free popula 
 tion was 55,094, about four hundred and seventy to 
 one. Upon this state of facts the people framed their 
 constitution prohibiting the further introduction of 
 slavery, with a sort of guarantee to the owners of the 
 few indentured servants, giving freedom to their chil 
 dren to be born thereafter, and making no mention 
 whatever of any supposed slave for life. Out of this 
 small matter the judge manufactures his argument that 
 Illinois came into the Union as a slave State. Let the 
 facts be the answer to the argument. 
 
 The principles of the Nebraska bill, he says, expelled 
 slavery from Illinois. The principle of that bill first 
 planted it here that is, it first came because there was 
 no law to prevent it, first came before we owned the 
 country; and finding it here, and having the ordinance 
 of 87 to prevent its increasing, our people struggled 
 along, and finally got rid of it as best they could. 
 
 But the principle of the Nebraska bill abolished 
 slavery in several of the old States. Well, it is true 
 that several of the old States, in the last quarter of 
 the last century, did adopt systems of gradual emanci 
 pation by which the institution has finally become ex 
 tinct within their limits; but it may or may not be true 
 that the principle of the Nebraska bill was the cause 
 that led to the adoption of these measures. It is now 
 
46 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 more than fifty years since the last of these States 
 adopted its system of emancipation. 
 
 If the Nebraska bill is the real author of the benevo 
 lent works, it is rather deplorable that it has for so long 
 a time ceased working altogether. Is there not some 
 reason to suspect that it was the principle of the 
 Revolution, and not the principle of the Nebraska bill, 
 that led to emancipation in these old States? Leave it 
 to the people of these old emancipating States, and I 
 am quite certain they will decide that neither that nor 
 any other good thing ever did or ever will come of the 
 Nebraska bill. 
 
 In the course of my main argument, Judge Douglas 
 interrupted me to say that fhe principle of the Nebraska 
 bill was very old; that it originated when God made 
 man, and placed good and evil before him, allowing 
 him to choose for himself, being responsible for the 
 choice he should make. At the time I thought this was 
 merely playful, and I answered it accordingly. But 
 in his reply to me he renewed it as a serious argument. 
 In seriousness, then, the facts of this proposition are 
 not true as stated. God did not place good and evil be 
 fore man, telling him to make his choice. On the con 
 trary, he did tell him there was one tree of the fruit of 
 which he should not eat, upon pain of certain death. I 
 should scarcely wish so strong a prohibition against 
 slavery in Nebraska. 
 
 But this argument strikes me as not a little remark 
 able in another particular in its strong resemblance 
 to the old argument for the " divine right of kings." 
 By the latter, the king is to do just as he pleases with 
 his white subjects, being responsible to God alone. By 
 the former, the white man is to do just as he pleases 
 with his black slaves, being responsible to God alone. 
 The two things are precisely alike, and it is but natural 
 that they should find similar arguments to sustain 
 them. 
 
 I had argued that the application of the principle of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47- 
 
 self-government, as contended for, would require the 
 revival of the African slave-trade; that no argument 
 could be made in favor of a man s right to take slaves 
 to Nebraska, which could not be equally well made in 
 favor of his right to bring them from the coast of 
 Africa. The judge replied that the Constitution re 
 quires the suppression of the foreign slave-trade, but 
 does not require the prohibition of slavery in the 
 Territories. That is a mistake in point of fact. The 
 Constitution does not require the action of Congress in 
 either case, and it does authorize it in both. And so 
 there is still no difference between the cases. 
 
 In regard to what I have said of the advantage the 
 slave States have over the free in the matter of repre 
 sentation, the judge replied that w T e in the free States 
 count five free negroes as five white people, while in the 
 slave States they count five slaves as three whites only ; 
 and that the advantage, at last, was on the side of the 
 free States. 
 
 Now, in the slave States they count free negroes just 
 as we do; and it so happens that, besides their slaves, 
 they have as many free negroes as we have, and thirty 
 thousand over. Thus, their free negroes more than 
 balance ours; and their advantage over us, in conse 
 quence of their slaves, still remains as I stated it. 
 
 In reply to my argument that the compromise meas 
 ures of 1850 were a system of equivalents, and that the 
 provisions of no one of them could fairly be carried to 
 other subjects without its corresponding equivalent 
 being carried with it, the judge denied outright that 
 these measures had any connection with or dependence 
 upon each other. This is mere desperation. If they 
 had no connection, why are they always spoken of in 
 connection ? Why has he so spoken of them a thousand 
 times? Why has he constantly called them a series of 
 measures? Why does everybody call them a com 
 promise? Why was California kept out of the Union 
 six or seven months,, if it was not because of its con- 
 
48 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 nection with the other measures? Webster s leading 
 definition of the verb " to compromise " is " to adjust 
 and settle a difference, by mutual agreement, with con 
 cessions of claims by the parties." This conveys pre 
 cisely the popular understanding of the word 
 " compromise." 
 
 We knew, before the judge told us, that these mea 
 sures passed separately, and in distinct bills, and that 
 no two of them were passed by the votes of precisely 
 the same members. But we also know, and so does he 
 know, that no one of them could have passed both 
 branches of Congress but for the understanding that 
 the others were to pass also. Upon this understanding, 
 each got votes which it could have got in no other way. 
 It is this fact which gives to the measures their true 
 character; and it is the universal knowledge of this fact 
 that has given them the name of " compromises/ so 
 expressive of that true character, 
 laws to Nebraska, you could clear away other objec- 
 
 I had asked " if, in carrying the Utah and New Mexico 
 tion, how could you leave Nebraska * perfectly free to 
 introduce slavery before she forms a constitution dur 
 ing her territorial government, while the Utah and New 
 Mexico laws only authorize it when they form con 
 stitutions and are admitted into the Union? " To this 
 Judge Douglas answered that the Utah and New 
 Mexico laws also authorized it before ; and to prove 
 this he read from one of their laws, as follows : " That 
 the legislative power of said territory shall extend to all 
 rightful subjects of legislation, consistent with the Con 
 stitution of the United States and the provisions of 
 this act." 
 
 Now it is perceived from the reading of this that there 
 is nothing express upon the subject, but that the 
 authority is sought to be implied merely for the general 
 provision of " all rightful subjects of legislation." In 
 reply to this I insist, as a legal rule of construction, as 
 well as the plain, popular view of the matter/that the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 
 
 express provision for Utah and New Mexico coming in 
 with slavery, if they choose, when they shall form con 
 stitutions, is an exclusion of all implied authority on 
 the same subject; that Congress, having the subject 
 distinctly in their minds when they made the express 
 provision, they therein expressed their whole meaning 
 on that subject. 
 
 The judge rather insinuated that I had found it con 
 venient to forget the Washington territorial law passed 
 in 1853. This was a division of Oregon organizing the 
 northern part as the territory of Washington. He 
 asserted that by this act the ordinance of 87, thereto 
 fore existing in Oregon, was repealed ; that nearly all 
 the members of Congress voted for it, beginning in the 
 House of Representatives with Charles Allen of Mass 
 achusetts, and ending with Richard Yates of Illinois; 
 and that he could not understand how those who now 
 oppose the Nebraska bill so voted there, unless it was 
 because it was then too soon after both the great 
 political parties had ratified the compromises of 1850, 
 and the ratification therefore was too fresh to be then 
 repudiated. 
 
 Now 1 had seen the Washington act before, and I 
 have carefully examined it since; and I aver that there 
 is no repeal of the ordinance of 87, or of any pro 
 hibition of slavery, in it. In express terms, there is 
 absolutely nothing in the whole law upon the subject 
 in fact, nothing to lead a reader to think of the subject. 
 To my judgment it is equally free from everything from 
 which repeal can be legally implied; but however this 
 may be, are men now to be entrapped by a legal impli 
 cation, extracted from covert language, introduced per 
 haps for the very purpose of entrapping them? I 
 sincerely wish every man could read this law quite 
 through, carefully watching every sentence and every 
 line for a repeal of the ordinance of 87, or anything 
 equivalent to it. 
 
 Another point on the Washington act. If it was 
 4 
 
50 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 intended to be modeled after the Utah and New Mexico 
 acts, as Judge Douglas insists, why was it not inserted 
 in it, as in them, that Washington was to come in with 
 or without slavery as she may choose at the adoption of 
 her constitution? it has no such provision in it; and I 
 defy the ingenuity of man to give a reason for the 
 omission, other than that it was not intended to follow 
 the Utah and New Mexico laws in regard to the ques 
 tion of slavery. 
 
 The Washington act not only differs vitally from the 
 Utah and New Mexico acts, but the Nebraska act differs 
 vitally from both. By the latter act the people are left 
 " perfectly free " to regulate their own domestic con 
 cerns, etc.; but in all the former, all their laws are to 
 be submitted to Congress, and if disapproved are to be 
 null. The Washington act goes even further; it abso 
 lutely prohibits the territorial legislature, by very 
 strong and guarded language, from establishing banks 
 or borrowing money on the faith of the Territor} . Is 
 this the sacred right of self-government we hear vaunted 
 so much? No, sir; the Nebraska bill finds no model in 
 the act of 50 or the Washington act. It finds no 
 model in any law from Adam till to-day. As Phillips 
 says of Napoleon, the Nebraska act is grand, gloomy 
 and peculiar, wrapped in the solitude of its own 
 originality, without a model and without a shadow 
 upon the earth. 
 
 In the course of his reply Senator Douglas remarked 
 in substance that he had always considered this govern 
 ment was made for the white people and not for the 
 negroes. Why, in point of mere fact, I think so too. 
 But in this remark of the judge there is a significance 
 which I think is the key to the great mistake (if there 
 is any such mistake) which he has made in this Ne 
 braska measure. It shows that the judge has no very 
 vivid impression that the negro is human, and conse 
 quently has no idea that there can be any moral ques 
 tion in legislating about him. In his view the question 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 5^ 
 
 of whether a new country shall be slave or free, is a 
 matter of as utter indifference as it is whether his 
 neighbor shall plant his farm with tobacco or stock it 
 with horned cattle. Now, whether this view is right or 
 wrong, it is very certain that the great mass of mankind 
 take a totally different view. They consider slavery a 
 great moral wrong, and their feeling against it is not 
 evanescent, but eternal. It lies at the very foundation 
 of their sense of justice, and it cannot be trifled with. 
 It is a great and durable element of popular action, 
 and I think no statesman can safely disregard it. 
 
 Our Senator also objects that those who oppose him 
 in this matter do not entirely agree with one another. 
 He reminds me that in my firm adherence to the con 
 stitutional rights of the slave States, I differ widely 
 from others who are cooperating with me in opposing 
 the Nebraska bill, and he says it is not quite fair to 
 oppose him in this variety of ways. He should re 
 member that he took us by surprise astounded us by 
 this measure. We were thunderstruck and stunned, 
 and we reeled and fell in utter confusion. But we rose, 
 each fighting, grasping whatever he could first reach a 
 scythe, a pitchfork, a chopping-ax, or a butcher s 
 cleaver. We struck in the direction of the sound, and 
 we were rapidly closing in upon him. He must not 
 think to divert us from our purpose by showing us that 
 our drill, our dress, and our weapons are not entirely 
 perfect and uniform. When the storm shall be past he 
 shall find us still Americans, no less devoted to the 
 continued union and prosperity of the country than 
 heretofore. 
 
52 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THE HISTORIC HOUSE-DIVIDED- AGAINST-IT- 
 SELF " SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL., 
 JUNE 16, 1858. 
 
 [This notable speech was delivered at the close of the Re 
 publican State Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln as the 
 sole choice of the Illinois Republicans for the United States 
 Senate. In it, the future Liberator of the slave strongly and 
 earnestly brought before the Convention and the entire Re 
 publican party the urgent need of facing the great issue then 
 confronting the nation, that of Slavery, with its ever-augmenting 
 agitation, and consequent menace and peril. That menace and 
 peril, Lincoln shrewdly saw, threatened the stability of the 
 Union, though he expressed no fear of its ultimate downfall, 
 yet saw and advanced abundant reason for concerted action and 
 effort, as well as for wise counsels, if the national house was to 
 stand undivided and un-rent by the contending forces and strife 
 of the time. His now time-honored phrase is a memorable, 
 as it was then an admonitory, one, that the " government cannot 
 endure permanently half -slave and half -free]. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Convention: If 
 we could first know where we are, and whither we are 
 tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to 
 do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy 
 was initiated with the avowed object and confident 
 promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under 
 the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only 
 not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opin 
 ion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been 
 reached and passed. " A house divided against itself 
 cannot stand." I believe this government cannot en 
 dure permanently half slave and half free. I do not ex 
 pect the Union to be dissolved I do not expect the 
 house to fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. 
 It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either 
 the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread 
 of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 53 
 
 the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinc 
 tion; or its advocates will push it forward till it shall 
 become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as 
 new, North as well as South. 
 
 Have we no tendency to the latter condition ? 
 
 Let any one who doubts carefully contemplate that 
 now almost complete legal combination piece of 
 machinery, so to speak compounded of the Nebraska 
 doctrine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him con 
 sider not only what work the machinery is adapted to 
 do, and how well adapted; but also let him study the 
 history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or 
 rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidences of design 
 and concert of action among its chief architects, from 
 the beginning. 
 
 The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from 
 more than half the States by State constitutions, and 
 from most of the national territory by congressional 
 prohibition. Four days later commenced the struggle 
 which ended in repealing that congressional prohibi 
 tion. This opened all the national territory to slavery, 
 and was the first point gained. 
 
 But, so far, Congress only had acted ; and an indorse 
 ment by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable 
 to save the point already gained and give chance for 
 more. 
 
 This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been 
 provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argu 
 ment of " squatter sovereignty," otherwise called 
 " sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, 
 though expressive of the only rightful basis of any 
 government, was so perverted in this attempted use of 
 it as to amount to just this : That if any one man 
 choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed 
 to object. That argument was incorporated into the 
 Nebraska bill itself, in the language which follows: 
 " It being the true intent and meaning of this act not to 
 legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to 
 
54 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 exclude it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof 
 perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic 
 institutions in their own way, subject only to the Con 
 stitution of the United States." Then opened the roar 
 of loose declamation in favor of " squatter sovereignty " 
 and " sacred right of self-government." " But," said 
 opposition members, " let us amend the bill so as to 
 expressly declare that the people of the Territory may 
 exclude slavery." " Not we," said the friends of the 
 measure ; and down they voted the amendment. 
 
 While the Nebraska bill was passing through Con 
 gress, a law case involving the question of a negro s 
 freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily 
 taken him first into a free State and then into a Terri 
 tory covered by the congressional prohibition, and held 
 him as a slave for a long time in each, was passing 
 through the United States Circuit Court for the District 
 of Missouri ; and both Nebraska bill and lawsuit were 
 brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. 
 The negro s name was Dred Scott, which name now 
 designates the decision finally made in the case. Be 
 fore the then next presidential election, the law case 
 came to and was argued in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States ; but the decision of it was deferred until 
 after the election. Still, before the election, Senator 
 Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the 
 leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his 
 opinion whether the people of a Territory can con 
 stitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the 
 latter answered : " That is a question for the Supreme 
 Court." 
 
 The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and 
 the indorsement, such as it was, secured. That was the 
 second point gained. The indorsement, however, fell 
 short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hun 
 dred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not over 
 whelmingly reliable and satisfactory. The outgoing 
 President, in his last annual message, as impressively 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 
 
 as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and 
 authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met 
 again; did not announce their decision, but ordered a 
 reargument. The presidential inauguration came, and 
 still no decision of the court; but the incoming Presi 
 dent in his inaugural address fervently exhorted the 
 people to abide by the forthcoming decision, whatever 
 it might be. Then, in a few days, came the decision. 
 
 The reputed author of the Nebraska bill finds an 
 early occasion to make a speech at this capital indors 
 ing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently de 
 nouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, 
 seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to in 
 dorse and strongly construe that decision, and to ex 
 press his astonishment that any different view had ever 
 been entertained ! 
 
 At length a squabble springs up between the Presi 
 dent and the author of the Nebraska bill, on the mere 
 question of fact, whether the Lecompton constitution 
 was or was not, in any just sense, made by the people of 
 Kansas ; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all 
 he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares 
 not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do 
 not understand his declaration that he cares not 
 whether slavery be voted down or voted up to be in 
 tended by him other than as an apt definition of the pol 
 icy he would impress upon the public mind the princi 
 ple for which he declares he has suffered so much, and 
 is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to 
 that principle. If he has any parental feeling, well may 
 he cling to it. That principle is the only shred left of 
 his original Nebraska doctrine. Under the Dred Scott 
 decision " squatter sovereignty " squatted out of exist 
 ence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding, like 
 the mold at the foundry, served through one blast and 
 fell back into loose sand, helped to carry an election, 
 and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint 
 struggle with the Republicans against the Lecompton 
 
56 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 constitution involves nothing of the original Nebraska 
 doctrine. That struggle was made on a point the 
 right of a people to make their own constitution upon 
 which he and the Republicans have never differed. 
 
 The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in con 
 nection with Senator Douglas s " care not " policy, 
 constitute the piece of machinery in its present state of 
 advancement. This was the third point gained. The 
 working points of that machinery are : 
 
 (1) That no negro slave, imported as such from 
 Africa, and no descendant of such slave, can ever be a 
 citizen of any State, in the sense of that term as used in 
 the Constitution of the United States. This point is 
 made in order to deprive the negro in every possible 
 event of the benefit of that provision of the United 
 States Constitution which declares that " the citizens 
 of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and 
 immunities of citizens in the several States." 
 
 (2) That, " subject to the Constitution of the United 
 States," neither Congress nor a territorial legislature 
 can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. 
 This point is made in order that individual men may 
 fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of 
 losing them as property, and thus enhance the chances 
 of permanency to the institution through all the future. 
 
 (3) That whether the holding a negro in actual 
 slavery in a free State makes him free as against the 
 holder, the United States courts will not decide, but 
 will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave State 
 the negro may be forced into by the master. This point 
 is made not to be pressed immediately, but if acquiesced 
 in for a while, and apparently indorsed by the people 
 at an election, then to sustain the logical conclusion 
 that what Dred Scott s master might lawfully do with 
 Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other 
 master may lawfully do with any other one or one thou 
 sand slaves in Illinois or in any other free State. 
 
 Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 
 
 with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is 
 to educate and mold public opinion, at least Northern 
 public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted 
 down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now 
 are, and partially, also, whither we are tending. 
 
 It will throw additional light on the latter, to go back 
 and run the mind over the string of historical facts al 
 ready stated. Several things will now appear less dark 
 and mysterious than they did when they were trans 
 piring. The people were to be left " perfectly free," 
 " subject only to the Constitution." What the Con 
 stitution had to do with it outsiders could not then see. 
 Plainly enough now, it was an exactly fitted niche for 
 the Dred Scott decision to afterward come in, and de 
 clare the perfect freedom of the people to be just no 
 freedom at all. Why was the amendment expressly de 
 claring the right of the people voted down? Plainly 
 enough now, the adoption of it would have spoiled the 
 niche for the Dred Scott decision. Why was the court 
 decision held up? Why even a senator s individual 
 opinion withheld till after the presidential election? 
 Plainly enough now, the speaking out then would have 
 damaged the " perfectly free " argument upon which 
 the election was to be carried. Why the outgoing Presi 
 dent s felicitation on the indorsement? Why the delay 
 of a reargument? Why the incoming President s ad 
 vance exhortation in favor of the decision? These 
 things look like the cautious patting and petting of a 
 spirited horse preparatory to mounting him, when it is 
 dreaded that he may give the rider a fall. And why the 
 hasty after-indorsement of the decision by the Presi 
 dent and others? 
 
 We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adap 
 tations are the result of preconcert. But when we see a 
 lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we 
 know have been gotten out at different times and places 
 and by different workmen, Stephen, Franklin, Roger, 
 and James, for instance, and we see these timbers 
 
58 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 joined together, and see they exactly make the frame 
 of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortises exactly 
 fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the differ 
 ent pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, 
 and not a piece too many or too few, not omitting even 
 scaffolding or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the 
 place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to 
 bring such piece in in such a case we find it impossible 
 not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger 
 and James all understood one another from the begin 
 ning, and all worked upon a common plan or draft 
 drawn up before the first blow was struck. 
 
 It should not be overlooked that, by the Nebraska 
 bill, the people of a State as well as Territory were to 
 be left " perfectly free," * subject only to the constitu 
 tion." Why mention a State? They were legislating 
 for Territories, and not for or about States. Certainly 
 the people of a State are and ought to be subject to 
 the Constitution of the United States ; but why is men 
 tion of this lugged into this merely territorial law? 
 Why are the people of a Territory and the people of a 
 State therein lumped together, and their relation to 
 the Constitution therein treated as being precisely the 
 same? While the opinion of the court, by Chief Justice 
 Taney, in the Dred Scott case, and the separate opin 
 ions of all the concurring judges, expressly declare 
 that the Constitution of the United States neither per 
 mits Congress nor a territorial legislature to exclude 
 slavery from any United States Territory, they all omit 
 to declare whether or not the same Constitution per 
 mits a State, or the people of a State, to exclude it. 
 Possibly, this is a mere omission; but who can be quite 
 sure, if McLean or Curtis had sought to get into the 
 opinion a declaration of unlimited power in the people 
 of a State to exclude slavery from their limits, just as 
 Chase and Mace sought to get such declaration, in be 
 half of the people of a Territory, into the Nebraska 
 bill I ask, who can be quite sure that it would not 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 
 
 have been voted down in the one case as it had been in 
 the other? The nearest approach to the point of de 
 claring the power of a State over slavery is made by 
 Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using 
 the precise idea, and almost the language too, of the 
 Nebraska act. On one occasion his exact language is : 
 " Except in cases where the power is restrained by the 
 Constitution of the United States, the law of the State 
 is supreme over the subject of slavery within its juris 
 diction." In what cases the power of the States is so 
 restrained by the United States Constitution is left an 
 open question, precisely as the same question as to the 
 restraint on the power of the Territories was left open 
 in the Nebraska act. Put this and that together, and 
 we have another nice little niche, which we may, ere 
 long, see filled with another Supreme Court decision 
 declaring that the Constitution of the United States 
 does not permit a State to exclude slavery from its 
 limits. And this may especially be expected if the 
 doctrine of " care not whether slavery be voted down 
 or voted up " shall gain upon the public mind suf 
 ficiently to give promise that such a decision can be 
 maintained when made. 
 
 Such a decision is all that slavery now lacks of being 
 alike lawful in all the States. Welcome, or unwel 
 come, such decision is probably coming, and will soon 
 be upon us, unless the power of the present political 
 dynasty shall be met and overthrown. We shall lie 
 down pleasantly dreaming that the people of Missouri 
 are on the verge of making their State free, and we 
 shall awake to the reality instead that the Supreme 
 Court has made Illinois a slave State. To meet and 
 overthrow the power of that dynasty is the work now 
 before all those who would prevent that consummation. 
 That is what we have to do. How can we best do it? 
 
 There are those who denounce us openly to their own 
 friends, and yet whisper us softly that Senator Douglas 
 is the aptest instrument there is with which to effect 
 
60 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that object. They wish us to infer all from the fact 
 that he now has a little quarrel with the present head 
 of the dynasty; and that he has regularly voted with 
 us on a single point upon which he and we have never 
 differed. They remind us that he is a great man, and 
 that the largest of us are very small ones. Let this be 
 granted. But " a living dog is better than a dead lion." 
 Judge Douglas, if not a dead lion for this work, is at 
 least a caged and toothless one. How can he oppose 
 the advances of slavery? He don t care anything about 
 it. His avowed mission is impressing the " public 
 heart " to care nothing about it. A leading Douglas 
 Democratic newspaper thinks Douglas s superior talent 
 will be needed to resist the revival of the African slave- 
 trade. Does Douglas believe an effort to revive that 
 trade is approaching? He has not said so. Does he 
 really think so? But if it is, how can he resist it? 
 For years he has labored to prove it a sacred right of 
 white men to take negro slaves into the new Territories. 
 Can he possibly show that it is less a sacred right to 
 buy them where they can be bought cheapest? And 
 unquestionably they can be bought cheaper in Africa 
 than in Virginia. He has done all in his power to 
 reduce the whole question of slavery to one of a mere 
 right of property; and as such, how can he oppose the 
 foreign slave-trade. How can he refuse that trade in 
 that " property " shall be " perfectly free," unless he 
 does it as a protection to the home production? And 
 as the home producers will probably not ask the pro 
 tection, he will be wholly without a ground of opposi 
 tion. 
 
 Senator Douglas holds, we know, that a man may 
 rightfully be wiser to-day than he was yesterday that 
 he may rightfully change when he finds himself wrong. 
 But can we, for that reason, run ahead, and infer that 
 he will make any particular change of which he, him 
 self, has given no intimation? Can we safely base our 
 action upon any such vague inference? Now, as ever, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. (j| 
 
 T wish not to misrepresent Judge Douglas s position, 
 question his motives, or do aught that can be personally 
 offensive to him. Whenever, if ever, he and we can 
 come together on principle so that our great cause may 
 have assistance from his great ability, I hope to have 
 interposed no adventitious obstacle. But clearly, he 
 is not now with us he does not pretend to be he does 
 not promise ever to be. 
 
 Our cause, then, must be intrusted to, and conducted 
 by, its own undoubted friends those whose hands are 
 free, whose hearts are in the work, who do care for 
 the result. Two years ago the Republicans of the na 
 tion mustered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. 
 We did this under the single impulse of resistance to a 
 common danger, with every external circumstance 
 against us. Of strange, discordant, and even hostile 
 elements, we gathered from the four winds, and formed 
 and fought the battle through, under the constant hot 
 fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered enemy. Did 
 we brave all then to falter now? now, when that same 
 enemy is wavering, dissevered, and belligerent? The 
 result is not doubtful. We shall not fail if we stand 
 firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate 
 or mistakes delay it, but, sooner or later, the victory is 
 sure to come. 
 
62 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH AT CHICAGO, ILL., JULY 10, 1858. 
 
 [In this, and in the immediately following speech, delivered a 
 week later at Springfield, 111., we have important utterances of 
 Mr. Lincoln on the absorbing question of the time, both being, 
 in part, and without collusion, rejoinders to Judge S. A. 
 Douglas, who on both occasions had made immediately preceding 
 addresses. The speeches, on both sides, created much en 
 thusiasm and directed the eyes of the State, and indeed of the 
 nation, to the rival Illinois orators, and especially to Lincoln, 
 who had dared to tackle the able and popular " little giant," 
 and that with great plainness of speech as well as with admi 
 rable point and sound logic. The excitement the speeches oc 
 casioned led to the acceptance by Douglas of Lincoln s proposal 
 that they should be heard in joint debate at a series of meet 
 ings over the State. These debates, which occupied seven dif 
 ferent evenings of three hours each, will be found in these 
 pages, following the present address and that at Springfield, 
 vis;, those at Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Galesburg, 
 Quincy, and Alton, during the months of Aug., Sept., and Oct., 
 1858]. 
 
 JUDGE DOUGLAS made two points upon my recent 
 speech at Springfield. He says they are to be the 
 issues of this campaign. The first one of these points 
 he bases upon the language in a speech which I deliv 
 ered at Springfield, which I believe I can quote cor 
 rectly from memory. I said there that " we are 
 now far into the fifth year since a policy was instituted 
 for the avowed object and with the confident promise 
 of putting an end to slavery agitation ; under the opera 
 tion of that policy, that agitation has not only not 
 ceased, but has constantly augmented. I believe it will 
 not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and 
 passed. t A house divided against itself cannot stand/ 
 I believe this government cannot endure permanently 
 half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union 
 to be dissolved "-I am quoting from my speech "I 
 do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 33 
 
 cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or 
 all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will 
 arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the 
 public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the 
 course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push 
 it forward until it shall become alike lawful in all the 
 States, old as well as new, North as well as South." 
 
 That is the paragraph ! In this paragraph which I 
 have quoted in your hearing, and to which I ask the 
 attention of all, Judge Douglas thinks he discovers 
 great political heresy. I want your attention particu 
 larly to what he has inferred from it. He says I am in 
 favor of making all the States of this Union uniform in 
 all their internal regulations; that in all their domestic 
 concerns I am in favor of making them entirely uni 
 form. He draws this inference from the language I 
 have quoted to you. He says that I am in favor of mak 
 ing war by the North upon the South for the extinction 
 of slavery; that I am also in favor of inviting (as he 
 expresses it) the South to a war upon the North, for 
 the purpose of nationalizing slavery. Now, it is singu 
 lar enough, if you will carefully read that passage over, 
 that I did not say that I was in favor of anything in 
 it. I only said what I expected would take place. I 
 made a prediction only it may have been a foolish one, 
 perhaps. I did not even say that I desired that slavery 
 should be put in course of ultimate extinction. I do 
 say so now, however, so there need be no longer any 
 difficulty about that. It may be written down in the 
 great speech. 
 
 Gentlemen, Judge Douglas informed you that this 
 speech of mine was probably carefully prepared. I 
 admit that it was. I am not master of language; I 
 have not a fine education ; I am not capable of entering 
 into a disquisition upon dialectics, as I believe you call 
 it; but I do not believe the language I employed bears 
 any such construction as Judge Douglas puts upon it. 
 But I don t care about a quibble in regard to words. 
 
64 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 I know what I meant, and I will not leave this crowd 
 in doubt, if I can explain it to them, what 1 really 
 meant in the use of that paragraph. 
 
 I am not, in the first place, unaware that this govern 
 ment has endured eighty-two years half slave and 
 half free. I know that I am tolerably well ac 
 quainted with the history of the country, and I know 
 that it has endured eighty-two years half slave and half 
 free. I believe and that is what I meant to allude 
 to there I believe it has endured because during all 
 that time, until the introduction of the Nebraska bill, 
 the public mind did rest all the time in the belief that 
 slavery was in course of ultimate extinction. That 
 was what gave us the rest that we had through that 
 period of eighty-two years; at least, so I believe. I 
 have always hated slavery, I think, as much as any 
 Abolitionist I have been an old-line Whig I have 
 always hated it, but I have always been quiet about it 
 until this new era of the introduction of the Nebraska 
 bill began. I always believed that everybody was 
 against it, and that it was in course of ultimate extinc 
 tion. [Pointing to Mr. Browning, who stood near by.] 
 Browning thought so ; the great mass of the nation 
 have rested in the belief that slavery was in course of 
 ultimate extinction. They had reason so to believe. 
 
 The adoption of the Constitution and its attendant 
 history led the people to believe so, and that such was 
 the belief of the framers of the Constitution itself. 
 Why did those old men, about the time of the adoption 
 of the Constitution, decree that slavery should not go 
 into the new Territory, where it had not already gone ? 
 Why declare that within twenty years the African 
 slave-trade, by which slaves are supplied, might be cut 
 off by Congress? W T hy were all these acts? I might 
 enumerate more of these acts but enough. What 
 were they but a clear indication that the framers of 
 the Constitution intended and expected the ultimate 
 extinction of that institution? And now, when I say, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. (55 
 
 as I said in my speech that Judge Douglas has quoted 
 from, when I say that I think the opponents of slavery 
 will resist the farther spread of it, and place it where 
 the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in 
 course of ultimate extinction, I only mean to say that 
 they will place it where the founders of this govern 
 ment originally placed it. 
 
 I have said a hundred times, and I have now no in 
 clination to take it back, that I believe there is no right 
 and ought to be no inclination in the people of the free 
 States to enter into the slave States and interfere with 
 the question of slavery at all. I have said that always ; 
 Judge Douglas has heard me say it if not quite a 
 hundred times, at least as good as a hundred times; 
 and when it is said that I am in favor of interfering 
 with slavery where it exists, I know it is unwarranted 
 by anything I have ever intended, and, as I believe, by 
 anything I have ever said. If by any means I have ever 
 used language which could fairly be so construed (as, 
 however, I believe I never have), I now correct it. 
 
 So much, then, for the inference that Judge Douglas 
 draws, that I am in favor of setting the sections at 
 war with one another. I know that I never meant any 
 such thing, and I believe that no fair mind can infer 
 any such thing from anything I have ever said. 
 
 Now in relation to his inference that I am in favor 
 of a general consolidation of all the local institutions of 
 the various States. I will attend to that for a little 
 while, and try to inquire, if I can, how on earth it 
 could be that any man could draw such an inference 
 from anything I said. I have said very many times in 
 Judge Douglas s hearing that no man believed more 
 than I in the principle of self-government; that it lies 
 at the bottom of all my ideas of just government from 
 beginning to end. I have denied that his use of that 
 term applies properly. But for the thing itself I deny 
 that any man has ever gone ahead of me in his devotion 
 to the principle, whatever he may have done in effi- 
 5 
 
66 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ciency in advocating it. I think that I have said it in 
 your hearing that I believe each individual is natur 
 ally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the 
 fruit of his labor, so far as it in no wise interferes with 
 any other man s rights; that each community, as a 
 State, has a right to do exactly as it pleases with all 
 the concerns within that State that interfere with the 
 right of no other State; and that the General Govern 
 ment, upon principle, has no right to interfere with 
 anything other than that general class of things that 
 does concern the whole. I have said that at all times. 
 I have said as illustrations that I do not believe in the 
 right of Illinois to interfere with the cranberry laws of 
 Indiana, the oyster law r s of Virginia, or the liquor laws 
 of Maine. I have said these things over and over again, 
 and I repeat them here as my sentiments. 
 
 How is it, then, that Judge Douglas infers, because 
 I hope to see slavery put where the public mind shall 
 rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate ex 
 tinction, that I am in favor of Illinois going over and 
 interfering with the cranberry laws of Indiana? What 
 can authorize him to draw any such inference? I sup 
 pose there might be one thing that at least enabled 
 him to draw such an inference that would not be true 
 with me or many others; that is, because he looks upon 
 all this matter of slavery as an exceedingly little 
 thing this matter of keeping one sixth of the popula 
 tion of the whole nation in a state of oppression and 
 tyranny unequaled in the world. He looks upon it as 
 being an exceedingly little thing, only equal to the 
 question of the cranberry laws of Indiana as some 
 thing having no moral question in it as something on 
 a par with the question of whether a man shall pasture 
 his land with cattle or plant it with tobacco so little 
 and so small a thing that he concludes, if I could 
 desire that anything should be done to bring about the 
 ultimate extinction of that little thing, I must be in 
 favor of bringing about an amalgamation of all the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^7 
 
 other little things in the Union. Now, it so happens 
 and there, I presume, is the foundation of this mistake 
 that the judge thinks thus; and it so happens that 
 there is a vast portion of the American people that do 
 not look upon that matter as being this very little 
 thing. They look upon it as a vast moral evil ; they can 
 prove it as such by the writings of those who gave UH 
 the blessings of liberty which we enjoy, and that they so 
 looked upon it, and not as an evil merely confining it 
 self to the States where it is situated; and while we 
 agree that, by the Constitution we assented to, in the 
 States where it exists we have no right to interfere with 
 it, because it is in the Constitution, we are by both 
 duty and inclination to stick by that Constitution in 
 all its letter and spirit from beginning to end. 
 
 So much, then, as to my disposition my wish to 
 have all the State legislatures blotted out, and to have 
 one consolidated government, and a uniformity of do 
 mestic regulations in all the States ; by which I suppose 
 it is meant, if we raise corn here, we must make sugar 
 cane grow here too, and we must make those which 
 grow North grow in the South. All this I suppose he 
 understands I am in favor of doing. Now, so much 
 for all this nonsense for I must call it so. The judge 
 can have no issue with me on a question of establishing 
 uniformity in the domestic regulations of the States. 
 
 A little now on the other point the Dred Scott 
 decision. Another of the issues he says that is to be 
 made with me, is upon his devotion to the Dred Scott 
 decision, and my opposition to it. 
 
 I have expressed heretofore, and I now repeat, my 
 opposition to the Dred Scott decision ; but I should be 
 allowed to state the nature of that opposition, and I 
 ask your indulgence while I do so. What is fairly im 
 plied by the term Judge Douglas has used, " resistance 
 to the decision " ? I do not resist it. If I wanted to 
 take Dred Scott from his master, I would be interfering 
 with property, and that terrible difficulty that Judge 
 
(jg SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Douglas speaks of, of interfering with property, would 
 arise. But I am doing no such thing as that ; all that 
 I am doing is refusing to obey it as a political rule. 
 If I were in Congress, and a vote should come up on a 
 question whether slavery should be prohibited in a new 
 Territory, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, I would 
 vote that it should. 
 
 That is what I would do. Judge Douglas said last 
 night that before the decision he might advance his 
 opinion, and it might be contrary to the decision when 
 it was made; but after it was made he would abide by 
 it until it was reversed. Just so! We let this prop 
 erty abide by the decision, but we will try to reverse 
 that decision. We will try to put it where Judge 
 Douglas would not object, for he says he will obey it 
 until it is reversed. Somebody has to reverse that decis 
 ion, since it is made ; and we mean to reverse it, and we 
 mean to do it peaceably. 
 
 What are the uses of decisions of courts? They have 
 two uses. As rules of property they have two uses. 
 First they decide upon the question before the court. 
 They decide in this case that Dred Scott is a slave. 
 Nobody resists that. Not only that, but they say to 
 everybody else that persons standing just as Dred 
 Scott stands are as he is. That is, they say that when a 
 question comes up upon another person, it will be so 
 decided again, unless the court decides in another way, 
 unless the court overrules its decision. Well, we mean 
 to do what we can to have the court decide the other 
 way. That is one thing we mean to try to do. 
 
 The sac-redness that Judge Douglas throws around 
 this decision is a degree of sacredness that has never 
 been before thrown around any other decision. I have 
 never heard of such a thing. Why, decisions apparently 
 contrary to that decision, or that good lawyers thought 
 were contrary to that decision, have been made by that 
 very court before. It is the first of its kind; it is an 
 astonisher in legal history. It is a new wonder of the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 59 
 
 world. It is based upon falsehood iii the main as 
 to the facts, allegations of facts upon which it stands 
 are not facts at all in many instances, and no decis 
 ion made on any question the first instance of a decis 
 ion made under so many unfavorable circumstances 
 thus placed, has ever been held by the profession as law, 
 and it has always needed confirmation before the law 
 yers regarded it as settled law. But Judge Douglas 
 will have it that all hands must take this extraordinary 
 decision, made under these extraordinary circum 
 stances, and give their vote in Congress in accordance 
 with it, yield to it and obey it in every possible sense. 
 Circumstances alter cases. Do not gentlemen here re 
 member the case of that same Supreme Court, some 
 twenty-five or thirty years ago, deciding that a national 
 bank was constitutional? I ask if somebody does not 
 remember that a national bank was declared to be con 
 stitutional? Such is the truth, whether it be remem 
 bered or not. The bank charter ran out, and a recharter 
 was granted by Congress. That recharter was laid be 
 fore General Jackson. It was urged upon him, when 
 he denied the constitutionality of the bank, that the 
 Supreme Court had decided that it was constitutional ; 
 and General Jackson then said that the Supreme Court 
 had no right to lay down a rule to govern a coordinate 
 branch of the government, the members of which had 
 sworn to support the Constitution that each member 
 had sworn to support that Constitution as he under 
 stood it. I will venture here to say that I have heard 
 Judge Douglas say that he approved of General Jack 
 son for that act. What has now become of all his 
 tirade against " resistance to the Supreme Court " ? 
 
 My fellow-citizens, getting back a little, for I pass 
 from these points, when Judge Douglas makes his 
 threat of annihilation upon the " alliance," he is cau 
 tious to say that that warfare of his is to fall upon the 
 leaders of the Republican party. Almost every word 
 lie utters, and every distinction he makes, has its sig- 
 
YQ SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 nificance. He means for the Republicans who do not 
 count themselves as leaders to be his friends; he makes 
 no fuss over them ; it is the leaders that he is making 
 war upon. He wants it understood that the mass of 
 the Republican party are really his friends. It is only 
 the leaders that are doing something, that are in 
 tolerant, and require extermination at his hands. As 
 this is clearly and unquestionably the light in which 
 he presents that matter, I want to ask your attention, 
 addressing myself to Republicans here, that I may ask 
 you some questions as to where you, as the Republican 
 party, would be placed if you sustained Judge Douglas 
 in his present position by a reelection? I do not claim, 
 gentlemen, to be unselfish ; I do not pretend that I 
 would not like to go to the United States Senate; I 
 make no such hypocritical pretense, but I do say to you 
 that in this mighty issue, it is nothing to you nothing 
 to the mass of the people of the nation whether or not 
 Judge Douglas or myself shall ever be heard of after 
 this night; it may be a trifle to either of us, but in 
 connection with this mighty question, upon which hang 
 the destinies of the nation, perhaps, it is absolutely 
 nothing. But where will you be placed if you reindorse 
 Judge Douglas? Don t you know how apt he is how 
 exceedingly anxious he is at all times to seize upon 
 anything and everything to persuade you that some 
 thing he has done you did yourselves? Why, he tried 
 to persuade you last night that our Illinois legislature 
 instructed him to introduce the Nebraska bill. There 
 was nobody in that legislature ever thought of such a 
 thing; and w r hen he first introduced the bill, he never 
 thought of it ; but still he fights furiously for the propo 
 sition, and that he did it because there was a standing 
 instruction to our senators to be always introducing 
 Nebraska bills. He tells you he is for the Cincinnati 
 platform ; he tells you he is for the Dred Scott decision. 
 He tells you, not in his speech last night, but sub 
 stantially in a former speech, that he cares not if 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ft 
 
 slavery is voted up or down ; he tells you the struggle on 
 Lecompton is past it may come up again or not, and 
 if it does he stands where he stood when in spite of 
 him and his opposition you built up the Republican 
 party. If you indorse him, you tell him you do not 
 care whether slavery be voted up or down, and he will 
 close, or try to close, your mouths with his declaration, 
 repeated by the day, the week, the month, and the year. 
 I think, in the position in which Judge Douglas stood 
 in opposing the Lecompton constitution, he was right; 
 he does not know that it will return, but if it does we 
 may know where to find him, and if it does not we may 
 know where to look for him, and that is on the Cin 
 cinnati platform. Now I could ask the Republican 
 party, after all the hard names Judge Douglas has 
 called them by, all his repeated charges of their inclina 
 tion to marry with and hug negroes, all his declarations 
 of Black Republicanism, by the way, we are improv 
 ing, the black has got rubbed off, but with all that, if 
 he be indorsed by Republican votes, where do you 
 stand? Plainly, you stand ready saddled, bridled, and 
 harnessed, and waiting to be driven over to the slavery 
 extension camp of the nation, just ready to be driven 
 over, tied together in a lot, to be driven over, every 
 man with a rope around his neck, that halter being held 
 by Judge Douglas. That is the question. If Republi 
 can men have been in earnest in what they have done, I 
 think they had better not do it; but I think the Repub 
 lican party is made up of those who, as far as they can 
 peaceably, will oppose the extension of slavery, and 
 who will hope for its ultimate extinction. If they 
 believe it is wrong in grasping up the new lands of the 
 continent, and keeping them from the settlement of free 
 white laborers, who want the land to bring up their 
 families upon; if they are in earnest, although they 
 may make a mistake, they will grow restless, and the 
 time will come when they will come back again and 
 reorganize, if not by the same name, at least upon the 
 
72 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 same principles as their party now has. It is better, 
 then, to save the work while it is begun. You have done 
 the labor; maintain it, keep it. If men choose to serve 
 you, go with them ; but as you have made up your 
 organization upon principle, stand by it; for, as surely 
 as God reigns over you, and has inspired your mind, 
 and given you a sense of propriety, and continues to 
 give you hope, so surely will you still cling to these 
 ideas, and you will at last come back again after your 
 wanderings, merely to do your work over again. 
 
 We were often more than once at least in the 
 course of Judge Douglas s speech last night reminded 
 that this government was made for white men that he 
 believed it was made for white men. Well, that is 
 putting it into a shape in which no one wants to deny 
 it; but the judge then goes into his passion for draw 
 ing inferences that are not warranted. I protest, now 
 and forever, against that counterfeit logic which pre 
 sumes that because I do not want a negro woman for a 
 slave, I do necessarily want her for a wife. My under 
 standing is that I need not have her for either; but, as 
 God made us separate, we can leave one another alone, 
 and do one another much good thereby. There are 
 white men enough to marry all the white women, and 
 enough black men to marry all the black women, and 
 in God s name let them be so married. The judge re 
 gales us with the terrible enormities that take place by 
 the mixture of races; that the inferior race bears the 
 superior down. Why, judge, if we do not let them get 
 together in the Territories, they won t mix there. [A 
 voice : " Three cheers for Lincoln ! " The cheers were 
 given with a hearty good will.] I shall say at least 
 that that is a self-evident truth. 
 
 Now, it happens that w r e meet together once every 
 year, somewhere about the 4th of July, for some reason 
 or other. These 4th of July gatherings I suppose have 
 their uses. If you will indulge me, I will state what I 
 suppose to be some of them. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 73 
 
 We are now a mighty nation : we are thirty, or about 
 thirty, millions of people, and we own and inhabit 
 about one-fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole 
 earth. We run our memory back over the pages of 
 history for about eighty-two years, and we discover 
 that we were then a very small people, in point of num 
 bers vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly 
 less extent of country, with vastly less of everything we 
 deem desirable among men. We look upon the change 
 as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, 
 and we fix upon something that happened away back as 
 in some way or other being connected with this rise of 
 prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day 
 whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they 
 were iron men ; they fought for the principle that they 
 were contending for; and we understood that by what 
 they then did it has followed that the degree of pros 
 perity which we now enjoy has come to us. We hold 
 this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the 
 good done in this process of time, of how it was done 
 and who did it, and how we are historically connected 
 with it ; and we go from these meetings in better humor 
 with ourselves we feel more attached the one to the 
 other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. 
 In every way we are better men, in the age, and race, 
 and country in which we live, for these celebrations. 
 But after we have done all this, we have not yet reached 
 the whole. There is something else connected with it. 
 We have, besides these men descended by blood from 
 our ancestors among us, perhaps half our people who 
 are not descendants at all of these men ; they are men 
 who have come from Europe, German, Irish, French, 
 and Scandinavian, men that have come from Europe 
 themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and 
 settled here, finding themselves our equal in all things. 
 If they look back through this history to trace their 
 connection with those days by blood, they find they 
 have none ; they cannot carry themselves back into that 
 
74 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are 
 part of us ; but when they look through that old Dec 
 laration of Independence, they find that those old men 
 say that " We hold these truths to be self-evident, that 
 all men are created equal," and then they feel that that 
 moral sentiment taught in that day evidences their re 
 lation to those men, that it is the father of all moral 
 principle in them, and that they have a right to claim 
 it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of 
 the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration, and 
 so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declara 
 tion that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-lov 
 ing men together, that will link those patriotic hearts 
 as long as the love of freedom exists in the minds of 
 men throughout the world. 
 
 Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring things with 
 this idea of " don t care if slavery is voted up or voted 
 down," for sustaining the Dred Scott decision, for 
 holding that the Declaration of Independence did not 
 mean anything at all, we have Judge Douglas giving 
 his exposition of what the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence means, and we have him saying that the people 
 of America are equal to the people of England. Accord 
 ing to his construction, you Germans are not connected 
 with it. Now I ask you, in all soberness, if all these 
 things, if indulged in, if ratified, if confirmed and in 
 dorsed, if taught to our children, and repeated to them, 
 do not tend to rub out the sentiment of liberty in the 
 country, and to transform this government into a 
 government of some other form? Those arguments 
 that are made, that the inferior race are to be treated 
 with as much allowance as they are capable of enjoy 
 ing; that as much is to be done for them as their con 
 dition will allow what are these arguments? They 
 are the arguments that kings have made for enslaving 
 the people in all ages of the world. You will find that 
 all the arguments in favor of kingcraft were of this 
 class; they always bestrode the necks of the peopL 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. f5 
 
 not that they wanted to do it, but because the people 
 were better off for being ridden. That is their argu 
 ment, and this argument of the judge is the same old 
 serpent that says. You work and I eat, you toil and I 
 will enjoy the fruits of it. Turn in whatever way you 
 will whether it come from the mouth of a king, an 
 excuse for enslaving the people of his country, or from 
 the mouth of men of one race as a reason for enslav 
 ing the men of another race, it is all the same old 
 serpent, and I hold if that course of argumentation 
 that is made for the purpose of convincing the public 
 mind that we should not care about this should be 
 granted, it does not stop with the negro. I should like 
 to know taking this old Declaration of Independence, 
 w r hich declares that all men are equal upon principle, 
 and making exceptions to it, where will it stop? If 
 one man says it does not mean a negro, why not another 
 say it does not mean some other man ? If that Declara 
 tion is not the truth, let us get the statute-book in 
 which we find it, and tear it out ! Who is so bold as to 
 do it? If it is not true, let us tear it out [cries of 
 u No, no "]. Let us stick to it, then ; let us stand firmly 
 by it, then. 
 
 It may be argued that there are certain conditions 
 that make necessities and impose them upon us, and to 
 the extent that a necessity is imposed upon a man, he 
 must submit to it. I think that w r as the condition in 
 which we found ourselves when we established this 
 government. We had slaves among us; we could not 
 get our Constitution unless we permitted them to re 
 main in slavery; we could not secure the good we did 
 secure if we grasped for more ; but having by necessity 
 submitted to that much, it does not destroy the princi 
 ple that is the charter of our liberties. Let that charter 
 stand as our standard. 
 
 My friend has said to me that I am a poor hand to 
 quote Scripture. I will try it again, however. It 
 is said in one of the admonitions of our Lord, l( Be ye 
 
76 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 [therefore] perfect even as your Father which is in 
 heaven is perfect." The Saviour, I suppose, did not ex 
 pect that any human creature could be perfect as the 
 Father in heaven; but he said, "As your Father in 
 heaven is perfect, be ye also perfect." He set that up as 
 a standard, and he who did most toward reaching that 
 standard attained the highest degree of moral perfec 
 tion. So I say in relation to the principle that all men 
 are created equal, let it be as nearly reached as we can. 
 If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do 
 nothing that will impose slavery upon any other crea 
 ture. Let us then turn this government back into the 
 channel in which the framers of the Constitution 
 originally placed it. Let us stand firmly by each other. 
 If we do not do so, we are tending in the contrary 
 direction that our friend Judge Douglas proposes not 
 intentionally working in the traces that tend to make 
 this one universal slave nation. He is one that runs 
 in that direction, and as such I resist him. 
 
 My friends, I have detained you about as long as I 
 desired to do, and I have only to say, let us discard all 
 this quibbling about this man and the other man, this 
 race and that race and the other race being inferior, 
 and therefore they must be placed in an inferior posi 
 tion. Let us discard all these things, and unite as one 
 people throughout this land, until we shall once more 
 stand up declaring that all men are created equal. I 
 leave you, hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in 
 your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt 
 that all men are created free and equal. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 77 
 
 SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD, ILL., JULY 17, 1858. 
 
 [In this address, Mr. Lincoln discusses what is "popular 
 sovereignty " ; Judge Douglas s claim for credit in defeating the 
 Lecompton constitution ; the Dred Scott decision ; and concludes 
 by presenting afresh his views on the subject of negro slavery, 
 based upon the Declaration of Independence that all men are 
 created equal, in so far, at least, as they have a right to " life, 
 liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"]. 
 
 FELLOW-CITIZENS: Another election, which is deemed 
 an important one, is approaching; and, as I suppose, 
 the Republican party will without much difficulty elect 
 their State ticket. But in regard to the legislature, we, 
 the Republicans, labor under some disadvantages. . . . 
 There is [one] disadvantage under which we labor, and 
 to which I will ask your attention. It arises out of the 
 relative positions of the two persons who stand before 
 the State as candidates for the Senate. Senator Doug 
 las is of world-wide renown. All the anxious politi 
 cians of his party, or who have been of his party for 
 years past, have been looking upon him as certainly, 
 at no distant day, to be the President of the United 
 States. They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful 
 face, post-offices, land-offices, marshalships and cabinet 
 appointments, chargeships and foreign missions, burst 
 ing and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready 
 to be laid hold of by their greedy hands. And as they 
 have been gazing upon this attractive picture so long, 
 they cannot, in the little distraction that has taken 
 place in the party, bring themselves to give up the 
 charming hope; but with greedier anxiety they rush 
 about him, sustain him, and give him marches, trium 
 phal entries, and receptions beyond what even in the 
 days of his highest prosperity they could have brought 
 about in his favor. On the contrary, nobody has ever 
 
78 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 expected me to be President. In my poor, lean, lank 
 face nobody has ever seen that any cabbages were 
 sprouting out. These are disadvantages all, taken to 
 gether, that the Republicans labor under. We have to 
 fight this battle upon principle, and upon principle 
 alone. I am, in a certain sense, made the standard- 
 bearer in behalf of the Republicans. I was made so 
 merely because there had to be some one so placed, 
 I being in no wise preferable to any other one of the 
 twenty-five, perhaps a hundred, we have in the Repub 
 lican ranks. Then I say I wish it to be distinctly un 
 derstood and borne in mind, that we have to fight this 
 battle without many perhaps without any of the 
 external aids which are brought to bear against us. So 
 I hope those with whom I am surrounded have prin 
 ciple enough to nerve themselves for the task, and 
 leave nothing undone that can be fairly done to bring 
 about the right result. 
 
 After Senator Douglas left Washington, as his move 
 ments were made known by the public prints, he tarried 
 a considerable time in the city of New York ; and it was 
 heralded that, like another Napoleon, he was lying by 
 and framing the plan of his campaign. It was tele 
 graphed to Washington City, and published in the 
 " Union," that he was framing his plan for the purpose 
 of going to Illinois to pounce upon and annihilate the 
 treasonable and disunion speech which Lincoln had 
 made here on the 16th of June. Now, I do suppose that 
 the judge really spent some time in New York matur 
 ing the plan of the campaign, as his friends heralded 
 for him. I have been able, by noting his movements 
 since his arrival in Illinois, to discover evidences con 
 firmatory of that allegation. I think I have been able 
 to see what are the material points of that plan. I 
 will, for a little while, ask your attention to some of 
 them. What I shall point out, though not showing the 
 whole plan, are nevertheless the main points, as I sup 
 pose. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 79 
 
 They are not very numerous. The first is popular 
 sovereignty. The second and third are attacks upon 
 my speech made on the 16th of June. Out of these three 
 points drawing within the range of popular sover 
 eignty the question of the Lecompton constitution 
 he makes his principal assault. Upon these his succes 
 sive speeches are substantially one and the same. On 
 this matter of popular sovereignty I wish to be a little 
 careful. Auxiliary to these main points, to be sure, are 
 their thunderings of cannon, their inarching and music, 
 their fizzle-gigs and fireworks ; but I will not waste time 
 with them. They are but the little trappings of the 
 campaign. 
 
 Coming to the substance, the first point, " popular 
 sovereignty." It is to be labeled upon the cars in which 
 he travels; put upon the hacks he rides in; to be 
 flaunted upon the arches he passes under, and the ban 
 ners which wave over him. It is to be dished up in as 
 many varieties as a French cook can produce soups 
 from potatoes. Now, as this is so great a staple of the 
 plan of the campaign, it is worth while to examine it 
 carefully; and if we examine only a very little, and 
 do not allow ourselves to be misled, we shall be able to 
 see that the whole thing is the most arrant quixotism 
 that was ever enacted before a community. What is 
 the matter of popular sovereignty? The first thing, in 
 order to understand it, is to get a good definition of 
 what it is, and after that to see how it is applied. 
 
 I suppose almost every one knows that, in this con 
 troversy, whatever has been said has had reference to 
 the question of negro slavery. We have not been in a 
 controversy about the right of the people to govern 
 themselves in the ordinary matters of domestic con 
 cern in the States and Territories. Mr. Buchanan, in 
 one of his late messages (I think when he sent up the 
 Lecompton constitution), urged that the main point of 
 public attention was not in regard to the great variety 
 of small domestic matters, but was directed to the ques- 
 
80 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 tion of negro slavery ; and he asserts that if the people 
 had had a fair chance to vote on that question, there 
 was no reasonable ground of objection in regard to 
 minor questions. Now, while I think that the people 
 had not had given, or offered them, a fair chance upon 
 that slavery question, still, if there had been a fair sub 
 mission to a vote upon that main question, the Presi 
 dent s proposition would have been true to the utter 
 most. Hence, when hereafter I speak of popular sover 
 eignty, 1 wish to be understood as applying what I say 
 to the question of slavery only, not to other minor 
 domestic matters of a Territory or a State. 
 
 Does Judge Douglas, when he says that several of 
 the past years of his life have been devoted to the ques 
 tion of " popular sovereignty," and that all the remain 
 der of his life shall be devoted to it, does he mean to 
 say that he has been devoting his life to securing to 
 the people of the Territories the right to exclude 
 slavery from the Territories? If he means so to say, he 
 means to deceive ; because he and every one knows that 
 the decision of the Supreme Court, which he approves 
 and makes especial ground of attack upon me for dis 
 approving, forbids the people of a Territory to exclude 
 slavery. This covers. the whole ground, from the settle 
 ment of a Territory till it reaches the degree of ma 
 turity entitling it to form a State constitution. So far 
 as all that ground is concerned, the judge is not sus 
 taining popular sovereignty, but absolutely opposing 
 it. He sustains the decision which declares that the 
 popular will of the Territories has no constitutional 
 power to exclude slavery during their territorial ex 
 istence. This being so, the period of time from the first 
 settlement of a Territory till it reaches the point of 
 forming a State constitution is not the thing that the 
 judge has fought for, or is fighting for; but on the con 
 trary, he has fought for, and is fighting for the thing 
 that annihilates and crushes out that same popular 
 sovereignty. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 3^ 
 
 Well, so much being disposed of, what is left? Why, 
 he is contending for the right of the people, when they 
 come to make a State constitution, to make it for them 
 selves, and precisely as best suits themselves. I say, 
 again, that is quixotic. I defy contradiction when I de 
 clare that the judge can find no one to oppose him on 
 that proposition. I repeat, there is nobody opposing 
 that proposition on principle. Let me not be misunder 
 stood. I know that, with reference to the Lecompton 
 constitution, I may be misunderstood ; but when you 
 understand me correctly, my proposition will be true 
 and accurate. Nobody is opposing, or has opposed, the 
 right of the people, when they form a constitution, to 
 form it for themselves. Mr. Buchanan and his friends 
 have not done it ; they, too, as well as the Republicans 
 and the Anti-Lecompton Democrats, have not done it; 
 but, on the contrary, they together have insisted on 
 the right of the people to form a constitution for them 
 selves. The difference between the Buchanan men on 
 the one hand, and the Douglas men and the Republicans 
 on the other, has not been on a question of principle, 
 but on a question of fact. 
 
 The dispute was upon the question of fact, whether 
 the Lecompton constitution had been fairly formed by 
 the people or not. Mr. Buchanan and his friends have 
 not contended for the contrary principle any more than 
 the Douglas men or the Republicans. They have in 
 sisted that whatever of small irregularities existed in 
 getting up the Lecompton constitution were such as 
 happen in the settlement of all new Territories. The 
 question was, was it a fair emanation of the people? 
 It was a question of fact and not of principle. As to 
 the principle, all were agreed. Judge Douglas voted 
 with the Republicans upon that matter of fact. 
 
 He and they, by their voices and votes, denied that it 
 was a fair emanation of the people. The adminis 
 tration affirmed that it was. With respect to the evi 
 dence bearing upon that question of fact, I readily 
 6 
 
82 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 agree that Judge Douglas and the Republicans had the 
 right on their side, and that the administration was 
 wrong. But I state again that, as a matter of principle, 
 there is no dispute upon the right of a people in a Ter 
 ritory merging into a State to form a constitution for 
 themselves without outside interference from any quar 
 ter. This being so, w T hat is Judge Douglas going to 
 spend his life for? Does he expect to stand up in 
 majestic dignity, and go through his apotheosis and be 
 come a god, in the maintaining of a principle which 
 neither man nor mouse in all God s creation is op 
 posing? Now something in regard to the Lecompton 
 constitution more specially; for I pass from this other 
 question of popular sovereignty as the most arrant 
 humbug that has ever been attempted on an intelli 
 gent community. 
 
 As to the Lecompton constitution, I have already said 
 that on the question of facts as to whether it was a fair 
 emanation of the people or not, Judge Douglas with 
 the Republicans and some " Americans " had greatly 
 the argument against the administration; and while I 
 repeat this, I wish to know what there is in the opposi 
 tion of Judge Douglas to the Lecompton constitution 
 that entitles him to be considered the only opponent 
 to it as being par excellence the very quintessence of 
 that opposition. I agree to the rightfulness of his 
 opposition. He in the Senate, and his class of men 
 there, formed the number three and no more. In the 
 House of Representatives his class of men the Anti- 
 Lecompton Democrats formed a number of about 
 twenty. It took one hundred and twenty to defeat the 
 measure, against one hundred and twelve. Of the votes 
 of that one hundred and twenty, Judge Douglas s 
 friends furnished twenty, to add to which there were 
 six Americans and ninety-four Republicans. I do not 
 say that I am precisely accurate in their numbers, but 
 I am sufficiently so for any use I am making of it. 
 
 Why is it that twenty shall be entitled to all the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. $3 
 
 credit of doing that work, and the hundred none of it? 
 Why, if, as Judge Douglas says, the honor is to be 
 divided and due credit is to be given to other parties, 
 why is just so much given as is consonant with the 
 wishes, the interests, and advancement of the twenty? 
 My understanding is, when a common job is done, or a 
 common enterprise prosecuted, if I put in five dollars 
 to your one, I have a right to take out five dollars to 
 your one. But he does not so understand it. He de 
 clares the dividend of credit for defeating Lecompton 
 upon a basis which seems unprecedented and incom 
 prehensible. 
 
 Let us see. Lecompton in the raw was defeated. It 
 afterward took a sort of cooked-up shape, and was 
 passed in the English bill. It is said by the judge that 
 the defeat w r as a good and proper thing. If it was a 
 good thing, why is he entitled to more credit than 
 others for the performance of that good act, unless 
 there was something in the antecedents of the Repub 
 licans that might induce every one to expect them to 
 join in that good work, and at the same time something 
 leading them to doubt that he would? Does he place 
 his superior claim to credit on the ground that he 
 performed a good act which was never expected of him? 
 He says I have a proneness for quoting scripture. If 
 I should do so now, it occurs that perhaps he places 
 himself somewhat upon the ground of the parable of 
 the lost sheep which went astray upon the mountains, 
 and when the owner of the hundred sheep found the 
 one that was lost, and threw it upon his shoulders, 
 and came home rejoicing, it was said that there was 
 more rejoicing over the one sheep that was lost and had 
 been found, than over the ninety and nine in the fold. 
 The application is made by the Saviour in this parable, 
 thus : " Verily, I say unto you, there is more rejoic 
 ing in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over 
 ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance." 
 
 And now, if the judge claims the benefit of this 
 
84: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 parable, let him repent. Let him not come up here and 
 say : " I am the only just person ; and you are the 
 ninety-nine sinners!" Repentance before forgiveness 
 is a provision of the Christian system, and on that con 
 dition alone will the Republicans grant him forgive 
 ness. 
 
 How will he prove that we have ever occupied a 
 different position in regard to the Leconipton constitu 
 tion or any principle in it? He says he did not make 
 his opposition on the ground as to whether it was a free 
 or slave constitution, and he would have you under 
 stand that the Republicans made their opposition be 
 cause it ultimately became a slave constitution. To 
 make proof in favor of himself on this point, he reminds 
 us that he opposed Lecompton before the vote was taken 
 declaring whether the State was to be free or slave. 
 But he forgets to say that our Republican senator, 
 Trumbull, made a speech against Lecompton even be 
 fore he did. 
 
 Why did he oppose it? Partly, as he declares, be 
 cause the members of the convention who framed it 
 were not fairly elected by the people; that the people 
 were not allowed to vote unless they had been regis 
 tered; and that the people of whole counties, in some 
 instances, were not registered. For these reasons he 
 declares the constitution was not an emanation, in 
 any true sense, from the people. He also has an ad 
 ditional objection as to the mode of submitting the 
 constitution back to the people. But bearing on the 
 question of whether the delegates were fairly elected, 
 a speech of his, made something more than twelve 
 months ago from this stand, becomes important. It 
 was made a little while before the election of the dele 
 gates who made Lecompton. In that speech he de 
 clared there was every reason to hope and believe the 
 election would be fair, and if any one failed to vote it 
 would be his own culpable fault. 
 
 I, a few days after, made a sort of answer to that 
 speech. In that answer I made substantially the very 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 
 
 argument with which he combated his Lecompton ad 
 versaries in the Senate last winter. I pointed to the 
 facts that the people could not vote without being 
 registered, and that the time for registering had gone 
 by. I commented on it as wonderful that Judge Doug 
 las could be ignorant of these facts, which every one 
 else in the nation so well knew. 
 
 I now pass from popular sovereignty and Lecomp 
 ton. I may have occasion to refer to one or both. 
 
 When he was preparing his plan of campaign, Na 
 poleon-like, in New York, as appears by two speeches 
 I have heard him deliver since his arrival in Illinois, 
 he gave special attention to a speech of mine delivered 
 here on the 16th of June last. He says that he care 
 fully read that speech. He told us that at Chicago a 
 week ago last night, and he repeated it at Blooming- 
 ton last night. Doubtless he repeated it again to 
 day, though I did not hear him. In the two first places 
 Chicago and Bloomington I heard him; to-day I 
 did not. He said he had carefully examined that 
 speech ; when, he did not say ; but there is no reasonable 
 doubt it was when he was in New York preparing his 
 plan of campaign. I am glad he did read it carefully. 
 He says it was evidently prepared with great care. I 
 freely admit it was prepared with care. I claim not to 
 be more free from errors than others perhaps scarcely 
 so much ; but I was very careful not to put anything 
 in that speech as a matter of fact, or make any in 
 ferences which did not appear to me to be true and 
 fully warrantable. If I had made any mistake I was 
 willing to be corrected ; if I had drawn any inference in 
 regard to Judge Douglas, or any one else, which was 
 not warranted, I was fully prepared to modify it as 
 soon as discovered. I planted myself upon the truth 
 and the truth only, so far as I knew it, or could be 
 brought to know it. 
 
 Having made that speech with the most kindly feel 
 ings toward Judge Douglas, as manifested therein, I 
 
8(5 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 was gratified when I found that he had carefully ex 
 amined it, and had detected no error of fact, nor any 
 inference against him, nor any misrepresentations, of 
 which he thought fit to complain. In neither of the 
 two speeches I have mentioned, did he make any such 
 complaint. I will thank any one who will inform me 
 that he, in his speech to-day, pointed out anything I 
 had stated, respecting him, as being erroneous. I 
 presume there is no such thing. I have reason to be 
 gratified that the care and caution used in that speech 
 left it so that he, most of all others interested in dis 
 covering error, has not been able to point out one 
 thing against him which he could say was wrong. He 
 seizes upon the doctrines he supposes to be included in 
 that speech, and declares that upon them will turn the 
 issues of the campaign. He then quotes, or attempts to 
 quote, from my speech. I will not say that he wilfully 
 misquotes, but he does fail to quote accurately. His 
 attempt at quoting is from a passage which I believe 
 I can quote accurately from memory. I shall make the 
 quotation now, with some comments upon it, as I have 
 already said, in order that the judge shall be left en 
 tirely without excuse for misrepresenting me. I do 
 so now, as I hope, for the last time. I do this in great 
 caution, in order that if he repeats his misrepresenta 
 tion, it shall be plain tq all that he does so wilfully. 
 If, after all, he still persists, I shall be compelled to 
 reconstruct the course I have marked out for myself, 
 and draw upon such humble resources as I have for a 
 new course, better suited to the real exigencies of the 
 case. I set out, in this campaign, with the intention of 
 conducting it strictly as a gentleman, in substance at 
 least, if not in the outside polish. The latter I shall 
 never be, but that which constitutes the inside of a 
 gentleman I hope I understand, and am not less in 
 clined to practise than others. It was my purpose and 
 expectation that this canvass would be conducted upon 
 principle, and with fairness on both sides, and it shall 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 
 
 not be my fault if this purpose and expectation shall 
 be given up. 
 
 He charges, in substance, that I invite a war of sec 
 tions; that I propose all local institutions of the dif 
 ferent States shall become consolidated and uniform. 
 What is there in the language of that speech which ex 
 presses such purpose or bears such construction? I 
 have again and again said that I would not enter into 
 any of the States to disturb the institution of slavery. 
 Judge Douglas said, at Bloomington, that I used 
 language most able and ingenious for concealing what 1 
 really meant; and that while I had protested against 
 entering into the slave States, I nevertheless did mean 
 to go on the banks of the Ohio and throw missiles into 
 Kentucky, to disturb them in their domestic institu 
 tions. 
 
 I said in that speech, and I meant no more, that the 
 institution of slavery ought to be placed in the very 
 attitude where the framers of this government placed 
 it and left it. I do not understand that the framers 
 of our Constitution left the people in the free States in 
 the attitude of firing bombs or shells into the slave 
 States. I was not using that passage for the purpose 
 for which he infers I did use it. I said : 
 
 We are now far advanced into the fifth year since a policy was 
 created for the avowed object and with the confident promise of 
 putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that 
 policy that agitation has not only ceased, but has constantly 
 augmented. In my opinion it will not cease till a crisis shall 
 have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself 
 cannot stand." I believe that this government cannot endure 
 permanently half slave and half free. It will become all one 
 thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will ar 
 rest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind 
 shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate ex 
 tinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall be 
 come alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new. North as 
 well as South. 
 
 Now you all see, from that quotation, I did not ex 
 press my wish on anything. In that passage I indi- 
 
88 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 cated no wish or purpose of my own; I simply ex 
 pressed my expectation. Cannot the judge perceive 
 a distinction between a purpose and an expectation? 
 I have often expressed an expectation to die, but I havt 
 never expressed a wish to die. I said at Chicago, and 
 now repeat, that I am quite aware this government 
 has endured half slave and half free for eighty-two 
 years. I understand that little bit of history. I ex 
 pressed the opinion I did, because I perceived or 
 thought I perceived a new set of causes introduced. 
 I did say at Chicago, in my speech there, that I do wish 
 to see the spread of slavery arrested, and to see it 
 placed where the public mind shall rest in the belief 
 that it is in the course of ultimate extinction. I said 
 that because I supposed, when the public mind shall 
 rest in that belief, we shall have peace on the slavery 
 question. I have believed and now believe the 
 public mind did rest in that belief up to the introduc 
 tion of the Nebraska bill. 
 
 Although I have ever been opposed to slavery, so 
 far I rested in the hope and belief that it was in the 
 course of ultimate extinction. For that reason, it had 
 been a minor question with me. I might have been 
 mistaken ; but I had believed, and now believe, that the 
 whole public mind, that is, the mind of the great ma 
 jority, had rested in that belief up to the repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise. But upon that event, I became 
 convinced that either I had been resting in a delusion, 
 or the institution was being placed on a new basis 
 a basis for making it perpetual, national, and uni 
 versal. Subsequent events have greatly confirmed me 
 in that belief. I believe that bill to be the beginning 
 of a conspiracy for that purpose. So believing, I have 
 since then considered that question a paramount one. 
 So believing, I think the public mind will never rest 
 till the power of Congress to restrict the spread of it 
 shall again be acknowledged and exercised on the one 
 hand, or, on the other, all resistance be entirely 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. g9 
 
 crushed out. I have expressed that opinion, and I 
 entertain it to-night. It is denied that there is any 
 tendency to the nationalization of slavery in these 
 States. 
 
 Now, as to the Dred Scott decision ; for upon that he 
 makes his last point at me. He boldly takes ground in 
 favor of that decision. This is one half the on 
 slaught, and one third of the entire plan of the cam 
 paign. I am opposed to that decision in a certain 
 sense, but not in the sense which he puts on it. I say 
 that in so far as it decided in favor of Dred Scott s 
 master, and against Dred Scott and his family, I do 
 not propose to disturb or resist the decision. 
 
 I never have proposed to do any such thing. I think 
 that in respect for judicial authority, my humble his 
 tory would not suffer in comparison with that of 
 Judge Douglas. He would have the citizen conform his 
 vote to that decision ; the member of Congress, his ; the 
 President, his use of the veto power. He would make 
 it a rule of political action for the people and all the 
 departments of the government. I would not. By 
 resisting it as a political rule, I disturb no right of 
 property, create no disorder, excite no mobs. 
 
 When he spoke at Chicago, on Friday evening of 
 last week, he made this same point upon me. On 
 Saturday evening I replied, and reminded him of a 
 Supreme Court decision which he opposed for at least 
 several years. Last night, at Bloomington, he took 
 some notice of that reply, but entirely forgot to re 
 member that part of it. 
 
 He renews his onslaught upon me, forgetting to 
 remember that I have turned the tables against himself 
 on that very point. I renew the effort to draw his at 
 tention to it. I wish to stand erect before the country, 
 as well as Judge Douglas, on this question of judicial 
 authority, and therefore I add something to the author 
 ity in favor of my own position. I wish to show that I 
 am sustained by authority, in addition to that hereto- 
 
90 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 fore presented. I do not expect to convince the judge. 
 It is part of the plan of his campaign, and he will cling 
 to it with a desperate grip. Even turn it upon him 
 the sharp point against him, and gaff him through he 
 will still cling to it till he can invent some new dodge 
 to take the place of it. 
 
 There is one other point. Judge Douglas has a very 
 affectionate leaning toward the Americans and Old 
 Whigs. Last evening, in a sort of weeping tone, he 
 described to us a death-bed scene. He had been called 
 to the side of Mr. Clay, in his last moments, in order 
 that the genius of " popular sovereignty " might duly 
 descend from the dying man and settle upon him, the 
 living and most worthy successor. He could do no less 
 than promise that he would devote the remainder of 
 his life to " popular sovereignty"; and then the great 
 statesman departs in peace. By this part of the " plan 
 of the campaign/* the judge has evidently promised 
 himself that tears shall be drawn down the cheeks of all 
 Old Whigs, as large as half-grown apples. 
 
 Mr. Webster, too, was mentioned; but it did not 
 quite come to a death-bed scene, as to him. It would 
 be amusing, if it were not disgusting, to see how quick 
 these compromise-breakers administer on the political 
 effects of their dead adversaries, trumping up claims 
 never before heard of, and dividing the assets among 
 themselves. If I should be found dead to-morrow morn 
 ing, nothing but my insignificance could prevent a 
 speech being made on my authority, before the end of 
 next week. It so happens that in that " popular sover 
 eignty " with which Mr. Clay was identified, the Mis 
 souri Compromise was expressly reserved ; and it was a 
 little singular if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge 
 Douglas on purpose to have that compromise repealed. 
 
 Again, the judge did not keep faith with Mr Clay 
 when he first brought in his Nebraska bill. He left 
 the Missouri Compromise unrepealed, and in his report 
 accompanying the bill, he told the world he did it on 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 91 
 
 purpose. The manes of Mr. Clay must have been in 
 great agony, till thirty days later, when " popular 
 sovereignty " stood forth in all its glory. 
 
 One more thing. Last night Judge Douglas tor 
 mented himself with horrors about my disposition to 
 make negroes perfectly equal with white men in social 
 and political relations. He did not stop to show that 
 I have said any such thing, or that it legitimately fol 
 lows from anything I have said, but he rushes on with 
 his assertions. I adhere to the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence. If Judge Douglas and his friends are not will 
 ing to stand by it, let them come up and amend it. 
 Let them make it read that all men are created equal, 
 except negroes. Let us have it decided whether the 
 Declaration of Independence, in this blessed year of 
 1858, shall be thus amended. In his construction of 
 the Declaration last year, he said it only meant that 
 Americans in America were equal to Englishmen in 
 England. Then, when I pointed out to him that by 
 that rule he excludes the Germans, the Irish, the Por 
 tuguese, and all the other people who have come 
 amongst us since the Revolution, he reconstructs his 
 construction. In his last speech he tells us it meant 
 Europeans. 
 
 I press him a little farther, and ask if it meant 
 to include the Russians in Aia? or does he mean to 
 exclude that vast population from the principles of our 
 Declaration of Independence? I expect ere long he 
 will introduce another amendment to his definition. 
 He is not at all particular. He is satisfied with any 
 thing which does not endanger the nationalizing of 
 negro slavery. It may draw white men down, but it 
 must not lift negroes up. Who shall say, " I am the 
 superior, and you are the inferior? " 
 
 My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery 
 may be misrepresented, but cannot be misunderstood. 
 I have said that I do not understand the Declaration 
 to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. 
 
92 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 They are not our equal in color ; but I suppose that it 
 does mean to declare that all men are equal in somb 
 respects; they are equal in their right to " life, liberty, 
 and the pursuit of happiness." Certainly the negro is 
 not our equal in color perhaps not in many other re 
 spects; still, in the right to put into his mouth the 
 bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal 
 of every other man, white or black. In pointing out 
 that more has been given you, you cannot be justified 
 in taking away the little which has been given him. All 
 I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let 
 him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let 
 him enjoy. 
 
 When our government was established, we had the 
 institution of slavery among us. We were in a certain 
 sense compelled to tolerate its existence. It was a sort 
 of necessity. We had gone through our struggle, and 
 secured our own independence. The framers of the 
 Constitution found the institution of slavery amongst 
 their other institutions at the time. They found that 
 by an effort to eradicate it, they might lose much of 
 what they had already gained. They were obliged to 
 bow to the necessity. They gave power to Congress 
 to abolish the slave-trade at the end of twenty years. 
 They also prohibited slavery in the Territories where it 
 did not exist. They did what they could and yielded to 
 necessity for the rest. I also yield to all which follows 
 from that necessity. What I would most desire would 
 be the separation of the white and black races. 
 
 One more point on this Springfield speech which 
 Judge Douglas says he has read so carefully. I ex 
 pressed my belief in the existence of a conspiracy to 
 perpetuate and nationalize slavery. I did not profess 
 to know it, nor do I now. I showed the part Judge 
 Douglas had played in the string of facts, constituting 
 to my mind the proof of that conspiracy. I showed the 
 parts played by others. 
 
 I charge that the people had been deceived into carry- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 93 
 
 ing the last presidential election, by the impression 
 that the people of the Territories might exclude slavery 
 if they chose, when it was known in advance by the con 
 spirators, that the court was to decide that neither Con 
 gress nor the people could so exclude slavery. These 
 charges are more distinctly made than anything else 
 in the speech. 
 
 Judge Douglas has carefully read and re-read that 
 speech. He has not, so far as I know, contradicted 
 those charges. In the two speeches which I heard he 
 certainly did not. On his own tacit admission I renew 
 that charge. I charge him with having been a party to 
 that conspiracy, and to that deception, for the sole 
 purpose of nationalizing slavery. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 FIRST OF THE JOINT LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DE 
 BATES AT OTTAWA, ILL., AUG. 21, 1858. 
 LINCOLN S REPLY. 
 
 [In this, the earliest, of the speeches of Lincoln in his famous 
 tilts with Judge Douglas, Lincoln replies to his attempt to 
 fasten upon him the odium of holding the perfect social and 
 political equality of the black man and the white. This Lincoln 
 emphatically disowned holding, and set himself right as to the 
 views he did entertain with regard to the black race and the 
 great question of slavery, which he sought not to interfere with in 
 the States where it existed, but to prevent its extension. 
 Douglas s catechizings of Lincoln the latter answers skilfully and 
 effectively, though, unlike his adversary, honestly and without 
 prevarication or sophistry. At the next meeting at Freeport, 
 111. Lincoln turns the tables upon Mr. Douglas by interrogating 
 him upon some embarrassing but vital points, his answers to 
 which, he shrewdly concluded^ would alienate the South from 
 him, though it might, and probably would, add to his popularity 
 in his own Illinois State. Lincoln s success in wringing these 
 admissions from Douglas showed great sagacity on Lincoln s 
 part, while manifesting his "intuitive perception of- the common 
 sense of the situation"]. 
 
 I WILL say here, that I have no purpose, either 
 directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution 
 of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I 
 have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination 
 to do so. I have no purpose to introduce political and 
 social equality between the white and the black races. 
 There is a physical difference between the two, which, 
 in my judgment, will probably forever forbid their liv 
 ing together upon the footing of perfect equality ; and 
 inasmuch as it becomes a necessity that there must be 
 a difference, I, as well as Judge Douglas, am in favor 
 of the race to which I belong having the superior posi 
 tion. I have never said anything to the contrary, but 
 I hold that, notwithstanding all this, there is no reason 
 in the world why the negro is not entitled to all the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 95 
 
 natural rights enumerated in the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit 
 of happiness. I hold that he is as much entitled to 
 these as the white man. I agree with Judge Douglas 
 he is not my equal in many respects certainly not in 
 color, perhaps not in moral or intellectual endow 
 ment. But in the right to eat the bread, without the 
 leave of anybody else, which his own hand earns, he is 
 my equal and the equal of Judge Douglas, and the equal 
 of every living man. 
 
 Now I pass on to consider one or two more of these 
 little follies. The judge is woefully at fault about his 
 early friend Lincoln being a " grocery-keeper." I don t 
 know that it would be a great sin if I had been ; but he 
 is mistaken. Lincoln never kept a grocery anywhere in 
 the world. It is true that Lincoln did work the latter 
 part of one winter in a little still-house up at the head 
 of a hollow. And so I think my friend, the judge, is 
 equally at^fault when he charges me at the time when 
 I was in Congress of having opposed our soldiers who 
 were fighting in the Mexican War. The judge did not 
 make his charge very distinctly, but I tell you what he 
 can prove, by referring to the record. You remember 
 I was an Old Whig, and whenever the Democratic 
 party tried to get me to vote that the war had been 
 righteously begun by the President, I would not do it. 
 But whenever they asked for any money, or land-war 
 rants, or anything to pay the soldiers there, during all 
 that time, I gave the same vote that Judge Douglas did. 
 You can think as you please as to whether that was con 
 sistent. Such is the truth; and the judge has the right 
 to make all he can out of it. But when he, by a general 
 charge, conveys the idea that I withheld supplies from 
 the soldiers who were fighting in the Mexican War, or 
 did anything else to hinder the soldiers, he is, to say the 
 least, grossly and altogether mistaken, as a consulta 
 tion of the records will prove to him. 
 
 As I have not used up so much of my time as I had 
 
9(5 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 supposed, I will dwell a little longer upon one or two 
 of these minor topics upon which the judge has spoken. 
 He has read from my speech in Springfield in which I 
 say that " a house divided against itself cannot stand." 
 Does the judge say it can stand ? I don t know whether 
 he does or not. The judge does not seem to be attend 
 ing to me just now, but I would like to know if it is his 
 opinion that a house divided against itself can stand. 
 If he does, then there is a question of veracity, not be 
 tween him and me, but between the judge and an 
 authority of a somewhat higher character. 
 
 Now, my friends, I ask your attention to this matter 
 for the purpose of saying something seriously. I know 
 that the judge may readily enough agree with me that 
 the maxim which was put forth by the Saviour is true, 
 but he may allege that I misapply it ; and the judge has 
 a right to urge that in my application I do misapply it, 
 and then I have a right to show that I do not misapply 
 it. When he undertakes to say that because I think 
 this nation, so far as the question of slavery is con 
 cerned, will all become one thing or all the other, I am 
 in favor of bringing about a dead uniformity in the 
 various States in all their institutions, he argues errone 
 ously. The great variety of the local institutions in 
 the States, springing from differences in the soil, dif 
 ferences in the face of the country, and in the climate, 
 are bonds of union. They do not make " a house di 
 vided against itself," but they make a house united. 
 If they produce in one section of the country what is 
 called for by the wants of another section, and this 
 other section can supply the wants of the first, they are 
 not matters of discord but bonds of union, true bonds of 
 union. But can this question of slavery be considered 
 as among these varieties in the institutions of the coun 
 try? I leave it to you to say whether, in the history of 
 our government, this institution of slavery has not 
 always failed to be a bond of union, and, on the con 
 trary, been an apple of discord and an element of divi- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 97 
 
 sion in the house. I ask you to consider whether, so 
 long as the moral constitution of men s minds shall 
 continue to be the same, after this generation and as 
 semblage shall sink into the grave, and another race 
 shall arise with the same moral and intellectual devel 
 opment we have whether, if that institution is stand 
 ing in the same irritating position in which it now is, 
 it will not continue an element of division? 
 
 If so, then I have a right to say that, in regard to 
 this question, the Union is a house divided against it 
 self; and when the judge reminds me that I have often 
 said to him that the institution of slavery has existed 
 for eighty years in some States, and yet it does not 
 exist in some others, I agree to the fact, and I account 
 for it by looking at the position in which our fathers 
 originally placed it restricting it from the new Ter 
 ritories where it had not gone, and legislating to cut off 
 its source by the abrogation of the slave-trade, thus put 
 ting the seal of legislation against its spread. The 
 public mind did rest in the belief that it was in the 
 course of ultimate extinction. But lately, I think 
 and in this I charge nothing on the judge s motives 
 lately, I think, that he, and those acting with him, have 
 placed that institution on a new basis, which looks to 
 the perpetuity and nationalization of slavery. And 
 while it is placed upon this new basis, I say, and I 
 have said, that I believe we shall not have peace upon 
 the question until the opponents of slavery arrest the 
 further spread of it, and place it where the public 
 mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of 
 ultimate extinction ; or, on the other hand, that its 
 advocates will push it forward until it shall become 
 alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North 
 as well as South. Now I believe if we could arrest the 
 spread, and place it where Washington and Jefferson 
 and Madison placed it, it would be in the course of 
 ultimate extinction, and the public mind would, as for 
 eighty years past, believe that it was in the course of 
 7 
 
98 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 ultimate extinction. The crisis would be past, and the 
 institution might be let alone for a hundred years if it 
 should live so long in the States where it exists, yet it 
 would be going out of existence in the way best for both 
 the black and the white races. [A voice : " Then do you 
 repudiate popular sovereignty?"] Well, then, let us 
 talk about popular sovereignty! What is popular 
 sovereignty? Is it the right of the people to have 
 slavery or not have it, as they see fit, in the Territories? 
 I will state and I have an able man to watch me my 
 understanding is that popular sovereignty, as now ap 
 plied to the question of slavery, does allow the people 
 of a Territory to have slavery if they want to, but does 
 not allow them not to have it if they do not want it. 
 I do not mean that if this vast concourse of people were 
 in a Territory of the United States, any one of them 
 would be obliged to have a slave if he did not want one ; 
 but I do say that, as I understand the Dred Scott 
 decision, if any one man wants slaves, all the rest have 
 no way of keeping that one man from holding them. 
 
 When I made my speech at Springfield, of which the 
 judge complains, and from which he quotes, I really 
 was not thinking of the things which he ascribes to me 
 at all. I had no thought in the world that I was doing 
 anything to bring about a war between the free and 
 slave States. I had no thought in the world that I was 
 doing anything to bring about a political and social 
 equality of the black and white races. It never oc 
 curred to me that I was doing anything or favoring any 
 thing to reduce to a dead uniformity all the local in 
 stitutions of the various States. But I must say, in 
 all fairness to him, if he thinks I am doing something 
 which leads to these bad results, it is none the better 
 that I did not mean it. It is just as fatal to the coun 
 try, if I have any influence in producing it, whether I 
 intend it or not. But can it be true, that placing this 
 institution upon the original basis the basis upon 
 which our fathers placed it can have any tendency to 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 99 
 
 set the Northern and the Southern States at war with 
 one another, or that it can have any tendency to make 
 the people of Vermont raise sugar-cane because they 
 raise it in Louisiana, or that it can compel the people 
 of Illinois to cut pine logs on the Grand Prairie, where 
 they will not grow, because they cut pine logs in Maine, 
 where they do grow? The judge says this is a new prin 
 ciple started in regard to this question. Does the judge 
 claim that he is working on the plan of the founders of 
 the government? I think he says in some of his 
 speeches indeed, I have one here now that he saw 
 evidence of a policy to allow slavery to be south of a 
 certain line, while north of it, it should be excluded, and 
 he saw an indisposition on the part of the country to 
 stand upon that policy, and therefore he set about 
 studying the subject upon original principles, and upon 
 original principles he got up the Nebraska bill ! I am 
 fighting it upon these " original principles " fighting 
 it in the Jeffersonian, Washingtonian, and Madi- 
 sonian fashion. 
 
 Now, my friends, I wish you to attend for a little 
 while to one or two other things in that Springfield 
 speech. My main object was to show, so far as my 
 humble ability was capable of showing to the people of 
 this country, what I believe was the truth that there 
 was a tendency, if not a conspiracy, among those who 
 have engineered this slavery question for the last four 
 or five years, to make slavery perpetual and universal 
 in this nation. Having made that speech principally 
 for that object, after arranging the evidences that I 
 thought tended to prove my proposition, I concluded 
 with this bit of comment : 
 
 We cannot absolutely know that these exact adaptations are 
 the result of pre-concert, but when we see a lot of framed timbers, 
 different portions of which we know have been gotten out at 
 different times and places, and by different workmen Stephen, 
 Franklin, Roger, and James, for instance; and when we see 
 these timbers joined together, and see they exactly make the 
 
100 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 
 
 frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices exactly 
 fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the different pieces 
 exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece too 
 many or too few, not omitting even the scaffolding, or if a 
 single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly 
 fitted and prepared to yet bring such pieces in in such a case we 
 feel it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin, and 
 Roger and James, all understood one another from the beginning, 
 and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn before the 
 first blow was struck. 
 
 When my friend, Judge Douglas, came to Chicago on 
 the 9th of July, this speech having been delivered on the 
 16th of June, he made an harangue there in which he 
 took hold of this speech of mine, showing that he had 
 carefully read it; and while he paid no attention to this 
 matter at all, but complimented me as being a " kind, 
 amiable, and intelligent gentleman," notwithstanding 
 I had said this, he goes on and deduces, or draws out, 
 from my speech this tendency of mine to set the States 
 at war with one another, to make all the institutions 
 uniform, and set the niggers and white people to marry 
 together. Then, as the judge had complimented me 
 with these pleasant titles (I must confess to my weak 
 ness), I was a little " taken," for it came from a great 
 man. I was not very much accustomed to flattery, and 
 it came the sweeter to me. I was rather like the 
 Hoosier with the gingerbread, when he said he reck 
 oned he loved it better than any other man, and got less 
 of it. As the judge had so flattered me, I could not 
 make up my mind that he meant to deal unfairly with 
 me; so I went to work to show him that he misunder 
 stood the whole scope of my speech, and that I really 
 never intended to set the people at war with one an 
 other. As an illustration, the next time I met him, 
 which was at Springfield, I used this expression, that 
 I claimed no right under the Constitution, nor had 
 I any inclination, to enter into the slave States and 
 interfere with the institutions of slavery. He says 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 101 
 
 upon that : Lincoln will not enter into the slave States, 
 but will go to the banks of the Ohio, on this side, and 
 shoot over! He runs on, step by step, in the horse- 
 chestnut style of argument, until in the Springfield 
 speech he says, " Unless he shall be successful in fir 
 ing his batteries, until he shall have extinguished 
 slavery in all the States, the Union shall be dissolved." 
 Now I don t think that was exactly the way to treat 
 " a kind, amiable, intelligent gentleman." I know if I 
 had asked the judge to show when or where it was I 
 had said, that if I didn t succeed in firing into the 
 slave States until slavery should be extinguished, the 
 Union should be dissolved, he could not have shown- it. 
 I understand what lie would do. He woyfl3 >; sAy> u I 
 don t mean to quote from you, but this wa s ;rho, re-suit of 
 what you say." But I have the right IV a^k/ etfd T do 
 ask now, did you not put it in such a form that an or 
 dinary reader or listener would take it as an expression 
 from me? 
 
 In a speech at Springfield on the night of the 17th, 
 I thought I might as well attend to my business a 
 little, and I recalled his attention as well as I could to 
 this charge of conspiracy to nationalize slavery. I 
 called his attention to the fact that he had acknowl 
 edged in my hearing twice that he had carefully read 
 the speech; and, in the language of the lawyers, as 
 he had twice read the speech, and still had put in no 
 plea or answer, I took a default on him. I insisted that 
 I had a right then to renew that charge of conspiracy. 
 Ten days afterward I met the judge at Clinton that is 
 to say, I was on the ground, but not in the discussion 
 and heard him make a speech. Then he comes in with 
 his plea to this charge, for the first time, and his plea 
 when put in, as well as I can recollect it, amounted to 
 this: that he never had any talk with Judge Taney or 
 the President of the United States with regard to the 
 Dred Scott decision before it was made. I (Lincoln) 
 ought to know that the man who makes a charge with- 
 
102 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 out knowing it to be true, falsifies as much as he who 
 knowingly tells a falsehood; and lastly, that he would 
 pronounce the whole thing a falsehood ; but he would 
 make no personal application of the charge of false 
 hood, not because of any regard for the " kind, amiable, 
 intelligent gentleman," but because of his own personal 
 self-respect! I have understood since then (but [turn 
 ing to Judge Douglas] will not hold the judge to it if he 
 is not willing) that he has broken through the " self- 
 respect," and has got to saying the thing out. The 
 judge nods to me that it is so. It is fortunate for me 
 that I can keep as good-humored as I do, when the judge 
 acknowledges that he has been trying to make a ques- 
 tijoa of "veracity with me. I know the judge is a great 
 man, while ,1 am only a small man, but I feel that I 
 have .get him. I demur to that plea. I waive all ob 
 jections that it was not filed till after default was 
 taken, and demur to it upon the merits. What if Judge 
 Douglas never did talk with Chief Justice Taney and 
 the President before the Dred Scott decision was made; 
 does it follow that he could not have had as perfect an 
 understanding without talking as with it? I am not 
 disposed to stand upon my legal advantage. I am dis 
 posed to take his denial as being like an answer in 
 chancery, that he neither had any knowledge, informa 
 tion, nor belief in the existence of such a conspiracy. 
 I am disposed to take his answer as being as broad as 
 though he had put it in these words. And now, I ask, 
 even if he had done so, have not I a right to prove it on 
 him, and to offer the evidence of more than two wit 
 nesses, by whom to prove it; and if the evidence proves 
 the existence of the conspiracy, does his broad answer, 
 denying all knowledge, information, or belief, disturb 
 the fact? It can only show that he was used by con 
 spirators, and was not a leader of them. 
 
 Now, in regard to his reminding me of the moral rule 
 that persons who tell what they do not know to be true, 
 falsify as much as those who knowingly tell falsehoods. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 I remember the rule, and it must be borne in mind that 
 in what I have read to you, I do not say that I know 
 such a conspiracy to exist. To that I reply, I believe 
 it. If the judge says that I do not believe it, then he 
 says what he does not know, and falls within his own 
 rule that he who asserts a thing which he does not know 
 to be true, falsifies as much as he who knowingly tells 
 a falsehood. I want to call your attention to a little 
 discussion on that branch of the case, and the evidence 
 which brought my mind to the conclusion which I ex 
 pressed as my belief. If, in arraying that evidence, I 
 had stated anything which was false or erroneous, it 
 needed but that Judge Douglas should point it out, and 
 I would have taken it back with all the kindness in the 
 world. I do not deal in that way. If I have brought 
 forward anything not a fact, if he will point it out, it 
 will not even ruffle me to take it back. But if he will 
 not point out anything erroneous in the evidence, is it 
 not rather for him to show by a comparison of the 
 evidence that I have reasoned falsely, than to call the 
 " kind, amiable, intelligent gentleman" a liar? If I 
 have reasoned to a false conclusion, it is the vocation of 
 an able debater to show by argument that I have wan 
 dered to an erroneous conclusion. I want to ask your 
 attention to a portion of the Nebraska bill which 
 Judge Douglas has quoted : " It being the true intent 
 and meaning of this act, not to legislate slavery into 
 any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, 
 but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form 
 and regulate their domestic institutions in their own 
 way, subject only to the Constitution of the United 
 States." Thereupon Judge Douglas and others began 
 to argue in favor of " popular sovereignty " the right 
 of the people to have slaves if they wanted them, and to 
 exclude slavery if they did not want them. " But," 
 said, in substance, a senator from Ohio (Mr. Chase, I 
 believe), " we more than suspect that you do not mean 
 to allow the people to exclude slavery if they wish to; 
 
SPEECHES Or ABKAKAM 
 
 and if you do mean it, accept an amendment which I 
 propose expressly authorizing the people to exclude 
 slavery." I believe I have the amendment here before 
 me, which was offered, and under which the people of 
 the Territory, through their proper representatives, 
 might, if they saw fit, prohibit the existence of slavery 
 therein. And now I state it as a fact, to be taken back 
 if there is any mistake about it, that Judge Douglas 
 and those acting with him voted that amendment down. 
 I now think that those men who voted it down had a 
 real reason for doing so. They know what that reason 
 was. It looks to us, since we have seen the Dred Scott 
 decision pronounced, holding that, " under the Consti 
 tution," the people cannot exclude slavery T say it 
 looks to outsiders, poor, simple, "amiable, intelligent 
 gentlemen," as though the niche was left as a place to 
 put that Dred Scott decision in, a niche which would 
 have been spoiled by adopting the amendment. And 
 now I say again, if this was not the reason, it will 
 avail the judge much more to calmly and good- 
 humoredly point out to these people what that other 
 reason was for voting the amendment down, than 
 swelling himself up to vociferate that he may be pro 
 voked to call somebody a liar. 
 
 Again : there is in that same quotation from the Ne 
 braska bill this clause: "It being the true intent and 
 meaning of this bill not to legislate slavery into any 
 Territory or State." I have always been puzzled to 
 know what business the word " State " had in that 
 connection. Judge Douglas knows. He put it there. 
 He knows what he put it there for. We outsiders 
 cannot say what he put it there for. The law they 
 were passing was not about States, and was not making 
 provision for States. What was it placed there for? 
 After seeing the Dred Scott decision which holds that 
 the people canot exclude slavery from a Territory, if 
 another Dred Scott decision shall come, holding that 
 they cannot exclude it from a State, we shall discover 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1Q5 
 
 that when the word was originally put there, it was in 
 view of something which was to come in due time, w r e 
 shall see that it was the other half of something. I 
 now say again, if there is any different reason for 
 putting it there, Judge Douglas, in a good-humored 
 way, without calling anybody a liar, can tell what the 
 reason was. 
 
 Now, my friends, I have but one branch of the sub 
 ject, in the little time I have left, to which to call your 
 attention, and as I shall come to a close at the end of 
 that branch, it is probable that I shall not occupy quite 
 all the time allotted to me. Although on these ques 
 tions I would like to talk twice as long as I have, I 
 could not enter upon another head and discuss it 
 properly without running over my time. I ask the 
 attention of the people here assembled and elsewhere, 
 to the course that Judge Douglas is pursuing every 
 day as bearing upon this question of making slavery 
 national. Not going back to the records, but taking 
 the speeches he makes, the speeches he made yesterday 
 and day before, and makes constantly all over the 
 country I ask your attention to them. In the first 
 place, what is necessary to make the institution na 
 tional ? Not war. There is no danger that the people 
 of Kentucky will shoulder their muskets, and, with a 
 young nigger stuck on every bayonet, march into Illi 
 nois and force them upon us. There is no danger of 
 our going over there and making war upon them. Then 
 what is necessary for the nationalization of slavery? 
 It is simply the next Dred Scott decision. It is merely 
 for the Supreme Court to decide that no State under 
 the Constitution can exclude it, just as they have al 
 ready decided that under the Constitution neither Con 
 gress nor the territorial legislature can do it. When 
 that is decided and acquiesced in, the whole thing is 
 done. This being true, and this being the way, as I 
 think, that slavery is to be made national, let us con 
 sider what Judge Douglas is doing every day to that 
 
106 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 end. In the first place, let us see what influence he is 
 exerting on public sentiment. In this and like com 
 munities, public sentiment is everything. With public 
 sentiment, nothing can fail ; without it, nothing can 
 succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment 
 goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces 
 decisions. He makes statutes and decisions possible 
 or impossible to be executed. This must be borne in 
 mind, as also the additional fact that Judge Douglas 
 is a man of vast influence, so great that it is enough for 
 many men to profess to believe anything when they 
 once find out that Judge Douglas professes to believe it. 
 Consider also the attitude he occupies at the head of 
 a large party a party which he claims has a majority 
 of all the voters in the country. 
 
 This man sticks to a decision which forbids the peo 
 ple of a Territory to exclude slavery, and he does so 
 not because he says it is right in itself, he does not 
 give any opinion on that, but because it has been 
 decided by the court, and, being decided by the court, 
 he is, and you are, bound to take it in your political 
 action as law not that he judges at all of its merits, 
 but because a decision of the court is to him a " Thus 
 saith the Lord." He places it on that ground alone, 
 and you will bear in mind that thus committing himself 
 unreservedly to this decision, commits him to the next 
 one just as firmly as to this. He did not commit him 
 self on account of the merit or demerit of the decision, 
 but it is a " Thus saith the Lord." The next decision, 
 as much as this, will be a " Thus saith the Lord." 
 There is nothing that can divert or turn him away from 
 this decision. It is nothing that I point out to him 
 that his great prototype, General Jackson, did not 
 believe in the binding force of decisions. It is nothing 
 to him that Jefferson did not so believe. I have said 
 that I have often heard him approve of Jackson s course 
 in disregarding the decision of the Supreme Court pro 
 nouncing a national bank constitutional. He says I 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. l()7 
 
 did not hear him say so. He denies the accuracy of my 
 recollection. I say he ought to know better than I, but 
 I will make no question about this thing, though it 
 still seems to me that I heard him say it twenty times. 
 I will tell him though, that he now claims to stand on 
 the Cincinnati platform, which affirms that Congress 
 cannot charter a national bank, in the teeth of that old 
 standing decision that Congress can charter a bank. 
 And I remind him of another piece of history on the 
 question of respect for judicial decisions, and it is a 
 piece of Illinois history, belonging to a time when a 
 large party to which Judge Douglas belonged were dis 
 pleased with a decision of the Supreme Court of Illi 
 nois, because they had decided that a governor could 
 not remove a secretary of state. You will find the 
 whole story in Ford s " History of Illinois," and I 
 know that Judge Douglas will not deny that he was 
 then in favor of oversloughing that decision by the 
 mode of adding five new judges, so as to vote down the 
 four old ones. Not only so, but it ended in the judge s 
 sitting down on the very bench as one of the five new 
 judges to break down the four old ones. It was in this 
 way precisely that he got his title of judge. Now, 
 when the judge tells me that men appointed condition 
 ally to sit as members of a court will have to be 
 catechised beforehand upon some subject, I say, " You 
 know, judge; you have tried it." When he says a 
 court of this kind will lose the confidence of all men, 
 will be prostituted and disgraced by such a proceed 
 ing, I say, "You know best, judge; you have been 
 through the mill." 
 
 But I cannot shake Judge Douglas s teeth" loose from 
 the Dred Scott decision. Like some obstinate animal 
 (I mean no disrespect) that will hang on when he has 
 once got his teeth fixed, you may cut off a leg, or you 
 may tear away an arm, still he will not relax his hold. 
 And so I may point out to the judge, and say that he is 
 bespattered all over, from the beginning of his political 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 life to the present time, with attacks upon judicial 
 decisions, I may cut off limb after limb of his public 
 record, and strive to wrench from him a single dictum 
 of the court, yet I cannot divert him from it. He hangs 
 to the last to the Dred Scott decision. These things 
 show there is a purpose strong as death and eternity for 
 which he adheres to this decision, and for which he will 
 adhere to all other decisions of the same court. [A 
 Hibernian : " Give us something besides Drid Scott."] 
 Yes; no doubt you want to hear something that don t 
 hurt. Now, having spoken of the Dred Scott decision, 
 one more word and I am done. Henry Clay, my beau 
 ideal of a statesman, the man for whom I fought all 
 my humble life Henry Clay once said of a class of 
 men who would repress all tendencies to liberty and 
 ultimate emancipation, that they must, if they would 
 do this, go back to the era of our independence, and 
 muzzle the cannon which thunders its annual joy 
 ous return ; they must blow out the moral lights around 
 us; they must penetrate the human soul, and eradicate 
 there the love of liberty; and then, and not till then, 
 could they perpetuate slavery in this country! To 
 my thinking, Judge Douglas is, by his example and vast 
 influence, doing that very thing in this community 
 when he says that the negro has nothing in the Declara 
 tion of Independence. Henry Clay plainly understood 
 the contrary. Judge Douglas is going back to the era 
 of our Revolution, and to the extent of his ability muz 
 zling the cannon which thunders its annual joyous 
 return. When he invites any people, willing to have 
 slavery, to establish it, he is blowing out the moral 
 lights around us. When he says he " cares not whethef 
 slavery is voted down or voted up " that it is a sacred 
 right of self-government he is, in my judgment, pene 
 trating the human soul and eradicating the light of 
 reason and the love of liberty in this American people. 
 And now I will only say that when, by all these means 
 and appliances, Judge Douglas shall succeed in bring- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1Q9 
 
 ing public sentiment to an exact accordance with his 
 own views when these vast assemblages shall echo 
 back all these sentiments when they shall come to re 
 peat his views and to avow his principles, and to say all 
 that he says on these mighty questions then it needs 
 only the formality of the second Dred Scott decision, 
 which he indorses in advance, to make slavery alike 
 lawful in all the States old as well as new, North as 
 well as South. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH AT FREEPORT, ILL., (THE SECOND OF 
 THE DEBATES WITH DOUGLAS), WITH RE 
 JOINDER, AUG. 27, 1858. 
 
 [Here is the substance of the second discussion with Juctgc 
 Douglas on the leading political topics that at the time agitated 
 the country. It contains, it will be seen, Lincoln s answers to 
 Douglas s seven interrogatories, and the four questions he, so 
 far, propounds to Douglas, and calls upon him for replies. Of 
 these four questions, an entangling one is the second, which 
 reads: "Can the people of a United States Territory, in any 
 lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United States, 
 exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation of a 
 State Constitution ? " Judge Douglas s answer was in the 
 affirmative, and the admission was, as Lincoln foresaw, un 
 palatable to the South, and fatal to Douglas when in the running, 
 two years later, for the Presidency. It was a tactical thing in 
 Lincoln to wrest this admission from his great adversary, since to 
 assert that a territorial legislature could enact laws hostile to 
 slavery was certain to offend Southern democrats and nullify 
 the Dred Scott decision. To extort this admission from Douglas 
 was therefore just what Lincoln wanted and obtained, and 
 though it lost him the Illinois senatorship, it put Douglas out of 
 the running for the Presidency]. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: On Saturday last, Judge 
 Douglas and myself first met in public discussion. 
 He spoke one hour, I an hour and a half, and he replied 
 for half an hour. The order is now reversed. I am to 
 speak an hour, he an hour and a half, and then I am to 
 reply for half an hour. I propose to devote myself dur 
 ing the first hour to the scope of what was brought 
 within the range of his half-hour speech at Ottawa. 
 Of course there was brought within the scope of that 
 half-hour s speech something of his own opening speech. 
 In the course of that opening argument Judge Douglas 
 proposed to me seven distinct interrogatories. In my 
 speech of an hour and a half, I attended to some other 
 parts of his speech, and incidentally, as I thought, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 answered one of the interrogatories then. I then dis 
 tinctly intimated to him that I would answer the rest 
 of his interrogatories on condition only that he should 
 agree to answer as many for me. He made no intima 
 tion at the time of the proposition, nor did he in his re 
 ply allude at all to that suggestion of mine. I do him 
 no injustice in saying that he occupied at least half of 
 his reply in dealing with me as though I had refused to 
 answer his interrogatories. I now propose that I will 
 answer any of the interrogatories, upon condition 
 that he will answer questions from me not exceeding 
 the same number. I give him an opportunity to re 
 spond. The judge remains silent. I now say that I 
 will answer his interrogatories, whether he answers 
 mine or not; and that after I have done so, I shall pro 
 pound mine to him. 
 
 I have supposed myself, since the organization of 
 the Republican party at Bloomington, in May, 1856, 
 bound as a party man by the platforms of the party 
 then and since. If in any interrogatories which I shall 
 answer I go beyond the scope of what is within these 
 platforms, it will be perceived that no one is respon 
 sible but myself. Having said this much, I will take 
 up the judge s interrogatories as I find them printed in 
 the Chicago " Times," and answer them seriatim. In 
 order that there may be no mistake about it, I have 
 copied the interrogatories in writing, and also my 
 answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories 
 is in these words : 
 
 Question 1. " I desire to know whether Lincoln to 
 day stands as he did in 1854, in favor of the uncon 
 ditional repeal of the fugitive-slave law? " 
 
 Answer. I do not now, nor ever did, stand in favor 
 of the unconditional repeal of the fugitive-slave law. 
 
 Q. 2. " I desire him to answer whether he stands 
 pledged to-day as he did in 1854, against the admission 
 of any more slave States into the Union, even if the 
 people want them ? " 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 A. I do not now, nor ever did, stand pledged against 
 the admission of any more slave States into the Union. 
 
 Q. 3. " I want to know whether he stands pledged 
 against the admission of a new State into the Union 
 with such a constitution as the people of that State 
 may see fit to make?" 
 
 A. I do not stand pledged against the admission of 
 a new State into the Union with such a constitution as 
 the people of that State may see fit to make. 
 
 Q. 4. " I want to know whether he stands to-day 
 pledged to the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia?" 
 
 A. I do not stand to-day pledged to the abolition of 
 slavery in the District of Columbia. 
 
 Q. 5. " I desire him to answer whether he stands 
 pledged to the prohibition of the slave-trade between the 
 different States?" 
 
 A. I do not stand pledged to the prohibition of 
 the slave-trade between the different States. 
 
 Q. 6. " I desire to know whether he stands pledged 
 to prohibit slavery in all the Territories of the United 
 States, North as well as South of the Missouri Com 
 promise line? " 
 
 A. I am impliedly, if not expressly, pledged to a 
 belief in the right and duty of Congress to prohibit 
 slavery in all the United States Territories. 
 
 Q. 7. " I desire him to answer whether he is opposed 
 to the acquisition of any new territory unless slavery 
 is first prohibited therein?" 
 
 A. I am not generally opposed to honest acquisition 
 of territory; and, in any given case, I would or would 
 not oppose such acquisition, accordingly as I might 
 think such acquisition would or would not aggravate 
 the slavery question among ourselves. 
 
 Now, my friends, it will be perceived upon an exami 
 nation of these questions and answers, that so far I have 
 only answered that I was not pledged to this, that, OP 
 the other. The judge has not framed his interrogator- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ies to ask me anything more than this, and I have an 
 swered in strict accordance with the interrogatories, 
 and have answered truly that I am not pledged at all 
 upon any of the points to which I have answered. But 
 I am not disposed to hang upon the exact form of his 
 interrogatory. I am really disposed to take up at least 
 some of these questions, and state what I really think 
 upon them. 
 
 As to the first one, in regard to the fugitive-slave 
 law, I have never hesitated to say, and I do not now 
 hesitate to say, that I think, under the Constitution of 
 the United States, the people of the Southern States 
 are entitled to a congressional fugitive-slave law. Hav 
 ing said that, I have had nothing to say in regard to the 
 existing fugitive-slave law, further than that I think it 
 should have been framed so as to be free from some of 
 the objections that pertain to it, without lessening its 
 efficiency. And inasmuch as we are not now in an 
 agitation in regard to an alteration or modification of 
 that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a 
 new subject of agitation upon the general question of 
 slavery. 
 
 In regard to the other question, of whether I am 
 pledged to the admission of any more slave States into 
 the Union, I state to you very frankly that I would be 
 exceedingly sorry ever to be put in a position of hav 
 ing to pass upon that question. I should be exceed 
 ingly glad to know that there would never be another 
 slave State admitted into the Union; but I must add, 
 that if slavery shall be kept out of the Territories dur 
 ing the territorial existence of any one given Territory, 
 and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a 
 clear field, when they come to adopt the Constitution, 
 do such an extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave 
 constitution, uninfluenced by the actual presence of the 
 institution among them, I see no alternative, if we own 
 the country, but to admit them into the Union. 
 
 The third interrogatory is answered by the answer 
 8 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to the second, it being, as I conceive, the same as the 
 second. 
 
 The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery 
 in the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I have 
 my mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceed 
 ingly glad to see slavery abolished in the District of 
 Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the con 
 stitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of 
 Congress, I should not with my present views be in 
 favor of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District 
 of Columbia unless it would be upon these conditions : 
 First, that the abolition should be gradual ; second, 
 that it should be on a vote of the majority of qualified 
 voters in the District; and third, that compensation 
 should be made to unwilling owners. With these three 
 conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly glad to see 
 Congress abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
 and, in the language of Henry Clay, " sweep from our 
 capital that foul blot upon our nation." 
 
 In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here 
 that as to the question of the abolition of the slave- 
 trade between the different States, I can truly answer, 
 as I have, that I am pledged to nothing about it. It 
 is a subject to which I have not given that mature con 
 sideration that would make me feel authorized to state 
 a position so as to hold myself entirely bound by it. 
 In other words, that question has never been prom 
 inently enough before me to induce me to investigate 
 whether we really have the constitutional power to do 
 it. I could investigate it if I had sufficient time to 
 bring myself to a conclusion upon that subject, but I 
 have not done so, and I say so frankly to you here and 
 to Judge Douglas. I must say, however, that if I 
 should be of opinion that Congress does possess the con 
 stitutional power to abolish the slave-trade among the 
 different States, I should still not be in favor of the 
 exercise of that power unless upon some conservative 
 principle as I conceive it, akin to what I have said in 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM .LINCOLN. 
 
 relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of 
 Columbia. 
 
 My answer as to whether I desire that slavery should 
 be prohibited in all the Territories of the United States 
 is full and explicit within itself, and cannot be made 
 clearer by any comments of mine. So I suppose in re 
 gard to the question whether I am opposed to the ac 
 quisition of any more territory unless slavery is first 
 prohibited therein, my answer is such that I could add 
 nothing by way of illustration, or making myself better 
 understood, than the answer which I have placed in 
 writing. 
 
 Now in all this the judge has me, and he has me on 
 the record. I suppose he had flattered himself that I 
 was really entertaining one set of opinions for one 
 place and another set for another place that I was 
 afraid to say at one place what I uttered at another. 
 What I am saying here I suppose I say to a vast 
 audience as strongly tending to Abolitionism as any 
 audience in the State of Illinois, and I believe I am 
 saying that which, if it would be offensive to any per 
 sons and render them enemies to myself, would be 
 offensive to persons in this audience. 
 
 I now proceed to propound to the judge the interro 
 gatories so far as I have framed them. I will bring 
 forward a new instalment when I get them ready. I 
 will bring them forward now, only reaching to number 
 four. 
 
 The first one is : 
 
 Question 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means 
 entirely unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a 
 State constitution, and ask admission into the Union 
 under it, before they have the requisite number of in 
 habitants according to the English bill, some ninety- 
 three thousand, will you vote to admit them? 
 
 Q. 2. Can the people of a United States Territory, in 
 any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior 
 to the formation of a State constitution? 
 
 Q. 3. If the Supreme Court of the United States 
 shall decide that States cannot exclude slavery from 
 their limits, are you in favor of acquiescing in, adopt 
 ing, and following such decision as a rule of political 
 action? 
 
 Q. 4. Are you in favor of acquiring additional terri 
 tory, in disregard of how such acquisition may affect 
 the nation on the slavery question? 
 
 As introductory to these interrogatories which Judge 
 Douglas propounded to me at Ottawa, he read a set of 
 resolutions which he said Judge Trumbull and my 
 self had participated in adopting, in the first Repub 
 lican State convention, held at Springfield, in October, 
 1854. He insisted that I and Judge Trumbull, and per 
 haps the entire Republican party, were responsible 
 for the doctrines contained in the set of resolutions 
 which he read, and I understand that it was from that 
 set of resolutions that he deduced the interrogatories 
 which he propounded to me, using these resolutions as 
 a sort of authority for propounding those questions to 
 me. Now I say here to-day that I do not answer his 
 interrogatories because of their springing at all from 
 that set of resolutions which he read. I answered 
 them because Judge Douglas thought fit to ask them. 
 I do not now, nor ever did, recognize any responsibility 
 upon myself in that set of resolutions. When I replied 
 to him on that occasion, I assured him that I never had 
 anything to do with them. I repeat here to-day, that 
 I never in any possible form had anything to do with 
 that set of resolutions. It turns out, I believe, that 
 those resolutions were never passed at any convention 
 held in Springfield. It turns out that they were never 
 passed at any convention or any public meeting that 
 I had any part in. I believe it turns out, in addition 
 to all this, that there was not, in the fall of 1854, any 
 convention holding a session in Springfield calling it- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 self a Republican State convention ; yet it is true there 
 was a convention, or assemblage of men calling them 
 selves a convention, at Springfield, that did pass some 
 resolutions. I>ut so little did I really know of the pro 
 ceedings of that convention, or what set of resolutions 
 they had passed, though having a general knowledge 
 that there had been such an assemblage of men there, 
 that when Judge Douglas read the resolutions, I really 
 did not know but that they had been the resolutions 
 passed then and there. I did not question that they 
 were the resolutions adopted. For I could not bring 
 myself to suppose that Judge Douglas could say what 
 he did upon this subject without knowing that it was 
 true. I contented myself, on that occasion, with deny 
 ing, as I truly could, all connection with them, not 
 denying or affirming whether they were passed at 
 Springfield. Now it turns out that he had got hold of 
 some resolutions passed at some convention or public 
 meeting in Kane County. I wish to say here, that I 
 don t conceive that in any fair and just mind this dis 
 covery relieves me at all. I had just as much to do with 
 the convention in Kane County as that at Springfield. 
 I am just as much responsible for the resolutions at 
 Kane County as those at Springfield, the amount of the 
 responsibility being exactly nothing in either case; no 
 more than there would be in regard to a set of resolu 
 tions passed in the moon. 
 
 I allude to this extraordinary matter in this canvass 
 for some further purpose than anything yet advanced. 
 Judge Douglas did not make his statement upon that 
 occasion as matters that he believed to be true, but he 
 stated them roundly as being true, in such form as to 
 pledge his veracity for their truth. When the whole 
 matter turns out as it does, and when we consider who 
 Judge Douglas is, that he is a distinguished senator 
 of the United States ; that he has served nearly twelve 
 years as such; that his character is not at all limited 
 as an ordinary senator of the United States, but that 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 his name has become of world-wide renown, it is most 
 extraordinary that he should so far forget all the sug 
 gestions of justice to an adversary, or of prudence to 
 himself, as to venture upon the assertion of that which 
 the slightest investigation would have shown him to 
 be wholly false. I can only account for his having 
 done so upon the supposition that that evil genius 
 which has attended him through his life, giving to 
 him an apparent astonishing prosperity, such as to 
 lead very many good men to doubt there being any ad 
 vantage in virtue over vice I say I can only account 
 for it on the supposition that that evil genius has at 
 last made up its mind to forsake him. 
 
 And I may add that another extraordinary feature 
 of the judge s conduct in this canvass made more ex 
 traordinary by this incident is, that he is in the habit, 
 in almost all the speeches he makes, of charging false 
 hood upon his adversaries, myself and others. I now 
 ask whether he is able to find in anything that Judge 
 Trumbull, for instance, has said, or in anything that I 
 have said, a justification at all compared with what we 
 have, in this instance, for that sort of vulgarity. 
 
 I have been in the habit of charging as a matter of 
 belief on my part, that, in the introduction of the Ne 
 braska bill into Congress, there was a conspiracy to 
 make slavery perpetual and national. I have arranged 
 from time to time the evidence which establishes and 
 proves the truth of this charge. I recurred to this 
 charge at Ottawa. I shall not now have time to dwell 
 upon it at very great length; but inasmuch as Judge 
 Douglas in his reply of half an hour made some points 
 upon me in relation to it, I propose noticing a few of 
 them. 
 
 The judge insists that, in the first speech I made, in 
 which I very distinctly made that charge, he thought 
 for a good while I was in fun that I was playful 
 that I was not sincere about it and that he only grew 
 angry and somewhat excited when he found that I 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 
 
 insisted upon it as a matter of earnestness. He says 
 he characterized it as a falsehood as far as I implicated 
 his moral character in that transaction. Well, I did 
 not know, till he presented that view, that I had impli 
 cated his moral character. He is very much in the 
 habit, when he argues me up into a position I never 
 thought of occupying, of very cozily saying he has no 
 doubt Lincoln is " conscientious " in saying so. He 
 should remember that I did not know but what he was 
 altogether " conscientious " in that matter. I can con 
 ceive it possible for men to conspire to do a good thing, 
 and I really find nothing in Judge Douglas s course of 
 arguments that is contrary to or inconsistent with his 
 belief of a conspiracy to nationalize and spread slavery 
 as being a good and blessed thing, and so I hope he will 
 understand that I do not at all question but that in all 
 this matter he is entirely " conscientious." 
 
 But to draw your attention to one of the points I 
 made in this case, beginning at the beginning. When 
 the Nebraska bill was introduced, or a short time after 
 ward, by an amendment, I believe, it was provided that 
 it must be considered " the true intent and meaning 
 of this act not to legislate slavery into any State or 
 Territory, or to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the 
 people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their 
 own domestic institutions in their own way, subject 
 only to the Constitution of the United States." I 
 have called his attention to the fact that when he and 
 some others began arguing that they were giving an in 
 creased degree of liberty to the people in the Territories 
 over and above what they formerly had on the question 
 of slavery, a question was raised whether the law was 
 enacted to give such unconditional liberty to the peo 
 ple; and to test the sincerity of this mode of argu 
 ment, Mr. Chase, of Ohio, introduced an amendment, in 
 which he made the law if the amendment were 
 adopted expressly declare that the people of the Terri 
 tory should have the power to exclude slavery if they 
 
120 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 saw fit. I have asked attention also to the fact that 
 Judge Douglas, and those who acted with him, voted 
 that amendment down, notwithstanding it expressed 
 exactly the thing they said was the true intent and 
 meaning of the law. I have called attention to the fact 
 that in subsequent times a decision of the Supreme 
 Court has been made in which it has been declared that 
 a Territorial Legislature has no constitutional right to 
 exclude slavery. And I have argued and said that for 
 men who did intend that the people of the Territory 
 should have the right to exclude slavery absolutely and 
 unconditionally, the voting down of Chase s amend 
 ment is wholly inexplicable. It is a puzzle a riddle. 
 But I have said that with men who did look forward 
 to such a decision, or who had it in contemplation 
 that such a decision of the Supreme Court would or 
 might be made, the voting down of that amendment 
 would be perfectly rational and intelligible. It would 
 keep Congress from coining in collision with the decis 
 ion when it was made. Anybody can conceive that if 
 there was an intention or expectation that such a decis 
 ion was to follow, it would not be a very desirable party 
 attitude to get into for the Supreme Court all or 
 nearly all its members belonging to the same party to 
 decide one way, when the party in Congress had decided 
 the other way. Hence it would be very rational for men 
 expecting such a decision to keep the niche in that law 
 clear for it. After pointing this out, I tell Judge Doug 
 las that it looks to me as though here was the reason 
 why Chase s amendment was voted down. I tell him 
 that as he did it, and knows why he did it, if it was 
 done for a reason different from this, he knows what 
 that reason was, and can tell us what it was. I tell 
 him, also, it will be vastly more satisfactory to the 
 country for him to give some other plausible, in 
 telligible reason why it was voted down than to stand 
 upon his dignity and call people liars. Well, on Satur 
 day he did make his answer, and what do you think it 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 was? He says if I had only taken upon myself to tell 
 the whole truth about that amendment of Chase s, no 
 explanation would have been necessary on his part or 
 words to that effect. Now I say here that I am quite 
 unconscious of having suppressed anything material 
 to the case, and I am very frank to admit if there is any 
 sound reason other than that which appeared to me 
 material, it is quite fair for him to present it. What 
 reason does he propose? That when Chase came for 
 ward with his amendment expressly authorizing the 
 people to exclude slavery from the limits of every Ter 
 ritory, General Cass proposed to Chase, if he (Chase) 
 would add to his amendment that the people should 
 have the power to introduce or exclude, they would let 
 it go. 
 
 This is substantially all of his reply. And because 
 Chase would not do that they voted his amendment 
 down. Well, it turns out, I believe, upon examination, 
 that General Cass took some part in the little running 
 debate upon that amendment, and then ran away and 
 did not vote on it at all. Is not that the fact? So con 
 fident, as I think, was General Cass that there was a 
 snake somewhere about, he chose to run away from the 
 whole thing. This is an inference I draw from the fact 
 that though he took part in the debate his name does 
 not appear in the ayes and noes. But does Judge Doug 
 las s reply amount to a satisfactory answer? [Cries of 
 " Yes," " Yes," and " No," " No."] There is some little 
 difference of opinion here. But I ask attention to a few- 
 more views bearing on the question of whether it 
 amounts to a satisfactory answer. The men who were 
 determined that that amendment should not get into 
 the bill, and spoil the place where the Dred Scott decis 
 ion was to come in, sought an excuse to get rid of it 
 somewhere. One of these ways one of these excuses 
 was to ask Chase to add to his proposed amendment a 
 provision that the people might introduce slavery if 
 they wanted to. They very well knew Chase would do 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 no such thing that Mr. Chase was one of the men 
 differing from them on the broad principle of his in 
 sisting that freedom was better than slavery a man 
 who would not consent to enact a law penned with his 
 own hand, by which he was made to recognize slavery 
 on the one hand and liberty on the other as precisely 
 equal; and when they insisted on his doing this, they 
 very well knew they insisted on that which he would 
 not for a moment think of doing, and that they were 
 only bluffing him. I believe I have not, since he made 
 his answer, had a chance to examine the journals or 
 " Congressional Globe," and therefore speak from 
 memory I believe the state of the bill at that time, 
 according to parliamentary rules, was such that no 
 member could propose an additional amendment to 
 Chase s amendment. I rather think this is the truth 
 the judge shakes his head. Very well. I would like to 
 know then, if they wanted Chase s amendment fixed 
 over, why somebody else could not have offered to do it? 
 If they wanted it amended, why did they not offer the 
 amendment? Why did they stand there taunting and 
 quibbling at Chase? Why did they not put it in them 
 selves? But to put it on the other ground: suppose 
 that there was such an amendment offered, and Chase s 
 was an amendment to an amendment ; until one is dis 
 posed of by parliamentary law, you cannot pile another 
 on. Then all these gentlemen had to do was to vote 
 Chase s on, and then, in the amended form in which 
 the whole stood, add their own amendment to it if they 
 wanted to put it in that shape. This was all they were 
 obliged to do, and the ayes and noes show that there 
 were thirty-six who voted it down, against ten who 
 voted in favor of it. The thirty-six held entire sway 
 and control. They could in some form or other have 
 put that bill in the exact shape they wanted. If there 
 was a rule preventing their amending it at the time, 
 they could pass that, and then, Chase s amendment 
 being merged, put it in the shape they wanted. They 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 123 
 
 did not choose to do so, but they went into a quibble 
 with Chase to get him to add what they knew he would 
 not add, and because he would not, they stand upon 
 that flimsy pretext for voting down what they argued 
 was the meaning and intent of their own bill. They 
 left room thereby for this Dred Scott decision, which 
 goes very far to make slavery national throughout the 
 United States. 
 
 I pass one or two points I have because my time will 
 very soon expire, but I must be allowed to say that 
 Judge Douglas recurs again, as he did upon one or two 
 other occasions, to the enormity of Lincoln an insig 
 nificant individiial like Lincoln upon his ipse dixit 
 charging a conspiracy upon a large number of members 
 of Congress, the Supreme Court, and two Presidents, to 
 nationalize slavery. I want to say that, in the first 
 place, I have made no charge of this sort upon my ipse 
 dixit. I have only arrayed the evidence tending to 
 prove it, and presented it to the understanding of 
 others, saying what I think it proves, but giving you 
 the means of judging whether it proves it or not. 
 This is precisely what I have done. I have not placed 
 it upon my ipse dixit at all. On this occasion, I wish 
 to recall his attention to a piece of evidence which I 
 brought forward at Ottawa on Saturday, showing that 
 he had made substantially the same charge against 
 substantially the same persons, excluding his dear self 
 from the category. I ask him to give some attention to 
 the evidence which I brought forward, that he himself 
 had discovered a " fatal blow being struck " against the 
 right of the people to exclude slavery from their limits, 
 which fatal blow he assumed as in evidence in an 
 article in the Washington " Union," published " by 
 authority." I ask by whose authority? He discovers 
 a similar or identical provision in the Lecompton con 
 stitution. Made by whom? The framers of that con 
 stitution. Advocated by whom? By all the member** 
 of the party in the nation, who advocated the intro- 
 
124 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 duction of Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton 
 constitution. 
 
 I have asked his attention to the evidence that he 
 arrayed to prove that such a fatal blow was being 
 struck, and to the facts which he brought forward in 
 support of that charge being identical with the one 
 which he thinks so villainous in me. He pointed it 
 not at a newspaper editor merely, but at the President 
 and his cabinet, and the members of Congress advocat 
 ing the Lecompton constitution, and those framing that 
 instrument. I must again be permitted to remind him, 
 that although my ipse dixit may not be as great as his, 
 yet it somewhat reduces the force of his calling my at 
 tention to the enormity of my making a like charge 
 against him. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Rejoinder in the Freeport Joint Debate. 
 
 My Friends: It will readily occur to you that I can 
 not in half an hour notice all the things that so able a 
 man as Judge Douglas can say in an hour and a half; 
 and I hope, therefore, if there be anything that he has 
 said upon which you would like to hear something 
 from me, but which I omit to comment upon, you will 
 bear in mind that it would be expecting an impossi 
 bility for me to go over his whole ground. I can but 
 take up some of the points that he has dwelt upon, and 
 employ my half hour specially on them. 
 
 The first thing I have to say to you is a word in re 
 gard to Judge Douglas s declaration about the " vul 
 garity and blackguardism " in the audience that no 
 such thing, as he says, was shown by any Democrat 
 while I was speaking. Now I only wish, by way of 
 reply on this subject, to say that while I was speaking 
 I used no " vulgarity or blackguardism " toward any 
 Democrat. 
 
 Now, my friends, I come to all this long portion of 
 the judge s speech perhaps half of it which he has 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 devoted to the various resolutions and platforms that 
 have been adopted in the different counties, in the 
 different congressional districts, and in the Illinois 
 legislature which he supposes are at variance with the 
 positions I have assumed before you to-day. It is true 
 that many of these resolutions are at variance with the 
 positions I have here assumed. All I have to ask is 
 that we talk reasonably and rationally about it. I 
 happen to know, the judge s opinion to the contrary 
 notwithstanding, that I have never tried to conceal my 
 opinions, nor tried to deceive any one in reference to 
 them. He may go and examine all the members who 
 voted for me for United States senator in 1855, after 
 the election of 1854. They were pledged to certain 
 things here at home, and were determined to have 
 pledges from me, and if he will find any of these per 
 sons who will tell him anything inconsistent with what 
 I say now, I will retire from the race, and give him no 
 more trouble. 
 
 The plain truth is this. At the introduction of the 
 Nebraska policy, we believed there was a new era being 
 introduced in the history of the republic, which tended 
 to the spread and perpetuation of slavery. But in our 
 opposition to that measure we did not agree with one 
 another in everything. The people in the north end of 
 the State were for stronger measures of opposition than 
 we of the central and southern portions of the State, 
 but we were all opposed to the Nebraska doctrine. We 
 had that one feeling and that one sentiment in com 
 mon. You at the north end met in your conventions 
 and passed your resolutions. We in the middle of the 
 State and further south did not hold such conventions 
 and pass the same resolutions, although we had in 
 general a common view and a common sentiment. 
 So that these meetings which the judge has alluded to, 
 and the resolutions he has read from, were local, and 
 did not spread over the whole State. We at last met 
 together in 1856, from all parts of the State, and we 
 
SPEECHES O/? ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 agreed upon a common platform. You who held more 
 extreme notions, either yielded those notions, or if not 
 wholly yielding them, agreed to yield them practically, 
 for the sake of embodying the opposition to the meas 
 ures which the opposite party were pushing forward at 
 that time. We met you then, and if there was anything 
 yielded, it was for practical purposes. We agreed then 
 upon a platform for the party throughout the entire 
 State of Illinois, and now we are all bound, as a party, 
 to that platform. And I say here to you, if any one 
 expects of me, in the case of my election, that I will do" 
 anything not signified by our Republican platform and 
 my answers here to-day, I tell you very frankly that 
 person will be deceived. I do not ask for the vote of 
 any one who supposes that I have secret purposes or 
 pledges that I dare not speak out. Cannot the judge be 
 satisfied? If he fears, in the unfortunate case of my 
 election, that my going to Washington will enable me 
 to advocate sentiments contrary to those which I ex 
 pressed when you voted for and elected me, I assure 
 him that his fears are wholly needless and groundless. 
 Is the judge really afraid of any such thing? I ll tell 
 you what he is afraid of. He is afraid we ll all pull 
 together. This is what alarms him more than anything 
 else. For my part, I do hope that all of us, entertain 
 ing a common sentiment in opposition to what appears 
 to us a design to nationalize and perpetuate slavery, 
 will waive minor differences on questions which either 
 belong to the dead past or the distant future, and all 
 pull together in this struggle. What are your senti 
 ments ? If it be true that on the ground which I occupy 
 ground which I occupy as frankly and boldly as 
 Judge Douglas does his my views, though partly coin 
 ciding with yours, are not as perfectly in accordance 
 with your feelings as his are, I do say to you in all can 
 dor, go for him and not for me. I hope to deal in all 
 things fairly with Judge Douglas, and with the people 
 pf the State, in this contest. And if I should never 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 127 
 
 be elected to any office, I trust I may go down with no 
 stain of falsehood upon my reputation, notwithstand 
 ing the hard opinions Judge Douglas chooses to enter 
 tain of me. 
 
 The judge has again addressed himself to the Aboli 
 tion tendencies of a speech of mine, made at Springfield 
 in June last. I have so often tried to answer what he is 
 always saying on that melancholy theme, that I almost 
 turn with disgust from the discussion from the repeti 
 tion of an answer to it. I trust that nearly all of this 
 intelligent audience have read that speech. If you have, 
 I may venture to leave it to you to inspect it closely, 
 and see whether it contains any of those " bugaboos " 
 which frighten Judge Douglas. 
 
 The judge complains that I did not fully answer his 
 questions. If I have the sense to comprehend and 
 answer those questions, I have done so fairly. If it 
 can be pointed out to me how I can more fully and 
 fairly answer him, I will do it but I aver I have not 
 the sense to see how it is to be done. He says I do not 
 declare I would in any event vote for the admission of 
 a slave State into the Union. If I have been fairly re 
 ported, he will see that I did give an explicit answer to 
 his interrogatories. I did not merely say that I would 
 dislike to be put to the test ; but I said clearly, if I were 
 put to the test, and a Territory from which slavery had 
 been excluded should present herself with a State con 
 stitution sanctioning slavery, a most extraordinary 
 thing and wholly unlikely to happen, I did not see 
 how I could avoid voting for her admission. But he re 
 fuses to understand that I said so, and he wants this 
 audience to understand that I did not say so. Yet it 
 will be so reported in the printed speech that he cannot 
 help seeing it. 
 
 He says if I should vote for the admission of a slave 
 State I would be voting for a dissolution of the Union, 
 because I hold that the Union cannot permanently 
 exist half slave and half free. I repeat that I do not 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM UNCOIL. 
 
 believe this government can endure permanently half 
 slave and half free, yet I do not admit, nor does it at 
 all follow, that the admission of a single slave State 
 will permanently fix the character and establish this 
 as a universal slave nation. The judge is very happy 
 indeed at working up these quibbles. Before leaving the 
 subject of answering questions, I aver as my confident 
 belief, when you come to see our speeches in print, that 
 you will find every question which he has asked me more 
 fairly and boldly and fully answered than he has an 
 swered those which I put to him. Is not that so? The 
 two speeches may be placed side by side ; and I will ven 
 ture to leave it to impartial judges whether his ques 
 tions have not been more directly and circumstantially 
 answered than mine. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 REPLY TO DOUGLAS IN THE JONESBORO JOINT 
 DEBATE, SEP. 15, 1858. 
 
 [In the following speech, Mr. Lincoln reaffirms his own attitude 
 on the great controversy of the era and puts on record, in answer 
 to Judge Douglas s question, his reasons for stating that the 
 Union cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. He 
 also asserts what is and what is not the Republican platform, 
 with its principles and purposes, and enlightens his hearers, if not 
 his redoubtable adversary, on other aspects of the creed pro 
 fessed by him and the Republican party with reference to the 
 great issue then under discussion. At the same time, he also 
 propounds other questions to his formidable antagonist and 
 seeks for answers to them]. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Reply in the Jonesboro Joint Debate. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: There is very much in the 
 principles that Judge Douglas has here enunciated that 
 I most cordially approve, and over which I shall have 
 no controversy with him. In so far as he has insisted 
 that all the States have the right to do exactly as they 
 please about all their domestic relations, including that 
 of slavery, I agree entirely with him. He places me 
 wrong in spite of all I can tell him, though I repeat 
 it again and again, insisting that I have made no dif 
 ference with him upon this subject. I have made a 
 great many speeches, some of which have been printed, 
 and it will be utterly impossible for him to find any 
 thing that I have ever put in print contrary to what I 
 now say upon this subject. I hold myself under con 
 stitutional obligations to allow the people in all the 
 States, without interference, direct or indirect, to do 
 exactly as they please, and I deny that I have any in 
 clination to interfere with them, even if there were no 
 such constitutional obligation. I can only say again 
 that I am placed improperly altogether improperly, 
 9 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 in spite of all I can say when it is insisted that I 
 entertain any other view or purpose in regard to that 
 matter. 
 
 While I am upon this subject, I will make some 
 answers briefly to certain propositions that Judge 
 Douglas has put. He says, " Why can t this Union 
 endure permanently, half slave and half free?" I 
 have said that I supposed it could not, and I will try, 
 before this new audience, to give briefly some of the 
 reasons for entertaining that opinion. Another form 
 of his question is, " Why can t we let it stand as our 
 fathers placed it?" That is the exact difficulty be 
 tween us. I say that Judge Douglas and his friends 
 have changed it from the position in which our fathers 
 originally placed it. I say, in the way our fathers 
 originally left the slavery question, the institution was 
 in the course of ultimate extinction, and the public 
 mind rested in the belief that it was in the course of 
 ultimate extinction. I say when this government was 
 first established, it was the policy of its founders to 
 prohibit the spread of slavery into the new Territories 
 of the United States, where it had not existed. But 
 Judge Douglas and his friends have broken up that 
 policy, and placed it upon a new basis by which it is to 
 become national and perpetual. All I have asked or 
 desired anywhere is that it should be placed back again 
 upon the basis that the fathers of our government 
 originally placed it upon. I have no doubt that it 
 would become extinct, for all time to come, if we but 
 readopted the policy of the fathers by restricting it to 
 the limits it has already covered restricting it from 
 the new Territories. 
 
 I do not wish to dwell at great length on this branch 
 of the subject at this time, but allow me to repeat one 
 thing that I have stated before. Brooks, the man who 
 assaulted Senator Sumner on the floor of the Senate, 
 and who was complimented with dinners, and silver 
 pitchers, and gold-headed canes, and a good many other 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 things for that feat, in one of his speeches declared that 
 when this government was originally established, no 
 body expected that the institution of slavery would 
 last until this day. That was but the opinion of one 
 man, but it was such an opinion as we can never get 
 from Judge Douglas, or anybody in favor of slavery 
 in the North at all. You can sometimes get it from a 
 Southern man. He said at the same time that the 
 framers of our government did not have the knowl 
 edge that experience has taught us that experience 
 and the invention of the cotton-gin have taught us that 
 the perpetuation of slavery is a necessity. He insisted, 
 therefore, upon its being changed from the basis upon 
 which the fathers of the government left it to the basis 
 of its perpetuation and nationalization. 
 
 I insist that this is the difference between Judge 
 Douglas and myself that Judge Douglas is helping 
 that change along. I insist upon this government being 
 placed where our fathers originally placed it. 
 
 I remember Judge Douglas once said that he saw the 
 evidences on the statute-books of Congress of a policy 
 in the origin of government to divide slavery and free 
 dom by a geographical line that he saw an indisposi 
 tion to maintain that policy, and therefore he set about 
 studying up a way to settle the institution on the right 
 basis the basis which he thought it ought to have 
 been placed upon at first; and in that speech he con 
 fesses that he seeks to place it, not upon the basis that 
 the fathers placed it upon, but upon one gotten up on 
 " original principles." When he asks me why we can 
 not get along with it in the attitude where our fathers 
 placed it, he had better clear up the evidences that he 
 has himself changed it from that basis; that lie has 
 himself been chiefly instrumental in changing the policy 
 of the fathers. Any one who will read his speech of 
 the 22d of last March will see that he there makes an 
 open confession, showing that he set about fixing the 
 institution upon an altogether different set of princi- 
 
132 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 pies. I think I have fully answered him when he asks 
 ine why we cannot let it alone upon the basis where our 
 fathers left it, by showing that he has himself changed 
 the whole policy of the government in that regard. 
 
 Now, fellow-citizens, in regard to this matter about 
 a contract that was made between Judge Trumbull and 
 myself, and all that long portion of Judge Douglas s 
 speech on this subject, I wish simply to say what I 
 have said to him before, that he cannot know whether 
 it is true or not, and I do kno\v that there is not a word 
 of truth in it. And I have told him so before. I don t 
 want any harsh language indulged in, but I do not 
 know how to deal with this persistent insisting on a 
 story that I know to be utterly without truth. It used 
 to be a fashion amongst men that when a charge was 
 made, some sort of proof was brought forward to es 
 tablish it, and if no proof was found to exist, the charge 
 was dropped. I don t know how to meet this kind of an 
 argument. I don t want to have a fight with Judge 
 Douglas, and I have no way of making an argument up 
 into the consistency of a corn-cob and stopping his 
 mouth with it. All I can do is, good-humoredly, to 
 say that from the beginning to the end of all that story 
 about a bargain between Judge Trumbull and myself, 
 there is not a word of truth in it. I can only ask him 
 to show some sort of evidence of the truth of his story. 
 He brings forward here and reads from what he con 
 tends is a speech by James H. Matheny, charging such 
 a bargain between Trumbull and myself. My own 
 opinion is that Matheny did do some such immoral 
 thing as to tell a story that he knew nothing about. I 
 believe he did. I contradicted it instantly, and it has 
 been contradicted by Judge Trumbull, while nobody 
 has produced any proof, because there is none. Now, 
 whether the speech which the judge brings forward here 
 is really the one Matheny made, I do not know, and I 
 hope the judge will pardon me for doubting the genu 
 ineness of this document, since his production of those 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 333 
 
 Springfield resolutions at Ottawa. I do not wish to 
 dwell at any great length upon this matter. I can say 
 nothing when a long story like this is told, except that 
 it is not true, and demand that he who insists upon it 
 shall produce some proof. That is all any man can do, 
 and I leave it in that way, for I know of no other way 
 of dealing with it. 
 
 The judge has gone over a long account of the Old 
 Whig and Democratic parties, and it connects itself 
 with this charge against Trumbull and myself. He says 
 that they agreed upon a compromise in regard to the 
 slavery question in 1850; that in a national Demo 
 cratic convention resolutions were passed to abide by 
 that compromise as a finality upon the slavery question. 
 He also says that the Whig party in national conven 
 tion agreed to abide by and regard as a finality the com 
 promise of 1850. I understand the judge to be alto 
 gether right about that ; I understand that part of the 
 history of the country as stated by him to be correct. 
 T recollect that I, as a member of that party, acquiesced 
 in that compromise. I recollect in the presidential elec 
 tion which followed, when we had General Scott up for 
 the presidency, Judge Douglas was around berating us 
 Whigs as Abolitionists, precisely as he does to-day 
 not a bit of difference. T have often heard him. We 
 could do nothing when the Old Whig party was alive 
 that was not Abolitionism, but it has got an extremely 
 good name since it has passed away. 
 
 When that compromise was made, it did not repeal 
 the old Missouri Compromise. It left a region of 
 United States territory half as large as the present 
 territory of the United States, north of the line of 
 36 30 , in which slavery was prohibited by act of Con 
 gress. This compromise did not repeal that one. It 
 did not affect or propose to repeal it. But at last it 
 became Judge Douglas s duty, as he thought (and I 
 find no fault w r ith him), as chairman of the Committee 
 on Territories, to bring in a bill for the organization of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 a territorial government first of one, then of two 
 Territories north of that line. When he did so it 
 ended in his inserting a provision substantially repeal 
 ing the Missouri Compromise. That was because the 
 compromise of 1850 had not repealed it. And now I 
 ask why he could not have left that compromise alone? 
 We were quiet from the agitation of the slavery ques 
 tion. We were making no fuss about it. All had 
 acquiesced in the compromise measures of 1850. We 
 never had been seriously disturbed by any Abolition 
 agitation before that period. W T hen he came to form 
 governments for the Territories north of the line of 
 36 30 , why could he not have let that matter stand as 
 it was standing? Was it necessary to the organization 
 of a Territory? Not at all. Iowa lay north of the 
 line and had been organized as a Territory, and came 
 into the Union as a State without disturbing that com 
 promise. There was no sort of necessity for destroying 
 it to organize these Territories. But, gentlemen, it 
 would take up all my time to meet all the little quib 
 bling arguments of Judge Douglas to show that the 
 Missouri Compromise was repealed by the compromise 
 of 1850. My own opinion is that a careful investiga 
 tion of all the arguments to sustain the position that 
 that compromise was virtually repealed by the compro 
 mise of 1850 would show that they are the merest 
 fallacies. I have the report that Judge Douglas first 
 brought into Congress at the time of the introduction 
 of the Nebraska bill, which in its original form did not 
 repeal the Missouri Compromise, and he there expressly 
 stated that he had forborne to do so because it had not 
 been done by the compromise of 1850. I close this part 
 of the discussion on my part by asking him the question 
 again, " Why, when we had peace under the Missouri 
 Compromise, could you not have let it alone? " 
 
 In complaining of what I said in my speech at 
 Springfield, in which he says I accepted my nomination 
 for the senatorship (where, by the way, he is at fault, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 
 
 for if he will examine it, he will find no acceptance in 
 it), he again quotes that portion in which I said that 
 " a house divided against itself cannot stand." Let me 
 say a word in regard to that matter. 
 
 He tries to persuade us that there must be a variety 
 in the different institutions of the States of the 
 Union ; that that variety necessarily proceeds from the 
 variety of soil, climate, of the face of the country, and 
 the difference in the natural features of the States. I 
 agree to all that. Have these very matters ever pro 
 duced any difficulty amongst us? Not at all. Have we 
 ever had any quarrel over the fact that they have laws 
 in Louisiana designed to regulate the commerce that 
 springs from the production of sugar? or because we 
 have a different class relative to the production of flour 
 in this State? Have they produced any differences? 
 Not at all. They are the very cements of this Union. 
 They don t make the house a house divided against it 
 self. They are the props that hold up the house and 
 sustain the Union. 
 
 But has it been so with this element of slavery? 
 Have w T e not always had quarrels and difficulties over 
 it? And when will we cease to have quarrels over it? 
 Like causes produce like effects. It is worth while to 
 observe that we have generally had comparative peace 
 upon the slavery question, and that there has been 
 no cause for alarm until it was excited by the effort to 
 spread it into new territory. Whenever it has been 
 limited to its present bounds, and there has been no 
 effort to spread it, there has been peace. All the trouble 
 and convulsion has proceeded from efforts to spread it 
 over more territory. It was thus at the date of the 
 Missouri Compromise. It was so again with the an 
 nexation of Texas; so with the territory acquired by 
 the Mexican war; and it is so now. Whenever there 
 has been an effort to spread it there has been agitation 
 and resistance. Now, I appeal to this audience (very 
 few of whom are my political friends), as national 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 men, whether we have reason to expect that the agita 
 tion in regard to this subject will cease while the causes 
 that tend to reproduce agitation are actively at work? 
 Will not the same cause that produced agitation in 
 1820, when the Missouri Compromise was formed, 
 that which produced the agitation upon the annexa 
 tion of Texas, and at other times, work out the same 
 results always? Do you think that the nature of man 
 will be changed that the same causes that produced 
 agitation at one time will not have the same effect at 
 another? 
 
 This has been the result so far as my observation of 
 the slavery question and my reading in history extend. 
 What right have we then to hope that the trouble will 
 cease, that the agitation will come to an end; until it 
 shall either be placed back where it originally stood, 
 and where the fathers originally placed it, or, on the 
 other hand, until it shall entirely master all opposi 
 tion? This is the view I entertain, and this is the 
 reason why I entertained it, as Judge Douglas has read 
 from my Springfield speech. 
 
 Now, my friends, there is one other thing that I feel 
 under some sort of obligation to mention. Judge 
 Douglas has here to-day in a very rambling way, I 
 was about saying spoken of the platforms for which 
 he seeks to hold me responsible. He says, " Why can t 
 you come out and make an open avowal of principles 
 in all places alike?" and he reads from an advertise 
 ment that he says was used to notify the people of a 
 speech to be made by Judge Trumbull at Waterloo. 
 In commenting on it he desires to know whether we 
 cannot speak frankly and manfully as he and his friends 
 do! How, I ask, do his friends speak out their own 
 sentiments? A convention of his party in this State 
 met on the 21st of April, at Springfield, and passed a 
 set of resolutions which they proclaim to the country 
 as their platform. This does constitute their platform, 
 and it is because Judge Douglas claims it is his plat- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 form that these are his principles and purposes that 
 he has a right to declare that he speaks his sentiments 
 " frankly and manfully." On the 9th of June, Colonel 
 John Dougherty, Governor Reynolds, and others, call 
 ing themselves National Democrats, met in Springfield, 
 and adopted a set of resolutions which are as easily 
 understood, as plain and as definite in stating to the 
 country and to the world what they believed in and 
 would stand upon, as Judge Douglas s platform. Now, 
 what is the reason that Judge Douglas is not willing 
 that Colonel Dougherty and Governor Reynolds should 
 stand upon their own written and printed platform as 
 well as he upon his? Why must he look farther than 
 their platform when he claims himself to stand by his 
 platform? 
 
 Again, in reference to our platform: On the 16th of 
 June the Republicans had their convention and pub 
 lished their platform, which is as clear and distinct as 
 Judge Douglas s. In it they spoke their principles as 
 plainly and as definitely to the world. What is the 
 reason that Judge Douglas is not willing that I should 
 stand upon that platform? Why must he go around 
 hunting for some one who is supporting me, or has sup 
 ported me at some time in his life, and who has said 
 something at some time contrary to that platform? 
 Does the judge regard that rule as a good one? If it 
 turn out that the rule is a good one for me, that I am 
 responsible for any and every opinion that any man has 
 expressed who is my friend, then it is a good rule for 
 him. I ask, is it not as good a rule for him as it is 
 for me? In my opinion, it is not a good rule for either 
 of us. Do you think differently, judge? 
 
 Mr. Douglas : I do not. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln : Judge Douglas says he does not think 
 differently. I am glad of it. Then can he tell me why 
 he is looking up resolutions of five or six years ago, and 
 insisting that they were my platform, notwithstanding 
 my protest that they are not, and never were, my plat- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 form, and my pointing out the platform of the State 
 convention which he delights to say nominated me for 
 the Senate? I cannot see what he means by parading 
 these resolutions, if it is not to hold me responsible for 
 them in some way. If he says to me here, that he does 
 not hold the rule to be good, one way or the other, I 
 do not comprehend how he could answer me more fully 
 if he answered me at greater length. I will therefore 
 put in as my answer to the resolutions that he has 
 hunted up against me what I, as a lawyer, would call 
 a good plea to a bad declaration. I understand that it 
 is a maxim of law, that a poor plea may be a good plea 
 to a bad declaration. I think that the opinions the 
 judge brings from those who support me, yet differ 
 from me, are a bad declaration against me, But if I can 
 bring the same things against him, I am putting in a 
 good plea to, that kind of declaration, and now I pro 
 pose to try it. 
 
 At Freeport Judge Douglas occupied a large part of 
 his time in producing resolutions and documents of 
 various sorts, as I understood, to make me somehow 
 responsible for them ; and I propose now doing a little 
 of the same sort of thing for him. In 1850 a very clever 
 gentleman by the name of Thompson Campbell, a per 
 sonal friend of Judge Douglas and myself, a political 
 friend of Judge Douglas and opponent of mine, was a 
 candidate for Congress in the Galena district. He was 
 interrogated as to his views on this same slavery ques 
 tion. I have here before me the interrogatories, and 
 Campbell s answers to them. I will read them : 
 
 Interroga tories. 
 
 1. Will you, if elected, vote for and cordially support a bill 
 prohibiting slavery in the Territories of the United States? 
 
 2. Will you vote for and support a bill abolishing slavery In 
 the District of Columbia? 
 
 3. Will you oppose the admission of any slave States which 
 may be formed out of Texas or the Territories? 
 
 4. Will you vote for and advocate the repeal of the fugitive- 
 slave law passed at the recent session of Congress? 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 5. Will you advocate and vote for the election of a Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives who shall be willing to organize 
 the committees of that House so as to give the free States their 
 just influence in the business of legislation? 
 
 6. What are your views, not only as to the constitutional 
 right of Congress to prohibit the slave-trade between the States, 
 but also as to the expediency of exercising that right immedi 
 ately ? 
 
 Campbell s Reply. 
 
 To the first and second interrogatories, I answer unequivocally 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 To the third interrogatory, I reply that I am opposed to the 
 admission of any more slave States into the Union, that may be 
 formed out of Texan or any other territory. 
 
 To the fourth and fifth interrogatories, I unhesitatingly answer 
 in the affirmative. 
 
 To the sixth interrogatory, I reply that so long as the slave 
 States continue to treat slaves as articles of commerce, the 
 Constitution confers power on Congress to pass laws regulating 
 that peculiar commerce, and that the protection of human 
 rights imperatively demands the interposition of every con 
 stitutional means to prevent this most inhuman and iniquitous 
 traffic. 
 
 T. CAMPBELL. 
 
 I want to say here that Thompson Campbell was 
 elected to Congress on that platform, as the Democratic 
 candidate in the Galena district, against Martin P. 
 Sweet. 
 
 Judge Douglas : Give me the date of the letter. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln : The time Campbell ran was in 1850. 
 I have not the exact date here. It was some time in 
 1850 that these interrogatories were put and the 
 answer given. Campbell was elected to Congress, and 
 served out his term. I think a second election came up 
 before he served out his term, and he was not reflected. 
 Whether defeated or not nominated, I do not know. 
 [Mr. Campbell was nominated for reelection by the 
 Democratic party, by acclamation.] At the end of his 
 term his very good friend, Judge Douglas, got him a 
 high office from President Pierce, and sent him off to 
 California. Is not that the fact? Just at the end of 
 his term in Congress it appears that our mutual friend 
 
140 SPEECHES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Judge Douglas got our mutual friend Campbell a good 
 office, and sent him to California upon it. And not only 
 so, but on the 27th of last month, when Judge Douglas 
 and myself spoke at Freeport in joint discussion, there 
 was his same friend Campbell, come all the way from 
 California, to help the judge beat me; and there was 
 poor Martin P. Sweet standing on the platform, try 
 ing to help poor me to be elected. That is true of one of 
 Judge Douglas s friends. 
 
 At Freeport I answered several interrogatories that 
 had been propounded to me by Judge Douglas at the 
 Ottawa meeting. The judge has yet not seen fit to 
 find any fault with the position that I took in regard 
 to those seven interrogatories, which were certainly 
 broad enough, in all conscience, to cover the entire 
 ground. In my answers, which have been printed, and 
 all have had the opportunity of seeing, I take the 
 ground that those who elect me must expect that I will 
 do nothing which will not be in accordance with those 
 answers. I have some right to assert that Judge Doug 
 las has no fault to find with them. But he chooses to 
 still try to thrust me upon different ground without 
 paying any attention to my answers, the obtaining of 
 which from me cost him so much trouble and con 
 cern. At the same time, I propounded four interroga 
 tories to him, claiming it as a right that he should 
 answer as many interrogatories for me as I did for him, 
 and I would reserve myself for a future instalment 
 when I got them ready. The judge, in answering me 
 upon that occasion, put in what I suppose he intends 
 as answers to all four of my interrogatories. The first 
 one of these interrogatories I have before me, and it is 
 in these words : 
 
 Question 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely 
 unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State constitution, 
 and ask admission into the Union under it, before they have the 
 requisite number of inhabitants according to the English bill, 
 some ninety- three thousand, will you vote to admit them? 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 As I read the judge s answer in the newspaper, and 
 as I remember it as pronounced at the time, he does 
 not give any answer which is equivalent to yes or no 
 I will or I won t. He answers at very considerable 
 length, rather quarreling with me for asking the ques 
 tion, and insisting that Judge Trumbull had done some^ 
 thing that I ought to say something about ; and finally 
 getting out such statements as induce me to infer that 
 he means to be understood he will, in that supposed 
 case, vote for the admission of Kansas. I only bring 
 this forward now for the purpose of saying that, if 
 he chooses to put a different construction upon his 
 answer, he may do it. But if he does not, I shall from 
 this time forward assume that he will vote for the 
 admission of Kansas in disregard of the English bill. 
 He has the right to remove any misunderstanding I 
 may have. I only mention it now that I may hereafter 
 assume this to be the true construction of his answer, if 
 he does not now choose to correct me. 
 
 The second interrogatory that I propounded to him 
 was this : 
 
 Question 2. Can the people of a United States Territory, in 
 any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United 
 States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation 
 of a State constitution? 
 
 To this Judge Douglas answered that they can law 
 fully exclude slavery from the Territory prior to the 
 formation of a constitution. He goes on to tell us 
 how it can be done. As I understand him, he holds that 
 it can be done by the territorial legislature refusing to 
 make any enactments for the protection of slavery in 
 the Territory, and especially by adopting unfriendly 
 legislation to it. For the sake of clearness, I state it 
 again : that they can exclude slavery from the Terri 
 tory first, by withholding what he assumes to be an 
 indispensable assistance to it in the way of legislation; 
 and, second, by unfriendly legislation. If I rightly un- 
 
142 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 derstand him, I wish to ask your attention for a while 
 to his position. 
 
 In the first place, the Supreme Court of the United 
 States has decided that any congressional prohibition 
 of slavery in the Territories is unconstitutional they 
 have reached this proposition as a conclusion from their 
 former proposition, that the Constitution of the United 
 States expressly recognizes property in slaves; and 
 from that other constitutional provision, that no per 
 son shall be deprived of property without due process 
 of law. Hence they reach the conclusion that as the 
 Constitution of the United States expressly recognizes 
 property in slaves, and prohibits any person from being 
 deprived of property without due process of law, to 
 pass an act of Congress by which a man who owned a 
 slave on one side of a line would be deprived of him if 
 he took him on the other side is depriving him of that 
 property without due process of law. That I under 
 stand to be the decision of the Supreme Court. I un 
 derstand also that Judge Douglas adheres most firmly 
 to that decision ; and the difficulty is, how is it possible 
 for any power to exclude slavery from the Territory 
 unless in violation of that decision? That is the diffi 
 culty. 
 
 In the Senate of the United States, in 1856, Judge 
 Trumbull, in a speech, substantially, if not directly, 
 put the same interrogatory to Judge Douglas, as to 
 whether the people of a Territory had the lawful power 
 to exclude slavery prior to the formation of a consti 
 tution? Judge Douglas then answered at considerable 
 length, and his answer will be found in the " Con 
 gressional Globe," under the date of June 9, 1856. The 
 judge said that whether the people could exclude 
 slavery prior to the formation of a constitution or not 
 was a question to be decided by the Supreme Court. He 
 put that proposition, as will be seen by the " Congres 
 sional Globe," in a variety of forms, all running to the 
 same thing in substance that it was a question for the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Supreme Court. I maintain that when he says, after 
 the Supreme Court has decided the question, that the 
 people may yet exclude slavery by any means whatever, 
 he does virtually say that it is not a question for the 
 Supreme Court. He shifts his ground. I appeal to you 
 whether he did not say it was a question for the Su 
 preme Court? Has not the Supreme Court decided 
 that question? When he now says that the people 
 may exclude slavery, does he not make it a question 
 for the people? Does he not virtually shift his ground 
 and say that it is not a question for the court, but for 
 the people? This is a very simple proposition a very 
 plain and naked one. It seems to me that there is no 
 difficulty in deciding it. In a variety of ways he said 
 that it was a question for the Supreme Court. He did 
 not stop then to tell us that, whatever the Supreme 
 Court decides, the people can by withholding necessary 
 " police regulations " keep slavery out. He did not 
 make any such answer. I submit to you now, whether 
 the new state of the case has not induced the judge to 
 sheer away from his original ground. Would not this 
 be the impression of every fair-minded man? 
 
 I hold that the proposition that slavery cannot enter 
 a new country without police regulations is historically 
 false. It is not true at all. I hold that the history of 
 this country shows that the institution of slavery 
 was originally planted upon this continent without 
 these " police regulations " which the judge now thinks 
 necessary for the actual establishment of it. Not only 
 so, but is there not another fact how came this Dred 
 Scott decision to be made? It was made upon the case 
 of a negro being taken and actually held in slavery in 
 Minnesota Territory, claiming his freedom because the 
 act of Congress prohibited his being so held there. Will 
 the judge pretend that Dred Scott was not held there 
 without police regulations? There is at least one mat 
 ter of record as to his having been held in slavery in 
 the Territory, not only without police regulations, but 
 
144 SPEECHES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 in the teeth of congressional legislation supposed to be 
 valid at the time. This shows that there is vigor 
 enough in slavery to plant itself in a new country even 
 against unfriendly legislation. It takes not only law 
 but the enforcement of law to keep it out. That is the 
 history of this country upon the subject. 
 
 I wish to ask one other question. It being under 
 stood that the Constitution of the United States guar 
 antees property in slaves in the Territories, if there is 
 any infringement of the right of that property, would 
 not the United States courts, organized for the govern 
 ment of the Territory, apply such remedy as might be 
 necessary in that case? It is a maxim held by the 
 courts, that there is no wrong without its remedy ; and 
 the courts have a remedy for whatever is acknowledged 
 and treated as a wrong. 
 
 Again : I will ask you, my friends, if you were elected 
 members of the legislature, what would be the first 
 thing you would have to do before entering upon your 
 duties? Swear to support the Constitution of the 
 United States. Suppose you believe, as Judge Douglas 
 does, that the Constitution of the United States guaran 
 tees to your neighbor the right to hold slaves in that 
 Territory, that they are his property, how can you 
 clear your oaths unless you give him such legislation 
 as is necessary to enable him to enjoy that property? 
 What do you understand by supporting the Constitu 
 tion of a State, or of the United States? Is it not to 
 give such constitutional helps to the rights established 
 by that Constitution as may be practically needed? 
 Can you, if you swear to support the Constitution, and 
 believe that the Constitution establishes a right, clear 
 your oath, without giving it support? Do you support 
 the Constitution if, knowing or believing there is a 
 right established under it which needs specific legisla 
 tion, you withhold that legislation? Do you not vio 
 late and disregard your oath? I can conceive of noth 
 ing plainer in the world. There can be nothing in the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 145 
 
 words "support the Constitution," if you may run 
 counter to it by refusing support to any right estab 
 lished under the Constitution. And what I say here 
 will hold with still more force against the judge s doc 
 trine of " unfriendly legislation." How could you, hav 
 ing sworn to support the Constitution, and believing 
 that it guaranteed the right to hold slaves in the Ter 
 ritories, assist in legislation intended to defeat that 
 right? That would be violating your own view of the 
 Constitution. Not only so, but if you were to do so, 
 how long would it take the courts to hold your votes un 
 constitutional and void? Not a moment. 
 
 Lastly I would ask Is not Congress itself under 
 obligation to give legislative support to any right that 
 is established under the United States Constitution? 
 I repeat the question Is not Congress itself bound to 
 give legislative support to any right that is established 
 in the United States Constitution? A member of Con 
 gress swears to support the Constitution of the United 
 States, and if he sees a right established by that Con 
 stitution which needs specific legislative protection, 
 can he clear his oath without giving that protection? 
 Let me ask you why many of us who are opposed to 
 slavery upon principle give our acquiescence to a fugi 
 tive-slave law? Why do we hold ourselves under ob 
 ligations to pass such a law, and abide by it when it is 
 passed? Because the Constitution makes provision 
 that the owners of slaves shall have the right to reclaim 
 them. It gives the right to reclaim slaves, and that 
 right is, as Judge Douglas says, a barren right, unless 
 there is legislation that will enforce it. 
 
 The mere declaration, u No person held to service or 
 labor in one State under the laws thereof, escaping in 
 to another, shall in consequence of any law or regula 
 tion therein be discharged from such service or labor, 
 but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
 such service or labor may be due," is powerless without 
 specific legislation to enforce it. Now, on what ground 
 10 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 would a member of Congress who is opposed to slavery 
 in the abstract vote for a fugitive law, as I would 
 deem it my duty to do? Because there is a constitu 
 tional right which needs legislation to enforce it. And 
 although it is distasteful to me, I have sworn to support 
 the Constitution, and having so sworn, I cannot con 
 ceive that I do support it if I withhold from that right 
 any necessary legislation to make it practical. And if 
 that is true in regard to a fugitive-slave law, is the right 
 to have fugitive slaves reclaimed any better fixed in 
 the Constitution than the right to hold slaves in the 
 Territories? For this decision is a just exposition of 
 the Constitution, as Judge Douglas thinks. Is the one 
 right any better than the other? Is there any man who, 
 while a member of Congress, would give support to the 
 one any more than the other? If I wished to refuse to 
 give legislative support to slave property in the Terri 
 tories, if a member of Congress, I could not do it, 
 holding the view that the Constitution establishes that 
 right. If I did it at all, it would be because I deny 
 that this decision properly construes the Constitution. 
 But if I acknowledge, with Judge Douglas, that this 
 decision properly construes the Constitution, I can 
 not conceive that I would be less than a perjured man if 
 I should refuse in Congress to give such protection to 
 that property as in its nature it needed. 
 
 At the end of what I have said here I propose to 
 give the judge my fifth interrogatory, which he may 
 take and answer at his leisure. My fifth interrogatory 
 is this : 
 
 If the slaveholding citizens of a United States Terri 
 tory should need and demand congressional legislation 
 for the protection of their slave property in such Terri 
 tory, would you, as a member of Congress, vote for or 
 against such legislation? 
 
 Judge Douglas: Will you repeat that? I want to 
 answer that question. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln : If the slaveholding citizens of a United 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 147 
 
 States Territory should need and demand congressional 
 legislation for the protection of their slave property 
 in such Territory, would you, as a member of Congress, 
 vote for or against such legislation? 
 
 I am aware that in some of the speeches Judge 
 Douglas has made, he has spoken as if he did not know 
 or think that the Supreme Court had decided that a tei- 
 ritorial legislature cannot exclude slavery. Precisely 
 what the judge would say upon the subject whether 
 he would say definitely that he does not understand 
 they have so decided, or whether he would say he 
 does understand that the court have so decided, I do 
 not know; but I know that in his speech at Springfield 
 he spoke of it as a thing they had not decided yet; 
 and in his answer to me at Freeport, he spoke of it 
 again, so far as I can comprehend it, as a thing that 
 had not yet been decided. Now I hold that if the judge 
 does entertain that view, I think that he is not mis 
 taken in so far as it can be said that the court has not 
 decided anything save the mere question of jurisdic 
 tion. I know the legal arguments that can be made 
 that after a court has decided that it cannot take 
 jurisdiction in a case, it then has decided all that is be 
 fore it, and that is the end of it. A plausible argu 
 ment can be made in favor of that proposition, but I 
 know that Judge Douglas has said in one of his 
 speeches that the court went forward, like honest men 
 as they were, and decided all the points in the case. If 
 any points are really extra-judicially decided because 
 not necessarily before them, then this one as to the 
 power of the territorial legislature to exclude slavery 
 is one of them, as also the one that the Missouri Com 
 promise was null and void. They are both extra- 
 judicial, or neither is, according as the court held that 
 they had no jurisdiction in the case between the parties, 
 because of want of capacity of one party to maintain a 
 suit in that court. I want, if I have sufficient time, to 
 ghow that the court did pass its opinion, but that is the 
 
148 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 only thing actually done in the case. If they did not 
 decide, they showed what they were ready to decide 
 whenever the matter was before them. What is that 
 opinion? After having argued that Congress had no 
 power to pass a law excluding slavery from a United 
 States Territory, they then used language to this effect: 
 That inasmuch as Congress itself could not exercise 
 such a power, it followed as a matter of course that it 
 could not authorize a territorial government to exercise 
 it, for the territorial legislature can do no more than 
 Congress could do. Thus it expressed its opinion em 
 phatically against the power of a territorial legislature 
 to exclude slavery, leaving us in just as little doubt on 
 that point as upon any other point they really decided. 
 Now, fellow-citizens, my time is nearly out. I find 
 a report of a speech made by Judge Douglas at Joliet, 
 since we last met at Freeport, published, I believe, in 
 the Missouri " Republican," on the 9th of this month, 
 in which Judge Douglas says : 
 
 You know at Ottawa I read this platform, and asked him if he 
 concurred in each and all of the principles set forth in it. He 
 would not answer these questions At last I said frankly, " I 
 wish you to answer them, because when I get them up here where 
 the color of your principles is a little darker than in Egypt, I 
 intend to trot you down to Jonesboro." The very notice that 
 I was going to take him down to Egypt made him tremble in 
 the knees so that he had to be carried from the platform. He 
 laid up seven days, and in the meantime held a consultation 
 with his political physicians; they had Lovejoy and Farnsworth 
 and all the leaders of the Abolition party. They consulted it 
 all over, and at last Lincoln came to the conclusion that he 
 would answer; so he came to Freeport last Friday. 
 
 Now that statement altogether furnishes a subject 
 for philosophical contemplation. I have been treating 
 it in that way, and I have really come to the conclus 
 ion that I can explain it in no other way than by be 
 lieving the judge is crazy. If he was in his right mind, 
 I cannot conceive how he would have risked disgust 
 ing the four or five thousand of his own friends who 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 stood there and knew, as to my having been carried 
 from the platform, that there was not a word of truth 
 in it. 
 
 Judge Douglas : Did n t they carry you off? 
 
 Mr. Lincoln: There; that question illustrates the 
 character of this man Douglas, exactly. He smiles now 
 and says, " Did n t they carry you off? " But he said 
 then, " He had to be carried off ; " and he said it to 
 convince the country that he had so completely broken 
 me down by his speech that I had to be carried away. 
 Now he seeks to dodge it, and asks, " Did n t they carry 
 you off?" Yes, they did. But, Judge Douglas, why 
 did n t you tell the truth? I would like to know why 
 you did n t tell the truth about it. And then again, 
 " He laid up seven days." He puts this in print for the 
 people of the country to read as a serious document. I 
 think if he had been in his sober senses he would not 
 have risked that barefacedness in the presence of thou 
 sands of his own friends, who knew that I made 
 speeches within six of the seven days at Henry, Mar 
 shall County; Augusta, Hancock County; and Ma- 
 comb, McDonough County, including all the necessary 
 travel to meet him again at Freeport at the end of the 
 six days. Now, I say, there is no charitable way to 
 look at that statement, except to conclude that he is 
 actually crazy. There is another thing in that state 
 ment that alarmed me very greatly as he states it 
 that he was going to " trot me down to Egypt." There 
 by he would have you to infer that I would not come to 
 Egypt unless he forced me that I could not be got 
 here, unless he, giant-like, had hauled me down here. 
 That statement he makes, too, in the teeth of the knowl 
 edge that I made the stipulation to come down here, 
 and that he himself had been very reluctant to enter 
 into the stipulation. More than all this, Judge Doug 
 las, when he made that statement, must have been 
 crazy, and wholly out of his sober senses, or else he 
 would have known that, when he got me down here, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that promise that windy promise of his powers to 
 annihilate me would n t amount to anything. Now, 
 how little do I look like being carried away trembling? 
 Let the judge go on, and after he is done with his half 
 hour, I want you all, if I can t go home myself, to let me 
 stay and rot here; and if anything happens to the 
 judge, if I cannot carry him to the hotel and put him 
 to bed, let me stay here and rot. I say, then, there is 
 something extraordinary in this statement. I ask you 
 if you know any other living man who would make 
 such a statement? I will ask my friend Casey, over 
 there, if he would do such a thing? Would he send 
 that out and have his men take it as the truth? Did 
 the judge talk of trotting me down to Egypt to scare 
 me to death? Why, I know this people better than he 
 does. I was raised just a little east of here. I am a 
 part of this people. But the judge was raised further 
 north, and perhaps he has some horrid idea of what 
 this people might be induced to do. But really I have 
 talked about this matter perhaps longer than I ought, 
 for it is no great thing, and yet the smallest are often 
 the most difficult things to deal with. The judge has 
 set about seriously trying to make the impression that 
 when we meet at different places I am literally in his 
 clutches that I am a poor, helpless, decrepit mouse, 
 and that I can do nothing at all. This is one of the 
 ways he has taken to create that impression. I don t 
 know any other way to meet it, except this. I don t 
 want to quarrel with him, to call him a liar, but 
 when I come square up to him I don t know what else 
 to call him, if I must tell the truth out. I want to be 
 at peace, and reserve all my fighting powers for neces 
 sary occasions. My time, now, is very nearly out, and 
 I give up the trifle that is left to the judge to let him set 
 my knees trembling again if he can. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH IN THE FOURTH JOINT DEBATE 
 WITH DOUGLAS, AT CHARLESTON, ILL., 
 SEP. 18, 1858. 
 
 [Here we give the reader only part of Mr. Lincoln s address 
 at Charleston, since much of it is taken up with the controversy 
 between Judge Douglas and Judge Trumbull, Illinois senator in 
 Congress, arising out of the charge made by Trumbull, that 
 " there was a plot entered into to have a constitution formed 
 for Kansas, and put in force without giving the people an oppor 
 tunity to vote upon it, and that Mr, Douglas was in the plot." 
 Into this matter and the evidence in support of it, together with 
 Judge Douglas s partial disclaimer or explanation of what oc 
 curred, we do not deem it necessary here to enter; hence the ex 
 clusion of Mr. Lincoln s argument in regard to it. By pref 
 erence, we confine our extract to what Mr. Lincoln had otherwise 
 to say on this occasion, and in his rejoinder to Douglas]. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Rejoinder in the Charleston Joint Debate. 
 
 Fellow citizens: Judge Douglas has said to you that 
 he has not been able to get from me an answer to the 
 question whether I am in favor of negro citizenship. 
 So far as I know, the judge never asked me the question 
 before. He shall have no occasion to ever ask it again, 
 for I tell him very frankly that I am not in favor of 
 negro citizenship. This furnishes me an occasion for 
 saying a few words upon the subject. I mentioned in 
 a certain speech of mine, which has been printed, that 
 the Supreme Court had decided that a negro could not 
 possibly be made a citizen, and without saying what 
 was my ground of complaint in regard to that, or 
 whether I had any ground of complaint, Judge Douglas 
 has from that thing manufactured nearly everything 
 that he ever says about my disposition to produce an 
 equality between the negroes and the white people. 
 If any one will read my speech, he will find I mentioned 
 that as one of the points decided in the course of the 
 
152 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Supreme Court opinions, but I did not state what 
 objection I had to it. But Judge Douglas tells the 
 people what my objection was when I did not tell them 
 myself. Now my opinion is that the different States 
 have the power to make a negro a citizen under the Con 
 stitution of the United States, if they choose. The 
 Dred Scott decision decides that they have not that 
 power. If the State of Illinois had that power, I 
 should be opposed to the exercise of it. That is all I 
 have to say about it. 
 
 Judge Douglas has told me that he heard my speeches 
 north and my speeches south that he had heard me at 
 Ottawa and at Freeport in the north, and recently at 
 Jonesboro in the south, and there was a very different 
 cast of sentiment in the speeches made at the different 
 points. I will not charge upon Judge Douglas that he 
 wilfully misrepresents me, but I call upon every fair- 
 minded man to take these speeches and read them, and 
 I dare him to point out any difference between my 
 speeches north and south. While I am here perhaps I 
 ought to say a word, if I have the time, in regard to 
 the latter portion of the judge s speech, which was a 
 sort of declamation in reference to my having said I 
 entertained the belief that this government would not 
 endure half slave and half free. I have said so, and I 
 did not say it without what seemed to me to be good 
 reasons. It perhaps would require more time than I 
 have now to set forth these reasons in detail; but let 
 me ask you a few questions. Have we ever had any 
 peace on this slavery question? When are we to have 
 peace upon it if it is kept in the position it now oc 
 cupies? How are we ever to have peace upon it? 
 That is an important question. To be sure, if we will 
 all stop and allow Judge Douglas and his friends to 
 march on in their present career until they plant the 
 institution all over the nation, here and wherever else 
 our flag waves, and we acquiesce in it, there will be 
 peace. But let me ask Judge Douglas how he is going 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 153 
 
 to get the people to do that? They have been wrangling 
 over this question for at least forty years. This was 
 the cause of the agitation resulting in the Missouri 
 compromise; this produced the troubles at the annexa 
 tion of Texas, in the acquisition of the territory ac 
 quired in the Mexican war. Again, this was the trouble 
 which was quieted by the compromise of 1850, when it 
 was settled " forever," as both the great political parties 
 declared in their national conventions. That " for 
 ever" turned out to be just four years, when Judge 
 Douglas himself reopened it. 
 
 When is it likely to come to an end? He introduced 
 the Nebraska bill in 1854 to put another end to the 
 slavery agitation. He promised that it would finish it 
 all up immediately, and he has never made a speech 
 since until he got into a quarrel with the President 
 about the Lecompton constitution, in which he has not 
 declared that we are just at the end of the slavery 
 agitation. But in one speech, I think last winter, he 
 did say that he did n t quite see when the end of the 
 slavery agitation would come. Now he tells us again 
 that it is all over, and the people of Kansas have voted 
 down the Lecompton constitution. How is it over? 
 That was only one of the attempts at putting an end 
 to the slavery agitation one of these " final settle 
 ments." Is Kansas in the Union? Has she formed a 
 constitution that she is likely to come in under? Is 
 not the slavery agitation still an open question in that 
 Territory? Has the voting down of that constitution 
 put an end to all the trouble? Is that more likely to 
 settle it than every one of these previous attempts to 
 settle the slavery agitation? Now, at this day in the 
 history of the world we can no more foretell where the 
 end of this slavery agitation will be than we can see the 
 end of the world itself. The Nebraska-Kansas bill 
 was introduced four years and a half ago, and if the 
 agitation is ever to come to an end, we may say we are 
 four years and a half nearer the end. So, too, we can 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 say we are four years and a half nearer the end of the 
 world; and we can just as clearly see the end of the 
 world as we can see the end of this agitation. The 
 Kansas settlement did not conclude it. If Kansas 
 should sink to-day, and leave a great vacant space in 
 the earth s surface, this vexed question would still be 
 among us. I say, then, there is no w r ay of putting an 
 end to the slavery agitation amongst us but to put it 
 back upon the basis where our fathers placed it, no 
 way but to keep it out of our new Territories to 
 restrict it forever to the old States where it now exists. 
 Then the public mind will rest in the belief that it is 
 in the course of ultimate extinction. That is one way 
 of putting an end to the slavery agitation. 
 
 The other way is for us to surrender and let Judge 
 Douglas and his friends have their way and plant 
 slavery over all the States cease speaking of it as in 
 any way a wrong regard slavery as one of the common 
 matters of property, and speak of negroes as we do of 
 our horses and cattle. But while it drives on in its 
 state of progress as it is now driving, and as it has 
 driven for the last five years, I have ventured the opin 
 ion, and I say to-day, that we will have no end to the 
 slavery agitation until it takes one turn or the other. 
 I do not mean that when it takes a turn toward ulti 
 mate extinction it will be in a day, nor in a year, nor 
 in two years. I do not suppose that in the most peace 
 ful way ultimate extinction would occur in less than 
 a hundred years at least; but that it will occur in the 
 best way for both races, in God s own good time, 1 
 have no doubt. But, my friends, I have used up more 
 of my time than I intended on this point. 
 
 Now, in regard to this matter about Trumbull and 
 myself having made a bargain to sell out the entire 
 Whig and Democratic parties in 1854, Judge Douglas 
 brings forward no evidence to sustain his charge, 
 except the speech Matheny is said to have made in 
 1856, in which he told a cock-and-bull story of that sort, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 upon the same moral principles that Judge Douglas 
 tells it here to-day. This is the simple truth. I do not 
 care greatly for the story, but this is the truth of it, 
 and I have twice told Judge Douglas to his face, that 
 from beginning to end there is not one word of truth 
 in it. I have called upon him for the proof, and he does 
 not at all meet me as Trumbull met him upon that of 
 which we were just talking, by producing the record. 
 He did n t bring the record, because there was no 
 record for him to bring. When he asks if I am ready 
 to indorse Truni bull s veracity after he has broken a 
 bargain with me, I reply that if Trumbull had broken 
 a bargain with me, I would not be likely to indorse 
 his veracity; but I am ready to indorse his veracity 
 because neither in that thing, nor in any other, in all 
 the years that I have known Lyman Trumbull, have 1 
 known him to fail of his word or tell a falsehood, large 
 or small. It is for that reason that I indorse Lyman 
 Trumbull. 
 
 Mr. James Brown [Douglas postmaster] : What 
 does Ford s history say about him? 
 
 Mr. Lincoln : Some gentleman asks me what Ford s 
 history says about him. My only recollection is, that 
 Ford speaks of Trumbull in very disrespectful terms 
 in several portions of his book, and that he talks a 
 great deal worse of Judge Douglas. I refer you, sir, 
 to the history for examination. 
 
 Judge Douglas complains at considerable length 
 about a disposition on the part of Trumbull and myself 
 to attack him personally. I want to attend to that 
 suggestion a moment. I don t want to be unjustly 
 accused of dealing illiberally or unfairly with an ad 
 versary, either in court, or in a political canvass, or 
 anywhere else. I would despise myself if I supposed 
 myself ready to deal less liberally with an adversary 
 than I was willing to be treated myself. Judge Doug 
 las, in a general way, without putting it in a direct 
 shape, revives the old charge against me in reference 
 
156 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to the Mexican war. He does not take the responsi 
 bility of putting it in a very definite form, but makes 
 a general reference to it. That charge is more than ten 
 years old. He complains of Trumbull and myself, 
 because he says we bring charges against him one or 
 two years old. He knows, too, that in regard to the 
 Mexican war story, the more respectable papers of his 
 own party throughout the State have been compelled 
 to take it back and acknowledge that it was a lie. 
 
 [Here Mr. Lincoln turned to the crowd on the plat 
 form, and selecting Hon. Orlando B. Ficklin, led him 
 forward and said:] 
 
 I do not mean to do anything with Mr. Ficklin, ex 
 cept to present his face and tell you that he personally 
 knows it to be a lie ! He was a member of Congress at 
 the only time I was in Congress, and he knows that 
 whenever there was an attempt to procure a vote of 
 mine which would indorse the origin and justice of the 
 war, I refused to give such indorsement, and voted 
 against it; but I never voted against the supplies for 
 the army, and he knows, as well as Judge Douglas, that 
 whenever a dollar was asked by way of compensation 
 or otherwise, for the benefit of the soldiers, I gave all 
 the votes that Ficklin or Douglas did, and perhaps 
 more. 
 
 Mr. Ficklin: My friends, I wish to say this in refer 
 ence to the matter. Mr. Lincoln and myself are just 
 as good personal friends as Judge Douglas and myself. 
 In reference to this Mexican war, my recollection is 
 that when Ashmun s resolution [amendment] was 
 offered by Mr. Ashmun of Massachusetts, in which he 
 declared that the Mexican war was unnecessarily and 
 unconstitutionally commenced by the President, my 
 recollection is that Mr. Lincoln voted for that resolu 
 tion. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln: That is the truth. Now you all 
 remember that was a resolution censuring the Presi 
 dent for the manner in which the war was begun. You 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 157 
 
 know they have charged that I voted against the 
 supplies, by which I starved the soldiers who were out 
 lighting the battles of their country. I say that Fick- 
 lin knows it is false. When that charge was brought 
 forward by the Chicago " Times," the Springfield 
 "Register" [Douglas organ] reminded the "Times" 
 that the charge really applied to John Henry; and I 
 do know that John Henry is now making speeches and 
 fiercely battling for Judge Douglas. If the judge now 
 says that he offers this as a sort of a set-off to what I 
 said to-day in reference to Trumbull s charge, then 
 I remind him that he made this charge before I said a 
 word about Trumbull s. He brought this forward at 
 Ottawa, the first time we met face to face; and in the 
 opening speech that Judge Douglas made, he attacked 
 me in regard to a matter ten years old. Is n t he a 
 pretty man to be whining about people making charges 
 against him only two years old! 
 
 The judge thinks it is altogether wrong that I should 
 have dwelt upon this charge of Trumbull s at all. I 
 gave the apology for doing so in my opening speech. 
 Perhaps it did n t fix your attention. I said that when 
 Judge Douglas was speaking at places where I spoke 
 on the succeeding day, he used very ha-rsh language 
 about this charge. Two or three times afterward I 
 said I had confidence in Judge Trumbull s veracity and 
 intelligence; and my own opinion was, from what I 
 knew of the character of Judge Trumbull, that he 
 would vindicate his position, and prove whatever he 
 had stated to be true. This I repeated two or three 
 times; and then I dropped it, without saying anything 
 more on the subject for weeks perhaps a month. I 
 passed it by without noticing it at all till I found at 
 Jacksonville that Judge Douglas, in the plenitude of 
 his power, is not willing to answer Trumbull and let 
 me alone; but he comes out there and uses this lan 
 guage: "He should not hereafter occupy his time in 
 refuting such charges made by Trumbullj but that Lin- 
 
158 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 coin having indorsed the character of Truinbull for 
 veracity, he should hold him [Lincoln] responsible for 
 the slanders." What was Lincoln to do? Did he not 
 do right, when he had the fit opportunity of meeting 
 Judge Douglas here, to tell him he was ready for the 
 responsibility? I ask a candid audience whether in 
 doing thus Judge Douglas was not the assailant rather 
 than I? Here I meet him face to face, and say I am 
 ready to take the responsibility so far as it rests on 
 me. 
 
 Having done so, I ask the attention of this audience 
 to the question whether I have succeeded in sustaining 
 the charge, and whether Judge Douglas has at all suc 
 ceeded in rebutting it. You all heard me call upon 
 him to say which or these pieces of evidence was a for 
 gery. Does he say that whajt I present here as a copy 
 of the original Toombs bill is a forgery? Does he say 
 that what I present as a copy of the bill reported by 
 himself is a forgery? Or what is presented as a tran 
 script from the " Globe," of the quotations from Big- 
 ler s speech, is a forgery? Does he say the quotations 
 from his own speech are forgeries? Does he say this 
 transcript from TrumbulFs speech is a forgery? [" He 
 did n t deny one of them."] I would then like to know 
 how it comes about that when each piece of a story is 
 true, the whole story turns out false? I take it these 
 people have some sense; they see plainly that Judge 
 Douglas is playing cuttlefish, a small species of fish 
 that has no mode of defending itself when pursued 
 except by throwing out a black fluid, which makes the 
 water so dark the enemy cannot see it, and thus it 
 escapes. Is not the judge playing the cuttlefish? 
 
 Now I would ask very special attention to the con 
 sideration of Judge Douglas s speech at Jacksonville; 
 and when you shall read his speech of to-day, I ask you 
 to watch closely and see which of these pieces of testi 
 mony, every one of which he says is a forgery, he has 
 shown to be such. Not one of them has he shown to 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 be a forgery. Then I ask the original question, if each 
 of the pieces of testimony is true, how is it possible 
 that the whole is a falsehood? 
 
 In regard to TrumbulPs charge that he [Douglas] 
 inserted a provision into the bill to prevent the consti 
 tution being submitted to the people, what was his 
 answer? He comes here and reads from the " Congres 
 sional Globe " to show that on his motion that pro 
 vision was struck out of the bill. Why, Trumbull has 
 not said it was not stricken out, but Trumbull says he 
 [Douglas] put it in, and it is no answer to the charge 
 to say he afterward took it out. Both are perhaps 
 true. It was in regard to that thing precisely that 1 
 told him he had dropped the cub. Trumbull shows you 
 by his introducing the bill that it was his cub. It is 
 no answer to that assertion to call Trumbull a liar 
 merely because he did not specially say that Douglas 
 struck it out. Suppose that were the case, does it 
 answer Trumbull? I assert that you [pointing to an 
 individual] are here to-day, and you undertake to prove 
 me a liar by showing that you were in Mattoon yester 
 day. I say that you took your hat off your head, and 
 you prove me a liar by putting it on your head. That 
 is the whole force of Douglas s argument. 
 
 Now, I want to come back to my original question. 
 Trumbull says that Judge Douglas had a bill with a 
 provision in it for submitting a constitution to be made 
 to a vote of the people of Kansas. Does Judge Doug 
 las deny that fact? Does he deny that the provision 
 which Trumbull reads was put in that bill? Then 
 Trumbull says he struck it out. Does he dare to deny 
 that? He does not, and I have the right to repeat the 
 question why Judge Douglas took it out? Bigler 
 has said there was a combination of certain senators, 
 among whom he did not include Judge Douglas, bv 
 which it was agreed that the Kansas bill should have 
 a clause in it not to have the constitution formed under 
 it submitted to a vote of the people. He did not sa\ 
 
1(50 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that Douglas was among them, but we prove by another 
 source that about the same time Douglas comes into the 
 Senate with that provision stricken out of the bill. Al 
 though Bigler cannot say they were all working in 
 concert, yet it looks very much as if the thing was 
 agreed upon and done with a mutual understanding 
 after the conference ; and while we do not know that it 
 was absolutely so, yet it looks so probable that we have 
 a right to call upon the man who know^s the true reason 
 why it was done, to tell what the true reason was. 
 When he will not tell what the true reason was, he 
 stands in the attitude of an accused thief who has 
 stolen goods in his possession, and when called to ac 
 count refuses to tell where he got them. Not only is 
 this the evidence, but when he comes in with the bill 
 having the provision stricken out, he tells us in a 
 speech, not then, but since, that these alterations and 
 modifications in the bill had been made by him, in 
 consultation with Toombs, the originator of the bill. 
 He tells us the same to-day. He says there w r ere certain 
 modifications made in the bill in committee that he did 
 not vote for. I ask you to remember while certain 
 amendments were made which he disapproved of, but 
 which a majority of the committee voted in, he has him 
 self told us that in this particular the alterations and 
 modifications were made by him upon consultation 
 with Toombs. We have his own word that these altera 
 tions were made by him and not by the committee. 
 
 Now, I ask what is the reason Judge Douglas is so 
 chary about coming to the exact question? What is 
 the reason he will not tell you anything about how it 
 was made, by whom it was made, or that he remembers 
 it being made at all ? Why does he stand playing upon 
 the meaning of words, and quibbling around the edges 
 of the evidence? If he can explain all this, but leaves 
 it unexplained, I have a right to infer that Judge Doug 
 las understood it was the purpose of his party, in 
 engineering that bill through, to make a constitution, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and have Kansas come into the Union with that con 
 stitution, without its being submitted to a vote of the 
 people. If he will explain his action on this question, 
 by giving a better reason for the facts that happened 
 than he has done, it will be satisfactory. But until he 
 does that until he gives a better or more plausible 
 reason than he has offered against the evidence in the 
 case I suggest to him it will not avail him at all that 
 he swells himself up, takes on dignity, and calls people 
 liars. Why, sir, there is not a word in TrumbulFs 
 speech that depends on Trumbull s veracity at all. He 
 has only arrayed the evidence and told you what fol 
 lows as a matter of reasoning. There is not a state 
 ment in the whole speech that depends on TrumbulFs 
 word. If you have ever studied geometry, you remem 
 ber that by a course of reasoning Euclid proves that 
 all the angles in a triangle are equal to two right 
 angles. Euclid has shown you how to work it out. 
 Now, if you undertake to disprove that proposition, and 
 to show that it is erroneous, would you prove it to be 
 false by calling Euclid a liar? They tell me that my 
 time is out, and therefore I close. 
 11 
 
1(32 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH IN REPLY TO DOUGLAS (IN THE FIFTH 
 JOINT DEBATE) AT GALESBURG, ILL., OCT. 
 
 7, 1858. 
 
 [In this rejoinder to Douglas, Lincoln insists upon his con 
 tention that negroes are, by implication, included in the Declara 
 tion of Independence, and challenges his adversary to prove, front 
 the writings of the author of it, or from other public men of 
 eminence, that he is wrong in so saying. He also rebuts what 
 Douglas had said of the Republican party, that it was a sectional 
 and not a national one, and that there was an unholy, unnatural 
 alliance between the Republicans and the National Democrats. 
 Another matter discussed in the address includes Lincoln s as 
 sertion, or belief, in opposition to Douglas s contention, that the 
 right of property in a slave is not distinctly and expressly af 
 firmed in the U. S. Constitution. Still another matter debated 
 or inquired into is, whether either of the contending men in these 
 debates would oppose the acquisition of further territory within 
 the United States if slavery were first prohibited therein? These 
 and other points discussed add interest to the present instalment 
 of Lincoln s contribution to the remarkable debates]. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Reply in the Galesburg Joint Debate. 
 
 My Fellow-citizens: A very large portion of the 
 speech which Judge Douglas has addressed to you has 
 previously been delivered and put in print. I do not 
 mean that for a hit upon the judge at all. If I had not 
 been interrupted, I was going to say that such an 
 answer as I was able to make to a very large portion of 
 it, had already been more than once made and pub 
 lished. There has been an opportunity afforded to the 
 public to see our respective views upon the topics dis 
 cussed in a large portion of the speech which he has 
 just delivered. I make these remarks for the purpose 
 of excusing myself for not passing over the entire 
 ground that the judge has traversed. I, however, desire 
 to take up some of the points that he has attended to, 
 and ask your attention to them, and I shall follow him 
 
Lincoln Statue, by St. Gaudens, Chicago 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1(53 
 
 backward upon some notes which I have taken, re 
 versing the order by beginning where he concluded. 
 
 The judge has alluded to the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence, and insisted that negroes are not included in 
 that Declaration; and that it is a slander upon the 
 framers of that instrument to suppose that negroes 
 were meant therein ; and he asks you : Is it possible 
 to believe that Mr. Jefferson, who penned the immortal 
 paper, could have supposed himself applying the lan 
 guage of that instrument to the negro race, and yet 
 held a portion of that race in slavery? Would he not 
 at once have freed them? I only have to remark upon 
 this part of the judge s speech (and that, too, very 
 briefly, for I shall not detain myself, or you, upon that 
 point for any great length of time), that I believe the 
 entire records of the world, from the date of the Dec 
 laration of Independence up to within three years ago, 
 may be searched in vain for one single affirmation, from 
 one single man, that the negro was not included in the 
 Declaration of Independence; I think I may defy Judge 
 Douglas to show that he ever said so, that Washington 
 ever said so, that any president ever said so, that any 
 member of Congress ever said so, or that any living man 
 upon the whole earth ever said so, until the necessities 
 of the present policy of the Democratic party, in regard 
 to slavery, had to invent that affirmation. And I will 
 remind Judge Douglas and this audience that while Mr. 
 Jefferson was the owner of slaves, as undoubtedly he 
 was, in speaking upon this very subject, he used the 
 strong language that " he trembled for his country 
 when he remembered that God was just " ; and I will 
 offer the highest premium in my power to Judge Doug 
 las if he will show that he, in all his life, ever uttered 
 a sentiment at all akin to that of Jefferson. 
 
 The next thing to which I will ask your attention is 
 the judge s comments upon the fact, as he assumes it 
 to be, that we cannot call our public meetings as Re 
 publican meetings; and he instances Tazewell County 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 as one of the places where the friends of Lincoln have 
 called a public meeting and have not dared to name it 
 a Republican meeting. He instances Monroe County 
 as another where Judge Trumbull and Jehu Baker 
 addressed the persons whom the judge assumes to be 
 the friends of Lincoln, calling them the " Free Democ 
 racy." I have the honor to inform Judge Douglas that 
 he spoke in that very county of Tazewell last Saturday, 
 and I was there on Tuesday last, and when he spoke 
 there he spoke under a call not venturing to use the 
 word " Democrat." [Turning to Judge Douglas.] 
 What think you of this? 
 
 So, again, there is another thing to which I would 
 ask the judge s attention upon this subject. In the 
 contest of 1856 his party delighted to call themselves 
 together as the " National Democracy," but now, if 
 there should be a notice put up anywhere for a meeting 
 of the " National Democracy," Judge Douglas and his 
 friends would not come. They would not suppose 
 themselves invited. They would understand that it 
 was a call for those hateful postmasters whom he talks 
 about. 
 
 Now a few words in regard to these extracts from 
 speeches of mine which Judge Douglas has read to you, 
 and which he supposes are in very great contrast to 
 each other. Those speeches have been before the public 
 for a considerable time, and if they have any inconsis 
 tency in them, if there is any conflict in them, the pub 
 lic have been able to detect it. When the judge says, 
 in speaking on this subject, that I make speeches of 
 one sort for the people of the northern end of the State, 
 and of a different sort for the southern people, he as 
 sumes that I do not understand that my speeches will 
 be put in print and read north and south. I knew all 
 the while that the speech that I made at Chicago and 
 the one I made at Jonesboro and the one at Charleston 
 would all be put in print, and all the reading and intel 
 ligent men in the community would see them and know 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 1(55 
 
 all about my opinions; and I have not supposed, and 
 do not now suppose, that there is any conflict whatever 
 between them. But the judge will have it that if we 
 do not confess that there is a sort of inequality between 
 the white and black races which justifies us in making 
 them slaves, we must, then, insist that there is a degree 
 of equality that requires us to make them our wives. 
 Now, I have all the while taken a broad distinction in 
 regard to that matter; and that is all there is in these 
 different speeches which he arrays here, and the entire 
 reading of either of the speeches will show that that 
 distinction was made. Perhaps by taking two parts 
 of the same speech he could have got up as much of a 
 conflict as the one he has found. I have all the while 
 maintained that in so far as it should be insisted that 
 there was an equality between the white and black races 
 that should produce a perfect social and political 
 equality, it was an impossibility. This you have seen 
 in my printed speeches, and with it I have said that in 
 their right to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happi 
 ness," as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the infe 
 rior races are our equals. And these declarations I 
 have constantly made in reference to the abstract 
 moral question, to contemplate and consider when we 
 are legislating about any new country which is not 
 already cursed with the actual presence of the evil 
 slavery. I have never manifested any impatience with 
 the necessities that spring from the actual presence of 
 black people amongst us, and the actual existence of 
 slavery amongst us where it does already exist; but I 
 have insisted that, in legislating for new countries 
 where it does not exist, there is no just rule other than 
 that of moral and abstract right. With reference to 
 those new countries, those maxims as to the right of 
 a people to " life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness " 
 were the just rules to be constantly referred to. There 
 is no misunderstanding this, except by men interested 
 to misunderstand it. I take it that I have to address 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 an intelligent and reading community who will peruse 
 what I say, weigh it, and then judge whether I advance 
 improper or unsound views, or whether I advance hypo 
 critical and deceptive and contrary views in different 
 portions of the country. I believe myself to be guilty 
 of no such thing as the latter, though, of course, I can 
 not claim that I am entirely free from all error in the 
 opinions I advance. 
 
 The judge has also detained us aw r hile in regard to 
 the distinction between his party and our party. His 
 he assumes to be a national party ours a sectional one. 
 He does this in asking the question whether this 
 country has any interest in the maintenance of the Re 
 publican party? He assumes that our party is alto 
 gether sectional that the party to which he adheres is 
 national ; and the argument is that no party can be a 
 rightful party can be based upon rightful principles 
 unless it can announce its principles everywhere. I 
 presume that Judge Douglas could not go into Russia 
 and announce the doctrine of our national Democracy; 
 he could not denounce the doctrine of kings and em 
 perors and monarchies in Russia ; and it may be true of 
 this country, that in some places we may not be able to 
 proclaim a doctrine as clearly true as the truth of De 
 mocracy, because there is a section so directly opposed 
 to it that they w r ill not tolerate us in doing so. Is it 
 the true test of the soundness of a doctrine, that in some 
 places people won t let you proclaim it? Is that the 
 way to test the truth of any doctrine? Why, I under 
 stand that at one time the people of Chicago would not 
 let Judge Douglas preach a certain favorite doctrine of 
 his. I commend to his consideration the question, 
 whether he takes that as a test of the unsoundness of 
 what he wanted to preach. 
 
 There is another thing to which I wish to ask atten 
 tion for a little while on this occasion. What has 
 always been the evidence brought forward to prove 
 that the Republican party is a sectional party? The 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 main one was that in the Southern portion of the Union 
 the people did not let the Republicans proclaim their 
 doctrines amongst them. That has been the main evi 
 dence brought forward that they had no supporters. 
 or substantially none, in the slave States. The South 
 have not taken hold of our principles as we announce 
 them ; nor does Judge Douglas now grapple with those 
 principles. We have a Republican State platform, laid 
 down in Springfield in June last, stating our position 
 all the way through the questions before the country. 
 We are now far advanced in this canvass. Judge Doug 
 las and I have made perhaps forty speeches apiece, and 
 we have now for the fifth time met face to face in de 
 bate, and up to this day I have not found either Judge 
 Douglas or any friend of his taking hold of the Repub 
 lican platform or laying his finger upon anything in it 
 that is wrong. I ask you all to recollect that. Judge 
 Douglas turns away from the platform of principles 
 to the fact that he can find people somewhere who will 
 not allow us to announce those principles. If he had 
 great confidence that our principles were w r rong, he 
 would take hold of them and demonstrate them to be 
 wrong. But he does not do so. The only evidence he 
 has of their being wrong is in the fact that there are 
 people who won t allow us to preach them. I ask again 
 is that the way to test the soundness of a doctrine? 
 
 I ask his attention also to the fact that by the rule of 
 nationality he is himself fast becoming sectional. I 
 ask his attention to the fact that his speeches would 
 not go as current now south of the Ohio River as they 
 have formerly gone there. I ask his attention to the 
 fact that he felicitates himself to-day that all the Demo 
 crats of the free States are agreeing w r ith him, while 
 he omits to tell us that the Democrats of any slave 
 State agree with him. If he has not thought of this, 
 I commend to his consideration the evidence in his own 
 declaration, on this day, of his becoming sectional too. 
 I see it rapidly approaching. Whatever may be the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 result of this ephemeral contest between Judge Douglas 
 and myself, I see the day rapidly approaching when 
 his pill of sectionalism, which he has been thrusting 
 down the throats of Republicans for years past, will be 
 crowded down his own throat. 
 
 Now in regard to what Judge Douglas said (in the 
 beginning of his speech) about the compromise of 1850 
 containing the principle of the Nebraska bill ; although 
 I have often presented my views upon that subject, yet 
 as I have not done so in this canvass, I will, if you 
 please, detain you a little with them. I have always 
 maintained so far as I was able that there was nothing 
 of the principle of the Nebraska bill in the compromise 
 of 1850 at all nothing whatever. Where can you find 
 the principle of the Nebraska bill in that compromise? 
 If anywhere, in the two pieces of the compromise organ 
 izing the Territories of New Mexico and Utah. It was 
 expressly provided in these two acts that, when they 
 came to be admitted into the Union, they should be 
 admitted with or without slavery, as they should 
 choose, by their own constitutions. Nothing was said 
 in either of those acts as to what was to be done in 
 relation to slavery during the territorial existence of 
 those Territories, while Henry Clay constantly made 
 the declaration (Judge Douglas recognizing him as a 
 leader) that, in his opinion, the old Mexican laws 
 would control that question during the territorial ex 
 istence, and that these old Mexican laws excluded 
 slavery. How can that be used as a principle for de 
 claring that during the territorial existence, as well as 
 at the time of framing the constitution, the people, if 
 you please, might have slaves if they wanted them? I 
 am not discussing the question whether it is right or 
 wrong; but how are the New Mexican and Utah laws 
 patterns for the Nebraska bill? I maintain that the 
 organization of Utah and New Mexico did not establish 
 a general principle at all. It had no feature establish 
 ing a general principle. The acts to which I have 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 referred were a part of a general system of compro 
 mises. They did not lay down what was proposed as a 
 regular policy for the Territories; only an agreement in 
 this particular case to do in that way, because other 
 things were done that were to be a compensation for 
 it. They were allowed to come in in that shape, be 
 cause in another way it was paid for considering that 
 as a part of that system of measures called the compro 
 mise of 1850, which finally included half a dozen acts. 
 It included the admission of California as a free State, 
 which was kept out of the Union for half a year because 
 it had formed a free constitution. It included the 
 settlement of the boundary of Texas, which had been 
 undefined before, which was in itself a slavery question ; 
 for if you pushed the line further west, you made Texas 
 larger, and made more slave Territory; while if you 
 drew the line toward the east, you narrowed the 
 boundary and diminished the domain of slavery, and 
 by so much increased free Territory. It included the 
 abolition of the slave-trade in the District of Columbia. 
 It included the passage of a new fugitive-slave law. All 
 these things were put together, and though passed in 
 separate acts, were nevertheless in legislation (as the 
 speeches at the time will show) made to depend upon 
 each other. Each got votes, with the understanding 
 that the other measures were to pass, and by this sys 
 tem of compromise, in that series of measures, those 
 two bills the New Mexico and Utah bills were 
 passed; and I say for that reason they could not be 
 taken as models, framed upon their own intrinsic prin 
 ciple, for all future Territories. And I have the evi 
 dence of this in the fact that Judge Douglas, a year 
 afterward, or more than a year afterward perhaps, 
 when he first introduced bills for the purpose of fram 
 ing new Territories, did not attempt to follow these 
 bills of New Mexico and Utah; and even when he intro 
 duced this Nebraska bill, I think you will discover that 
 he did not exactly follow them. But I do not wish to 
 
170 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 dwell at great length upon this branch of the dis 
 cussion. My own opinion is that a thorough investi 
 gation will show most plainly that the New Mexico and 
 Utah bills were part of a system of compromise, and not 
 designed as patterns for future territorial legislation, 
 and that this Nebraska bill did not follow them as a 
 pattern at all. 
 
 The judge tells us, in proceeding, that he is opposed 
 to making any odious distinctions between free and 
 slave States. I am altogether unaware that the Re 
 publicans are in favor of making any odious distinc 
 tions between the free and slave States. But there still 
 is a difference, I think, between Judge Douglas and 
 the Republicans in this. I suppose that the real differ 
 ence between Judge Douglas and his friends and the 
 Republicans, on the contrary, is that the judge is not in 
 favor of making any difference between slavery and lib 
 erty that he is in favor of eradicating, of pressing out 
 of view, the questions of preference in this country for 
 free or slave institutions; and consequently every 
 sentiment he utters discards the idea that there is any 
 wrong in slavery. Everything that emanates from him 
 or his coadjutors in their course of policy carefully 
 excludes the thought that there is anything wrong in 
 slavery. All their arguments, if you will consider them, 
 will be .seen to exclude the thought that there is any 
 thing whatever wrong in slavery. If you will take 
 the judge s speeches, and select the short and pointed 
 sentences expressed by him, as his declaration that he 
 " don t care whether slavery is voted up or down," 
 you will see at once that this is perfectly logical, if 
 you do not admit that slavery is wrong. If you do 
 admit that it is wrong, Judge Douglas cannot logically 
 say he don t care whether a wrong is voted up or voted 
 down. Judge Douglas declares that if any community 
 wants slavery they have a right to have it. He can say 
 that logically, if he says that there is no wrong in 
 slavery; but if you admit that there is a wrong in it, he 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 cannot logically say that anybody has a right to do 
 wrong. He insists that, upon the score of equality, 
 the owners of slaves and owners of property of horses 
 and every other sort of property should be alike, and 
 hold them alike in a new Territory. That is perfectly 
 logical, if the two species of property are alike, and 
 are equally founded in right. But if you admit that 
 one of them is wrong, you cannot institute any equality 
 between right and wrong. And from this difference of 
 sentiment the belief on the part of one that the insti 
 tution is wrong, and a policy springing from that 
 belief which looks to the arrest of the enlargement of 
 that wrong; and this other sentiment, that it is no 
 wrong, and a policy sprung from that sentiment which 
 will tolerate no idea of preventing that wrong from 
 growing larger, and looks to there never being an end 
 of it through all the existence of things arises the real 
 difference between Judge Douglas and his friends on 
 the one hand, and the Republicans on the other. Now, 
 I confess myself as belonging to that class in the coun 
 try who contemplates slavery as a moral, social, and 
 political evil, having due regard for its actual existence 
 amongst us, and the difficulties of getting rid of it in 
 any satisfactory way, and to all the constitutional 
 obligations which have been thrown about it ; but who, 
 nevertheless, desire a policy that looks to the preven 
 tion of it as a wrong, and looks hopefully to the time 
 when as a wrong it may come to an end. 
 
 Judge Douglas has again, for, I believe, the fifth 
 time, if not the* seventh, in my presence, reiterated his 
 charge of a conspiracy or combination between the 
 National Democrats and Republicans. What evidence 
 Judge Douglas has upon this subject I know not, in 
 asmuch as he never favors us with any. I have said 
 upon a former occasion, and I do not choose to suppress 
 it now, that I have no objection to the division in the 
 judge s party. He got it up himself. It was all bis 
 and their work. He had, I think, a great deal more to 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 do with the steps that led to the Lecompton constitu 
 tion than Mr. Buchanan had; though at last, when they 
 reached it, they quarreled over it, and their friends 
 divided upon it. I am very free to confess to Judge 
 Douglas that I have no objection to the division; but 
 I defy the judge to show any evidence that I have in 
 any way promoted that division, unless he insists on 
 being a witness himself in merel} T saying so. I can 
 give all fair friends of Judge Douglas here to under 
 stand exactly the view that Republicans take in regard 
 to that division. Don t you remember how two years 
 ago the opponents of the Democratic party were divided 
 between Fremont and Fillmore? I guess you do. Any 
 Democrat who remembers that division will remember 
 also that he was at the time very glad of it, and then 
 he will be able to see all there is between the National 
 Democrats and the Republicans. What we now think 
 of the two divisions of Democrats, you then thought of 
 the Fremont and Fillmore divisions. That is all there 
 is of it. 
 
 But if the judge continues to put forward the declara 
 tion that there is an unholy, unnatural alliance between 
 the Republicans and the National Democrats, I now 
 want to enter my protest against receiving him as an 
 entirely competent witness upon that subject. I want 
 to call to the judge s attention an attack he made upon 
 me in the first one of these debates, at Ottawa, on the 
 21st of August. In order to fix extreme Abolitionism 
 upon me, Judge Douglas read a set of resolutions which 
 he declared had been passed by a Republican State 
 convention, in October, 1854, at Springfield, Illinois, 
 and he declared I had taken part in that convention. 
 It turned out that although a few men calling them 
 selves an anti-Nebraska State convention had sat at 
 Springfield about that time, yet neither did I take 
 any part in it, nor did it pass the resolutions or any 
 such resolutions as Judge Douglas read. So apparent 
 had it become that the resolutions which he read had 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 not been passed at Springfield at all, nor by any State 
 convention in which I had taken part, that seven days 
 afterward, at Freeport, Judge Douglas declared that 
 he had been misled by Charles H. Lanphier, editor of 
 the " State Register," and Thomas L. Harris, member 
 of Congress in that district, and he promised in that 
 speech that when he went to Springfield he would inves 
 tigate the matter. Since then Judge Douglas has been 
 to Springfield, and I presume has made the investiga 
 tion ; but a month has passed since he has been there, 
 and so far as I know, he has made no report of the 
 result of his investigation. I have waited as I think a 
 sufficient time for the report of that investigation, and 
 I have some curiosity to see and hear it. A fraud, an 
 absolute forgery, was committed, and the perpetration 
 of it was traced to the three Lanphier, Harris, and 
 Douglas. Whether it can be narrowed in any way, so 
 as to exonerate any one of them, is what Judge Doug 
 las s report would probably show. 
 
 It is true that the set of resolutions read by Judge 
 Douglas were published in the Illinois " State Regis 
 ter " on the 16th of October, 1854, as being the resolu 
 tions of an anti-Nebraska convention which had sat 
 in that same month of October, at Springfield. But it 
 is also true that the publication in the " Register " was 
 a forgery then, and the question is still behind, which 
 of the three, if not all of them, committed that forgery? 
 The idea that it was done by mistake is absurd. The 
 article in the Illinois " State Register " contains part 
 of the real proceedings of that Springfield convention, 
 showing that the writer of the article had the real pro 
 ceedings before him, and purposely threw out the 
 genuine resolutions passed by the convention, and 
 fraudulently substituted the others. Lanphier then, as 
 now, was the editor of the " Register," so that there 
 seems to be but little room for his escape. But then it 
 is to be borne in mind that Lanphier had less interest 
 in the object of that forgery than either of the other 
 
174 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 two. The main object of that forgery at that time was 
 to beat Yates and elect Harris to Congress, and that 
 object was known to be exceedingly dear to Judge 
 Douglas at that time. Harris and Douglas were both 
 in Springfield when the convention was in session, and 
 although they both left before the fraud appeared in the 
 " Register," subsequent events show that they have 
 both had their eyes fixed upon that convention. 
 
 The fraud having been apparently successful upon 
 that occasion, both Harris and Douglas have more than 
 once since then been attempting to put it to new uses. 
 As the fisherman s wife, w r hose drowned husband was 
 brought home with his body full of eels, said when she 
 was asked what was to be done with him, " Take the 
 eels out and set him again," so Harris and Douglas 
 have shown a disposition to take the eels out of that 
 stale fraud by which they gained Harris s election, and 
 set the fraud again more than once. On the 9th of 
 July, 1856, Douglas attempted a repetition of it upon 
 Trumbull on the floor of the Senate of the United 
 States, as will appear from the appendix to the " Con 
 gressional Globe" of that date. On the 9th of August, 
 Harris attempted it again upon Norton in the House of 
 Representatives, as will appear by the same document 
 the appendix to the " Congressional Globe " of that 
 date. On the 21st of August last, all three Lanphier, 
 Douglas, and Harris reattempted it upon me at 
 Ottawa. It has been clung to and played out again and 
 again as an exceedingly high trump by this blessed trio. 
 And now that it has been discovered publicly to be a 
 fraud, we find that Judge Douglas manifests no sur 
 prise at it at all. He makes no complaint of Lanphier, 
 who must have known it to be a fraud from the begin 
 ning. He, Lanphier, and Harris are just as cozy now, 
 and just as active in the concoction of new schemes as 
 they were before the general discovery of this fraud. 
 Now all this is very natural if they are all alike guilty 
 in that fraud, and it is very unnatural if any one of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 them is innocent. Lanphier perhaps insists that the 
 rule of honor among thieves does not quite require 
 him to take all upon himself, and consequently my 
 friend Judge Douglas finds it difficult to make a satis 
 factory report upon his investigation. But meanwhile 
 the three are agreed that each is " a most honorable 
 man." 
 
 Judge Douglas requires .an indorsement of his truth 
 and honor by a reelection to the United States Senate, 
 and he makes and reports against me and against Judge 
 Trumbull, day after day, charges which we know to 
 be utterly untrue, without for a moment seeming to 
 think that this one unexplained fraud, which he 
 promised to investigate, will be the least drawback to 
 his claim to belief. Harris ditto. He asks a reelection 
 to the lower House of Congress without seeming to re 
 member at all that he is involved in this dishonorable 
 fraud! The Illinois " State Register," edited by Lan 
 phier, then, as now, the central organ of both Harris 
 and Douglas, continues to din the public ear with these 
 assertions without seeming to suspect that they are at 
 all lacking in title to belief. 
 
 After all, the question still recurs upon us, how did 
 that fraud originally get into the "State Register"? 
 Lanphier then, as now, was the editor of that paper. 
 Lanphier knows. Lanphier cannot be ignorant of how 
 and by whom it was originally concocted. Can he be 
 induced to tell, or if he has told, can Judge Douglas be 
 induced to tell, how it originally was concocted? It 
 may be true that Lanphier insists that the two men 
 for whose benefit it was originally devised shall at least 
 bear their share of it! How that is, 1 do not know, 
 and while it remains unexplained, I hope to be par 
 doned if I insist that the mere fact of Judge Douglas 
 making charges against Trumbull and myself is not 
 quite sufficient evidence to establish them ! 
 
 While we were at Freeport, in one of these joint 
 discussions, I answered certain interrogatories which 
 
If6 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Judge Douglas had propounded to me, and there in turn 
 propounded some to him, which he in a sort of way 
 answered. The third one of these interrogatories I 
 have with me, and wish now to make some comments 
 upon it. It was in these words : " If the Supreme Court 
 of the United States shall decide that States cannot 
 exclude slavery from their limits, are you in favor of 
 acquiescing in, adopting, and following such decision 
 as a rule of political action? " 
 
 To this interrogatory Judge Douglas made no answer 
 in any just sense of the word. He contented himself 
 with sneering at the thought that it was possible for 
 the Supreme Court ever to make such a decision. He 
 sneered at me for propounding the interrogatory. 1 
 had not propounded it without some reflection, and I 
 wish now to address to this audience some remarks 
 upon it. 
 
 In the second clause of the sixth article, I believe it 
 is, of the Constitution of the United States, we find 
 the following language: "This Constitution and the 
 laws of the United States which shall be made in pur 
 suance thereof, and all treaties made, or which shall 
 be made, under the authority of the United States, 
 shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges 
 in every State shall be bound thereby, anything in the 
 constitution or laws of any State to the contrary not 
 withstanding." 
 
 The essence of the Dred Scott case is compressed 
 into the sentence which I will now read : " Now, as 
 we have already said in an earlier part of this opinion, 
 upon a different point, the right of property in a slave 
 is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitu 
 tion." I repeat it, " the right of property in a slave is 
 distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Constitution"! 
 What is it to be "affirmed" in the Constitution? 
 Made firm in the Constitution so made that it cannot 
 be separated from the Constitution without breaking 
 the Constitution durable, as the Constitution, and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 177 
 
 part of the Constitution? Now, remembering the pro 
 vision of the Constitution which I have read, affirm 
 ing that that instrument is the supreme law of the 
 land; that the judges of every State shall be bound by 
 it, any law or constitution of any State to the contrary 
 notwithstanding; that the right of property in a slave 
 is affirmed in that Constitution, is made, formed into, 
 and cannot be separated from it without breaking it; 
 durable as the instrument, part of the instrument, 
 what follows as a short and even syllogistic argument 
 from it? I think it follows, and I submit to the con 
 sideration of men capable of arguing, whether as 1 
 state it, in syllogistic form, the argument has any 
 fault in it? 
 
 Nothing in the constitution or laws of any State can 
 destroy a right distinctly and expressly affirmed in 
 the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 The right of property in a slave is distinctly and 
 expressly affirmed in the Constitution of the United 
 States. 
 
 Therefore, nothing in the constitution or laws of any 
 State can destroy the right of property in a slave. 
 
 I believe that no fault can be pointed out in that 
 argument ; assuming the truth of the premises, the con 
 clusion, so far as I have capacity at all to understand 
 it, follows inevitably. There is a fault in it, as I think, 
 but the fault is not in the reasoning; the falsehood, in 
 fact, is a fault in the premises. I believe that the 
 right of property in a slave is not distinctly and ex 
 pressly affirmed in the Constitution, and Judge Doug 
 las thinks it is. I believe that the Supreme Court and 
 the advocates of that decision may search in vain for the 
 place in the Constitution where the right of property 
 in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed. I say, 
 therefore, that I think one of the premises is not true 
 in fact. But it is true with Judge Douglas. It is true 
 with the Supreme Court who pronounced it. They are 
 estopped from denying it, and being estopped from 
 12 
 
178 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 denying it, the conclusion follows that the Constitu 
 tion of the United States, being the supreme law, no 
 constitution or law can interfere with it. It being 
 affirmed in the decision that the right of property in a 
 slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Consti 
 tution, the conclusion inevitably follows that no State 
 law or constitution can destroy that right. I then say 
 to Judge Douglas, and to all others, that I think it 
 will take a better answer than a sneer to show that 
 those who have said that the right of property in a 
 slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Con 
 stitution are not prepared to show that no constitution 
 or law can destroy that right. I say I believe it will 
 take a far better argument than a mere sneer to show 
 to the minds of intelligent men that whoever has so 
 said is not prepared, whenever public sentiment is so 
 far advanced as to justify it, to say the other. 
 
 This is but an opinion, and the opinion of one very 
 humble man ; but it is my opinion that the Dred Scott 
 decision, as it is, never would have been made in its 
 present form if the party that made it had not been 
 sustained previously by the elections. My own opinion 
 is that the new Dred Scott decision, deciding against 
 the right of the people of the States to exclude slavery, 
 will never be made if that party is not sustained by 
 the elections. I believe, further, that it is just as sure 
 to be made as to-morrow is to come, if that party shall 
 be sustained. I have said upon a former occasion, and 
 I repeat it now, that the course of argument that Judge 
 Douglas makes use of upon this subject (I charge not 
 his motives in this) is preparing the public mind for 
 that new Dred Scott decision. I have asked him again 
 to point out to me the reasons for his first adherence to 
 the Dred Scott decision as it is. I have turned his at 
 tention to the fact that General Jackson differed with 
 him in regard to the political obligation of a Supreme 
 Court decision. I have asked his attention to the fact 
 that Jefferson differed with him in regard to the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 political obligation of a Supreme Court decision. Jef 
 ferson said that " judges are as honest as other men, 
 and not more so." And he said, substantially, that 
 whenever a free people should give up in absolute sub 
 mission to any department of government, retaining 
 for themselves no appeal from it, their liberties were 
 gone. I have asked his attention to the fact that the 
 Cincinnati platform, upon which he says he stands, 
 disregards a time-honored decision of the Supreme 
 Court, in defying the power of Congress to establish 
 a national bank. I have asked his attention to the fact 
 that he himself was one of the most active instruments 
 at one time in breaking down the Supreme Court of 
 the State of Illinois, because it had made a decision 
 distasteful to him a struggle ending in the remarkable 
 circumstance of his sitting down as one of the new 
 judges who were to overslough that decision, getting 
 his title of judge in that very way. 
 
 So far in this controversy I can get no answer at all 
 from Judge Douglas upon these subjects. Not one 
 can I get from him, except that he swells himself up 
 and says: " All of us who stand by the decision of the 
 Supreme Court are the friends of the Constitution; 
 all you fellows that dare question it in any way are 
 the enemies of the Constitution." Now in this very 
 devoted adherence to this decision, in opposition to all 
 the great political leaders whom he has recognized as 
 leaders in opposition to his former self and history, 
 there is something very marked. And the manner in 
 which he adheres to it not as being right upon the 
 merits, as he conceives (because he did not discuss that 
 at all), but as being absolutely obligatory upon every 
 one simply because of the source from whence it comes 
 as that which no man can gainsay, whatever it may 
 be this is another marked feature of his adherence to 
 that decision. It marks it in this respect, that it com 
 mits him to the next decision, whenever it comes, as 
 being as obligatory as this one, since he does not in- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 vestigate it, and won t inquire whether this opinion 
 is right or wrong. So he takes the next one without 
 inquiring whether it is right or wrong. He teaches 
 men this doctrine, and in so doing prepares the public 
 mind to take the next decision when it comes without 
 any inquiry. In this I think I argue fairly (without 
 questioning motives at all) that Judge Douglas is most 
 ingeniously and powerfully preparing the public mind 
 to take that decision when it comes; and not only so, 
 but he is doing it in various other ways. In these 
 general maxims about liberty in his assertions that 
 he " don t care whether slavery is voted up or voted 
 down " ; that " whoever wants slavery has a right to 
 have it " ; that " upon principles of equality it should 
 be allowed to go everywhere " ; that " there is no in 
 consistency between free and slave institutions " in 
 this he is also preparing (whether purposely or not) the 
 way for making the institution of slavery national. I 
 repeat again, for I wish no misunderstanding, that I do 
 not charge that he means it so; but I call upon your 
 minds to inquire, if you were going to get the best in 
 strument you could, and then set it to work in the most 
 ingenious way, to prepare the public mind for this 
 movement, operating in the free States, where there is 
 now an abhorrence of the institution of slavery, could 
 you find an instrument so capable of doing it as Judge 
 Douglas, or one employed in so apt a way to do it? 
 
 I have said once before, and I will repeat it now, that 
 Mr. Clay, when he was once answering an objection to 
 the Colonization Society, that it had a tendency to the 
 ultimate emancipation of the slaves, said that " those 
 who would repress all tendencies to liberty and ulti 
 mate emancipation must do more than put down the 
 benevolent efforts of the Colonization Society they 
 must go back to the era of our liberty and indepen 
 dence, and muzzle the cannon that thunders its annual 
 joyous return they must blot out the moral lights 
 around us they must penetrate the human soul, and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 eradicate the light of reason and the love of liberty " ! 
 And I do think I repeat, though I said it on a former 
 occasion that Judge Douglas, and whoever, like him, 
 teaches that the negro has no share, humble though it 
 may be, in the Declaration of Independence, is going 
 back to the era of our liberty and independence, and, so 
 far as in him lies, muzzling the cannon that thunders 
 its annual joyous return; that he is blowing out the 
 moral lights around us, when he contends that who 
 ever wants slaves has a right to hold them ; that he is 
 penetrating, so far as lies in his power, the human 
 soul, and eradicating the light of reason and the love 
 of liberty, when he is in every possible way preparing 
 the public mind, by his vast influence, for making the 
 institution of slavery perpetual and national. 
 
 There is, my friends, only one other point to which I 
 will call your attention for the remaining time that I 
 have left me, and perhaps I shall not occupy the entire 
 time that I have, as that one point may not take me 
 clear through it. 
 
 Among the interrogatories that Judge Douglas pro 
 pounded to me at Freeport, there was one in about this 
 language : " Are you opposed to the acquisition of any 
 further territory to the United States, unless slavery 
 shall first be prohibited therein?" I answered as I 
 thought, in this way, that I am not generally opposed 
 to the acquisition of additional territory, and that I 
 would support a proposition for the acquisition of 
 additional territory, according as my supporting it was 
 or was not calculated to aggravate this slavery ques 
 tion amongst us. I then proposed to Judge Douglas 
 another interrogatory, which was correlative to that : 
 " Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory in 
 disregard of how it may affect us upon the slavery 
 question?" Judge Douglas answered that is, in his 
 own way he answered it. I believe that, although he 
 took a good many words to answer it, it was little more 
 fully answered than any other. The substance of his 
 answer was that this country would continue to expand 
 
182 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that it would need additional territory that it was 
 as absurd to suppose that we could continue upon our 
 present territory, enlarging in population as we are, 
 as it would be to hoop a boy twelve years of age, and 
 expect him to grow to man s size without bursting the 
 hoops. I believe it was something like that. Conse 
 quently he was in favor of the acquisition of further 
 territory, as fast as we might need it, in disregard of 
 how it might affect the slavery question. I do not say 
 this as giving his exact language, but he said so sub 
 stantially, and he would leave the question of slavery 
 where the territory was acquired, to be settled by the 
 people of the acquired territory. [" That s the doc 
 trine."] Maybe it is; let us consider that for a while. 
 This will probably, in the run of things, become one 
 of the concrete manifestations of this slavery question. 
 If Judge Douglas s policy upon this question succeeds 
 and gets fairly settled down until all opposition is 
 crushed out, the next thing will be a grab for the terri 
 tory of poor Mexico, an invasion of the rich lands of 
 South America, then the adjoining islands will fol 
 low, each one of which promises additional slave-fields. 
 And this question is to be left to the people of those 
 countries for settlement. When we shall get Mexico, 
 I don t know whether the judge will be in favor of the 
 Mexican people that we get with it settling that ques 
 tion for themselves and all others; because we know 
 the judge has a great horror for mongrels, and I under 
 stand that the people of Mexico are most decidedly 
 a race of mongrels. I understand that there is not more 
 than one person there out of eight who is a pure white, 
 and I suppose from the judge s previous declaration 
 that when we get Mexico, or any considerable portion 
 of it, he w r ill be in favor of these mongrels settling 
 the question, which would bring him somewhat into 
 collision with his horror of an inferior race. 
 
 It is to be remembered, though, that this power of 
 acquiring additional territory is a power confided to the 
 President and Senate of the United States. It is a 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 153 
 
 power not under the control of the representatives of 
 the people any further than they, the President and the 
 Senate, can be considered the representatives of the 
 people. Let me illustrate that by a case we have in our 
 history. When we acquired the territory from Mexico 
 in the Mexican war, the House of Representatives, com 
 posed of the immediate representatives of the people, 
 all the time insisted that the territory thus to be ac 
 quired should be brought in upon condition that slavery 
 should be forever prohibited therein, upon the terms 
 and in the language that slavery had been prohibited 
 from coming into this country. That was insisted 
 upon constantly, and never failed to call forth an 
 assurance that any territory thus acquired should have 
 that prohibition in it, so far as the House of Repre 
 sentatives was concerned. But at last the President 
 and Senate acquired the territory without asking the 
 House of Representatives anything about it, and took 
 it without that prohibition. They have the power of 
 acquiring territory without the immediate representa* 
 tives of the people being called upon to say anything 
 about it, thus furnishing a very apt and powerful means 
 of bringing new territory into the Union, and, when it 
 is once brought into the country, involving us anew in 
 this slavery agitation. It is therefore, as I think, a 
 very important question for the consideration of the 
 American people, whether the policy of bringing in 
 additional territory, without considering at all how it 
 will operate upon the safety of the Union in reference 
 to this one great disturbing element in our national 
 politics, shall be adopted as the policy of the country. 
 You will bear in mind that it is to be acquired, accord 
 ing to the judge s view, as fast as it is needed, and the 
 indefinite part of this proposition is that we have only 
 Judge Douglas and his class of men to decide how 
 fas*; it is needed. We have no clear and certain 
 way of determining or demonstrating how fast terri 
 tory is needed by the necessities of the country. Who 
 ever wants to go out filibustering, then, thinks that 
 
184 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 more territory is needed. Whoever wants wider slave- 
 fields feels sure that some additional territory is needed 
 as slave territory. Then it is as easy to show the neces 
 sity of additional slave territory as it is to assert any 
 thing that is incapable of absolute demonstration. 
 Whatever motive a man or a set of men may have for 
 making annexation of property or territory, it is very 
 easy to assert, but much less easy to disprove, that it is 
 necessary for the wants of the country. 
 
 And now it only remains for me to say that I think 
 it is a very grave question for the people of this Union 
 to consider whether, in view of the fact that this slavery 
 question has been the only one that has ever endangered 
 our republican institutions the only one that has ever 
 threatened or menaced a dissolution of the Union 
 that has ever disturbed us in such a way as to make 
 us fear for the perpetuity of our liberty in view of 
 these facts, I think it is an exceedingly interesting and 
 important question for this people to consider whether 
 we shall engage in the policy of acquiring additional 
 territory, discarding altogether from our consideration, 
 while obtaining new territory, the question how it may 
 affect us in regard to this the only endangering element 
 to our liberties and national greatness. The judge s 
 view has been expressed. I, in my answer to his ques 
 tion, have expressed mine. I think it will become an 
 important and practical question. Our views are before 
 the public. I am willing and anxious that they should 
 consider them fully that they should turn it about 
 and consider the importance of the question, and arrive 
 at a just conclusion as to whether it is or is not wise 
 in the people of this Union, in the acquisition of new 
 territory, to consider whether it will add to the dis 
 turbance that is existing among us whether it will 
 add to the one only danger that has ever threatened the 
 perpetuity of the Union or our own liberties. I think 
 it is extremely important that they shall decide, and 
 rightly decide, that question before entering upon 
 that policy. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 135 
 
 SPEECH ON OPENING THE SIXTH JOINT DE 
 BATE AT QUINCY, ILL., OCT. 13, 1858, WITH 
 LINCOLN S REJOINDER TO DOUGLAS. 
 
 [In this speech, Mr. Lincoln once more deals interestingly and 
 broadly, with the question of slavery and of the attitude of the 
 Republican party with regard to it, on " a moral, a social, and a 
 political wrong." He then looks at the question from tht. 
 Democratic, pro-slavery side the side that deems slavery not 
 only an historically existing one, but not in itself wrong. In 
 his rejoinder to his adversary, he meets the latter s inquiry: 
 " Why cannot the institution of slavery, or rather, why cannot 
 the nation, part-slave and part-free, continue as our fathers made 
 it forever?" with this pointed and notable contention, that 
 " the fathers did not make the nation half-slave and half-free." 
 He insisted that " they found the institution of slavery existing 
 here," adding " that they did not make it so, but left it so be 
 cause they knew of no way to get rid of it at that time." He 
 clinched his argument with the further statement that when the 
 fathers of the government abolished the slave-trade and adopted 
 a system of restricting it from the new Territories where it had 
 not existed, they placed it where they and all sensible men 
 understood it was in the course of repression and ultimate ex 
 tinction]. 
 
 WE HAVE in this nation the element of domestic 
 slavery. It is a matter of absolute certainty that it is 
 a disturbing element. It is the opinion of all the great 
 men who have expressed an opinion upon it, that it is 
 a dangerous element. We keep up a controversy in re 
 gard to it. That controversy necessarily springs from 
 difference of opinion, and if we can learn exactly can 
 reduce to the lowest elements what that difference of 
 opinion is, we perhaps shall be better prepared for 
 discussing the different systems of policy that we would 
 propose in regard to that disturbing element. I sug 
 gest that the difference of opinion, reduced to its lowest 
 terms, is no other than the difference between the men 
 who think slavery a wrong and those who do not think 
 
1S6 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 it wrong. The Republican party think it wrong we 
 think it is a moral, a social, and a political wrong. We 
 think it is a wrong not confining itself merely to the 
 persons or the States where it exists, but that it is a 
 wrong which in its tendency, to say the least, affects 
 the existence of the whole nation. Because we think 
 it wrong, we propose a course of policy that shall deal 
 with it as a wrong. We deal with it as with any other 
 wrong, in so far as we can prevent its growing any 
 larger, and so deal with it that in the run of time there 
 may be some promise of an end to it. W T e have a due 
 regard to the actual presence of it amongst us, and the 
 difficulties of getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, 
 and all the constitutional obligations thrown about it. 
 1 suppose that in reference both to its actual existence 
 in the nation, and to our constitutional obligations, we 
 have no right at all to disturb it in the States where 
 it exists, and we profess that we have no more in 
 clination to disturb it than we have the right to do it. 
 We go further than that: we don t propose to disturb 
 it where, in one instance, we think the Constitution 
 would permit us. We think the Constitution would 
 permit us to disturb it in the District of Columbia. 
 Still we do not propose to do that, unless it should be 
 in terms which I don t suppose the nation is very 
 likely soon to agree to the terms of making the 
 emancipation gradual and compensating the unwilling 
 owners. Where we suppose we have the constitutional 
 right, we restrain ourselves in reference to the actual 
 existence of the institution and the difficulties thrown 
 about it. We also oppose it as an evil so far as it 
 seeks to spread itself. We insist on the policy that 
 shall restrict it to its present limits. We don t sup 
 pose that in doing this we violate anything due to the 
 actual presence of the institution, or anything due to 
 the constitutional guaranties thrown around it. 
 
 We oppose the Dred Scott decision in a certain way, 
 upon which I ought perhaps to address you a few 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 137 
 
 words. We do not propose that when Dred Scott has 
 been decided to be a slave by the court, we, as a mob, 
 will decide him to be free. We do not propose that, 
 when any other one, or one thousand, shall be decided 
 by that court to be slaves, we will in any violent way 
 disturb the rights of property thus settled; but we 
 nevertheless do oppose that decision as a political rule, 
 which shall be binding on the voter to vote for nobody 
 who thinks it wrong, which shall be binding on the 
 members of Congress or the President to favor no meas 
 ure that does not actually concur with the principles 
 of that decision. We do not propose to be bound by it 
 as a political rule in that way, because we think it lays 
 the foundation not merely of enlarging and spreading 
 out what we consider an evil, but it lays the foundation 
 for spreading that evil into the States themselves. We 
 propose so resisting it as to have it reversed if we can, 
 and a new judicial rule established upon this subject. 
 
 I will add this, that if there be any man who does not 
 believe that slavery is wrong in the three aspects which 
 I have mentioned, or in any one of them, that man is 
 misplaced and ought to leave us. While, on the other 
 hand, if there be any man in the Republican party 
 who is impatient over the necessity springing from 
 its actual presence, and is impatient of the constitu 
 tional guaranties thrown around it, and would act in 
 disregard of these, he too is misplaced, standing with 
 us. He will find his place somewhere else; for we have 
 a due regard, so far as we are capable of understand 
 ing them, for all these things. This, gentlemen, as well 
 as I can give it, is a plain statement of our principles in 
 all their enormity. 
 
 I will say now that there is a sentiment in the country 
 contrary to me a sentiment which holds that slavery 
 is not wrong, and therefore it goes for the policy that 
 does not propose dealing with it as a wrong. That 
 policy is the Democratic policy, and that sentiment is 
 tbe Democratic sentiment. If there be a doubt in the 
 
185 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 mind of any one of this vast audience that this is really 
 the central idea of the Democratic party, in relation 
 to this subject, I ask him to bear with me while I state 
 a few things tending, as I think, to prove that proposi 
 tion. In the first place, the leading man I think I 
 may do my friend Judge Douglas the honor of calling 
 him such advocating the present Democratic policy 
 never himself says it is wrong. He has the high dis 
 tinction, so far as I know, of never having said slavery 
 is either right or wrong. Almost everybody else says 
 one or the other, but the judge never does. If there 
 be a man in the Democratic party who thinks it is 
 wrong, and yet clings to that party, I suggest to him 
 in the first place that his leader don t talk as he does, 
 for he never says that it is wrong. In the second place, 
 I suggest to him that if he will examine the policy 
 proposed to be carried forward, he will find that he 
 carefully excludes the idea that there is anything 
 wrong in it. If you will examine the arguments 
 that are made on it, you will find that every one 
 carefully excludes the idea that there is anything wrong 
 in slavery. Perhaps that Democrat who says he is as 
 much opposed to slavery as I am, will tell me that I 
 am wrong about this. I wish him to examine his own 
 course in regard to this matter a moment, and then see 
 if his opinion will not be changed a little. You say it 
 is wrong; but don t you constantly object to anybody 
 else saying so? Do you not constantly argue that this 
 is not the right place to oppose it? You say it must 
 not be opposed in the free States, because slavery is 
 not there; it must not be opposed in the slave States, 
 because it is there; it must not be opposed in politics, 
 because that will make a fuss; it must not be opposed 
 in the pulpit, because it is not religion. Then where is 
 the place to oppose it? There is no suitable place to 
 oppose it. There is no plan in the country to oppose 
 this evil overspreading the continent, which you say 
 yourself is coming. Frank Blair and Gratz Brown tried 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to get up a system of gradual emancipation in Mis 
 souri, had an election in August, and got beat ; and you, 
 Mr. Democrat, threw up your hat and hallooed, " Hur 
 rah for Democracy ! " 
 
 So I say again, that in regard to the arguments that 
 are made, when Judge Douglas says he " don t care 
 whether slavery is voted up or voted down," whether he 
 means that as an individual expression of sentiment, or 
 only as a sort of statement of his views on national 
 policy, it is alike true to say that he can thus argue 
 logically if he don t see anything wrong in it; but he 
 cannot say so logically if he admits that slavery is 
 wrong. He cannot say that he would as soon see a 
 wrong voted up as voted down. When Judge Douglas 
 says that whoever or whatever community wants slaves, 
 they have a right to have them, he is perfectly logical 
 if there is nothing wrong in the institution; but if you 
 admit that it is wrong, he cannot logically say that any 
 body has a right to do wrong. When he says that 
 slave property and horse and hog property are alike 
 to be allowed to go into the Territories, upon the prin 
 ciples of equality, he is reasoning truly if there is no 
 difference between them as property; but if the one is 
 property, held rightfully, and the other is wrong, then 
 there is no equality between the right and wrong; so 
 that, turn it in any way you can, in all the arguments 
 sustaining the Democratic policy, and in that policy 
 itself, there is a careful, studied exclusion of the idea 
 that there is anything wrong in slavery. Let us under 
 stand this. I am not, just here, trying to prove that we 
 are right and they are wrong. I have been stating 
 where we and they stand, and trying to show what is 
 the real difference between us; and I now say that 
 whenever we can get the question distinctly stated, 
 can get all these men who believe that slavery is in 
 some of these respects wrong, to stand and act with us 
 in treating it as a wrong, then, and not till then, I 
 think, will we in some way come to an end of this 
 slavery agitation. 
 
190 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Rejoinder in the Quincy Joint Debate. 
 
 My Friends: I wish to return to Judge Douglas my 
 profound thanks for his public annunciation here to 
 day to be put on record, that his system of policy in 
 regard to the institution of slavery contemplates that 
 it shall last forever. We are getting a little nearer 
 the true issue of this controversy, and I am profoundly 
 grateful for this one sentence. Judge Douglas asks 
 you, " Why cannot the institution of slavery, or rather, 
 why cannot the nation, part slave and part free, con 
 tinue as our fathers made it forever?" In the first 
 place, I insist that our fathers did not make this nation 
 half slave and half free, or part slave and part free. I 
 insist that they found the institution of slavery existing 
 here. They did not make it so, but they left it so be 
 cause they knew of no way to get rid of it at that time. 
 When Judge Douglas undertakes to say that, as a 
 matter of choice, the fathers of the government made 
 this nation part slave and part free, he assumes what is 
 historically a falsehood. More than that : when the 
 fathers of the government cut off the source of slavery 
 by the abolition of the slave-trade, and adopted a system 
 of restricting it from the new Territories where it had 
 not existed, I maintain that they placed it where they 
 understood, and all sensible men understood, it was 
 in the course of ultimate extinction ; and when Judge 
 Douglas asks me why it cannot continue as our fathers 
 made it, I ask him why he and his friends could not let 
 it remain as our fathers made it? 
 
 It is precisely all I ask of him in relation to the in 
 stitution of slavery, that it shall be placed upon the 
 basis that our fathers placed it upon. Mr. Brooks, of 
 South Carolina, once said, and truly said, that when 
 this government was established, no one expected the 
 institution of slavery to last until this day; and that 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the men who formed this government were wiser and 
 better than the men of these days ; but the men of these 
 days had experience which the fathers had not, and 
 that experience had taught them the invention of the 
 cotton-gin, and this had made the perpetuation of the 
 institution of slavery a necessity in this country. 
 Judge Douglas could not let it stand upon the basis 
 where our fathers placed it, but removed it, and put 
 it upon the cotton-gin basis. It is a question, therefore, 
 for him and his friends to answer why they could 
 not let it remain where the fathers of the government 
 originally placed it. 
 
 I hope nobody has understood me as trying to sustain 
 the doctrine that we have a right to quarrel with 
 Kentucky or Virginia, or any of the slave States, about 
 the institution of slavery thus giving the judge an 
 opportunity to make himself eloquent and valiant 
 against us in fighting for their rights. I expressly 
 declared in my opening speech that I had neither the in 
 clination to exercise, nor the belief in the existence of, 
 the right to interfere with the States of Kentucky or 
 Virginia in doing as they pleased with slavery or any 
 other existing institution. Then what becomes of all 
 his eloquence in behalf of the rights of States, which 
 are assailed by no living man? 
 
 But I have to hurry on, for I have but a half-hour. 
 The judge has informed me, or informed this audience, 
 that the Washington " Union " is laboring for my elec 
 tion to the United States Senate. This is news to 
 me not very ungrateful news either. [Turning to 
 Mr. W. H. Carlin, who was on the stand :] I hope that 
 Carlin will be elected to the State Senate and will vote 
 for me. [Mr. Carlin shook his head.] Carlin don t 
 fall in, I perceive, and I suppose he will not do much 
 for me; but I am glad of all the support I can get any 
 where, if I can get it without practising any deception 
 to obtain it. In respect to this large portion of Judge 
 Douglas s speech, in which he tries to show that in the 
 
192 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 controversy between himself and the administration 
 party he is in the right, I do not feel myself at all com 
 petent or inclined to answer him. I say to him, Give 
 it to them give it to them just all you can; and, on 
 the other hand, I say to Carlin, and Jake Davis, and to 
 this man Wagley up here in Hancock, Give it to Doug 
 las just pour it into him. 
 
 Now in regard to this matter of the Dred Scott decis 
 ion, I wish to say a word or two. After all, the judge 
 will not say whether, if a decision is made holding that 
 the people of the States cannot exclude slavery, he will 
 support it or not. He obstinately refuses to say what 
 he will do in that case. The judges of the Supreme 
 Court as obstinately refused to say what they would 
 do on this subject. Before this I reminded him that at 
 Galesburg he said the judges had expressly declared 
 the contrary, and you remember that in my opening 
 speech I told him I had the book containing that de 
 cision here, and I would thank him to lay his finger on 
 the place where any such thing was said. He has oc 
 cupied his hour and a half, and he has not ventured to 
 try to sustain his assertion. He never will. But he is 
 desirous of knowing how we are going to reverse the 
 Dred Scott decision. Judge Douglas ought to know 
 how. Did not he and his political friends find a way 
 to reverse the decision of that same court in favor of 
 the constitutionality of the national bank? Did n t 
 they find a way to do it so effectually that they have 
 reversed it as completely as any decision ever was re 
 versed, so far as its practical operation is concerned? 
 And, let me ask you, did n t Judge Douglas find a way 
 to reverse the decision of our Supreme Court, when it 
 decided that Carlin s father old Governor Carlin 
 had not the constitutional power to remove a secretary 
 of state? Did he not appeal to the " mobs," as he calls 
 them? Did he not make speeches in the lobby to show 
 how villainous that decision was, and how it ought to 
 be overthrown? Did he not succeed, too, in getting an 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 393 
 
 act passed by the legislature to have it overthrown? 
 And did n t he himself sit down on that bench as one 
 of the five added judges who were to overslough the four 
 old ones getting his name of " judge " in that way 
 and in no other? If there is a villainy in using disre 
 spect or making opposition to Supreme Court decis 
 ions, I commend it to Judge Douglas s earnest consider 
 ation. I know of no man in the State of Illinois who 
 ought to know so well about how much villainy it takes 
 to oppose a decision of the Supreme Court, as our 
 honorable friend, Stephen A. Douglas. 
 
 Judge Douglas also makes the declaration that I say 
 the Democrats are bound by the Dred Scott decision, 
 while the Republicans are not. In the sense in which 
 he argues, I never said it; but I will tell you what 1 
 have said and what I do not hesitate to repeat to-day. 
 I have said that, as the Democrats believe that decision 
 to be correct, and that the extension of slavery is af 
 firmed in the National Constitution, they are bound to 
 support it as such ; and I will tell you here that General 
 Jackson once said each man was bound to support the 
 Constitution, " as he understood it." Now, Judge 
 Douglas understands the Constitution according to 
 the Dred Scott decision, and he is bound to support it 
 as he understands it. I understand it another way, and 
 therefore I am bound to support it in the way in which 
 I understand it. And as Judge Douglas believes that 
 decision to be correct, I will remake that argument if I 
 have time to do so. Let me talk to some gentleman 
 down there among you who looks me in the face. We 
 will say you are a member of the territorial legislature 
 and, like Judge Douglas, you believe that the right to 
 take and hold slaves there is a constitutional right. 
 The first thing you do is to swear you will support the 
 Constitution and all rights guaranteed therein; that 
 you will, whenever your neighbor needs your legisla 
 tion to support his constitutional rights, not withhold 
 that legislation. If you withhold that necessary legis- 
 13 
 
194: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 lation for the support of the Constitution and constitu 
 tional rights, do you not commit perjury? I ask every 
 sensible man if that is not so? That is undoubtedly 
 just so, say what you please. Now, that is precisely 
 what Judge Douglas says that this is a constitutional 
 right. Does the judge mean to say that the territorial 
 legislature in legislating may, by withholding neces 
 sary laws or by passing unfriendly laws, nullify that 
 constitutional right? Does he mean to say that? 
 Does he mean to ignore the proposition, so long and 
 well established in law, that what you cannot do direct 
 ly, you cannot do indirectly? Does he mean that? The 
 truth about the matter is this : Judge Douglas has sung 
 paeans to his " popular sovereignty " doctrine until his 
 Supreme Court, cooperating with him, has squatted his 
 squatter sovereignty out. But he will keep up this 
 species of humbuggery about squatter sovereignty. Hfe 
 has at last invented this sort of do-nothing sovereignty 
 that the people may exclude slavery by a sort of 
 " sovereignty " that is exercised by doing nothing at 
 all. Is not that running his popular sovereignty down 
 awfully? Has it not got down as thin as the homeo 
 pathic soup that was made by boiling the shadow of a 
 pigeon that had starved to death? But at last, when it 
 is brought to the test of close reasoning, there is not 
 even that thin decoction of it left. It is a presumption 
 impossible in the domain of thought. It is precisely 
 no other than the putting of that most unphilosophical 
 proposition, that two bodies can occupy the same space 
 at the same time. The Dred Scott decision covers the 
 whole ground, and while it occupies it, there is no room 
 even for the shadow of a starved pigeon to occupy the 
 same ground. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 REPLY TO DOUGLAS AT ALTON, ILL., IN THE 
 SEVENTH AND LAST JOINT DEBATE, OCT. 
 
 15, 1858. 
 
 [Tn this final speech in the series of Lincoln-Douglas debates, 
 Mr. Lincoln answers, by a direct denial, Douglas s statement 
 with reference to the decision in the Dred Scott case, that he 
 (Lincoln) had complained that the Supreme Court had decided 
 that a negro could never be a citizen of the United States. To 
 say this was to misrepresent Lincoln. The latter went on, in 
 his argument, to deny also that the negro was Hot included in the 
 Declaration of Independence, since he found him covered in the 
 phrase that all men are created equal. On the general question 
 of slavery, he enforces his argument by quoting Henry Clay, in 
 remarkable passage where that statesman spoke of it as a great 
 evil " which \ve had lamentably derived from the parent govern 
 ment and from our ancestors." On the subject of the fugitive- 
 slave law, Lincoln admitted that he respected it only from its 
 being in the Constitution and a right fixed there; while he 
 characterized as false Douglas s charge that he (Lincoln) was in 
 favor of a perfect social and political equality between the white 
 and the black races. On the other hand, he expatiated on the 
 wrong of slavery that being the real issue of the time, and the 
 one that had led to these Joint Debates between Douglas and 
 himself]. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s Reply in the Alton Joint Debate. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: I have been somewhat, in 
 my own mind, complimented by a large portion of 
 Judge Douglas s speech I mean that portion which he 
 devotes to the controversy between himself and the 
 present administration. This is the seventh time Judge 
 Douglas and myself have met in these joint discussions, 
 and he has been gradually improving in regard to his 
 war with the administration. At Quincy, day before 
 yesterday, he was a little more severe upon the adminis 
 tration than I had heard him upon any occasion, and 1 
 took pains to compliment him for It. I then told him 
 
196 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to " give it to them with all the power he had " ; and as 
 some of them were present, I told them I would be very 
 much obliged if they would give it to him in about the 
 same way. I take it that he has now vastly improved 
 upon the attack he made then upon the administra 
 tion. I flatter myself he has really taken my advice 
 on this subject. All I can say now is to re-commend to 
 him and to them what I then commended to prosecute 
 the war against one another in the most vigorous man 
 ner. I say to them again, " Go it, husband ; go it, 
 bear ! " 
 
 There is one other thing I will mention before I 
 leave this branch of the discussion although I do not 
 consider it much of my business, anyway. I refer to 
 that part of the judge s remarks where he undertakes 
 to involve Mr. Buchanan in an inconsistency. He reads 
 something from Mr. Buchanan, from which he under 
 takes to involve him in an inconsistency; and he gets 
 something of a cheer for having done so. I would only 
 remind the judge that while he is very valiantly fight 
 ing for the Nebraska bill and the repeal of the Mis 
 souri Compromise, it has been but a little while since 
 he was the valiant advocate of the Missouri Compro 
 mise. I want to know if Buchanan has not as much 
 right to be inconsistent as Douglas has? Has Douglas 
 the exclusive right in this country of being on all sides 
 of all questions? Is nobody allowed that high privilege 
 but himself? Is he to have an entire monopoly on that 
 subject? 
 
 So far as Judge Douglas addressed his speech to me, 
 or so far as it was about me, it is my business to pay 
 some attention to it. I have heard the judge state two 
 or three times what he has stated to-day that in a 
 speech which I made at Springfield, Illinois, I had in 
 a very especial manner complained that the Supreme 
 Court in the Dred Scott case had decided that a negro 
 could ne.ver be a citizen of the United States. I have 
 omitted, by some accident, heretofore to analyze this 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 statement, and it is required of me to notice it now. 
 In point of fact it is untrue. I never have complained 
 especially of the Dred Scott decision because it held 
 that a negro could not be a citizen, and the judge is 
 always wrong when he says I ever did so complain of 
 it. I have the speech here, and I will thank him or any 
 of his friends to show where I said that a negro should 
 be a citizen, and complained especially of the Dred 
 Scott decision because it declared he could not be one. 
 I have done no such thing, and Judge Douglas so per 
 sistently insisting that I have done so has strongly im 
 pressed me with the belief of a predetermination on 
 his part to misrepresent me. He could not get his 
 foundation for insisting that I was in favor of this 
 negro equality anywhere else as well as he could by 
 assuming that untrue proposition. Let me tell this 
 audience what is true in regard to that matter; and the 
 means by which they may correct me if I do not tell 
 them truly is by a recurrence to the speech itself. I 
 spoke of the Dred Scott decision in my Springfield 
 speech, and I was then endeavoring to prove that the 
 Dred Scott decision was a portion of a system or scheme 
 to make slavery national in this country. I pointed 
 out what things had been decided by the court. I 
 mentioned as a fact that they had decided that a negro 
 could not be a citizen that they had done so, as I 
 supposed, to deprive the negro, under all circumstances, 
 of the remotest possibility of ever becoming a citizen 
 and claiming the rights of a citizen of the United States 
 under a certain clause of the Constitution. I stated 
 that, without making any complaint of it at all. I 
 then went on and stated the other points decided in 
 the case, namely, that the bringing of a negro into the 
 State of Illinois, and holding him in slavery for two 
 years here, was a matter in regard to which they would 
 not decide whether it would make him free or not ; that 
 they decided the further point that taking him into a 
 United States Territory where slavery was prohibited 
 
198 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 by act of Congress, did not make him free, because that 
 act of Congress, as they held, was unconstitutional. 
 I mentioned these three things as making up the points 
 decided in that case. I mentioned them in a lump 
 taken in connection with the introduction of the Ne 
 braska bill, and the amendment of Chase, offered at the 
 time, declaratory of the right of the people of the Terri 
 tories to exclude slavery, which was voted down by the 
 friends of the bill. I mentioned all these things to 
 gether, as evidence tending to prove a combination and 
 conspiracy to make the institution of slavery national. 
 In that connection and in that way I mentioned the 
 decision on the point that a negro could not be a citi 
 zen, and in no other connection. 
 
 Out of this, Judge Douglas builds up his beautiful 
 fabrication of my purpose to introduce a perfect 
 social and political equality between the white and the 
 black races. His assertion that I made an " especial 
 objection " (that is his exact language) to the decision 
 on this account, is untrue in point of fact. 
 
 Now, while I am upon this subject, and as Henry 
 Clay has been alluded to, I desire to place myself, in 
 connection with Mr. Clay, as nearly right before this 
 people as may be. I am quite aware what the judge s 
 object is here by all these allusions. He knows that we 
 are before an audience having strong sympathies south 
 ward by relationship, place of birth, and so on. He 
 desires to place me in an extremely Abolition attitude. 
 He read upon a former occasion, and alludes without 
 reading to-day, to a portion of a speech which I de 
 livered in Chicago. In his quotations from that speech, 
 as he has made them upon former occasions, the ex 
 tracts were taken in such a way as, I suppose, brings 
 them within the definition of what is called garbling 
 taking portions of a speech which, when taken by 
 themselves, do not present the entire sense of the 
 speaker as expressed at the time. I propose, therefore, 
 out of that same speech, to show how one portion of it 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ^99 
 
 which he skipped over (taking an extract before and an 
 extract after) will give a different idea, and the true 
 idea 1 intended to convey. It will take me some little 
 time to read it, but I believe I will occupy the time that 
 way. 
 
 You have heard him frequently allude to my con 
 troversy with him in regard to the Declaration of In 
 dependence. I confess that I have had a struggle with 
 Judge Douglas on that matter, and I will try briefly 
 to place myself right in regard to it on this occasion. I 
 said and it is between the extracts Judge Douglas has 
 taken from this speech, and put in his published 
 speeches : 
 
 It may be argued that there are certain conditions that make 
 necessities and impose them upon us, and to the extent that a 
 necessity is imposed upon a man he must submit to it. I think 
 that was the condition in which we found ourselves when we 
 established this government. We had slaves among us ; we could 
 not get our Constitution unless we permitted them to remain in 
 slavery; we could not secure the good we did secure if we 
 grasped for more: and having by necessity submitted to that 
 much, it does not destroy the principle that is the charter of our 
 liberties. Let that charter remain as our standard. 
 
 Now I have upon all occasions declared as strongly 
 as Judge Douglas against the disposition to interfere 
 with the existing institution of slavery. You hear me 
 read it from the same speech from which he takes 
 garbled extracts for the purpose of proving upon me 
 a disposition to interfere with the institution of 
 slavery, and establish a perfect social and political 
 equality between negroes and white people. 
 
 Allow me, while upon this subject, briefly to present 
 one other extract from a speech of mine, made more 
 than a year ago, at Springfield, in discussing this very 
 same question, soon after Judge Douglas took his 
 ground that negroes were not included in the Declara 
 tion of Independence: 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 I think the authors of that notable instrument intended to 
 include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal 
 in all respects. They did not mean to say that all men were 
 equal in color, size, intellect, moral development, or social capa 
 city. They defined with tolerable distinctness in what respects 
 they did consider all men created equal equal in certain in 
 alienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of 
 happiness. This they said, and this they meant. They did not 
 mean to assert the obvious untruth, that all were then actually 
 enjoying that equality, nor yet that they were about to confer it 
 immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer 
 such a boon. They meant simply to declare the right, so that 
 the enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances 
 should permit. 
 
 They meant to set up a standard maxim for free society which 
 should be familiar to all and revered by all constantly looked 
 to, constantly labored for, and even, though never perfectly at 
 tained, constantly approximated; and thereby constantly spread 
 ing and deepening its influence and augmenting the happiness 
 and value of life to all people, of all colors, everywhere. 
 
 There, again, are the sentiments I have expressed in 
 regard to the Declaration of Independence upon a 
 former occasion sentiments which have been put in 
 print and read wherever anybody cared to know what so 
 humble an individual as myself chose to say in regard 
 to it. 
 
 At Galesburg the other day, I said, in answer to 
 Judge Douglas, that three years ago there never had 
 been a man, so far as I knew or believed, in the whole 
 world, who had said that the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence did not include negroes in the term " all men." 
 I reassert it to-day. I assert that Judge Douglas and 
 all his friends may search the whole records of the 
 country, and it will be a matter of great astonishment 
 to me if they shall be able to find that one human being 
 three years ago had ever uttered the astounding sen 
 timent that the term " all men " in the Declaration did 
 not include the negro. Do not let me be misunderstood. 
 I know that more than three years ago there were men 
 who, finding this assertion constantly in the way of 
 their schemes to bring about the ascendency and per- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 201 
 
 petuation of slavery, denied the truth of it. I know 
 that Mr. Calhoun and all the politicians of his school 
 denied the truth of the Declaration. I know that it ran 
 along in the mouth of some Southern men for a period 
 of years, ending at last in that shameful though rather 
 forcible declaration of Pettit of Indiana, upon the floor 
 of the United States Senate, that the Declaration of 
 Independence was in that respect " a self-evident lie," 
 rather than a self-evident truth. But I say, with a 
 perfect knowledge of all this hawking at the Declara 
 tion without directly attacking it, that three years 
 ago there never had lived a man who had ventured to 
 assail it in the sneaking way of pretending to believe 
 it and then asserting it did not include the negro. I 
 believe the first man who ever said it was Chief Jus 
 tice Taney in the Dred Scott case, and the next to him 
 was our friend, Stephen A. Douglas. And now it 
 has become the catchword of the entire party. I 
 would like to call upon his friends everywhere to con 
 sider how they have come in so short a time to view 
 this matter in a way so entirely different from their 
 former belief; to ask whether they are not being borne 
 along by an irresistible current whither, they know 
 not. 
 
 In answer to my proposition at Galesburg last week, 
 I see that some man in Chicago has got up a letter 
 addressed to the Chicago " Times," to show, as he pro 
 fesses, that somebody had said so before ; and he signs 
 himself " An Old-Line Whig," if I remember correctly. 
 In the first place I would say he was not an old-lin 
 Whig. I am somewhat acquainted with old-line 
 Whigs. I was with the old-line Whigs from the origin 
 to the end of that party; I became pretty well ac 
 quainted with them, and I know they always had some 
 sense, whatever else you could ascribe to them. I 
 know there never was one who had not more sense 
 than to try to show by the evidence he produces that 
 some man had, prior to the time I named, said that 
 
202 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 negroes were not included in the term " all men " in 
 the Declaration of Independence. What is the evi 
 dence he produces? I will bring forward his evidence, 
 and let you see what he offers by way of showing that 
 somebody more than three years ago had said negroes 
 were not included in the Declaration. He brings for 
 ward part of a speech from Henry Clay the part of 
 the speech of Henry Clay which I used to bring for 
 ward to prove precisely the contrary. I guess we are 
 surrounded to some extent to-day by the old friends 
 of Mr. Clay, and they will be glad to hear anything 
 from that authority. While he was in Indiana a man 
 presented a petition to liberate his negroes, and he 
 (Mr. Clay) made a speech in answer to it, which 1 
 suppose he carefully wrote himself and caused to be 
 published. I have before me an extract from that 
 speech which constitutes the evidence this pretended 
 u Old-Line Whig " at Chicago brought forward to show 
 that Mr. Clay didn t suppose the negro was included 
 in the Declaration of Independence. Hear what Mr. 
 Clay said: 
 
 And what is the foundation of this appeal to me in Indiana, 
 to liberate the slaves under my care in Kentucky? It is a 
 general declaration in the act announcing to the world the in 
 dependence of the thirteen American colonies, that all men are 
 created equal. Now, as an abstract principle, there is no doubt 
 of the truth of that declaration; and it is desirable, in the 
 original construction of society, and in organized societies, to 
 keep it in view as a great fundamental principle. But then I 
 apprehend that in no society that ever did exist, or ever shall be 
 formed, was or can the equality asserted among the members 
 of the human race be practically enforced and carried out. There 
 are portions, large portions, women, minors, insane, culprits, 
 transient sojourners, that will always probably remain subject 
 to the government of another portion of the community. 
 
 That declaration, whatever may be the extent of its import, 
 was made by the delegations of the thirteen States. In most of 
 them slavery existed, and had long existed, and was established 
 by law. It was introduced and forced upon the colonies by the 
 paramount law of England. Do you believe that in making that 
 declaration the States that concurred in it intended that it 
 ghould be tortured into a virtual emancipation of all the slaves 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 203 
 
 within their respective limits? Would Virginia and other 
 Southern States have ever united in a declaration which was to 
 be interpreted into an abolition of slavery among them? Did 
 any one of the thirteen colonies entertain such a design or ex 
 pectation? To impute such a secret and unavowed purpose 
 would be to charge a political fraud upon the noblest band of 
 patriots that ever assembled in council a fraud upon the con 
 federacy of the Revolution a fraud upon the union of those 
 States whose constitution not only recognized the lawfulness of 
 slavery, but permitted the importation of slaves from Africa 
 until the year 1808. 
 
 This is the entire quotation brought forward to 
 prove that somebody previous to three years ago had 
 said the negro was not included in the term " all men " 
 in the Declaration. How does it do so? In what way 
 has it a tendency to prove that? Mr. Clay says it is 
 true as an abstract principle that all men are created 
 equal, but that we cannot practically apply it in all 
 cases. He illustrates this by bringing forward the 
 cases of females, minors, and insane persons, w r it!i 
 whom it cannot be enforced; but he says that it is true 
 as an abstract principle in the organization of society 
 as well as in organized society, and it should be kept 
 in view as a fundamental principle. Let me read a 
 few words more before I add some comments of my 
 own. Mr. Clay says a little further on : 
 
 I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institu 
 tion of slavery. I look upon it as a great evil, and deeply lament 
 that we have derived it from the parent government, and from 
 our ancestors. I wish every slave in the United States Was in the 
 country of his ancestors. But here they are, and the question is, 
 how can they be best dealt with? If a state of nature existed, 
 and we were about to lay the foundations of society, no man 
 would be more strongly opposed than I should be, to incorporating 
 the institution of slavery among its elements. 
 
 Now, here in this same book in this same speech 
 in this same extract brought forward to prove that 
 Mr. Clay held that the negro was not included in the 
 Declaration of Independence we find no such state 
 ment on his part, but instead the declaration that it is 
 
204: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 a great fundamental truth, which should be con 
 stantly kept in view in the organization of society 
 and in societies already organized. But if I say a 
 word about it; if I attempt, as Mr. Clay said all good 
 men ought to do, to keep it in view; if, in this "or 
 ganized society," I ask to have the public eye turned 
 upon it ; if I ask, in relation to the organization of new 
 Territories, that the public eye should be turned upon 
 it, forthwith I am vilified as you hear me to-day. 
 What have I done that I have not the license of Henry 
 Clay s illustrious example here in doing? Have I done 
 aught that I have not his authority for, while main 
 taining that in organizing new Territories and societies, 
 this fundamental principle should be regarded, and in 
 organized society holding it up to the public view and 
 recognizing what he recognized as the great principle 
 of free government? 
 
 And when this new principle this new proposition 
 that no human being ever thought of three years ago 
 is brought forward, I combat it as having an evil 
 tendency, if not an evil design. I combat it as having 
 a tendency to dehumanize the negro to take away 
 from him the right of ever striving to be a man. I 
 combat it as being one of the thousand things con 
 stantly done in these days to prepare the public mind 
 to make property, and nothing but property, of the 
 negro in all the States in this Union. 
 
 But there is a point that I wish, before leaving this 
 part of the discussion, to ask attention to. I have 
 read, and I repeat, the words of Henry Clay: 
 
 I desire no concealment of my opinions in regard to the institu 
 tion of slavery. I look upon it as a great evil, and deeply lamenu 
 that we have derived it from the parent government, and from 
 our ancestors. I wish every slave in the United States was in the 
 country of his ancestors. But here they are, and the question is, 
 how can they best be dealt with? If a state of nature existed, 
 and we were about to lay the foundations of society, no man 
 would be more strongly opposed than I should be, to incorporating 
 the institution of slavery among its elements. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The principle upon which I have insisted in this 
 canvass, is in relation to laying the foundations of 
 new societies. I have never sought to apply these 
 principles to the old States for the purpose of abolish 
 ing slavery in those States. It is nothing but a miser 
 able perversion of what I have said, to assume that 
 I have declared Missouri, or any other slave State, 
 shall emancipate her slaves. I have proposed no such 
 thing. But when Mr. Clay says that in laying the 
 foundations of societies in our Territories where it 
 loes not exist, he would be opposed to the introduction 
 of slavery as an element, I insist that we have his 
 warrant his license for insisting upon the exclusion 
 of that element which he declared in such strong and 
 emphatic language was most hateful to him. 
 
 Judge Douglas has again referred to a Springfield 
 speech in which I said, " A house divided against it 
 self cannot stand. " The judge has so often made the 
 entire quotation from that speech that I can make it 
 from memory. I used this language: 
 
 We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated 
 with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end 
 to the slavery agitation. Under the operation of this policy, 
 that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly 
 augmented. In my opinion it will not cease until a crisis shall 
 have been reached and passed. " A house divided against itself 
 cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure per 
 manently half slave and half free. I do not expect the house to 
 fall but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will be 
 come all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of 
 slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where 
 the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of 
 ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it 
 shall become alike lawful in all the States old as well as new, 
 North as well as South. 
 
 That extract, and the sentiments expressed in it, 
 have been extremely offensive to Judge Douglas. He 
 has warred upon them as Satan wars upon the Bible. 
 His perversions upon it are endless. Here now are my 
 views upon it in brief. 
 
206 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 I said we were now far into the fifth year since a 
 policy was initiated with the avowed object and con 
 fident promise of putting an end to the slavery agi 
 tation. Is it not so? When that Nebraska bill was 
 brought forward four years ago last January, was it 
 not for the " avowed object " of putting an end to the 
 slavery agitation? We were to have no more agitation 
 in Congress; it was all to be banished to the Terri 
 tories. By the way, I will remark here that, as Judge 
 Douglas is very fond of complimenting Mr. Crittenden 
 in these days, Mr. Crittenden has said there was a 
 falsehood in that whole business, for there was no 
 slavery agitation at that time to allay. We were for 
 a little while quiet on the troublesome thing, and that 
 very allaying-plaster of Judge Douglas s stirred it up 
 again. But was it not undertaken or initiated with 
 the " confident promise " of putting an end to the 
 slavery agitation? Surely it was. In every speech 
 you heard Judge Douglas make, until he got into this 
 "imbroglio," as they call it, with the administration 
 about the Lecompton constitution, every speech on that 
 Nebraska bill was full of his felicitations that we wer 
 just at the end of the slavery agitation. The last tip of 
 the last joint of the old serpent s tail was just drawing 
 out of view. But has it proved so? I have asserted 
 that under that policy that agitation " has not only 
 ceased, but has constantly augmented." When was 
 there ever a greater agitation in Congress than last 
 winter? When was it as great in the country as to 
 day? 
 
 There was a collateral object in the introduction of 
 that Nebraska policy which was to clothe the people 
 of the Territories with a superior degree of self-govern 
 ment, beyond what they had ever had before. The 
 first object and the main one of conferring upon the 
 people a higher degree of " self-government," is a 
 question of fact to be determined by you in answer to 
 a single question. Have you ever heard or known of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 207 
 
 a people anywhere on earth who had as little to do 
 as, in the first instance of its use, the people of Kansas 
 had with this same right of " self-government "? In 
 its main policy and in its collateral object, it has been 
 nothing but a living, creeping lie from the time of its 
 introduction till to-day. 
 
 I have intimated that I thought the agitation would 
 not cease until a crisis should have been reached and 
 passed. I have stated in what way I thought it woujd 
 be reached and passed. I have said that it might go 
 one way or the other. We might, by arresting the 
 further spread of it, and placing it where the fathers 
 originally placed it, put it where the public mind should 
 rest in the belief that it was in the course of ultimate 
 extinction. Thus the agitation may cease. It may 
 be pushed forward until it shall become alike lawful 
 in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as 
 South. I have said, and I repeat, my wish is that 
 the further spread of it may be arrested, and that it 
 may be placed where the public mind shall rest in the 
 belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction. 
 I have expressed that as my wish. I entertain the 
 opinion, upon evidence sufficient to my mind, that 
 the fathers of this government placed that institution 
 where the public mind did rest in the belief that it 
 was in the course of ultimate extinction. Let me ask 
 why they made provision that the source of slavery 
 the African slave-trade should be cut off at the end 
 of twenty years? Why did they make provision that 
 in all the new territory we owned at that time, slavery 
 should be forever inhibited? Why stop its spread in 
 one direction and cut off its source in another, if they 
 did not look to its being placed in the course of ulti 
 mate extinction? 
 
 Again, the institution of slavery is only mentioned 
 in the Constitution of the United States two or three 
 times, and in neither of these cases does the word 
 "slavery" or "negro race" occur; but covert Ian- 
 
208 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 guage is used each time, and for a purpose full of 
 significance. What is the language in regard to the 
 prohibition of the African slave-trade? It runs in 
 about this way : " The migration or importation of 
 such persons as any of the States now existing shall 
 think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the 
 Congress prior to the year 1808." 
 
 The next allusion in the Constitution to the question 
 of slavery and the black race, is on the subject of the 
 basis of representation, and there the language used 
 is : " Representatives and direct taxes shall be appor 
 tioned among the several States which may be in 
 cluded within this Union, according to their respective 
 numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the 
 whole number of three persons, including those bound 
 to service for a term of years, and excluding Indians 
 not taxed, three-fifths of all other persons." 
 
 It says " persons," not slaves, not negroes ; but this 
 " three-fifths " can be applied to no other class among 
 us than the negroes. 
 
 Lastly, in the provision for the reclamation of fugi 
 tive slaves, it is said : " No person held to service or 
 labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping 
 into another, shall in consequence of any law or regu 
 lation therein be discharged from such service or labor, 
 but shall be delivered up, on claim of the party to 
 whom such service or labor may be due." There, 
 again, there is no mention of the word " negro," or of 
 slavery. In all three of these places, being the only 
 allusion to slavery in the instrument, covert language 
 is used. Language is used not suggesting that slavery 
 existed or that the black race were among us. And I 
 understand the contemporaneous history of those times 
 to be that covert language was used with a purpose, 
 and that purpose was that in our Constitution, w r hich 
 it was hoped, and is still hoped, will endure forever, 
 when it should be read by intelligent and patriotic 
 men, after the institution of slavery had passed from 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 209 
 
 among us, there should be nothing on the face of the 
 great charter of liberty suggesting that such a thing 
 as negro slavery had ever existed among us. This is 
 part of the evidence that the fathers of the government 
 expected and intended the institution of slavery to 
 come to an end. They expected and intended that 
 it should be in the course of ultimate extinction. 
 And when I say that I desire to see the further spread 
 of it arrested, I only say I desire to see that done 
 which the fathers have first done. When I say I 
 desire to see it placed where the public mind will rest 
 in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate ex 
 tinction I only say I desire to see it placed w r liere they 
 placed it. It is not true that our fathers, as Judge 
 Douglas assumes, made this government part slave 
 and part free. Understand the sense in which he puts 
 it. He assumes that slavery is a rightful thing within 
 itself was introduced by the framers of the Consti 
 tution. The exact truth is that they found the insti 
 tution existing among us, and they left it as they found 
 it. But in making the government they left this insti 
 tution with many clear marks of disapprobation upon 
 it. They found slavery among them, and they left it 
 among them because of the difficulty the absolute 
 impossibility of its immediate removal. And when 
 Judge Douglas asks me why w r e cannot let it remain 
 part slave and part free, as the fathers of the govern 
 ment made it, he asks a question based upon an as 
 sumption which is itself a falsehood; and I turn upon 
 him and ask him the question, when the policy that the 
 fathers of the government had adopted in relation to 
 this element among us was the best policy in the world, 
 the only wise policy, the only policy that we can 
 ever safely continue upon, that will ever give us peace, 
 unless this dangerous element masters us all and be 
 comes a national institution, I turn upon him and 
 ask him why he could not leave it alone. I turn and 
 ask him why he was driven to the necessity of intro- 
 14 
 
210 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ducing a new policy in regard to it. He has himself 
 said he introduced a new policy. He said so in his 
 speech on the 22d of March of the present year, 1858. 
 I ask him why he could not let it remain where our 
 fathers placed it. I ask, too, of Judge Douglas and 
 his friends, why we shall not again place this insti 
 tution upon the basis on which the fathers left it? I 
 ask you, when he infers that I am in favor of setting 
 the free and the slave States at war, when the insti 
 tution was placed in that attitude by those who made 
 the Constitution, did they make any war? If we had 
 no war out of it when thus placed, wherein is the 
 ground of belief that we shall have war out of it if w T e 
 return to that policy? Have we had any peace upon 
 this matter springing from any other basis? I main 
 tain that we have not. I have proposed nothing more 
 than a return to the policy of the fathers. 
 
 I confess, when I propose a certain measure of 
 policy, it is not enough for me that I do not intend 
 anything evil in the result, but it is incumbent on me 
 to show that it has not a tendency to that result. I 
 have met Judge Douglas in that point of view. I have 
 not only made the declaration that I do not mean to 
 produce a conflict between the States, but I have tried 
 to show by fair reasoning, and I think I have shown 
 to the minds of fair men, that I propose nothing but 
 what has a most peaceful tendency. The quotation 
 that I happened to make in that Springfield speech, that 
 " a house divided against itself cannot stand," and 
 which has proved so offensive to the judge, was part and 
 parcel of the same thing. He tries to show that variety 
 in the domestic institutions of the different States is 
 necessary and indispensable. I do not dispute it. I 
 have no controversy with Judge Douglas about 
 that. I shall very readily agree with him that it would 
 be foolish for us to insist upon having a cranberry law 
 here, in Illinois, where we have no cranberries, because 
 they have a cranberry law in Indiana, where they have 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 211 
 
 cranberries. I should insist that it would be exceed 
 ingly wrong in us to deny to Virginia the right to enact 
 oyster laws, where they have oysters, because we want 
 no such laws here. I understand, I hope, quite as 
 well as Judge Douglas, or anybody else, that the vari 
 ety in the soil and climate and face of the country, 
 and consequent variety in the industrial pursuits and 
 productions of a country, require systems of laws con 
 forming to this variety in the natural features of the 
 country. I understand quite as well as Judge Doug 
 las, that if we here raise a barrel of flour more than 
 we want, and the Louisianians raise a barrel of sugar 
 more than they want, it is of mutual advantage to 
 exchange. That produces commerce, brings us to 
 gether, and makes us better friends. We like one 
 another the more for it. And I understand as well 
 as Judge Douglas, or anybody else, that these mutual 
 accommodations are the cements which bind together 
 the different parts of this Union; that instead of being 
 a thing to " divide the house " figuratively expressing 
 the Union they tend to sustain it; they are the props 
 of the house tending always to hold it up. 
 
 But when 1 have admitted all this, I ask if there is 
 any parallel between these things and this institution 
 of slavery? I do not see that there is any parallel at 
 all between them. Consider it. When have we had 
 any difficulty or quarrel amongst ourselves about the 
 cranberry laws of Indiana, or the oyster laws of Vir 
 ginia, or the pine-lumber laws of Maine, or the fact 
 that Louisiana produces sugar, and Illinois flour? 
 When have we had any quarrels over these things? 
 When have we had perfect peace in regard to this 
 thing which I say is an element of discord in this 
 Union? We have sometimes had peace, but when was 
 it? It was when the institution of slavery remained 
 quiet where it was. We have had difficulty and tur 
 moil whenever it has made a struggle to spread itself 
 where it was not. I ask, then, if experience does not 
 
212 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 speak in thunder-tones, telling us that the policy which 
 has given peace to the country heretofore, being re 
 turned to, gives the greatest promise of peace again. 
 You may say, and Judge Douglas has intimated the 
 same thing, that all this difficulty in regard to the 
 institution of slavery is the mere agitation of office- 
 seekers and ambitious northern politicians. He 
 thinks we want to get " his place," I suppose. I agree 
 that there are office-seekers amongst us. The Bible 
 says somewhere that we are desperately selfish. I 
 think we would have discovered that fact without the 
 Bible. I do not claim that I am any less so than the 
 average of men, but I do claim that I am not more 
 selfish than Judge Douglas. 
 
 But is it true that all the difficulty and agitation 
 we have in regard to this institution of slavery springs 
 from office-seeking from the mere ambition of poli 
 ticians? Is that the truth? How many times have 
 we had danger from this question? Go back to the 
 day of the Missouri Compromise. Go back to the 
 nullification question, at the bottom of which lay 
 this same slavery question. Go back to the time of 
 the annexation of Texas. Go back to the troubles 
 that led to the compromise of 1850. You will find that 
 every time, with the single exception of the nullifica 
 tion question, they sprang from an endeavor to spread 
 this institution. There never was a party in the his 
 tory of this country, and there probably never will be, 
 of sufficient strength to disturb the general peace of 
 the country. Parties themselves may be divided and 
 quarrel on minor questions, yet it extends not beyond 
 the parties themselves. But does not this question 
 make a disturbance outside of political circles? Does 
 it not enter into the churches and rend them asunder? 
 What divided the great Methodist Church into two 
 parts, North and South? What has raised this con 
 stant disturbance in every Presbyterian general assem 
 bly that meets? What disturbed the Unitarian 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Church in this very city two years ago? What has 
 jarred and shaken the great American Tract Society 
 recently not yet splitting it, but sure to divide it in the 
 end? Is it not this same mighty, deep-seated power 
 that somehow operates on the minds of men, exciting 
 and stirring them up in every avenue of society in 
 politics, in religion, in literature, in morals, in all the 
 manifold relations of life? Is this the work of poli 
 ticians? Is that irresistible power, which for fifty 
 years has shaken the government and agitated the 
 people, to be stilled and subdued by pretending that 
 it is an exceedingly simple thing, and we ought not 
 to talk about it? If you will get everybody else to 
 stop talking about it, I assure you I will quit before 
 they have half done so. But where is the philosophy 
 or statesmanship which assumes that you can quiet 
 that disturbing element in our society which has dis 
 turbed us for more than half a century, which has 
 been the only serious danger that has threatened our 
 institutions I say, where is the philosophy or the 
 statesmanship based on the assumption that we are 
 to quit talking about it, and that the public mind is 
 all at once to cease being agitated by it? Yet this is 
 the policy here in the North that Douglas is advo 
 cating that we are to care nothing about it! I ask 
 you if it is not a false philosophy? Is it not a false 
 statesmanship that undertakes to build up a system 
 of policy upon the basis of caring nothing about the 
 very thing that everybody does care the most about a 
 thing which all experience has shown we care a very 
 great deal about? 
 
 The judge alludes very often in the course of his re 
 marks to the exclusive right which the States have 
 to decide the whole thing for themselves. I agree with 
 him very readily that the different States have that 
 right. He is but fighting a man of straw when ho 
 assumes that I am contending against the right of the 
 States to do as they please about it. Our controversy 
 
214 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 with him is in regard to the new Territories. We 
 agree that when the States come in as States they have 
 the right and the power to do as they please. We have 
 no pover as citizens of the free States, or in our 
 federal capacity as members of the Federal Union 
 through the General Government, to disturb slavery 
 in the States where it exists. We profess constantly 
 that we have no more inclination than belief in the 
 power of the government to disturb it; yet we are 
 driven constantly to defend ourselves from the as 
 sumption that we are warring upon the rights of the 
 States. What I insist upon is, that the new Terri 
 tories shall be kept free from it while in the territorial 
 condition. Judge Douglas assumes that we have no 
 interest in them that we have no right whatever to 
 interfere. I think we have some interest. I think that 
 as white men we have. Do we not wish for an outlet 
 for our surplus population, if I may so express myself ? 
 Do we not feel an interest in getting to that outlet 
 with such institutions as we would like to have prevail 
 there? If you go to the Territory opposed to slavery, 
 and another man comes upon the same ground with 
 his slave, upon the assumption that the things are 
 equal, it turns out that he has the equal right all his 
 way, and you have no part of it your way. If he goes 
 in and makes it a slave Territory, and by consequence 
 a slave State, is it not time that those who desire 
 to have it a free State were on equal ground? Let 
 me suggest it in a different way. How many Demo 
 crats are there about here [" A thousand "] who have 
 left slave States and come into the free State of Illi 
 nois to get rid of the institution of slavery? [Another 
 voice: "A thousand and one."] I reckon there are a 
 thousand and one. I will ask you, if the policy you 
 are now advocating had prevailed when this country 
 was in a territorial condition, where would you have 
 gone to get rid of it? Where would you have found 
 your free State or Territory to go to? And when 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 215 
 
 hereafter, for any cause, the people in this place shall 
 desire to find new homes, if they wish to be rid of the 
 institution, where will they find the place to go to? 
 
 Now, irrespective of the moral aspect of this question 
 as to whether there is a right or wrong in enslaving 
 a negro, I am still in favor of our new Territories 
 being in such a condition that white men may find 
 a home may find some spot where they can better 
 their condition where they can settle upon new soil, 
 and better their condition in life. I am in favor of 
 this not merely (I must say it here as I have elsewhere) 
 for our own people who are born amongst us, but as 
 an outlet for free white people everywhere, the world 
 over in which Hans, and Baptiste, and Patrick, and 
 all other men from all the world, may find new homes 
 and better their condition in life. 
 
 I have stated upon former occasions, and I may as 
 well state again, what I understand to be the real 
 issue of this controversy between Judge Douglas and 
 myself. On the point of my wanting to make war 
 between the free and the slave States, there has been 
 no issue between us. So, too, when he assumes that 
 I am in favor of introducing a perfect social and poli 
 tical equality between the white and black races. 
 These are false issues, upon which Judge Douglas has 
 tried to force the controversy. There is no foundation 
 in truth for the charge that I maintain either of these 
 propositions. The real issue in this controversy the 
 one pressing upon every mind is the sentiment on the 
 part of one class that looks upon the institution of 
 slavery as a wrong, and of another class that does not 
 look upon it as a wrong. The sentiment that con 
 templates the institution of slavery in this country 
 as a wrong is the sentiment of the Republican party. 
 It is the sentiment around which all their actions, 
 all their arguments, circle; from which all their propo 
 sitions radiate. They look upon it as being a moral 
 social, and political wrong; and while they contem- 
 
216 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 plate it as such, they nevertheless have due regard for 
 its actual existence among us, and the difficulties of 
 getting rid of it in any satisfactory way, and to all 
 the constitutional obligations thrown about it. Yet 
 having a due regard for these, they desire a policy in 
 regard to it that looks to its not creating any more 
 danger. They insist that it, as far as may be, be 
 treated as a wrong, and one of the methods of treating 
 it as a wrong is to make provision that it shall grow 
 no larger. They also desire a policy that looks to a 
 peaceful end of slavery some time, as being a wrong. 
 These are the view r s they entertain in regard to it, as 
 I understand them; and all their sentiments, all their 
 arguments and propositions, are brought within this 
 range. I have said, and I repeat it here, that if there 
 be a man amongst us who does not think that the insti 
 tution of slavery is wrong in any one of the aspects 
 of which I have spoken, he is misplaced, and ought 
 not to be with us. And if there be a man amongst 
 us who is so impatient of it as a wrong as to disregard 
 its actual presence among us and the difficulty of 
 getting rid of it suddenly in a satisfactory way, and 
 to disregard the constitutional obligations thrown 
 about it, that man is misplaced if he is on our platform. 
 We disclaim sympathy with him in practical action. 
 He is not placed properly with us. 
 
 On this subject of treating it as a wrong, and limit 
 ing its spread, let me say a word. Has anything ever 
 threatened the existence of this Union save and except 
 this very institution of slavery? What is it that we 
 hold most dear amongst us? Our own liberty and 
 prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty 
 and prosperity save and except this institution of 
 slavery? If this is true, how do you propose to in> 
 prove the condition of things by enlarging slavery 
 by spreading it out and making it bigger? You may 
 have a wen or cancer upon your person, and not be able 
 to cut it out lest you bleed to death; but surely it is 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 217 
 
 no way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your 
 whole body. That is no proper way of treating what 
 you regard as a wrong. You see this peaceful way of 
 dealing with it as a wrong restricting the spread of 
 it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where 
 it has not already existed. That is the peaceful way, 
 the old-fashioned way, the way in which the fathers 
 themselves set us the example. 
 
 On the other hand, I have said there is a sentiment 
 which treats it as not being wrong. That is the Demo 
 cratic sentiment of this day. I do not mean to say that 
 every man who stands within that range positively 
 asserts that it is right. That class will include all who 
 positively assert that it is right, and all who, like 
 Judge Douglas, treat it as indifferent, and do not 
 say it is either right or wrong. These two classes 
 of men fall within the general class of those who do 
 not look upon it as a wrong. And if there be among 
 you anybody who supposes that he, as a Democrat, 
 can consider himself " as much opposed to slavery as 
 anybody," I would like to reason with him. You 
 never treat it as a wrong. What other thing that you 
 consider as a wrong, do you deal with as you deal with 
 that? Perhaps you say it is wrong, but your leader 
 never does, and you quarrel w r ith anybody who says it 
 is wrong. Although you pretend to say so yourself, 
 you can find no fit place to deal with it as a wrong. 
 You must not say anything about it in the free States, 
 because it is not here. You must not say anything 
 about it in the slave States, because it is there. You 
 must not say anything about it in the pulpit, because 
 that is religion, and has nothing to do with it. Y r ou 
 must not say anything about it in politics, because 
 that will disturb the security of " my place." There 
 is no place to talk about it as being a wrong, although 
 you say yourself it is a wrong. But finally you will 
 screw yourself up to the belief that if the people of the 
 slave States should adopt a system of gradual emanci- 
 
218 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 pation on the slavery question; you would be in favor 
 of it. You would be in favor of it! You say that is 
 getting it in the right place, and you would be glad to 
 see it succeed. But you are deceiving yourself. You 
 all know that Frank Blair and Gratz Brown, down 
 there in St. Louis, undertook to introduce that system 
 in Missouri. They fought as valiantly as they could 
 for the system of gradual emancipation which you pre 
 tend you would be glad to see succeed. Now I will 
 bring you to the test. After a hard fight, they were 
 beaten ; and when the news came over here, you threw 
 up your hats and hurrahed for Democracy. More 
 than that, take all the argument made in favor of the 
 system you have proposed, and it carefully excludes 
 the idea that there is anything wrong in the institution 
 of slavery. The arguments to sustain that policy 
 carefully exclude it. Even here to-day you heard 
 Judge Douglas quarrel with me because I uttered a 
 wish that it might some time come to an end. Al 
 though Henry Clay could say he wished every slave 
 in the United States was in the country of his an 
 cestors, I am denounced by those pretending to respect 
 Henry Clay, for uttering a wish that it might some 
 time, in some peaceful way, come to an end. 
 
 The Democratic policy in regard to that institution 
 will not tolerate the merest breath, the slightest hint, 
 of the least degree of wrong about it. Try it by some 
 of Judge Douglas s arguments. He says he " don t 
 care whether it is voted up or voted down " in the 
 Territories. I do not care myself, in dealing with that 
 expression, whether it is intended to be expressive 
 of his individual sentiments on the subject, or only 
 of the national policy he desires to have established. 
 It is alike valuable for my purpose. Any man can 
 say that who does not see anything wrong in slavery, 
 but no man can logically say it who does see a wrong in 
 it; because no man can logically say he don t care 
 .whether a wrong is voted up or voted down. He 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 219 
 
 may say he don t care whether an indifferent thing is 
 voted up or down, but he must logically have a choice 
 between a right thing and a wrong thing. He contends 
 that whatever community wants slaves has a right to 
 have them. So they have if it is not a wrong. But 
 if it is a w r rong, he cannot say people have a right to 
 do wrong. He says that, upon the score of equality, 
 slaves should be allowed to go into a new Territory 
 like other property. This is strictly logical if there is 
 no difference between it and other property. If it 
 and other property are equal, his argument is entirely 
 logical. But if you insist that one is wrong and the 
 other right, there is no use to institute a comparison 
 between right and w r rong. You may turn over every 
 thing in the Democratic policy from beginning to end, 
 whether in the shape it takes on the statute-book, in 
 the shape it takes in the Dred Scott decision, in the 
 shape it takes in conversation, or the shape it takes in 
 short maxim-like arguments it everywhere carefully 
 excludes the idea that there is anything wrong in it. 
 That is the real issue. That is the issue that will 
 continue in this country when these poor tongues of 
 Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the 
 eternal struggle between these two principles right 
 and w r rong throughout the world. They are the two 
 principles that have stood face to face from the begin 
 ning of time; and will ever continue to struggle. The 
 one is the common right of humanity, and the other the 
 divine right of kings. It is the same principle in what 
 ever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that 
 says, " You toil and work and earn bread, and I ll 
 eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether 
 from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the peo 
 ple of his own nation and live by the fruit of their 
 labor, or from one race of men as an apology for en 
 slaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle. 
 I was glad to express my gratitude at Quincy, and I 
 reexpress it here to Judge Douglas that he looks to 
 
220 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 no end of the institution of slavery. That will help 
 the people to see where the struggle really is. It will 
 hereafter place with us all men who really do wish the 
 wrong may have an end. And whenever we can get 
 rid of the fog which obscures the real question, when 
 we can get Judge Douglas and his friends to avow 
 a policy looking to its perpetuation, we can get out 
 from among them that class of men and bring them to 
 the side of those who treat it as a wrong. Then there 
 will soon be an end of it, and that end will be its 
 " ultimate extinction." Whenever the issue can be 
 distinctly made, and all extraneous matter thrown out, 
 so that men can fairly see the real difference between 
 the parties, this controversy will soon be settled, and 
 it will be done peaceably too. There will be no war, 
 no violence. It will be placed again where the wisest 
 and best men of the world placed it. Brooks of South 
 Carolina once declared that when this Constitution 
 was framed, its framers did not look to the institution 
 existing until this day. When he said this, I think he 
 stated a fact that is fully borne out by the history of 
 the times. But he also said they were better and wiser 
 men than the men of these days; yet the men of these 
 days had experience which they had not, and by the 
 invention of the cotton-gin it became a necessity in 
 this country that slavery should be perpetual. I now 
 say that, willingly or unwillingly, purposely or with 
 out purpose, Judge Douglas has been the most promi 
 nent instrument in changing the position of the insti 
 tution of slavery, which the fathers of the government 
 expected to come to an end ere this, and putting it 
 upon Brooks s cotton-gin basis placing it where he 
 openly confesses he has no desire there shall ever be an 
 end of it. 
 
 I understand I have ten minutes yet. I will employ 
 it in saying something about this argument Judge 
 Douglas uses, while he sustains the Dred Scott decision, 
 that the people of the Territories can still somehow 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 221 
 
 exclude slavery. The first thing I ask attention to is 
 the fact that Judge Douglas constantly said, before 
 the decision, that whether they could or not, was a 
 question for the Supreme Court. But after the court 
 has made the decision, he virtually says it is not a 
 question for the Supreme Court, but for the people. 
 And how is it he tells us they can exclude it? He says 
 it needs " police regulations," and that admits of 
 " unfriendly legislation." Although it is a right es 
 tablished by the Constitution of the United States to 
 take a slave into a Territory of the United States and 
 hold him as property, yet unless the territorial legis 
 lature will give friendly legislation, and, more espec 
 ially, if they adopt unfriendly legislation, they can 
 practically exclude him. Now, without meeting this 
 proposition as a matter of fact, I pass to consider the 
 real constitutional obligation. Let me take the gentle 
 man who looks me in the face before me, and let us sup 
 pose that he is a member of the territorial legislature. 
 The first thing he will do will be to swear that he will 
 support the Constitution of the United States. His 
 neighbor by his side in the Territory has slaves and 
 needs territorial legislation to enable him to enjoy that 
 constitutional right. Can he withhold the legislation 
 which his neighbor needs for the enjoyment of a right 
 which is fixed in his favor in the Constitution of the 
 United States which he has sworn to support? Can he 
 withhold it without violating his oath? And more 
 especially, can he pass unfriendly legislation to vio 
 late his oath? Why, this is a monstrous sort of talk 
 about the Constitution of the United States! There 
 has never been as outlandish or lawless a doctrine from 
 the mouth of any respectable man on earth. I do not 
 believe it is a constitutional right to hold slaves in a 
 Territory of the United States. I believe the decision 
 was improperly made, and I go for reversing it. Judge 
 Douglas is furious against those who go for reversing 
 a decision. But he is for legislating it out of all force 
 
222 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 while the law itself stands. I repeat that there has 
 never been so monstrous a doctrine uttered from the 
 mouth of a respectable man. 
 
 I suppose most of us (I know it of myself) believe 
 that the people of the Southern States are entitled to 
 a congressional fugitive-slave law ; that is a right fixed 
 in the Constitution. But it cannot be made available 
 to them without congressional legislation. In the 
 judge s language, it is a " barren right," which needs 
 legislation before it can become efficient and valuable 
 to the persons to whom it is guaranteed. And, as the 
 right is constitutional, I agree that the legislation 
 shall be granted to it. Not that we like the institu 
 tion of slavery; we profess to have no taste for run 
 ning and catching negroes at least, I profess no 
 taste for that job at all. Why then do I yield support 
 to a fugitive-slave law? Because I do not understand 
 that the Constitution, which guarantees that right, 
 can be supported without it. And if I believe that the 
 right to hold a slave in a Territory was equally fixed 
 in the Constitution with the right to reclaim fugitives, 
 I should be bound to give it the legislation necessary 
 to support it. I say that no man can deny his obliga 
 tion to give the necessary legislation to support slavery 
 in a Territory, who believes it is a constitutional right 
 to have it there. No man can, who does not give the 
 Abolitionist an argument to deny the obligation en 
 joined by the Constitution to enact a fugitive-slave 
 law. Try it now. It is the strongest Abolition argu 
 ment ever made. I say, if that Dred Scott decision is 
 correct, then the right to hold slaves in a Territory is 
 equally a constitutional right with the right of a slave 
 holder to have his runaway returned. No one can 
 show the distinction between them. The one is express, 
 so that we cannot deny it ; the other is construed to be 
 in the Constitution, so that he who believes the decision 
 to be correct believes in the right. And the man who 
 argues that by unfriendly legislation, in spite of that 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 223 
 
 constitutional right, slavery may be driven from the 
 Territories, cannot avoid furnishing an argument by 
 which Abolitionists may deny the obligation to return 
 fugitives, and claim the power to pass laws unfriendly 
 to the right of the slaveholder to reclaim his fugitive. I 
 do not know how such an argument may strike a popu 
 lar assembly like this, but I defy anybody to go before 
 a body of men whose minds are educated to estimating 
 evidence and reasoning, and show that there is an iota 
 of difference between the constitutional right to re 
 claim a fugitive, and the constitutional right to hold 
 a slave, in a Territory, provided this Dred Scott deci 
 sion is correct. I defy any man to make an argument 
 that will justify unfriendly legislation to deprive a 
 slaveholder of his right to hold his slave in a Terri 
 tory, that will not equally, in all its length, breadth, 
 and thickness, furnish an argument for nullifying the 
 fugitive-slave law. Why, there is not such an Aboli 
 tionist in the nation as Douglas, after all. 
 
224: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH AT CHICAGO ON THE NIGHT OF THE 
 MUNICIPAL ELECTION, MARCH 1, 1859. 
 
 [Here Mr. Lincoln brings forward once more the wrong of 
 slavery and the danger to the nation, as well as to the Republican 
 cause, in tampering with the evil institution or in closing one s 
 eyes to the fact of its menacing existence. On the question of 
 its perpetuation and spreading into the new Territories and 
 States, he speaks strongly and earnestly, urging its limitation in 
 area and resistance to it as a giant wrong, and with the fixed 
 idea that some day it must and will come to an end. In this, 
 the speaker, by intuition, seems to foreshadow, under Provi 
 dence, the great and momentous act of which Lincoln, later on, 
 was to be the instrument of liberating the slave, though 
 calamitous and trying days were to intervene ere emancipation 
 finally came about]. 
 
 I UNDERSTAND that you have to-day rallied around 
 your principles, and they have again triumphed in the 
 city of Chicago. I am exceedingly happy to meet you 
 under such cheering auspices on this occasion the first 
 on which I have appeared before an audience since the 
 campaign of last year. It is unsuitable to enter into a 
 lengthy discourse, as is quite apparent, at a moment 
 like this. I shall therefore detain you only a very short 
 while. 
 
 It gives me peculiar pleasure to find an opportunity 
 under such favorable circumstances to return my 
 thanks for the gallant support that the Republicans of 
 the city of Chicago and of the State gave to the cause 
 in which we were all engaged in the late momentous 
 struggle in Illinois. . . . 
 
 I wish now to aad a word that has a bearing on the 
 future. The Republican principle, the profound cen 
 tral truth that slavery is wrong and ought to be dealt 
 with as a wrong, though we are always to remember 
 the fact of its actual existence amongst us and faith- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 225 
 
 fully observe all the constitutional guarantees, the 
 unalterable principle never for a moment to be lost 
 sight of, that it is a wrong and ought to be dealt with 
 as such, cannot advance at all upon Judge Douglas s 
 ground; that there is a portion of the country in which 
 slavery must always exist; that he does not care 
 whether it is voted up or voted down, as it is simply a 
 question of dollars and cents. Whenever in any com 
 promise, or arrangement, or combination that may 
 promise some temporary advantage we are led upon 
 that ground, then and there the great living principle 
 Upon which we have organized as a party is surrendered. 
 The proposition now in our minds that this thing 
 is wrong being once driven out and surrendered, then 
 the institution of slavery necessarily becomes national. 
 One or two words more of what I did not think of 
 when I rose. Suppose it is true that the Almighty has 
 drawn a line across this continent, on the south side 
 of which part of the people will hold the rest as slaves; 
 that the Almighty ordered this; that it is right, un 
 changeably right, that men ought there to be held as 
 slaves; that their fellow-men will always have the right 
 to hold them as slaves. I ask you, this once admitted, 
 how can you believe that it is not right for us, or for 
 them coming here, to hold slaves on this other side of 
 the line? Once we come to acknowledge that it is 
 right, that it is the law of the Eternal Being for slavery 
 to exist on one side of that line, have Ave any sure 
 ground to object to slaves being held on the other side? 
 Once admit the position that a man rightfully holds 
 another man as property on one side of the line, and 
 you must, w r hen it suits his convenience to come to the 
 other side, admit that he has the same right to hold 
 his property there. Once admit Judge Douglas s prop 
 osition, and w r e must all finally give way. Although 
 we may not bring ourselves to the idea that it is to our 
 interest to have slaves in this Northern country, we 
 shall soon bring ourselves to admit that while we may 
 15 
 
226 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 not want them, if any one else does, he has the moral 
 right to have them. Step by step, south of the judge s 
 moral climate line in the States, in the Territories 
 everywhere, and then in all the States it is thus that 
 Judge Douglas would lead us inevitably to the nation 
 alization of slavery. Whether by his doctrine of squat 
 ter sovereignty, or by the ground taken by him in his 
 recent speeches in Memphis and through the South, 
 that wherever the climate makes it the interest of the 
 inhabitants to encourage slave property they will pass 
 a slave code, whether it is covertly nationalized by 
 congressional legislation, or by Dred Scott decision, or 
 by the sophistical and misleading doctrine he has last 
 advanced, the same goal is inevitably reached by the 
 one or the other device. It is only traveling to the 
 same place by different roads. 
 
 It is in this direction lies all the danger that now 
 exists to the great Republican cause. I take it that 
 so far as concerns forcibly establishing slavery in the 
 Territories by congressional legislation, or by virtue 
 of the Dred Scott decision, that day has passed. Our 
 only serious danger is that we shall be led upon this 
 ground of Judge Douglas, on the delusive assumption 
 that it is a good way of whipping our opponents, when 
 in fact it is a way that leads straight to final sur 
 render. The Republican party should not dally with 
 Judge Douglas when it knows where his proposition 
 and his leadership would take us, nor be disposed to 
 listen to it because it was best somewhere else to sup 
 port somebody occupying his ground. That is no just 
 reason why we ought to go over to Judge Douglas, as 
 we were called upon to do last year. Never forget that 
 we have before us this whole matter of the right or 
 wrong of slavery in this Union, though the immediate 
 question is as to its spreading out into new Territories 
 and States. 
 
 I do not wish to be misunderstood upon this subject 
 of slavery in this country. I suppose it may long exist ; 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 227 
 
 and perhaps the best way for it to come to an end 
 peaceably is for it to exist for a length of time. But I 
 say that the spread and strengthening and perpetua 
 tion of it is an entirely different proposition. There we 
 should in every way resist it as a wrong, treating it as 
 a wrong, with the fixed idea that it must and will come 
 to an end. If we do not allow ourselves to be allured 
 from the strict path of our duty by such a device 
 as shifting our ground and throwing us into the rear 
 of a leader who denies our first principle, denies that 
 there is an absolute wrong in the institution of slavery, 
 then the future of the Republican cause is safe, and 
 victory is assured. You Republicans of Illinois have 
 deliberately taken your ground; you have heard the 
 whole subject discussed again and again; you have 
 stated your faith in platforms laid down in a State con 
 vention and in a national convention ; you have heard 
 and talked over and considered it until you are now 
 all of opinion that you are on a ground of unques 
 tionable right. All you have to do is to keep the faith, 
 to remain steadfast to the right, to stand by your ban 
 ner. Nothing should lead you to leave your guns. 
 Stand together, ready, with match in hand. Allow 
 nothing to turn you to the right or to the left. Re 
 member how long you have been in setting out on the 
 true course; how long you have been in getting your 
 neighbors to understand and believe as you now do. 
 Stand by your principles, stand by your guns, and vic 
 tory, complete and permanent, is sure at the last. 
 
228 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH AT CINCINNATI, OHIO, SEP. 17, 1859. 
 
 [This address of Mr. Lincoln, at Cincinnati, following upon a 
 visit of Judge S. A. Douglas to that city, may be said to be a 
 sort of aftermath of the notable Lincoln-Douglas Debates in 
 Illinois, for it reviews a good deal of the ground gone over and 
 comment upon many of the subjects discussed in the historic 
 tilts with the Illinois " little Giant " Senator. The reiteration of 
 these topics, aside from their fresh setting, will however not be 
 unwelcome, it is thought, to readers of this volume, or to those 
 who wish to learn how the public mind was at the time 
 educated and influenced in regard to the great question of 
 slavery and the agitation for its limitation and ultimate sup 
 pression, now about to corne forward for final settlement at the 
 assize of the nation]. 
 
 My Fellow-citizens of the State of Ohio: This is the 
 first time in my life that I have appeared before an 
 audience in so great a city as this. I therefore 
 though I am no longer a young man make this ap 
 pearance under some degree of embarrassment. But 
 I have found that when one is embarrassed, usually 
 the shortest way to get through with it is to quit talk 
 ing or thinking about it, and go at something else. 
 
 I understand that you have had recently with you 
 my very distinguished friend, Judge Douglas, of Illi 
 nois, and I understand, without having had an oppor 
 tunity (not greatly sought, to be sure) of seeing a re 
 port of the speech that he made here, that he did 
 me the honor to mention my humble name. I suppose 
 that he did so for the purpose of making some objection 
 to some sentiment at some time expressed by me. I 
 should expect, it is true, that Judge Douglas had re 
 minded you, or informed you, if you had never before 
 heard it, that I had once in my life declared it as my 
 opinion that this government cannot " endure per 
 manently half slave and half free; that a house divided 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 against itself cannot stand," and, as I had expressed 
 it, I did not expect the house to fall; that I did not 
 expect the Union to be dissolved, but that I did expect 
 it would cease to be divided ; that it would become 
 all one thing or all the other; that either the opposi 
 tion of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, 
 and place it where the public mind would rest in the 
 belief that it was in the course of ultimate extinction, 
 or the friends of slavery will push it forward until it 
 becomes alike lawful in all the States, old or new, free 
 as well as slave. I did, fifteen months ago, express that 
 opinion, and upon many occasions Judge Douglas has 
 denounced it, and has greatly, intentionally or unin 
 tentionally, misrepresented my purpose in the expres 
 sion of that opinion. 
 
 I presume, without having seen a report of his speech, 
 that he did so here. I presume that he alluded also 
 to that opinion in different language, having been ex 
 pressed at a subsequent time by Governor Seward, of 
 New York, and that he took the two in a lump and de 
 nounced them ; that he tried to point out that there 
 was something couched in this opinion which led to the 
 making of an entire uniformity of the local institu 
 tions of the various States of the Union, in utter dis 
 regard of the different States, which in their nature 
 would seern to require a variety of institutions, and a 
 variety of laws conforming to the differences in the 
 nature of the different States. 
 
 Not only so; I presume he insisted that this was a 
 declaration of war between the free and slave States 
 that it was the sounding to the onset of continual war 
 between the different States, the slave and free States. 
 
 This charge, in this form, was made by Judge Doug 
 las on, I believe, the 9th of July, 1858, in Chicago, in 
 my hearing. On the next evening, I made some reply 
 to it. I informed him that many of the inferences he 
 drew from that expression of mine were altogether 
 foreign to any purpose entertained by me, and in so 
 
230 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 far as he should ascribe these inferences to me, as ray 
 purpose, he was entirely mistaken; and in so far 
 as he might argue that whatever might be my purpose, 
 actions, conforming to my views, would lead to these 
 results, he might argue and establish if he could; but, 
 so far as purposes were concerned, he was totally mis 
 taken as to me. 
 
 When I made that reply to him, I told him, on the 
 question of declaring war between the different States 
 of the Union, that I had not said I did not expect any 
 peace upon this question until slavery was exter 
 minated; that I had only said I expected peace when 
 that institution was put where the public mind should 
 rest in the belief that it was in course of ultimate ex 
 tinction; that I believed, from the organization of our 
 government until a very recent period of time, the in 
 stitution had been placed and continued upon such a 
 basis ; that we had had comparative peace upon that 
 question through a portion of that period of time, only 
 because the public mind rested in that belief in re 
 gard to it, and that when we returned to that position 
 in relation to that matter, I supposed we should again 
 have peace as we previously had. I assured him, as I 
 now assure you, that I neither then had, nor have, 
 nor ever had, any purpose in any way of interfering 
 with the institution of slavery where it exists. I believe 
 we have no power, under the Constitution of the United 
 States, or rather under the form of government under 
 which we live, to interfere with the institution of 
 slavery, or any other of the institutions of our sister 
 States, be they free or slave States. I declared then, 
 and I now re-declare, that I have as little inclination 
 to interfere with the institution of slavery where it 
 now exists, through the instrumentality of the General 
 Government, or any other instrumentality, as I believe 
 we have no power to do so. I accidentally used this ex 
 pression : I had no purpose of entering into the slave 
 States to disturb the institution of slavery. So, upon 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 231 
 
 the first occasion that Judge Douglas got an oppor 
 tunity to reply to me, he passed by the whole body of 
 what I had said upon that subject, and seized upon the 
 particular expression of mine, that I had no purpose 
 of entering into the slave States to disturb the institu 
 tion of slavery. " Oh, no," said he; "he [Lincoln] 
 won t enter into the slave States to disturb the institu 
 tion of slavery; he is too prudent a man to do such a 
 thing as that ; he only means that he will go on to the 
 line between the free and slave States, and shoot over 
 at them. This is all he means to do. He means to do 
 them all the harm he can, to disturb them all he can, in 
 such a way as to keep his own hide in perfect safety." 
 
 Well, now, I did not think, at that time, that that 
 was either a very dignified or very logical argument; 
 but so it was, and I had to get along with it as well as I 
 could. 
 
 It has occurred to me here to-night that if I ever do 
 shoot over the line at the people on the other side of 
 the line, into a slave State, and propose to do so keep 
 ing my skin safe, that I have now about the best chance 
 I shall ever have. I should not wonder if there are some 
 Kentuckians about this audience; we are close to Ken 
 tucky ; and whether that be so or not, we are on elevated 
 ground, and by speaking distinctly I should not wonder 
 if some of the Kentuckians would hear me on the other 
 side of the river. For that reason I propose to address 
 a portion of what I have to say to the Kentuckians. 
 
 I say, then, in the first place, to the Kentuckians, 
 that I am what they call, as I understand it, a " Black 
 Republican." I think slavery is wrong, morally and 
 politically. I desire that it should be no further spread 
 in these United States, and I should not object if it 
 should gradually terminate in the whole Union. While 
 I say this for myself, I say to you Kentuckians that 
 I understand you differ radically with me upon this 
 proposition; that you believe slavery is a good thing; 
 that slavery is right; that it ought to be extended and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 perpetuated in this Union. Now, there being this 
 broad difference between us, I do not pretend, in ad 
 dressing myself to you Kentuckians, to attempt pros 
 elyting you; that would be a vain effort. I do not 
 enter upon it. I only propose to try to show you that 
 you ought to nominate for the next presidency, at 
 Charleston, my distinguished friend, Judge Douglas. 
 In all that there is no real difference between you and 
 him ; I understand he is as sincerely for you, and more 
 wisely for you, than you are for yourselves. 1 will try 
 to demonstrate that proposition. Understand now, I 
 say that I believe he is as sincerely for you, and more 
 wisely for you, than you are for yourselves. 
 
 What do you want more than anything else to make 
 successful your views of slavery to advance the out 
 spread of it, and to secure and perpetuate the nation 
 ality of it? What do you want more than anything 
 else? What is needed absolutely? What is indispen 
 sable to you? Why, if I may be allowed to answer the 
 question, it is to retain a hold upon the North it is 
 to retain support and strength from the free States. If 
 you can get this support and strength from the free 
 States, you can succeed. If you do not get this support 
 and this strength from the free States, you are in the 
 minority, and you are beaten at once. 
 
 If that proposition be admitted, and it is unde 
 niable, then the next thing I say to you is, that Doug 
 las of all the men in this nation is the only man that 
 affords you any hold upon the free States; that no 
 other man can give you any strength in the free States. 
 This being so, if you doubt the other branch of the prop 
 osition, whether he is for you, whether he is really 
 for you, as I have expressed it, I propose asking your 
 attention for a while to a few facts. 
 
 The issue between you and me, understand, is that I 
 think slavery is wrong, and ought not to be outspread, 
 and you think it is right, and ought to be extended and 
 perpetuated. I now proceed to try to show to you that 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 933 
 
 Douglas is as sincerely for you, and more wisely for 
 you, than you are for yourselves. 
 
 In the first place, we know that in a government like 
 this, a government of the people, where the voice of all 
 the men of the country, substantially, enters into the 
 administration of the government, what lies at the bot 
 tom of all of it is public opinion. I lay down the prop 
 osition that Judge Douglas is not only the man that 
 promises you in advance a hold upon the North, and 
 support in the North, but that he constantly molds 
 public opinion to your ends; that in every possible 
 way he can, he molds the public opinion of the North 
 to your ends; and if there are a few things in which 
 he seems to be against you, a few things which he 
 says that appear to be against you, and a few that he 
 forbears to say which you would like to have him say, 
 you ought to remember that the saying of the one, or 
 the forbearing to say the other would lose his hold 
 upon the North, and, by consequence, would lose his 
 capacity to serve you. 
 
 Upon this subject of molding public opinion, I call 
 your attention to the fact for a w T ell-established fact 
 it is that the judge never says your institution of 
 slavery is wrong: he never says it is right, to be sure, 
 but he never says it is wrong. There is not a public 
 man in the United States, I believe, with the exception 
 of Senator Douglas, who has not, at some time in his 
 life, declared his opinion whether the thing is right or 
 wrong ; but Senator Douglas never declares it is wrong. 
 He leaves himself at perfect liberty to do all in your 
 favor which he would be hindered from doing if he 
 were to declare the thing to be wrong. On the contrary, 
 he takes all the chances that he has for inveigling the 
 sentiment of the North, opposed to slavery, into your 
 support, by never saying it is right. This you ought 
 to set down to his credit. You ought to give him full 
 credit for this much, little though it be in comparison 
 to the whole which he does for you. 
 
234 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Some other things I will ask your attention to. He 
 said upon the floor of the United States Senate, and he 
 has repeated it, as I understand, a great many times, 
 that he does not care whether slavery is " voted up or 
 voted down." This again shows you, or ought to show 
 you, if you would reason upon it, that he does not be 
 lieve it to be wrong; for a man may say, when he sees 
 nothing wrong in a thing, that he does not care whether 
 it be voted up or voted down ; but no man can logically 
 say that he cares not whether a thing goes up or goes 
 down which appears to him to be wrong. You there 
 fore have a demonstration in this, that to Judge Doug 
 las s mind your favorite institution, which you desire 
 to have spread out and made perpetual, is no wrong. 
 
 Another thing he tells you, in a speech made at Mem 
 phis, in Tennessee, shortly after the canvass in Illinois, 
 last year. He there distinctly told the people that there 
 was a " line drawn by the Almighty across this con 
 tinent, on the one side of which the soil must always be 
 cultivated by slaves "; that he did not pretend to know 
 exactly where that line was, but that there was such a 
 line. I want to ask your attention to that proposition 
 again that there is one portion of this continent where 
 the Almighty has designed the soil shall always be 
 cultivated by slaves; that its being cultivated by slaves 
 at that place is right; that it has the direct sympathy 
 and authority of the Almighty. Whenever you can get 
 these Northern audiences to adopt the opinion that 
 slavery is right on the other side of the Ohio; whenever 
 you can get them, in pursuance of Douglas s views, to 
 adopt that sentiment, they will very readily make the 
 other argument, which is perfectly logical, that that 
 which is right on that side of the Ohio cannot be wrong 
 on this, and that if you have that property on that side 
 of the Ohio, under the seal and stamp of the Almighty, 
 when by any means it escapes over here, it is wrong 
 to have constitutions and laws " to devil " you about it. 
 So Douglas is molding the public opinion of the North, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 235 
 
 first to say that the thing is right in your State over 
 the Ohio River, and hence to say that that which is 
 right there is not wrong here, and that all laws and 
 constitutions here, recognizing it as being wrong, are 
 themselves w r rong, and ought to be repealed and abro 
 gated. He will tell you, men of Ohio, that if you 
 choose here to have laws against slavery, it is in con 
 formity to the idea that your climate is not suited to 
 it; that your climate is not suited to slave labor, and 
 therefore you have constitutions and laws against it. 
 
 Let us attend to that argument for a little while, and 
 see if it be sound. You do not raise sugar-cane (except 
 the new-fashioned sugar-cane, and you won t raise that 
 long), but they do raise it in Louisiana. You don t 
 raise it in Ohio because you can t raise it profitably, 
 because the climate don t suit it. They do raise it 
 in Louisiana because there it is profitable. Now Doug 
 las will tell you that is precisely the slavery question; 
 that they do have slaves there because they are profit 
 able, and you don t have them here because they are 
 not profitable. If that is so, then it leads to dealing 
 with the one precisely as with the other. Is there, 
 then, anything in the constitution or laws of Ohio 
 against raising sugar-cane? Have you found it neces 
 sary to put any such provision in your law? Surely 
 not ! No man desires to raise sugar-cane in Ohio ; but 
 if any man did desire to do so, you would say it was 
 a tyrannical law that forbids his doing so; and when 
 ever you shall agree with Douglas, whenever your minds 
 are brought to adopt his argument, as surely you will 
 have reached the conclusion that although slavery is 
 not profitable in Ohio, if any man want it, it is wrong 
 to him not to let him have it. 
 
 In this matter Judge Douglas is preparing the public 
 mind for you of Kentucky, to make perpetual that good 
 thing in your estimation, about which you and I differ. 
 
 In this connection let me ask your attention to an 
 other thing. I believe it is safe to assert that, five 
 
236 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 years ago, no living man had expressed the opinion that 
 the negro had no share in the Declaration of Indepen 
 dence. Let me state that again : Five years ago no 
 living man had expressed the opinion that the negro 
 had no share in the Declaration of Independence. If 
 there is in this large audience any man who ever knew 
 of that opinion being put upon paper as much as five 
 years ago, I will be obliged to him now, or at a subse 
 quent time, to show it. 
 
 If that be true, I wish you then to note the next fact 
 that within the space of five years Senator Douglas, 
 in the argument of this question, has got his entire 
 party, so far as I know, without exception, to join in 
 saying that the negro has no share in the Declaration 
 of Independence. If there be now in all these United 
 States one Douglas man that does not say this, I have 
 been unable upon any occasion to scare him up. Now, 
 if none of you said this five years ago, and all of you 
 say it now, that is a matter that you Kentuckians 
 ought to note. That is a vast change in the Northern 
 public sentiment upon that question. 
 
 Of what tendency is that change? The tendency of 
 that change is to bring the public mind to the conclu 
 sion that whenmen are spoken of, the negro is not 
 meant; that when negroes are spoken of, brutes alone 
 are contemplated. That change in public sentiment 
 has already degraded the black man, in the estimation 
 of Douglas and his followers, from the condition of a 
 man of some sort, and assigned him to the condition of 
 a brute. Now you Kentuckians ought to give Douglas 
 credit for this. That is the largest possible stride 
 that can be made in regard to the perpetuation of your 
 good thing of slavery. 
 
 In Kentucky, perhaps, in many of the slave States 
 certainly, you are trying to establish the rightfulness 
 of slavery by reference to the Bible. You are trying 
 to show that slavery existed in the Bible times by 
 divine ordinance. Now Douglas is wiser than you for 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37 
 
 your own benefit, upon that subject. Douglas knows 
 that whenever you establish that slavery was right by 
 the Bible, it will occur that that slavery was the slavery 
 of the white man, of men without reference to color, 
 and lie knows very well that you may entertain that 
 idea in Kentucky as much as you please, but you will 
 never win any Northern support upon it. He makes 
 a wiser argument for you ; he makes the argument that 
 the slavery of the black man, the slavery of the man 
 who has a skin of a different color from your own, is 
 right. He thereby brings to your support Northern 
 voters who could not for a moment be brought by your 
 own argument of the Bible-right of slavery. Will you 
 not give him credit for that? Will you not say that 
 in this matter he is more wisely for you than you are 
 for yourselves ? 
 
 Now, having established with his entire party this 
 doctrine, having been entirely successful in that 
 branch of his efforts in your behalf, he is ready for 
 another. 
 
 At this same meeting at Memphis, he declared that 
 in all contests between the negro and the white man, 
 he was for the white man, but that in all questions be 
 tween the negro and the crocodile he was for the negro. 
 He did not make that declaration accidentally at Mem 
 phis. He made it a great many times in the canvass 
 in Illinois last year (though I don t know that it was 
 reported in any of his speeches there ; but he frequently 
 made it). I believe he repeated it at Columbus, and 
 I should not wonder if he repeated it here. It is, then, 
 a deliberate way of expressing himself upon that sub 
 ject. It is a matter of mature deliberation with him 
 thus to express himself upon that point of his case. 
 It therefore requires some deliberate attention. 
 
 The first inference seems to be that if you do not 
 enslave the negro you are w r ronging the white man in 
 some way or other ; and that whoever is opposed to the 
 negro being enslaved is, in yoine way or other, against 
 
238 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 the white man. Is not that a falsehood? If there was 
 a necessary conflict between the white man and the 
 negro, I should be for the white man as much as Judge 
 Douglas; but I say there is no such necessary conflict. 
 I say that there is room enough for us all to be free, 
 and that it not only does not wrong the white man that 
 the negro should be free, but it positively w r rougs the 
 mass of the white men that the negro should be en 
 slaved; that the mass of white men are really injured 
 by the effects of slave-labor in the vicinity of the fields 
 of their own labor. 
 
 But I do not desire to dwell upon this branch of the 
 question more than to say that this assumption of his 
 is false, and I do hope that that fallacy will not 
 long prevail in the minds of intelligent white men. At 
 all events, you ought to thank Judge Douglas for it. 
 It is for your benefit it is made. 
 
 The other branch of it is, that in a struggle between 
 the negro and the crocodile, he is for the negro. Well, 
 I don t know that there is any struggle between the 
 negro and the crocodile, either. I suppose that if a 
 crocodile (or, as we old Ohio River boatmen used to 
 call them, alligators) should come across a white man, 
 he would kill him if he could, and so he would a negro. 
 But what, at last, is this proposition? I believe that 
 it is a sort of proposition in proportion, which may be 
 stated thus : " As the negro is to the white man, so is 
 the crocodile to the negro; and as the negro may right 
 fully treat the crocodile as a beast or reptile, so the 
 white man may rightfully treat the negro as a beast 
 or reptile." That is really the point of all that argu 
 ment of his. 
 
 Now, my brother Kentuckians, who believe in this, 
 you ought to thank Judge Douglas for having put 
 that in a much more taking way than any of yourselves 
 have done. 
 
 Again, Douglas s great principle, " popular sove 
 reignty," as he calls it, gives you by natural conse- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 239 
 
 quence the revival of the slave-trade whenever you 
 want it. If you are disposed to question this, listen 
 awhile, consider awhile, what I shall advance in sup 
 port of that proposition. 
 
 He says that it is the sacred right of the man who 
 goes into the Territories to have slavery if he wants it. 
 Grant that for argument s sake. Is it not the sacred 
 right of the man who don t go there, equally to buy 
 slaves in Africa, if he wants them? Can you point 
 out the difference? The man who goes into the Ter 
 ritories of Kansas and Nebraska, or any other new 
 Territory, with the sacred right of taking a. slave there 
 which belongs to him, would certainly have no more 
 right to take one there than I would who own no slave, 
 but who would desire to buy one and take him there. 
 You will not say you, the friends of Judge Douglas 
 but that the man who does not own a slave, has an 
 equal right to buy one and take him to the Territory as 
 the other does? 
 
 I say that Douglas s popular sovereignty, establishing 
 his sacred right in the people, if you please, if carried 
 to its logical conclusion, gives equally the sacred right 
 to the people of the States or the Territories themselves 
 to buy slaves, wherever they can buy them cheapest; 
 and if any man can show a distinction, I should like 
 to hear him try it. If any man can show how the 
 people of Kansas have a better right to slaves because 
 they want them, than the people of Georgia have to 
 buy them in Africa, I want him to do it. I think it 
 cannot be done. If it is " popular sovereignty " for the 
 people to have slaves because they want them, it is pop 
 ular sovereignty for them to buy them in Africa, be 
 cause they desire to do so. 
 
 I know that Douglas has recently made a little effort 
 not seeming to notice that he had a different theory 
 has made an effort to get rid of that. He has written 
 a letter, addressed to somebody, I believe, who resides 
 in Iowa, declaring his opposition to the repeal of the 
 
240 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 laws that prohibit the African slave-trade. He bases 
 his opposition to such repeal upon the ground that 
 these laws are themselves one of the compromises of the 
 Constitution of the United States. Now it would be 
 very interesting to see Judge Douglas, or any of his 
 friends, turn to the Constitution of the United States 
 and point out that compromise, to show where there is 
 any compromise in the Constitution, or provision in 
 the Constitution, expressed or implied, by which the 
 administrators of that Constitution are under any obli 
 gation to repeal the African slave-trade. I know, or at 
 least I think I know, that the framers of that Constitu 
 tion did expect that the African slave-trade would be 
 abolished at the end of twenty years, to which time 
 their prohibition against its being abolished extended. 
 I think there is abundant contemporaneous history to 
 show that the framers of the Constitution expected it 
 to be abolished. But while they so expected, they gave 
 nothing for that expectation, and they put no provision 
 in the Constitution requiring it should be so abolished. 
 The migration or importation of such persons as the 
 States shall see fit to admit shall not be prohibited, 
 but a certain tax might be levied upon such importa 
 tion. But what was to be done after that time? 
 The Constitution is as silent about that as it is silent, 
 personally, about myself. There is absolutely nothing 
 in it about that subject there is only the expectation 
 of the framers of the Constitution that the slave-trade 
 would be abolished at the end of that time, and they 
 expected it would be abolished, owing to public senti- 
 ment, before that time, and they put that provision in, 
 in order that it should not be abolished before that 
 time, for reasons which I suppose they thought to be 
 sound ones, but which I will not now try to enumerate 
 before you. 
 
 But while they expected the slave-trade would be 
 abolished at that time, they expected that the spread 
 of slavery into the new Territories should also be re- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 241 
 
 stricted. It is as easy to prove that the framers of the 
 Constitution of the United States expected that slavery 
 should be prohibited from extending into the new Ter 
 ritories, as it is to prove that it was expected that the 
 slave-trade should be abolished. Both these things 
 were expected. One was no more expected than the 
 other, and one was no more a compromise of the Con 
 stitution than the other. There was nothing said in the 
 Constitution in regard to the spread of slavery into 
 the Territories. I grant that, but there was something 
 very important said about it by the same generation 
 of men in the adoption of the old ordinance of 87, 
 through the influence of which you here in Ohio, our 
 neighbors in Indiana, we in Illinois, our neighbors in 
 Michigan and Wisconsin, are happy, prosperous, teem 
 ing millions of free men. That generation of men, 
 though not to the full extent members of the conven 
 tion that framed the Constitution, were to some extent 
 members of that convention, holding seats at the same 
 time in one body and the other, so that if there was any 
 compromise on either of these subjects, the strong 
 evidence is that that compromise w r as in favor of the 
 restriction of slavery from the new Territories. 
 
 But Douglas says that he is unalterably opposed to 
 the repeal of those laws; because, in his view, it is a 
 compromise of the Constitution. You Kentuckians, no 
 doubt, are somewhat offended with that! You ought 
 not to be! You ought to be patient! You ought to 
 know that if he said less than that, he would lose the 
 power of " lugging " the Northern States to your sup 
 port. Really, what you would push him to do would 
 take from him his entire power to serve you. And you 
 ought to remember how long, by precedent, Judge 
 Douglas holds himself obliged to stick by compromises. 
 You ought to remember that by the time you yourselves 
 think you are ready to inaugurate measures for the 
 revival of the African slave-trade, that sufficient time 
 will have arrived, by precedent, for Judge Douglas to 
 16 
 
242 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 break through that compromise. He says now nothing 
 more strong than he said in 1849 when he declared in 
 favor of the Missouri Compromise that precisely four 
 years and a quarter after he declared that compromise 
 to be a sacred thing, which " no ruthless hand would 
 ever dare to touch," he, himself, brought forward the 
 measure ruthlessly to destroy it. By a mere calcula 
 tion of time it will only be four years more until he 
 is ready to take back his profession about the sacred- 
 ness of the compromise abolishing the slave-trade. 
 Precisely as soon as you are ready to have his services 
 in that direction, by fair calculation, you may be sure 
 of having them. 
 
 But you remember and set down to Judge Douglas s 
 debt, or discredit, that he, last year, said the people of 
 Territories can, in spite of the Dred Scott decision, 
 exclude your slaves from those Territories; that he de 
 clared by " unfriendly legislation " the extension of 
 your property into the new Territories may be cut off 
 in the teeth of that decision of the Supreme Court of 
 the United States. 
 
 He assumed that position at Freeport, on the 27th 
 of August, 1858. He said that the people of the Ter 
 ritories can exclude slavery, in so many words. You 
 ought, however, to bear in mind that he has never said 
 it since. You may hunt in every speech that he has 
 since made, and he has never used that expression once. 
 He has never seemed to notice that he is stating his 
 views differently from what he did then ; but by some 
 sort of accident, he has always really stated it differ 
 ently. He has always since then declared that " the 
 Constitution does not carry slavery into the Territories 
 of the United States beyond the power of the people 
 legally to control it, as other property." Now there is 
 a difference in the language used upon that former 
 occasion and in this latter day. There may or may 
 not be a difference in the meaning, but it is worth while 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 considering whether there is not also a difference in 
 meaning. 
 
 What is it to exclude? Why, it is to drive it out. 
 It is in some way to put it out of the Territory. It 
 is to force it across the line, or change its character, 
 so that as property it is out of existence. But what 
 is the controlling of it "as other property"? Is con 
 trolling it as other property the same thing as destroy 
 ing it, or driving it away? I should think not. I 
 should think the controlling of it as other property 
 would be just about what you in Kentucky should 
 want. I understanding the controlling of property 
 means the controlling of it for the benefit of the owner 
 of it. While I have no doubt the Supreme Court of 
 the United States would say " God speed " to any of 
 the territorial legislatures that should thus control 
 slave property, they would sing quite a different tune 
 if by the pretense of controlling it they were to under 
 take to pass laws which virtually excluded it, and that 
 upon a very well known principle to all lawyers, that 
 what a legislature cannot directly do, it cannot do by 
 indirection; that as the legislature has not the power 
 to drive slaves out, they have no power by indirection, 
 by tax, or by imposing burdens in any way on that 
 property, to effect the same end, and that any attempt 
 to do so would be held by the Dred Scott court uncon 
 stitutional. 
 
 Douglas is not willing to stand by his first proposi 
 tion that they can exclude it, because we have seen 
 that that proposition amounts to nothing more or less 
 than the naked absurdity that you may lawfully drive 
 out that which has a lawful right to remain. He ad 
 mitted at first that the slave might be lawfully taken 
 into the Territories under the Constitution of the 
 United States, and yet asserted that he might be law 
 fully driven out. That being the proposition, it is the 
 absurdity I have stated. He is not willing to stand 
 in the face of that direct, naked, and impudent absur- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 dity ; he has, therefore, modified his language into that 
 of being " controlled as other property." 
 
 The Kentuckians don t like this in Douglas! I will 
 tell you where it will go. He now swears by the court. 
 He was once a leading man in Illinois to break down 
 a court because it had made a decision he did not 
 like. But he now not only swears by the court, the 
 courts having got to working for you, but he denounces 
 all men that do not swear by the courts as unpatriotic, 
 as bad citizens. When one of these acts of unfriendly 
 legislation shall impose such heavy burdens as to, in 
 effect, destroy property in slaves in a Territory, and 
 show plainly enough that there can be no mistake in 
 the purpose of the legislature to make them so burden 
 some, this same Supreme Court will decide that law 
 to be unconstitutional, and he will be ready to say for 
 your benefit, " I swear by the court ; I give it up " ; 
 and while that is going on he has been getting all his 
 men to swear by the courts, and to give it up with him. 
 In this again he serves you faithfully, and, as I say, 
 more wisely than you serve yourselves. 
 
 Again, I have alluded in the beginning of these re 
 marks to the fact that Judge Douglas has made great 
 complaint of my having expressed the opinion that this 
 government " cannot endure permanently half slave 
 and half free." He has complained of Seward for 
 using different language, and declaring that there is 
 an " irrepressible conflict " between the principles of 
 free and slave labor. [A voice : " He says it is not 
 original with Seward. That is original with Lin 
 coln. 7 ] I will attend to that immediately, sir. Since 
 that time, Hickman, of Pennsylvania, expressed the 
 same sentiment. He has never denounced Mr. Hick 
 man. Why? There is a little chance, notwithstand 
 ing that opinion in the mouth of Hickman, that he may 
 yet be a Douglas man. That is the difference. It is 
 not unpatriotic to hold that opinion, if a man is a 
 Douglas man. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 245 
 
 But neither I, nor Seward, nor Hickraan is entitled 
 to the enviable or unenviable distinction of having 
 first expressed that idea. That same idea was ex 
 pressed by the Richmond " Enquirer " in Virginia, in 
 1856, quite two years before it was expressed by the 
 first of us. And while Douglas was pluming himself 
 that in his conflict with my humble self, last year, he 
 had " squelched out " that fatal heresy, as he delighted 
 to call it, and had suggested that if he only had had a 
 chance to be in New York and meet Seward he would 
 have " squelched " it there also, it never occurred to him 
 to breathe a word against Pryor. I don t think that 
 you can discover that Douglas ever talked of going to 
 Virginia to " squelch " out that idea there. No. More 
 than that. That same Roger A. Pryor was brought 
 to Washington City and made the editor of the par 
 excellence Douglas paper after making use of that ex 
 pression which, in us, is so unpatriotic and heretical. 
 From all this my Kentucky friends may see that this 
 opinion is heretical in his view only when it is ex 
 pressed by men suspected of a desire that the country 
 shall all become free, and not when expressed by those 
 fairly known to entertain the desire that the whole 
 country shall become slave. When expressed by that 
 class of men, it is in no wise offensive to him. In this 
 again, my friends of Kentucky, you have Judge Doug 
 las with you. 
 
 There is another reason why you Southern people 
 ought to nominate Douglas at your convention at 
 Charleston. That reason is the wonderful capacity of 
 the man ; the power he has of doing what would seem to 
 be impossible. Let me call your attention to one of 
 these apparently impossible things. 
 
 Douglas had three or four very distinguished men, 
 of the most extreme antislavery views of any men in 
 the Republican party, expressing their desire for his 
 reelection to the Senate last year. That would, of it 
 self, have seemed to be a little wonderful, but that 
 
246 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 wonder is heightened when we see that Wise, of Vir 
 ginia, a man exactly opposed to them, a man who be 
 lieves in the divine right of slavery, was also express 
 ing his desire that Douglas should be reflected; that 
 another man that may be said to be kindred to Wise, 
 Mr. Breckinridge, the Vice-President, and of your own 
 State, was also agreeing with the antislavery men in 
 the North that Douglas ought to be reflected. Still, 
 to heighten the wonder, a senator from Kentucky, 
 whom I have always loved with an affection as tender 
 and endearing as I have ever loved any man, who was 
 opposed to the antislavery men for reasons which 
 seemed sufficient to him, and equally opposed to Wise 
 and Breckinridge, was writing letters into Illinois to 
 secure the reelection of Douglas. Now that all these 
 conflicting elements should be brought, while at dag 
 gers points with one another, to support him, is a 
 feat that is worthy for you to note and consider. It 
 is quite probable that each of these classes of men 
 thought, by the reelection of Douglas, their peculiar 
 views would gain something: it is probable that the 
 antislavery men thought their views would gain some 
 thing; that Wise and Breckinridge thought so too, as 
 regards their opinions; that Mr. Crittenden thought 
 that his views would gain something, although he was 
 opposed to both these other men. It is probable that 
 each and all of them thought that they were using 
 Douglas, and it is yet an unsolved problem whether he 
 was not using them all. If he was, then it is for you 
 to consider whether that power to perform wonders is 
 one for you lightly to throw away. 
 
 There is one other thing that I will say to you in this 
 relation. It is but my opinion; I give it to you with 
 out a fee. It is my opinion that it is for you to take 
 him or be defeated; and that if you do take him 
 you may be beaten. You will surely be beaten if you 
 do not take him. We, the Republicans and others 
 forming the opposition of the country, intend to " stand 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 247 
 
 by our guns," to be patient and firm, and in the long 
 run to beat you whether you take him or not. We 
 know that before we fairly beat you, we have to beat 
 you both together. We know that "you are all of a 
 feather," and that we have to beat you altogether, and 
 we expect to do it. We don t intend to be very im 
 patient about it. W T e mean to be as deliberate and 
 calm about it as it is possible to be, but as firm and 
 resolved as it is possible for men to be. When we do 
 as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to know what 
 we will do with you. 
 
 I will tell you, so far as I am authorized to speak 
 for the opposition, what we mean to do with you, 
 we mean to treat you, as near as we possibly can, as 
 Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you. We 
 mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere 
 with your institution; to abide by all and every com 
 promise of the Constitution, and, in a word, coming 
 back to the original proposition, to treat you, so far as 
 degenerated men (if we have degenerated) may, accord 
 ing to the example of those noble fathers Washington, 
 Jefferson, and Madison. We mean to remember that 
 you are as good as we; that there is no difference be 
 tween us other than the difference of circumstances. 
 We mean to recognize and bear in mind always that 
 you have as good hearts in your bosoms as other 
 people, or as we claim to have, and treat you accord 
 ingly. We mean to marry your girls when we have a 
 chance the white ones, I mean, and I have the honor 
 to inform you that I once did have a chance in that 
 way. 
 
 I have told you what we mean to do. I want to 
 know, now, when that thing takes place, what do you 
 mean to do? I often hear it intimated that you mean 
 to divide the Union whenever a Republican or anything 
 like it is elected President of the United States. [A 
 voice: "That is so."] "That is so," one of them 
 says; I wonder if he is a Kentuckian? [A voice: 
 
248 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 " He is a Douglas man."] Well, then, I want to know 
 what you are going to do with jour half of it? Are 
 you going to split the Ohio down through, and push 
 your half off a piece? Or are you going to keep it 
 right alongside of us outrageous fellows? Or are you 
 going to build up a wall some way between your 
 country and ours, by which that movable property of 
 yours can t come over here any more, to the danger of 
 your losing it? Do you think you can better yourselves 
 on that subject by leaving us here under no obligation 
 whatever to return those specimens of your movable 
 property that come hither? You have divided the 
 Union because we would not do right with you, as you 
 think, upon that subject; when we cease to be under 
 obligations to do anything for you, how much better 
 off do you think you will be? Will you make war upon 
 us and kill us all? Why, gentlemen, I think you are 
 as gallant and as brave men as live; that you can fight 
 as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as any other 
 people living; that you have shown yourselves capable 
 of this upon various occasions ; but man for man, you 
 are not better than we are, and there are not so many 
 of you as there are of us. You will never make much 
 of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in num 
 bers than you, I think that you could whip us; if we 
 were equal it would likely be a drawn battle; but being- 
 inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempt 
 ing to master us. 
 
 But perhaps I have addressed myself as long, or 
 longer, to the Kentuckians than I ought to have done, 
 inasmuch as I have said that whatever course you 
 take, we intend in the end to beat you. I propose to 
 address a few remarks to our friends, by way of dis 
 cussing with them the best means of keeping that 
 promise that I have in good faith made. 
 
 It may appear a little episodical for me to mention 
 the topic of which I shall speak now. It is a favorite 
 proposition of Douglas s that the interference of the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 249 
 
 General Government, through the ordinance of ? 87, or 
 through any other act of the General Government, 
 never has made, nor ever can make, a free State; that 
 the ordinance of 87 did not make free States of Ohio, 
 Indiana, or Illinois; that these States are free upon 
 his " great principle " of popular sovereignty, because 
 the people of those several States have chosen to make 
 them so. At Columbus, and probably here, he under 
 took to compliment the people that they themselves 
 had made the State of Ohio free, and that the ordinance 
 of 87 was not entitled in any degree to divide the 
 honor with him. I have no doubt that the people of 
 the State of Ohio did make her free according to their 
 own will and judgment; but let the facts be remem 
 bered. 
 
 In 1802, I believe, it was you who made your first 
 constitution, with the clause prohibiting slavery, and 
 you did it, I suppose, very nearly unanimously; but 
 you should bear in mind that you speaking of you 
 as one people that you did so unembarrassed by the 
 actual presence of the institution amongst you; that 
 you made it a free State, not with the embarrassment 
 upon you of already having among you many slaves, 
 which, if they had been here, and you had sought to 
 make a free State, you would not know what to do 
 with. If they had been among you, embarrassing dif 
 ficulties, most probably, would have induced you to 
 tolerate a slave Constitution instead of a free one; as, 
 indeed, these very difficulties have constrained every 
 people on this continent who have adopted slavery. 
 
 Pray, what was it that made you free? What kept 
 you free? Did you not find your country free when 
 you came to decide that Ohio should be a free State? 
 It is important to inquire by what reason you found 
 it so. Let us take an illustration between the States 
 of Ohio and Kentucky. Kentucky is separated by 
 this river Ohio, not a mile wide. A portion of Ken 
 tucky, by reason of the course of the Ohio, is further 
 
250 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 north than this portion of Ohio in which we now stand. 
 Kentucky is entirely covered with slavery Ohio is 
 entirely free from it. What made that difference? 
 Was it climate? No! A portion of Kentucky was 
 further north than this portion of Ohio. Was it soil? 
 No! There is nothing in the soil of the one more 
 favorable to slave-labor than the other. It was not 
 climate or soil that caused one side of the line to be 
 entirely covered with slavery and the other side free 
 of it. What was it? Study over it. Tell us, if you 
 can, in all the range of conjecture, if there be anything 
 you can conceive of that made that difference, other 
 than that there was no law of any sort keeping it out 
 of Kentucky, while the ordinance of 87 kept it out of 
 Ohio. If there is any other reason than this, I confess 
 that it is wholly beyond my power to conceive of it. 
 This, then, I offer to combat the idea that that ordin 
 ance has never made any State free. 
 
 I don t stop at this illustration. I come to the State 
 of Indiana ; and what I have said as between Kentucky 
 and Ohio, I repeat as between Indiana and Kentucky; 
 it is equally applicable. One additional argument is 
 applicable also to Indiana. In her territorial condi 
 tion she more than once petitioned Congress to abro 
 gate the ordinance entirely, or at least so far as to 
 suspend its operation for a time, in order that they 
 should exercise the " popular sovereignty " of having 
 slaves if they wanted them. The men then controlling 
 the General Government, imitating the men of the 
 Revolution, refused Indiana that privilage. And so 
 we have the evidence that Indiana supposed she could 
 have slaves, if it were not for that ordinance ; that she 
 besought Congress to put that barrier out of the w^ay ; 
 that Congress refused to do so, and it all ended at last 
 in Indiana being a free State. Tell me not then that 
 the ordinance of 87 had nothing to do with making 
 Indiana a free State, when we find some men chafing 
 against and only restrained by that barrier. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Come down again to our State of Illinois. The 
 great Northwest Territory, including Ohio, Indi 
 ana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, was acquired 
 first, I believe, by the British government, in part, at 
 least, from the French. Before the establishment 01 
 our independence, it became a part of Virginia, en 
 abling Virginia afterward to transfer it to the General 
 Government. There were French settlements in what 
 is now Illinois, and at the same time there were French 
 settlements in what is now Missouri in the tract of 
 country that was not purchased till about 1803. In 
 these French settlements negro slavery had existed for 
 many years perhaps more than a hundred, if not as 
 much as two hundred, years at Kaskaskia, in Illinois, 
 and at St. Genevieve, or Cape Girardeau, perhaps, in 
 Missouri. The number of slaves was not very great, 
 but there was about the same number in each place. 
 They were there when we acquired the Territory. 
 There was no effort made to break up the relation of 
 master and slave, and even the ordinance of 87 was 
 not so enforced as to destroy that slavery in Illinois; 
 nor did the ordinance apply to Missouri at all. 
 
 What I want to ask your attention to, at this point, 
 is that Illinois and Missouri came into the Union about 
 the same time, Illinois in the latter part of 1818, and 
 Missouri, after a struggle, I believe, some time in 1820. 
 They had been filling up with American people about 
 the same period of time, their progress enabling them 
 to come into the Union about the same. At the end 
 of that ten years, in which they had been so preparing 
 (for it was about that period of time), the number of 
 slaves in Illinois had actually decreased; while in 
 Missouri, beginning with very few, at the end of that 
 ten years there were about ten thousand. This being so, 
 and it being remembered that Missouri and Illinois are, 
 to a certain extent, in the same parallel of latitude, 
 that the northern half of Missouri and the southern 
 half of Illinois are in the same parallel of latitude, so 
 
252 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that climate would have the same effect upon one as 
 upon the other; and that in the soil there is no material 
 difference so far as bears upon the question of slavery 
 being settled upon one or the other; there being none 
 of those natural causes to produce a difference in filling 
 them, and yet there being a broad difference in their 
 filling up, we are led again to inquire what was the 
 cause of that difference. 
 
 It is most natural to say that in Missouri there was 
 no law to keep that country from filling up with slaves, 
 while in Illinois there was the ordinance of 87. The 
 ordinance being there, slavery decreased during that ten 
 years the ordinance not being in the other, it increased 
 from a few to ten thousand. Can anybody doubt the 
 reason of the difference? 
 
 I think all these facts most abundantly prove that 
 my friend Judge Douglas s proposition, that the ordin 
 ance of 87, or the national restriction of slavery, never 
 had a tendency to make a free State, is a fallacy a 
 proposition without the shadow or substance of truth 
 about it. 
 
 Douglas sometimes says that all the State (and it is 
 part of that same proposition I have been discussing? 
 that have become free, have become so upon his " great 
 principle"; that the State of Illinois itself came into 
 the Union as a slave State, and that the people, upon 
 the " great principle " of popular sovereignty, have 
 since made it a free State. Allow me but a little 
 while to state to you what facts there are to justify 
 him in saying that Illinois came into the Union as a 
 slave State. 
 
 I have mentioned to you that there were a few old 
 French slaves there. They numbered, I think, one or 
 two hundred. Besides that, there had been a terri 
 torial law for indenturing black persons. Under that 
 law, in violation of the ordinance of 87, but without 
 any enforcement of the ordinance to overthrow the 
 system, there had been a small number of slaves intro- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 253 
 
 duced as indentured persons. Owing to this, the clause 
 for the prohibition of slavery was slightly modified. 
 Instead of running like yours, that neither slavery nor 
 involuntary servitude, except for crime, of which the 
 party shall have been duly convicted, should exist in 
 the State, they said that neither slavery nor involun 
 tary servitude should thereafter be introduced, and that 
 the children of indentured servants should be born 
 free; and nothing was said about the few old French 
 slaves. Out of this fact, that the clause for prohibit 
 ing slavery was modified because of the actual pres 
 ence of it, Douglas asserts again and again that Illi 
 nois came into the Union as a slave State. How far 
 the facts sustain the conclusion that he draws, it is for 
 intelligent and impartial men to decide. I leave it 
 with you, with these remarks, worthy of being remem 
 bered, that that little thing, those few indentured ser 
 vants being there, was of itself sufficient to modify a 
 constitution made by a people ardently desiring to 
 have a free constitution ; showing the power of the 
 actual presence of the institution of slavery to prevent 
 any people, however anxious to make a free State, from 
 making it perfectly so. I have been detaining you 
 longer perhaps than I ought to do. 
 
 I am in some doubt whether to introduce another 
 topic upon which I could talk awhile. [Cries of " Go 
 on," and " Give us it."] It is this then Douglas s 
 popular sovereignty, as a principle, is simply this: If 
 one man chooses to make a slave of another man, 
 neither that man nor anybody else has a right to object. 
 Apply it to government, as he seeks to apply it, and 
 it is this : If, in a new Territory, into which a few 
 people are beginning to enter for the purpose of mak 
 ing their homes, they choose to either exclude slavery 
 from their limits, or to establish it there, however one 
 or the other may affect the persons to be enslaved, or 
 the infinitely greater number of persons who are after 
 ward to inhabit that Territory, or the other members 
 
254 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 of the family of communities, of which they are but 
 an incipient member, or the general head of the family 
 of States as parent of all however their action may 
 affect one or the other of these, there is no power or 
 right to interfere. That is Douglas s popular sover 
 eignty applied. Now I think that there is a real popu 
 lar sovereignty in the world. I think a definition of 
 popular sovereignty, in the abstract, would be about 
 this that each man shall do precisely as he pleases with 
 himself, and with all those things which exclusively 
 concern him. Applied in government, this principle 
 would be, that a general government shall do all those 
 things which pertain to it, and all the local governments 
 shall do precisely as they please in respect to those 
 matters which exclusively concern them. 
 
 Douglas looks upon slavery as so insignificant that 
 the people must decide that question for themselves, 
 and yet they are not fit to decide who shall be their 
 governor, judge, or secretary, or who shall be any of 
 their officers. These are vast national matters, in his 
 estimation ; but the little matter in his estimation is 
 that of planting slavery there. That is purely of local 
 interest, which nobody should be allowed to say a word 
 about. 
 
 Labor is the great source from which nearly all, if 
 not all, human comforts and necessities are drawn. 
 There is a difference in opinion about the elements of 
 labor in society. Some men assume that there is a 
 necessary connection between capital and labor, and 
 that connection draws within it the whole of the labor 
 of the community. They assume that nobody works 
 unless capital excites them to work. They begin next 
 to consider what is the best way. They say there are 
 but two ways one is to hire men and to allure them to 
 labor by their consent ; the other is to buy the men and 
 drive them to it, and that is slavery. Having assumed 
 that, they proceed to discuss the question of whether 
 the laborers themselves are better off in the condition 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 255 
 
 of slaves or of hired laborers, and they usually decide 
 that they are better off in the condition of slaves. 
 
 In the first place, I say that the whole thing is a 
 mistake. That there is a certain relation between capi 
 tal and labor, I admit. That it does exist, and right 
 fully exists, I think is true. That men who are indus 
 trious and sober and honest in the pursuit of their 
 own interests should after a while accumulate capital, 
 and after that should be allowed to enjoy it in peace, 
 and also if they should choose, when they have accu 
 mulated it, to use it to save themselves from actual 
 labor, and hire other people to labor for them, is right. 
 In doing so, they do not wrong the man they employ, 
 for they find men who have not their own land to work 
 upon, or shops to work in, and who are benefited by 
 working for others hired laborers, receiving their cap 
 ital for it. Thus a few men that own capital hire a 
 few others, and these establish the relation of capital 
 and labor rightfully a relation of which I make no 
 complaint. But I insist that that relation, after all, 
 does not embrace more than one-eighth of the labor of 
 the country. 
 
 [The speaker proceeded to argue that the hired la 
 borer, with his ability to become an employer, must 
 have every precedence over him who labors under the 
 inducement of force. He continued :] 
 
 I have taken upon myself, in the name of some of 
 you, to say that we expect upon these principles to 
 ultimately beat them. In order to do so, I think we 
 want and must have a national policy in regard to the 
 institution of slavery that acknowledges and deals with 
 that institution as being wrong. Whoever desires the 
 prevention of the spread of slavery and the nationali 
 zation of that institution, yields all when he yields 
 to any policy that either recognizes slavery as being 
 right, or as being an indifferent thing. Nothing will 
 make you successful but setting up a policy which shall 
 treat the thing as being wrong, When I say this, I do 
 
256 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 not mean to say that this General Government is 
 charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all 
 the wrongs in the world; but I do think that it is 
 charged with preventing and redressing all wrongs 
 which are wrongs to itself. This government is ex 
 pressly charged with the duty of providing for the 
 general welfare. We believe that the spreading out 
 and perpetuity of the institution of slavery impairs 
 the general welfare. We believe nay, we know that 
 that is the only thing that has ever threatened the per 
 petuity of the Union itself. The only thing which has 
 ever menaced the destruction of the government under 
 which we live, is this very thing. To repress this thing, 
 we think, is providing for the general welfare. Our 
 friends in Kentucky differ from us. We need not make 
 our argument for them ; but we who think it is wrong 
 in all its relations, or in some of them at least, must 
 decide as to our own actions, and our own course, upon 
 our own judgment. 
 
 I say that we must not interfere with the institution 
 of slavery in the States where it exists, because the 
 Constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does 
 not require us to do so. We must not withhold an effi 
 cient fugitive-slave law, because the Constitution re 
 quires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a 
 law. But we must prevent the outspreading of the 
 institution, because neither the Constitution nor gen 
 eral welfare requires us to extend it. We must prevent 
 the revival of the African slave-trade, and the enacting 
 by Congress of a territorial slave-code. We must pre 
 vent each of these things being done by either con 
 gresses or courts. The people of these United States 
 are the rightful masters of both congresses and courts, 
 Viot to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the 
 men who pervert the Constitution. 
 
 To do these things we must employ instrumentalities- 
 We must hold conventions; we must adopt platforms, 
 if we conform to ordinary custom ; we must nominate 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 candidates ; and we must carry elections. In all these 
 things, I think that we ought to keep in view our real 
 purpose, and in none do anything that stands adverse 
 to our purpose. If we shall adopt a platform that 
 fails to recognize or express our purpose, or elect a man 
 that declares himself inimical to our purpose, we not 
 only take nothing by our success, but we tacitly admit 
 that we act upon no other principle than a desire to 
 have " the loaves and fishes," by which, in the end, our 
 apparent success is really an injury to us. 
 
 I know that it is very desirable with me, as with 
 everybody else, that all the elements of the Opposition 
 shall unite in the next presidential election, and in all 
 future time. I am anxious that that should be, but 
 there are things seriously to be considered in relation 
 to that matter. If the terms can be arranged, I ana in 
 favor of the union. But suppose we shall take up some 
 man, and put him upon one end or the other of the 
 ticket, who declares himself against us in regard to the 
 prevention of the spread of slavery, who turns up his 
 nose and says he is tired of hearing anything more 
 about it, who is more against us than against the 
 enemy what will be the issue? Why, he will get no 
 slave States after all he has tried that already until 
 being beat is the rule for him. If we nominate him 
 upon that ground, he will not carry a slave State, and 
 not only so, but that portion of our men who are high 
 strung upon the principle we really fight for will not 
 go for him, and he won t get a single electoral vote 
 anywhere, except, perhaps, in the State of Maryland. 
 There is no use in saying to us that we are stubborn 
 and obstinate because we won t do some such thing as 
 this. We cannot do it. We cannot get our men to vote 
 it. I speak by the card, that we cannot give the State 
 of Illinois in such case by fifty thousand. We would be 
 flatter down than the " Negro Democracy " themselves 
 have the heart to wish to see us. 
 
 After saying this much, let me say a little on the 
 17 
 
258 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 other side. There are plenty of men in the slave States 
 that are altogether good enough for me to be either 
 President or Vice-President, provided they will profess 
 their sympathy with our purpose, and will place them 
 selves on such ground that our men, upon principle, 
 can vote for them. There are scores of them good 
 men in their character for intelligence, and talent, and 
 integrity. If such an one will place himself upon the 
 right ground, I am for his occupying one place upon 
 the next Republican or Opposition ticket. I will 
 heartily go for him. But unless he does so place him 
 self, I think it is a matter of perfect nonsense to at 
 tempt to bring about a union upon any other basis; 
 that if a union be made, the elements will scatter so 
 that there can be no success for such a ticket, nor any 
 thing like success. The good old maxims of the Bible 
 are applicable, and truly applicable, to human affairs, 
 and in this, as in other things, we may say here that 
 he who is not for us is against us; he who gathereth 
 not with us scattereth. I should be glad to have some 
 of the many good, and able, and noble men of the South 
 to place themselves where we can confer upon them 
 the high honor of an election upon one or the other end 
 of our ticket. It would do my soul good to do that 
 thing. It would enable us to teach them that, inas 
 much as we select one of their own number to carry 
 out our principles, we are free from the charge that we 
 mean more than we say. 
 
Lincoln as President-Elect, 1860 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 259 
 
 ADDRESS AT COOPER INSTITUTE, NEW YORK, 
 FEBRUARY 27, 1860. 
 
 [This, one of the great speeches of Mr. Lincoln, is worthy of 
 the notable gathering which turned out at New York to hear the 
 rough Western orator, who loved to be taken for what he was, 
 a rude but kindly child of the people. The audience he addressed 
 was a cultured and critical one, composed largely of eminent men 
 in the various learned professions; while on the platform with 
 him, besides the chairman, the poet Bryant, were men of the 
 stamp of Horace Greeley, Henry Ward Beecher, Joseph Choate, 
 David Dudley Field, and other men of high intellectual and social 
 position. The address made a profound impression, not only by 
 the pure logic and forcible argument that mark the whole speech, 
 but by the masterly manner in which Mr. Lincoln reviewed the 
 history of the Slave question from the early years of the fathers 
 downwards, and his lucid statement of the attitude of the two 
 great political parties toward it. Admirable wa the speaker s 
 restraint, though all the more effective, when speaking of the 
 South, and of slavery as a wrong, and when treating of the 
 moral necessity of excluding slavery from the Territories. The 
 fervor of the orator s appeal to do right and to be true to duty- 
 did much also to move his audience and call forth their enthusi 
 asm ; while the effect of the whole was to draw favorable atten 
 tion to Mr. Lincoln, over the length and breadth of the country, 
 as a possible future candidate for the Presidency]. 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow-citizens of New York: 
 The facts with which I shall deal this evening are 
 mainly old and familiar; nor is there anything new 
 in the general use I shall make of them. If there shall 
 be any novelty, it will be in the mode of presenting the 
 facts, and the inferences and observations following 
 that presentation. In his speech last autumn at Co 
 lumbus, Ohio, as reported in the " New- York Times," 
 Senator Douglas said: 
 
 Our fathers, when they framed the government under which 
 we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, 
 than we do now. 
 
 I fully indorse this, and I adopt it as p. tpyt for this 
 
260 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLX. 
 
 discourse. I so adopt it because it furnishes a precise 
 and an agreed starting-point for a discussion between 
 Republicans and that wing of the Democracy headed 
 by Senator Douglas. It simply leaves the inquiry : 
 What was the understanding those fathers had of the 
 question mentioned? 
 
 What is the frame of government under which we 
 live? The answer must be, "The Constitution of the 
 United States." That Constitution consists of the 
 original, framed in 1787, and under which the present 
 government first went into operation, and twelve sub 
 sequently framed amendments, the first ten of which 
 were framed in 1789. 
 
 Who were our fathers that framed the Constitution ? 
 I suppose the " thirty-nine " who signed the original 
 instrument may be fairly called our fathers who framed 
 that part of the present government. It is almost 
 exactly true to say they framed it, and it is altogether 
 true to say they fairly represented the opinion and 
 sentiment of the whole nation at that time. Their 
 names, being familiar to nearly all, and accessible to 
 quite all, need not now be repeated. 
 
 I take these " thirty-nine," for the present, as being 
 " our fathers who framed the government under which 
 we live." What is the question which, according to 
 the text, those fathers understood "just as well, and 
 even better, than we do now " ? 
 
 It is this: Does the proper division of local from 
 Federal authority, or anything in the Constitution, for 
 bid our Federal Government to control as to slavery 
 in our Federal Territories? 
 
 Upon this, Senator Douglas holds the affirmative, and 
 Republicans the negative. This affirmation and de 
 nial form an issue; and this issue this question is 
 precisely what the text declares our fathers understood 
 " better than we." Let us now inquire whether the 
 " thirty-nine," or any of them, ever acted upon this 
 question ; and if they did, how they acted upon it how 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 261 
 
 they expressed that better understanding. In 1784, 
 three years before the Constitution, the United States 
 then owning the Northwestern Territory, and no other, 
 the Congress of the Confederation had before them the 
 question of prohibiting slavery in that Territory; and 
 four of the " thirty -nine " who afterward framed the 
 Constitution were in that Congress, and voted on that 
 question. Of these, Roger Sherman, Thomas Mifflin, 
 and Hugh Williamson voted for the prohibition, thus 
 showing that, in their understanding, no line dividing 
 local from Federal authority, nor anything else, prop 
 erly forbade the Federal Government to control as to 
 slavery in Federal territory. The other of the four, 
 James McHenry, voted against the prohibition, show 
 ing that for some cause he thought it improper to vote 
 for it. 
 
 In 1787, still before the Constitution, but while the 
 convention was in session framing it, and while the 
 Northwestern Territory still was the only Territory 
 owned by the United States, the same question of pro 
 hibiting slavery in the Territory again came before the 
 Congress of the Confederation ; and two more of the 
 " thirty-nine " who afterward signed the Constitution 
 were in that Congress, and voted on the question. 
 They were William Blount and William Few; and 
 they both voted for the prohibition thus showing that 
 in their understanding no line dividing local from 
 Federal authority, nor anything else, properly forbade 
 the Federal Government to control as to slavery in 
 Federal territory. This time the prohibition became 
 a law, being part of what is now well known as the 
 ordinance of 87. 
 
 The question of Federal control of slavery in the Ter 
 ritories seems not to have been directly before the con 
 vention which framed the original Constitution; and 
 hence it is not recorded that the " thirty-nine," or any 
 of them, while engaged on that instrument, expressed 
 any opinion on that precise question. 
 
262 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the 
 Constitution, an act was passed to enforce the ordi 
 nance of 87, including the prohibition of slavery in 
 the Northwestern Territory. The bill for this act was 
 reported by one of the " thirty-nine " Thomas Fitz- 
 simmons, then a member of the House of Representa 
 tives from Pennsylvania. It went through all its 
 stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed 
 both branches without ayes and nays, which is equiv 
 alent to a unanimous passage. In this Congress there 
 were sixteen of the thirty-nine fathers who framed the 
 original Constitution. They were John Langdon, 
 Nicholas Oilman, Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, 
 Robert Morris, Thos. Fitzsimmons, William Few, Abra 
 ham Baldwin, Rufus King, William Paterson, George 
 Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, 
 Daniel Carroll, and James Madison. 
 
 This shows that, in their understanding, no line di 
 viding local from Federal authority, nor anything in 
 the Constitution, properly forbade Congress to pro 
 hibit slavery in the Federal territory; else both their 
 fidelity to correct principle, and their oath to support 
 the Constitution, would have constrained them to op 
 pose the prohibition. 
 
 Again, George Washington, another of the " thirty- 
 nine," was then President of the United States, and 
 as such approved and signed the bill, thus completing 
 its validity as a law, and thus showing that, in his 
 understanding, no line dividing local from Federal 
 authority, nor anything in the Constitution, forbade the 
 Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal 
 territory. 
 
 No great while after the adoption of the original 
 Constitution, North Carolina ceded to the Federal 
 Government the country now constituting the State of 
 Tennessee; and a few years later Georgia ceded that 
 which now constitutes the States of Mississippi and 
 Alabama. In both deeds of cession it was made a con- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 26,1 
 
 dition by the ceding States that the Federal Govern 
 ment should not prohibit slavery in the ceded country. 
 Besides this, slavery was then actually in the ceded 
 country. Under these circumstances, Congress, on 
 taking charge of these countries, did not absolutely 
 prohibit slavery within them. But they did interfere 
 with it take control of it even there, to a certain 
 extent. In 1798 Congress organized the Territory of 
 Mississippi. In the act of organization they prohibited 
 the bringing of slaves into the Territory from any 
 place without the United States, by fine, and giving 
 freedom to slaves so brought. This act passed both 
 branches of Congress without yeas and nays. In that 
 Congress were three of the " thirty-nine " who framed 
 the original Constitution. They were John Langdon, 
 George Read, and Abraham Baldwin. They all prob 
 ably voted for it. Certainly they would have placed 
 their opposition to it upon record if, in their under 
 standing, any line dividing local from Federal author 
 ity, or anything in the Constitution, properly forbade 
 the Federal Government to control as to slavery in 
 Federal territory. 
 
 In 1803 the Federal Government purchased the 
 Louisiana country. Our former territorial acquisitions 
 came from certain of our own States; but this Louisi 
 ana country was acquired from a foreign nation. In 
 1804 Congress gave a territorial organization to that 
 part of it which now constitutes the State of Louisiana. 
 New Orleans, lying within that part, was an old and 
 comparatively large city. There were other considerable 
 towns and settlements, and slavery was extensively 
 and thoroughly intermingled with the people. Con 
 gress did not, in the Territorial Act, prohibit slavery; 
 but they did interfere with it take control of it in a 
 more marked and extensive way than they did in the 
 case of Mississippi. The substance of the provision 
 therein made in relation to slaves was: 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 1st. That no slave should be imported into the Ter 
 ritory from foreign parts. 
 
 2d. That no slave should be carried into it who had 
 been imported into the United States since the first 
 day of May, 1798. 
 
 3d. That no slave should be carried into it, except by 
 the owner, and for his own use as a settler; the pen 
 alty in all the cases being a fine upon the violator of 
 the law, and freedom to the slave. 
 
 This act also was passed without ayes or nays. In 
 the Congress which passed it there were two of the 
 " thirty-nine." They were Abraham Baldwin and 
 Jonathan Dayton. As stated in the case of Mississippi, 
 it is probable they both voted for it. They would not 
 have allowed it to pass without recording their oppo 
 sition to it if, in their understanding, it violated either 
 the line properly dividing local from Federal author 
 ity, or any provision of the Constitution. 
 
 In 1819-20 came and passed the Missouri question. 
 Many votes were taken, by yeas and nays, in both 
 branches of Congress, upon the various phases of the 
 general question. Two of the " thirty-nine " Rufus 
 King and Charles Pinckney were members of that 
 Congress. Mr. King steadily voted for slavery prohi 
 bition and against all compromises, while Mr. Pinck 
 ney as steadily voted against slavery prohibition and 
 against all compromises. By this, Mr. King showed 
 that, in his understanding, no line dividing local from 
 Federal authority, nor anything in the Constitution, 
 was violated by Congress prohibiting slavery in Fed 
 eral territory; while Mr. Pinckney, by his votes, showed 
 that, in his understanding, there was some sufficient 
 reason for opposing such prohibition in that case. 
 
 The cases I have mentioned are the only acts of the 
 " thirty-nine," or of any of them, upon the direct issue, 
 which I have been able to discover. 
 
 To enumerate the persons who thus acted as being 
 four in 1784, two in 1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. (35 
 
 1798, two in 1804, and two in 1819-20, there would be 
 thirty of them. But this would be counting John 
 Langdon, Koger Sherman, William Few, Rufus King, 
 and George Read each twice, and Abraham Baldwin 
 three times. The true number of those of the " thirty- 
 nine " whom I have shown to have acted upon the 
 question which, by the text, they understood better 
 than we, is twenty-three, leaving sixteen not shown 
 to have acted upon it in any way. 
 
 Here, then, we have twenty-three out of our thirty- 
 nine fathers " who framed the government under which 
 we live," who have, upon their official responsibility 
 and their corporal oaths, acted upon the very question 
 which the text affirms they " understood just as well, 
 and even better, than we do now T " ; and twenty-one of 
 them a clear majority of the whole " thirty-nine " 
 so acting upon it as to make them guilty of gross polit 
 ical impropriety and wilful perjury if, in their un 
 derstanding, any proper division between local and 
 Federal authority, or anything in the Constitution they 
 had made themselves, and sworn to support, forbade 
 the Federal Government to control as to slavery in 
 the Federal Territories. Thus the twenty-one acted; 
 and, as actions speak louder than words, so actions 
 under such responsibility speak still louder. 
 
 Two of the twenty-three voted against congressional 
 prohibition of slavery in the Federal Territories, in the 
 instances in which they acted upon the question. But 
 for what reasons they so voted is not known. They may 
 have done so because they thought a proper division 
 of local from Federal authority, or some provision or 
 principle of the Constitution, stood in the way ; or they 
 may, without any such question, have voted against the 
 prohibition on what appeared to them to be sufficient 
 grounds of expediency. No one who has sworn to sup 
 port the Constitution can conscientiously vote for what 
 he understands to be an unconstitutional measure, 
 however expedient he may think it; but one may and 
 
0(56 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ought to vote against a measure which he deems con 
 stitutional if, at the same time, he deems it inexpedient. 
 It, therefore, would be unsafe to set down even the two 
 who voted against the prohibition as having done so 
 because, in their understanding, any proper division 
 of local from Federal authority, or anything in the 
 Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to con 
 trol as to slavery in Federal territory. 
 
 The remaining sixteen of the " thirty-nine," so far 
 as I have discovered, have left no record of their un 
 derstanding upon the direct question of Federal con 
 trol of slavery in the Federal Territories. But there 
 is much reason to believe that their understanding 
 upon that question would not have appeared different 
 from that of their twenty-three compeers, had it been 
 manifested at all. 
 
 For the purpose of adhering rigidly to the text, I have 
 purposely omitted whatever understanding may have 
 been manifested by any person, however distinguished, 
 other than the thirty-nine fathers who framed the 
 original Constitution; and, for the same reason, I 
 have also omitted whatever understanding may have 
 been manifested by any of the " thirty-nine " even on 
 any other phase of the general question of slavery. If 
 we should look into their acts and declarations on 
 those other phases, as the foreign slave-trade, and the 
 morality and policy of slavery generally, it would ap 
 pear to us that on the direct question of Federal con 
 trol of slavery in Federal Territories, the sixteen, if 
 they had acted at all, would probably have acted just 
 as the twenty-three did. Among that sixteen were 
 several of the most noted antislavery men of those 
 times, as Dr. Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, and 
 Gouverneur Morris, while there was not one now 
 known to have been otherwise, unless it may be John 
 Rutledge, of South Carolina. 
 
 The sum of the whole is that of our thirty-nine 
 fathers who framed the original Constitution, twenty- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 267 
 
 one a clear majority of the whole certainly under 
 stood that no proper division of local from Federal 
 authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade 
 the Federal Government to control slavery in the Fed 
 eral Territories; while all the rest had probably the 
 same understanding. Such, unquestionably, was the 
 understanding of our fathers who framed the original 
 Constitution ; and the text affirms that they understood 
 the question " better than we." 
 
 But, so far, I have been considering the understand 
 ing of the question manifested by the framers of the 
 original Constitution. In and by the original instru 
 ment, a mode was provided for amending it ; and, as I 
 have already stated, the present frame of " the govern 
 ment under which we live " consists of that original, 
 and twelve amendatory articles framed and adopted 
 since. Those who now insist that Federal control of 
 slavery in Federal Territories violates the Constitution, 
 point us to the provisions which they suppose it thus 
 violates; and, as I understand, they all fix upon pro 
 visions in these amendatory articles, and not in the 
 original instrument. The Supreme Court, in the Dred 
 Scott case, plant themselves upon the fifth amendment, 
 which provides that no person shall be deprived of 
 " life, liberty, or property without due process of law "; 
 while Senator Douglas and his peculiar adherents plant 
 themselves upon the tenth amendment, providing that 
 " the powers not delegated to the United States by the 
 Constitution " " are reserved to the States respectively, 
 or to the people." 
 
 Now, it so happens that these amendments were 
 framed by the first Congress which sat under the Con 
 stitution the identical Congress which passed the act, 
 already mentioned, enforcing the prohibition of slavery 
 in the Northwestern Territory. Not only w r as it the 
 same Congress, but they were the identical, same indi 
 vidual men who, at the same session, and at the same 
 time within the session, had under consideration, and 
 
2(58 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 in progress toward maturity, these constitutional 
 amendments, and this act prohibiting slavery in all the 
 territory the nation then owned. The constitutional 
 amendments were introduced before, and passed after, 
 the act enforcing the ordinance of 87; so that, during 
 the whole pendency of the act to enforce the ordinance, 
 the constitutional amendments were also pending. 
 
 The seventy-six members of that Congress, including 
 sixteen of the framers of the original Constitution, as 
 before stated, were preeminently our fathers who 
 framed that part of " the government under which we 
 live " which is now claimed as forbidding the Federal 
 Government to control slavery in the Federal Terri 
 tories. 
 
 Is it not a little presumptuous in any one at this 
 day to affirm that the two things which that Congress 
 deliberately framed, and carried to maturity at the 
 same time, are absolutely inconsistent with each other? 
 And does not such affirmation become impudently 
 absurd when coupled with the other affirmation, from 
 the same mouth, that those who did the two things 
 alleged to be inconsistent, understood whether they 
 really were inconsistent better than we better than he 
 who affirms that they are inconsistent? 
 
 It is surely safe to assume that the thirty-nine 
 framers of the original Constitution, and the seventy- 
 six members of the Congress which framed the amend 
 ments thereto, taken together, do certainly include 
 those who may be fairly called " our fathers who 
 framed the government under which we live." And so 
 assuming, I defy any man to show that any one of them 
 ever, in his whole life, declared that, in his understand 
 ing, any proper division of local from Federal author 
 ity, or any part of the Constitution, forbade the 
 Federal Government to control as to slavery in the 
 Federal Territories. I go a step further. I defy any 
 one to show that any living man in the whole world 
 ever did, prior to the beginning of the present century 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 269 
 
 (and I might almost say prior to the beginning of the 
 last half of the present century), declare that, in his 
 understanding, any proper division of local from Fed 
 eral authority, or any part of the Constitution, forbade 
 the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the 
 Federal Territories. To those who now so declare I 
 give not only " our fathers who framed the government 
 under which we live," but with them all other living 
 men within the century in which it was framed, among 
 whom to search, and they shall not be able to find the 
 evidence of a single man agreeing with them. 
 
 Now, and here, let me guard a little against being 
 misunderstood. I do not mean to say we are bound 
 to follow implicitly in whatever our fathers did. To 
 do so would be to discard all the lights of current ex 
 perience to reject all progress, all improvement. 
 What I do say is that if we would supplant the opin 
 ions and policy of our fathers in any case, we should 
 do so upon evidence so conclusive, and argument so 
 clear, that even their great authority, fairly considered 
 and weighed, cannot stand; and most surely not in a 
 case whereof we ourselves declare they understood the 
 question better than we. 
 
 If any man at this day sincerely believes that a 
 proper division of local from Federal authority, or any 
 part of the Constitution, forbids the Federal Govern 
 ment to control as to slavery in the Federal Territories, 
 he is right to say so, and to enforce his position by all 
 truthful evidence and fair argument which he can. 
 But he has no right to mislead others, who have less 
 access to history, and less leisure to study it, into the 
 false belief that " our fathers who framed the govern 
 ment under which we live " were of the same opinion 
 thus substituting falsehood and deception for truth 
 ful evidence and fair argument. If any man at this 
 day sincerely believes "our fathers who framed the 
 government under which we live" used and applied 
 principles, in other cases, which ought to have led 
 
270 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 them to understand that a proper division of local 
 from Federal authority, or some part of the Consti 
 tution, forbids the Federal Government to control as 
 to slavery in the Federal Territories, he is right to say 
 so. But he should, at the same time, brave the respon 
 sibility of declaring that, in his opinion, he understands 
 their principles better than they did themselves; and 
 especially should he not shirk that responsibility by 
 asserting that they " understood the question just as 
 well, and even better, than we do now." 
 
 But enough ! Let all who believe that " our fathers 
 who framed the government under which we live under 
 stood this question just as well, and even better, than 
 we do now," speak as they spoke, and act as they acted 
 upon it. This is all Republicans ask all Republicans 
 desire in relation to slavery. As those fathers 
 marked it, so let it be again marked, as an evil not to 
 be extended, but to be tolerated and protected only 
 because of and so far as its actual presence among us 
 makes that toleration and protection a necessity. Let 
 all the guaranties those fathers gave it be not grudg 
 ingly, but fully and fairly, maintained. For this 
 Republicans contend, and with this, so far as I know 
 or believe, they will be content. 
 
 And now, if they would listen, as I suppose they 
 will not, I would address a few words to the South 
 ern people. 
 
 I would say to them : You consider yourselves a 
 reasonable and a just people; and I consider that in the 
 general qualities of reason and justice you are not in 
 ferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of 
 us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us as rep 
 tiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. You 
 will grant a hedring to pirates or murderers, but noth 
 ing like it to " Black Republicans." In all your con 
 tentions with one another, each of you deems an 
 unconditional condemnation of " Black Republican 
 ism " as the first thing to be attended to. Indeed, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 such condemnation of us seems to be an indispensable 
 prerequisite license, so to speak among you to be 
 admitted or permitted to speak at all. Now can you 
 or not be prevailed upon to pause and to consider 
 whether this is quite just to us, or even to yourselves? 
 Bring forward your charges and specifications, and 
 then be patient long enough to hear us deny or justify. 
 You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes 
 an issue; and the burden of proof is upon you. You 
 produce your proof; and what is it? Why, that our 
 party has no existence in your section gets no votes 
 in your section. The fact is substantially true; but 
 does it prove the issue? If it does, then in case we 
 should, without change of principle, begin to get votes 
 in your section, we should thereby cease to be sectional. 
 You cannot escape this conclusion; and yet, are you 
 willing to abide by it? If you are, you will probably 
 soon find that we have ceased to be sectional, for we 
 shall get votes in your section this very year. Y r ou 
 will then begin to discover, as the truth plainly is, that 
 your proof does not touch the issue. The fact that 
 we get no votes in your section is a fact of your mak 
 ing, and not of ours. And if there be fault in that 
 fact, that fault is primarily yours, and remains so until 
 you show that we repel you by some wrong principle 
 or practice. If we do repel you by any wrong principle 
 or practice, the fault is ours; but this brings you to 
 where you ought to have started to a discussion of 
 the right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, 
 put in practice, would wrong your section for the bene 
 fit of ours, or for any other object, then our principle, 
 and we with it, are sectional, and are justly opposed and 
 denounced as such. Meet us, then, on the question of 
 whether our principle, put in practice, would wrong 
 your section ; and so meet us as if it were possible that 
 something may be said on our side. Do you accept 
 the challenge? No! Then you really believe that the 
 principle which " our fathers who framed the govern- 
 
272 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ment under which we live" thought so clearly right 
 as to adopt it, and indorse it again and again, upon 
 their official oaths, is in fact so clearly wrong as to 
 demand your condemnation without a moment s con 
 sideration. 
 
 Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the yarn 
 ing against sectional parties given by Washington in 
 his Farewell Address. Less than eight years before 
 Washington gave that warning, he had, as President 
 of the United States, approved and signed an act of 
 Congress enforcing the prohibition of slavery in the 
 Northwestern Territory, which act embodied the policy 
 of the government upon that subject up to and at the 
 very moment he penned that warning; and about one 
 year after he penned it, he wrote Lafayette that he 
 considered that prohibition a wise measure, expressing 
 in the same connection his hope that we should at some 
 time hrve a confederacy of free States. 
 
 Bearing this in mind, and seeing that sectionalism 
 has since arisen upon this same subject, is that warning 
 a weapon in your hands against us, or in our hands 
 against you? Could Washington himself speak, would 
 he cast the blame of that sectionalism upon us, who 
 sustain his policy, or upon you, who repudiate it? 
 We respect that warning of Washington, and we com 
 mend it to you, together with his example pointing to 
 the right application of it. 
 
 But you say you are conservative eminently con 
 servative while we are revolutionary, destructive, or 
 something of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it 
 not adherence to the old and tried, against the new 
 and untried? We stick to, contend for, the identical 
 old policy on the point in controversy which was 
 adopted by " our fathers who framed the government 
 under which we live"; while you with one accord re 
 ject, and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and 
 insist upon substituting something new. True, you 
 disagree among yourselves as to what that substitute 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 shall be. You are divided on new propositions and 
 plans, but you are unanimous in rejecting and denounc 
 ing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for 
 reviving the foreign slave-trade; some for a congress 
 ional slave code for the Territories ; some for Congress 
 forbidding the Territories to prohibit slavery within 
 their limits; some for maintaining slavery in the Terri 
 tories through the judiciary; some for the " gur-reat 
 pur-rinciple " that " if one man would enslave another, 
 no third man should object," fantastically called " pop 
 ular sovereignty " ; but never a man among you is in 
 favor of Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal Ter 
 ritories, according to the practice of " our fathers who 
 framed the government under which we live." Not 
 one of all your various plans can show a precedent or 
 an advocate in the century within which our govern 
 ment originated. Consider, then, whether your claim 
 of conservatism for yourselves, and your charge of 
 destructiveness against us, are based on the most clear 
 and stable foundations. 
 
 Again, you say we have made the slavery question 
 more prominent than it formerly was. We deny it. 
 We admit that it is more prominent, but we deny that 
 we made it so. It was not we, but you, who discarded 
 the old policy of the fathers. We resisted, and still 
 resist, your innovation; and thence comes the greater 
 prominence of the question. Would you have that 
 question reduced to its former proportions? Go back 
 to that old policy. What has been will be again, under 
 the same conditions. If you would have the peace 
 of the old times, readopt the precepts and policy of the 
 old times. 
 
 You charge that we stir up insurrections among your 
 slaves. We deny it; and what is your proof? Har 
 per s Ferry ! John Brown ! ! John Brown was no Re 
 publican; and you have failed to implicate a single 
 Republican in his Harper s Ferry enterprise. If any 
 member of our party is guilty in that matter, you know 
 18 
 
274 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 it, or you do not know it. If you do know it, you are 
 inexcusable for not designating the man and proving 
 the fact. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable 
 for asserting it, and especially for persisting in the 
 assertion after you have tried and failed to make the 
 proof. You need not be told that persisting in a charge 
 which one does not know to be true, is simply mali 
 cious slander. 
 
 Some of you admit that no Republican designedly 
 aided or encouraged the Harper s Ferry affair, but 
 still insist that our doctrines and declarations neces 
 sarily lead to such results. We do not believe it. 
 We know we hold no doctrine, and make no declara 
 tion, which were not held to and made by " our fathers 
 who framed the government under which we live." You 
 never dealt fairly by us in relation to this affair. 
 When it occurred, some important State elections were 
 near at hand, and you were in evident glee with the 
 belief that, by charging the blame upon us, you could 
 get an advantage of us in those elections. The elec 
 tions came, and your expectations were not quite ful 
 filled. Every Republican man knew that, as to himself 
 at least, your charge was a slander, and he was not 
 much inclined by it to cast his vote in your favor. Re 
 publican doctrines and declarations are accompanied 
 with a continual protest against any interference 
 whatever with your slaves, or with you about your 
 slaves. Surely, this does not encourage them to revolt. 
 True, we do, in common with " our fathers who framed 
 the government under which we live," declare our be 
 lief that slavery is wrong; but the slaves do not hear 
 us declare even this. For anything we say or do, the 
 slaves would scarcely know there is a Republican party. 
 I believe they would not, in fact, generally know it but 
 for your misrepresentations of us in their hearing. In 
 your political contests among yourselves, each faction 
 charges the other with sympathy with Black Repub 
 licanism; and then, to give point to the charge, defines 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 275 
 
 Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, 
 and thunder among the slaves. 
 
 Slave insurrections arc no more common now than 
 they were before the Republican party was organ 
 ized. What induced the Southampton insurrection, 
 twenty-eight years ago, in which at least three times 
 as many lives were lost as at Harper s Ferry? You 
 can scarcely stretch your very elastic fancy to the con 
 clusion that Southampton was " got up by Black Re 
 publicanism." In the present state of things in the 
 United States, I do not think a general, or even a very 
 extensive, slave insurrection is possible. The indispen 
 sable concert of action cannot be obtained. The slaves 
 have no means of rapid communication; nor can incen 
 diary freemen, black or white, supply it. The explo 
 sive materials are everywhere in parcels; but there 
 neither are, nor can be supplied, the indispensable 
 connecting trains. 
 
 Much is said by Southern people about the affection 
 of slaves for their masters and mistresses; and a part 
 of it, at least, is true. A plot for an uprising could 
 scarcely be devised and communicated to twenty indi 
 viduals before some one of them, to save the life of a 
 favorite master or mistress, would divulge it. This is 
 the rule; and the slave revolution in Hayti was not an 
 exception to it, but a case occurring under peculiar 
 circumstances. The gunpowder plot of British history, 
 though not connected with slaves, was more in point. 
 In that case, only about twenty were admitted to the 
 secret; and yet one of them, in his anxiety to save a 
 friend, betrayed the plot to that friend, and, by conse 
 quence, averted the calamity. Occasional poisonings 
 from the kitchen, and open or stealthy assassinations 
 in the field, and local revolts extending to a score or 
 so, will continue to occur as the natural results of 
 slavery; but no general insurrection of slaves, as I 
 think, can happen in this country for a long time. 
 
276 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Whoever much fears, or much hopes, for such an event, 
 will be alike disappointed. 
 
 In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many years 
 ago, " It is still in our power to direct the process of 
 emancipation and deportation peaceably, and in such 
 slow degrees, as that the evil will wear off insensibly; 
 and their places be, pari passu, filled up by free white 
 laborers. If, on the contrary, it is left to force itself 
 on, human nature must shudder at the prospect held 
 up." 
 
 Mr. Jefferson did not mean to say, nor do I, that 
 the power of emancipation is in the Federal Govern 
 ment. He spoke of Virginia; and, as to the power of 
 emancipation, I speak of the slaveholding States only. 
 The Federal Government, however, as we insist, has 
 the power of restraining the extension of the institu 
 tion the power to insure that a slave insurrection 
 shall never occur on any American soil which is now 
 free from slavery. 
 
 John Brown s effort was peculiar. It was not a 
 slave insurrection. It was an attempt by white men to 
 get up a revolt among slaves, in which the slaves re 
 fused to participate. In fact, it was so absurd that 
 the slaves, with all their ignorance, saw plainly enough 
 it could not succeed. That affair, in its philosophy, 
 corresponds with the many attempts, related in history, 
 at the assassination of kings and emperors. An en 
 thusiast broods over the oppression of a people till he 
 fancies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate 
 them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little 
 less than his own execution. Orsini s attempt on 
 Louis Napoleon, and John Brown s attempt at Harper s 
 Ferry, were, in their philosophy, precisely the same. 
 The eagerness to cast blame on old England in the one 
 case, and on New England in the other, does not dis 
 prove the sameness of the two things. 
 
 And how much would it avail you, if you could, by 
 the use of John Brown, Helper s Book, and the like, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 277 
 
 break up the Republican organization? Human action 
 can be modified to some extent, but human nature can 
 not be changed. There is a judgment and a feeling 
 against slavery in this nation, which cast at least a 
 million and a half of votes. You cannot destroy that 
 judgment and feeling that sentiment by breaking 
 up the political organization which rallies around it. 
 You can scarcely scatter and disperse an army which 
 has been formed into order in the face of your heaviest 
 fire; but if you could, how much would you gain by 
 forcing the sentiment which created it out of the peace 
 ful channel of the ballot-box into some other channel? 
 What would that other channel probably be? Would 
 the number of John Browns be lessened or enlarged 
 by the operation? 
 
 But you will break up the Union rather than submit 
 to a denial of your constitutional rights. 
 
 That has a somewhat reckless sound ; but it would be 
 palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by 
 the mere force of numbers, to deprive you of some right 
 plainly written down in the Constitution. But we are 
 proposing no such thing. 
 
 When you make these declarations you have a spe 
 cific and well understbod allusion to an assumed con 
 stitutional right of yours to take slaves into the Fede 
 ral Territories, and to hold them there as property. 
 But no such right is specifically written in the Consti 
 tution. That instrument is literally silent about any 
 such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a 
 right has any existence in the Constitution, even by 
 implication. 
 
 Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will 
 destroy the government, unless you be allowed to con 
 strue and force the Constitution as you please, on all 
 points in dispute between you and us. You will rule 
 or ruin in all events. 
 
 This, plainly stated, is your language. Perhaps you 
 will say the Supreme Court has decided the disputed 
 
278 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 constitutional question in your favor. Not quite so. 
 But waiving the lawyer s distinction between dictum 
 and decision, the court has decided the question for 
 you in a sort of way. The court has substantially 
 said, it is your constitutional right to take slaves into 
 the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as prop 
 erty. When I say the decision was made in a sort of 
 way, I mean it was made in a divided court, by a bare 
 majority of the judges, and they not quite agreeing 
 with one another in the reasons for making it; that it 
 is so made as that its avowed supporters disagree with 
 one another about its meaning, and that it was mainly 
 based upon a mistaken statement of fact the state 
 ment in the opinion that " the right of property in a 
 slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the Consti 
 tution." 
 
 An inspection of the Constitution will show that 
 the right of property in a slave is not " distinctly and 
 expressly affirmed " in it. Bear in mind, the judges 
 do not pledge their judicial opinion that such right 
 is impliedly affirmed in the Constitution ; but they 
 pledge their veracity that it is " distinctly and ex 
 pressly " affirmed there " distinctly," that is, not 
 mingled with anything else " expressly," that is, in 
 words meaning just that, without the aid of any infer 
 ence, and susceptible of no other meaning. 
 
 If they had only pledged their judicial opinion that 
 such right is affirmed in the instrument by implication, 
 it would be open to others to show that neither the 
 word " slave " nor " slavery " is to be found in the 
 Constitution, nor the word " property " even, in any 
 connection with language alluding to the things slave, 
 or slavery; and that wherever in that instrument the 
 slave is alluded to, he is called a "person"; and 
 wherever his master s legal right in relation to him 
 is alluded to, it is spoken of as " service or labor which 
 may be due " as a debt payable in service or labor. 
 Also it would be open to show, by contemporaneous 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 279 
 
 history, that this mode of alluding to slaves and 
 slavery, instead of speaking of them, was employed on 
 purpose to exclude from the Constitution the idea that 
 there could be property in man. 
 
 To show all this is easy and certain. 
 
 When this obvious mistake of the judges shall be 
 brought to their notice, is it not reasonable to expect 
 that they will withdraw the mistaken statement, and 
 reconsider the conclusion based upon it? 
 
 And then it is to be remembered that " our fathers 
 who framed the government under which we live " 
 the men who made the Constitution decided this same 
 constitutional question in our favor long ago: decided 
 it without division among themselves when making 
 the decision ; without division among themselves about 
 the meaning of it after it was made, and, so far as any 
 evidence is left, without basing it upon any mistaken 
 statement of facts. 
 
 Under all these circumstances, do you really feel 
 yourselves justified to break up this government unless 
 such a court decision as yours is shall be at once sub 
 mitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political 
 action? But you will not abide the election of a Re 
 publican president! In that supposed event, you say, 
 you will destroy the Union; and then, you say, the 
 great crime of having destroyed it will be upon us! 
 That is cool. A highwayman holds a pistol to my ear, 
 and mutters through his teeth, " Stand and deliver, 
 or I shall kill you, and then you will be a murderer ! " 
 
 To be sure, what a robber demanded of me my 
 money was my own ; and I had a clear right to keep 
 it ; but it was no more my own than my vote is my own ; 
 and the threat of death to me, to extort my money, and 
 the threat of destruction to the Union, to extort my 
 vote, can scarcely be distinguished in principle. 
 
 A few words now to the Republicans. It is exceed 
 ingly desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy 
 shall be at peace, and in harmony one with another. 
 
280 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even 
 though much provoked, let us do nothing through pas 
 sion and ill temper. Even though the Southern people 
 will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider 
 their demands, and yield to them if, in our deliberate 
 view of our duty, we possibly can. Judging by all they 
 say and do, and by the subject and nature of their con 
 troversy with us, let us determine, if we can, what will 
 satisfy them. 
 
 Will they be satisfied if the Territories be uncon 
 ditionally surrendered to them? We know they will 
 not. In all their present complaints against us, the 
 Territories are scarcely mentioned. Invasions and 
 insurrections are the rage now. Will it satisfy them 
 if, in the future, we have nothing to do with invasions 
 and insurrections? We know it will not. We so 
 know, because we know we never had anything to do 
 with invasions and insurrections ; and yet this total 
 abstaining does not exempt us from the charge and the 
 denunciation. 
 
 The question recurs, What will satisfy them? 
 Simply this: we must not only let them alone, but we 
 must somehow convince them that we do let them 
 alone. This, we know by experience, is no easy task. 
 We have been so trying to convince them from the very 
 beginning of our organization, but with no success. 
 In all our platforms and speeches we have constantly 
 protested our purpose to let them alone; but this has 
 had no tendency to convince them. Alike unavailing 
 to convince them is the fact that they have never de 
 tected a man of us in any attempt to disturb them. 
 
 These natural and apparently adequate means all 
 failing, what will convince them? This, and this only : 
 cease to call slavery wrong, and join them in calling 
 it right. And this must be done thoroughly done in 
 acts as well as in words. Silence will not be tolerated 
 we must place ourselves avowedly with them. Sena 
 tor Douglas s new sedition law must be enacted and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 enforced, suppressing all declarations that slavery is 
 wrong, whether made in politics, in presses, in pulpits, 
 or in private. We must arrest and return their fugi 
 tive slaves with greedy pleasure. We must pull down 
 our free-State constitutions. The whole atmosphere 
 must be disinfected from all taint of opposition to 
 slavery, before they will cease to believe that all their 
 troubles proceed from us. 
 
 I am quite aware they do not state their case pre 
 cisely in this way. Most of them would probably say 
 to us, " Let us alone; do nothing to us, and say what 
 you please about slavery." But we do let them alone, 
 have never disturbed them, so that, after all, it is 
 what we say which dissatisfies them. They will con 
 tinue to accuse us of doing, until we cease saying. 
 
 I am also aware they have not as yet in terms de 
 manded the overthrow of our free-State constitutions. 
 Yet those constitutions declare the wrong of slavery 
 with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings 
 against it; and when all these other sayings shall have 
 been silenced, the overthrow of these constitutions will 
 be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand. 
 It is nothing to the contrary that they do not demand 
 the whole of this just now. Demanding what they 
 do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntarily 
 stop nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, 
 as they do, that slavery is morally right and socially 
 elevating, they cannot cease to demand a full national 
 recognition of it as a legal right and a social blessing. 
 
 Nor can we justifiably withhold this on any ground 
 save our conviction that slavery is wrong. If slavery 
 is right, all words, acts, laws, and constitutions 
 against it are themselves wrong, and should be silenced 
 and swept away. If it is right, we cannot justly ob 
 ject to its nationality its universality; if it is wrong, 
 they cannot justly insist upon its extension its en 
 largement. All they ask we could readily grant, if we 
 thought slavery right ; all we ask they could as readily 
 
282 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 grant, if they thought it wrong. Their thinking it 
 right and our thinking it wrong is the precise fact 
 upon which depends the whole controversy. Thinking 
 it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring 
 its full recognition as being right; but thinking it 
 wrong, as we do, can we yield to them? Can we cast 
 our votes with their view, and against our own? In 
 view of our moral, social, and political responsibilities, 
 can we do this? 
 
 Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to 
 let it alone where it is, because that much is due to 
 the necessity arising from its actual presence in the 
 nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, 
 allow it to spread into the national Territories, and to 
 overrun us here in these free States? If our sense of 
 duty forbids this, then let us stand by our duty fear 
 lessly and effectively. Let us be diverted by none 
 of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are 
 so industriously plied and belabored contrivances 
 such as groping for some middle ground between the 
 right and the wrong: vain as the search for a man who 
 should be neither a living man nor a dead man; such 
 as a policy of " don t care " on a question about which 
 all true men do care ; such as Union appeals be 
 seeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, re 
 versing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but 
 the righteous to repentance; such as invocations to 
 Washington, imploring men to unsay what Washington 
 said and undo what Washington did. 
 
 Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false 
 accusations against us, nor frightened from it by men 
 aces of destruction to the government, nor of dungeons 
 to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes 
 might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do 
 our duty as we understand it. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 283 
 
 SPEECH AT NEW HAVEN, CONN., MAR. 6, 1860. 
 
 [In the following speech, somewhat condensed, to a Connecti 
 cut audience, Mr. Lincoln directs attention to the national im 
 portance and magnitude of the engrossing question of the time, 
 which he was so instrumental in effectively dealing with. In 
 its political aspects, the right and wrong of slavery, and the 
 " irrepressible conflict " now launched upon the nation, the orator 
 pointed out, were endangering the perpetuity of the Union. In 
 the address, he repeats what he had elsewhere affirmed, that the 
 fathers who framed the national government looked on slavery 
 as a wrong, sought to prohibit its spreading, and looked for 
 ward to a time when the evil institution would cease. These 
 are the main points brought forward and discussed in the sub 
 joined address]. 
 
 Mr. President and Fellow-citizens of New Haven: 
 If the Republican party of this nation shall ever have 
 the national house intrusted to its keeping, it will be 
 the duty of that party to attend to all the affairs of 
 national housekeeping. Whatever matters of impor 
 tance may come up, whatever difficulties may arise, in 
 the way of its administration of the government, that 
 party will then have to attend to : it will then be com 
 pelled to attend to other questions besides this ques 
 tion which now assumes an overwhelming importance 
 the question of slavery. It is true that in the organi 
 zation of the Republican party this question of slavery 
 was more important than any other; indeed, so much 
 more important has it become that no other national 
 question can even get a hearing just at present. The 
 old question of tariff a matter that will remain one of 
 the chief affairs of national housekeeping to all time; 
 the question of the management of financial affairs; 
 the question of the disposition of the public domain : 
 how shall it be managed for the purpose of getting it 
 well settled, and of making there the homes of a free 
 
284: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and happy people these will remain open and require 
 attention for a great while yet, and these questions will 
 have to be attended to by whatever party has the con 
 trol of the government. Yet just now they cannot even 
 obtain a hearing, and I do not purpose to detain you 
 upon these topics, or what sort of hearing they should 
 have when opportunity shall come. For whether we 
 will or not, the question of slavery is the question, the 
 all-absorbing topic, of the day. It is true that all of 
 us and by that I mean not the Republican party 
 alone, but the whole American people here and else 
 where all of us wish this question settled; wish it out 
 of the way. It stands in the way and prevents the ad 
 justment and the giving of necessary attention to 
 other questions of national housekeeping. The people 
 of the whole nation agree that this question ought to 
 be settled, and yet it is not settled ; and the reason is 
 that they are not yet agreed how it shall be settled. 
 All wish it done, but some wish one way and some 
 another, and some a third, or fourth, or fifth ; different 
 bodies are pulling in different directions, and none of 
 them having a decided majority are able to accomplish 
 the common object. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1854, a new policy was 
 inaugurated with the avowed object and confident 
 promise that it would entirely and forever put an end 
 to the slavery agitation. It was again and again 
 declared that under this policy, when once successfully 
 established, the country would be forever rid of this 
 whole question. Yet under the operation of that policy 
 this agitation has not only not ceased, but it has been 
 constantly augmented. And this, too, although from 
 the day of its introduction its friends, who promised 
 that it would wholly end all agitation, constantly in 
 sisted, down to the time that the Lecompton bill was 
 introduced, that it was working admirably, and that 
 its inevitable tendency was to remove the question for 
 ever from the politics of the country. Can you call to 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 285 
 
 mind any Democratic speech, made after the repeal 
 of the Missouri Compromise down to the time of the 
 Lecompton bill, in which it was not predicted that the 
 slavery agitation was just at an end; that "the Aboli 
 tion excitement was played out," " the Kansas question 
 was dead," " they have made the most they can out of 
 this question and it is now forever settled "? But since 
 the Lecompton bill, no Democrat within my experience 
 has ever pretended that he could see the end. That 
 cry has been dropped. They themselves do not pretend 
 now that the agitation of this subject has come to an 
 end yet. The truth is that this question is one of 
 national importance, and we cannot help dealing with, 
 it; we must do something about it, whether we will or 
 not. We cannot avoid it; the subject is one we cannot 
 avoid considering; we can no more avoid it than a man 
 can live without eating. It is upon us; it attaches to 
 the body politic as much and as closely as the natural 
 wants attach to our natural bodies. Now I think it 
 important that this matter should be taken up in 
 earnest and really settled. And one way to bring about 
 a true settlement of the question is to understand its 
 true magnitude. 
 
 There have been many efforts to settle it. Again and 
 again it has been fondly hoped that it was settled, but 
 every time it breaks out afresh, and more violently 
 than ever. It was settled, our fathers hoped, by the 
 Missouri Compromise, but it did not stay settled. 
 Then the compromises of 1850 were declared to be a full 
 and final settlement of the question. The two great 
 parties, each in national convention, adopted resolu 
 tions declaring that the settlement made by the com 
 promise of 1850 was a finality that it would last for 
 ever. Yet how long before it was unsettled again? It 
 broke out again in 1854, and blazed higher and raged 
 more furiously than ever before, and the agitation has 
 not rested since. 
 
 These repeated settlements must have some fault 
 
286 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 about them. There must be some inadequacy in their 
 very nature to the purpose for which they were de 
 signed. We can only speculate as to where that fault 
 that inadequacy is, but we may perhaps profit by 
 past experience. 
 
 I think that one of the causes of these repeated fail 
 ures is that our best and greatest men have greatly 
 underestimated the size of this question. They have 
 constantly brought forward small cures for great sores 
 plasters too small to cover the wound. That is one 
 reason that all settlements have proved so temporary, 
 so evanescent. 
 
 Look at the magnitude of this subject. One sixth 
 of our population, in round numbers not quite one 
 sixth, and yet more than a seventh about one sixth 
 of the whole population of the United States, are slaves. 
 The owners of these slaves consider them property. 
 The effect upon the minds of the owners is that of prop 
 erty, and nothing else; it induces them to insist upon 
 all that will favorably affect its value as property, to 
 demand laws and institutions and a public policy that 
 shall increase and secure its value, and make it durable, 
 lasting, and universal. The effect on the minds of the 
 owners is to persuade them that there is no wrong in 
 it. The slaveholder does not like to be considered a 
 mean fellow for holding that species of property, and 
 hence he has to struggle within himself, and sets about 
 arguing himself into the belief that slavery is right. 
 The property influences his mind. The dissenting 
 minister who argued some theological point with one 
 of the established church was always met by the reply, 
 " I can t see it so." He opened the Bible and pointed 
 him to a passage, but the orthodox minister replied, 
 " I can t see it so." Then he showed him a single 
 word "Can you see that?" "Yes, I see it," was the 
 reply. The dissenter laid a guinea over the word, and 
 asked, " Do you see it now ? " So here. Whether the 
 owners of this species of property do really see it as 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 287 
 
 it is, it is not for me to say ; but if they do, they see it 
 as it is through two billions of dollars, and that is a 
 pretty thick coating. Certain it is that they do not see 
 it as we see it. Certain it is that this two thousand 
 million of dollars invested in this species of property 
 is all so concentrated that the mind can grasp it at 
 once. This immense pecuniary interest has its in 
 fluence upon their minds. 
 
 But here in Connecticut and at the North slavery 
 does not exist, and we see it through no such medium. 
 To us it appears natural to think that slaves are human 
 beings; men, not property; that some of the things, at 
 least, stated about men in the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence apply to them as well as to us. I say we 
 think, most of us, that this charter of freedom applies 
 to the slave as well as to ourselves; that the class of 
 arguments put forward to batter down that idea are 
 also calculated to break down the very idea of free 
 government, even for white men, and to undermine the 
 very foundations of free society. We think slavery a 
 great moral wrong, and while we do not claim the 
 right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it 
 as a wrong in the Territories, where our votes will 
 reach it. We think that a respect for ourselves, a re 
 gard for future generations and for the God that made 
 us, require that we put down this wrong where our 
 votes will properly reach it. We think that species 
 of labor an injury to free white men in short, we think 
 slavery a great moral, social, and political evil, 
 tolerable only because, and so far as, its actual exis 
 tence makes it necessary to tolerate it, and that beyond 
 that it ought to be treated as a wrong. 
 
 Now these two ideas the property idea that slavery 
 is right and the idea that it is wrong come into 
 collision, and do actually produce that irrepressible 
 conflict which Mr. Seward has been so roundly abused 
 for mentioning. The two ideas conflict, and must for 
 ever conflict. 
 
288 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Again, in its political aspect does anything in any 
 way endanger the perpetuity of this Union but that 
 single thing slavery? Many of our adversaries are 
 anxious to claim that they are specially devoted to the 
 Union, and take pains to charge upon us hostility to 
 the Union. Now we claim that we are the only true 
 Union men, and we put to them this one proposition : 
 What ever endangered this Union save and except 
 slavery? Did any other thing ever cause a moment s 
 fear? All men must agree that this thing alone has 
 ever endangered the perpetuity of the Union. But if 
 it was threatened by any other influence, would not all 
 men say that the best thing that could be done, if we 
 could not or ought not to destroy it, would be at least 
 to keep it from growing any larger? Can any man 
 believe that the way to save the Union is to extend and 
 increase the only thing that threatens the Union, and 
 to suffer it to grow bigger and bigger? 
 
 Whenever this question shall be settled, it must be 
 settled on some philosophical basis. No policy that 
 does not rest upon philosophical public opinion can be 
 permanently maintained. And hence there are but two 
 policies in regard to slavery that can be at all main 
 tained. The first, based on the property view that 
 slavery is right, conforms to that idea throughout, and 
 demands that we shall do everything for it that we 
 ought to do if it were right. We must sweep away all 
 opposition, for opposition to the right is wrong; we 
 must agree that slavery is right, and we must adopt the 
 idea that property has persuaded the owner to believe, 
 that slavery is morally right and socially elevating. 
 This gives a philosophical basis for a permanent policy 
 of encouragement. 
 
 The other policy is one that squares with the idea 
 that slavery is wrong, and it consists in doing every 
 thing that we ought to do if it is wrong. Now I don t 
 wish to be misunderstood, nor to leave a gap down to 
 be misrepresented, even, I don t mean that we ought 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to attack it where it exists. To me it seems that if we 
 were to form a government anew, in view of the actual 
 presence of slavery we should find it necessary to frame 
 just such a government as our fathers did : giving to 
 the slaveholder the entire control where the system 
 was established, while we possess the power to restrain 
 it from going outside those limits. From the neces 
 sities of the case we should be compelled to form just 
 such a government as our blessed fathers gave us ; and 
 surely if they have so made it, that adds another 
 reason why we should let slavery alone where it exists. 
 
 If I saw a venomous snake crawling in the road, any 
 man would say I might seize the nearest stick and kill 
 it; but if I found that snake in bed with my children, 
 that would be another question. I might hurt the 
 children more than the snake, and it might bite them. 
 Much more, if I found it in bed with my neighbor s 
 children, and I had bound myself by a solemn compact 
 not to meddle with his children under any circum 
 stances, it would become me to let that particular motio 
 of getting rid of the gentleman alone. But if there was 
 a bed newly made up, to which the children were to be 
 taken, and it was proposed to take a batch of young 
 snakes and put them there with them, I take it no man 
 would say there was any question how I ought to 
 decide ! 
 
 That is just the case. The new Territories are the 
 newly made bed to which our children are to go, and 
 it lies with the nation to say whether they shall have 
 snakes mixed up with them or not. It does not seem 
 as if there could be much hesitation what our policy 
 should be. 
 
 Now I have spoken of a policy based on the idea that 
 slavery is wrong, and a policy based upon the idea 
 that it is right. But an effort has been made for a 
 policy that shall treat it as neither right nor wrong. 
 It is based upon utter indifference. Its leading advo 
 cate has said : " I don t care whether it be voted up or 
 19 
 
290 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 down." " It is merely a matter of dollars and cents." 
 " The Almighty has drawn a line across this continent, 
 on one side of which all soil must forever be cultivated 
 by slave labor, and on the other by free." " When the 
 struggle is between the white man and the negro, I am 
 for the white man; when it is between the negro and 
 the crocodile, I am for the negro." Its central idea is 
 indifference. It holds that it makes no more difference 
 to us whether the Territories become free or slave 
 States, than whether my neighbor stocks his farm with 
 horned cattle or puts it into tobacco. All recognize 
 this policy, the plausible sugar-coated name of which 
 is " popular sovereignty." 
 
 That saying, " In the struggle between the white man 
 and the negro," etc., which, I know, came from the 
 same source as this policy that saying marks another 
 step. There is a falsehood wrapped up in that state 
 ment. " In the struggle between the white man and the 
 negro," assumes that there is a struggle, in which 
 either the white man must enslave the negro or the 
 negro must enslave the white. There is no such 
 struggle. It is merely an ingenious falsehood to de 
 grade and brutalize the negro. Let each let the other 
 alone, and there is no struggle about it. If it was like 
 two wrecked seamen on a narrow plank, where each 
 must push the other off or drown himself, I would push 
 the negro off or a white man either; but it is not: 
 the plank is large enough for both. This good earth is 
 plenty broad enough for white man and negro both, 
 and there is no need of either pushing the other off. 
 
 So that saying, " In the struggle between the negro 
 and the crocodile," etc., is made up from the idea that 
 down where the crocodile inhabits, a white man can t 
 labor; it must be nothing else but crocodile or negro; 
 if the negro does not, the crocodile must possess the 
 earth ; in that case he declares for the negro. The 
 meaning of the whole is just this: As a white man is 
 to a negro, so is a negro to a crocodile ; and as the negro 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 291 
 
 may rightfully treat the crocodile, .so may the white 
 man rightfully treat the negro. This very dear phrase 
 coined by its author, and so dear that he deliberately 
 repeats it in many speeches, has a tendency to still 
 further brutalize the negro, and to bring public opin 
 ion to the point of utter indifference whether men so 
 brutalized are enslaved or not. When that time shall 
 come, if ever, I think that policy to which I refer may 
 prevail. But I hope the good free men of this country 
 will never allow it to come, and until then the policy 
 can never be maintained. 
 
 Now, consider the effect of this policy. We in the 
 States are not to care whether freedom or slavery gets 
 the better, but the people in the Territories may care. 
 They are to decide, and they may think what they 
 please; it is a matter of dollars and cents! But are 
 not the people of the Territories detailed from the 
 States? If this feeling of indifference this absence 
 of moral sense about the question prevails in the 
 States, will it not be carried into the Territories? 
 Will not every man say, " I don t care; it is nothing to 
 me " ? If any one comes that wants slavery, must they 
 not say, " I don t care whether freedom or slavery be 
 voted up or voted down"? It results at last in 
 nationalizing the institution of slavery. Even if fairly 
 carried out, that policy is just as certain to nationalize 
 slavery as the doctrine of Jeff Davis himself. These 
 are only two roads to the same goal, and " popular 
 sovereignty " is just as sure, and almost as short, as the 
 other. 
 
 What we want, and all we want, is to have with us 
 the men who think slavery wrong. But those who say 
 they hate slavery, and are opposed to it, but yet act 
 with the Democratic party where are they? Let us 
 apply a few tests. You say that you think slavery a 
 wrong, but you renounce all attempts to restrain it. 
 Is there anything else that you think wrong, that you 
 are not willing to deal with as a wrong? Why are you 
 
292 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 so careful, so tender of this one wrong and no other? 
 You will not let us do a single thing as if it was wrong; 
 there is no place where you will allow it to be even 
 called wrong. We must not call it wrong in the free 
 States, because it is not there, and we must not call it 
 wrong in the slave States, because it is there; we must 
 not call it wrong in politics, because that is bringing 
 morality into politics, and we must not call it wrong 
 in the pulpit, because that is bringing politics into re 
 ligion; we must not bring it into the tract society, or 
 other societies, because those are such unsuitable 
 places, and there is no single place, according to you, 
 where this wrong thing can properly be called wrong. 
 
 Perhaps you will plead that if the people of slave 
 States should of themselves set on foot an effort for 
 emancipation, you would wish them success and bid 
 them God-speed. Let us test that ! In 1858 the emanci 
 pation party of Missouri, with Frank Blair at their 
 head, tried to get up a movement for that purpose ; and, 
 having started a party, contested the State. Blair was 
 beaten, apparently if not truly, and when the news 
 came to Connecticut, you, who knew that Frank Blair 
 was taking hold of this thing by the right end, and 
 doing the only thing that you say can properly be done 
 to remove this wrong did you bow your heads in sor 
 row because of that defeat? Do you, any of you, know 
 one single Democrat that showed sorrow over that 
 result? Not one! On the contrary, every man threw 
 up his hat, and hallooed at the top of his lungs, " Hoo 
 ray for Democracy ! " 
 
 Now, gentlemen, the Republicans desire to place this 
 great question of slavery on the very basis on which 
 our fathers placed it, and no other. It is eaay to 
 demonstrate that " our fathers who framed this govern 
 ment under which we live " looked on slavery as wrong, 
 and so framed it and everything about it as to square 
 with the idea that it was wrong, so far as the necessi 
 ties arising from its existence permitted. In forming 
 the Constitution they found the slave-trade existing, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 293 
 
 capital invested in it, fields depending upon it for labor, 
 and the whole system resting upon the importation of 
 slave labor. They therefore did not prohibit the slave- 
 trade at once, but they gave the power to prohibit it 
 after twenty years. Why was this? What other 
 foreign trade did they treat in that way? Would they 
 have done this if they had not thought slavery wrong? 
 
 Another thing was done by some of the same men 
 who framed the Constitution, and afterward adopted as 
 their own act by the first Congress held under that Con 
 stitution, of which many of the framers were members 
 they prohibited the spread of slavery in the Terri 
 tories. Thus the same men, the framers of the Con 
 stitution, cut off the supply and prohibited the spread 
 of slavery; and both acts show conclusively that they 
 considered that the thing was wrong. 
 
 If additional proof is wanting, it can be found in the 
 phraseology of the Constitution. When men are fram 
 ing a supreme law and chart of government to secure 
 blessings and prosperity to untold generations yet to 
 come, they use language as short and direct and plain 
 as can be found to express their meaning. In all mat 
 ters but this of slavery the framers of the Constitu 
 tion used the very clearest, shortest, and most direct 
 language. But the Constitution alludes to slavery 
 three times without mentioning it once! The language 
 used becomes ambiguous, roundabout, and mystical. 
 They speak of the " immigration of persons," and mean 
 the importation of slaves, but do not say so. In es 
 tablishing a basis of representation they say " all other 
 persons," when they mean to say slaves. Why did they 
 not use the shortest phrase? In providing for the re 
 turn of fugitives they say "persons held to service or 
 labor." If they had said " slaves," it would have been 
 plainer and less liable to misconstruction. Why did 
 n t they do it? W T e cannot doubt that it was done on 
 purpose. Only one reason is possible, and that is sup 
 plied us by one of the framers of the Constitution 
 and it is not possible for man to conceive of any other. 
 
294 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 They expected and desired that the system would come 
 to an end, and meant that when it did the Constitution 
 should not show that there ever had been a slave in this 
 good free country of ours. 
 
 I will dwell on that no longer. I see the signs of 
 the approaching triumph of the Republicans in the 
 bearing of their political adversaries. A great deal 
 of this war with us nowadays is mere bushwhacking. 
 At the battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon s cavalry 
 had charged again and again upon the unbroken 
 squares of British infantry, at last they were giving up 
 the attempt, and going off in disorder, when some of the 
 officers, in mere vexation and complete despair, fired 
 their pistols at those solid squares. The Democrats 
 are in that sort of extreme desperation ; it is nothing 
 else. I will take up a few of these arguments. 
 
 There is " the irrepressible conflict." How they rail 
 at Seward for that saying ! They repeat it constantly ; 
 and although the proof has been thrust under their 
 noses again and again that almost every good man 
 since the formation of our government has uttered that 
 same sentiment, from General Washington, who 
 " trusted that we should yet have a confederacy of free 
 States," with Jefferson, Jay, Monroe, down to the 
 latest days, yet they refuse to notice that at all, and 
 persist in railing at Seward for saying it. Even Roger 
 A. Pryor, editor of the Richmond " Enquirer," uttered 
 the same sentiment in almost the same language, and 
 yet so little offense did it give the Democrats that he 
 was sent for to Washington to edit the " States " the 
 Douglas organ there, while Douglas goes into hydro 
 phobia and spasms of rage because Seward dared to 
 repeat it. That is what I call bushwhacking a sort 
 of argument that they must know any child can see 
 through. 
 
 Another is John Brown ! You stir up insurrections ; 
 you invade the South ! John Brown ! Harper s Ferry ! 
 Why, John Brown was not a Republican ! You have 
 never implicated a single Republican in that Harper s 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 295 
 
 Ferry enterprise. We tell you if any member of the 
 Republican party is guilty in that matter, you know it 
 or you do not know it. If you do know it, you are 
 inexcusable not to designate the man and prove the 
 fact. If you do not know it, you are inexcusable to 
 assert it, and especially to persist in the assertion after 
 you have tried and failed to make the proof. You need 
 not be told that persisting in a charge which one does 
 not know to be true is simply malicious slander. Some 
 of you admit that no Republican designedly aided or 
 encouraged the Harper s Ferry affair; but still insist 
 that our doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to 
 such results. We do not believe it. We know we hold 
 to no doctrines and make no declarations which were 
 not held to and made by our fathers who framed the 
 government under which we live, and we cannot see 
 how declarations that were patriotic when they made 
 them are villainous when we make them. You nevep 
 dealt fairly by us in relation to that affair and I 
 will say frankly that I know of nothing in your char 
 acter that should lead us to suppose that you would. 
 You had just been soundly thrashed in elections in sev 
 eral States, and others were soon to come. You rejoiced 
 at the occasion, and only were troubled that there were 
 not three times as many killed in the affair. You were 
 in evident glee; there was no sorrow for the killed nor 
 for the peace of Virginia disturbed; you were rejoic 
 ing that by charging Republicans with this thing you 
 might get an advantage of us in New York and the 
 other States. You pulled that string as tightly as you 
 could, but your very generous and worthy expectations 
 were not quite fulfilled. Each Republican knew that 
 the charge was a slander as to himself at least, and was 
 not inclined by it to cast his vote in your favor. It 
 was mere bushwhacking, because you had nothing else 
 to do. You are still on that track, and I say, Go on ! 
 If you think you can slander a woman into loving you, 
 or a man into voting for you, try it till you are satis 
 fied. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 LINCOLN S NOMINATION AND ELECTION AS 
 PRESIDENT. 
 
 [On his return from the East, in the early Spring of 1860, 
 Lincoln, though he had hitherto no aspiration for the Presidency, 
 was greeted enthusiastically in many quarters in the West as 
 a possible candidate for the high office: and after his Cooper 
 Institute speech at New York, his name was, even in the East, 
 favorably considered. At Decatur, in his own State, " the rail- 
 splitter," " Honest Old Abe," was publicly brought forward in 
 the Republican State Convention of Illinois. Finally, in May, 
 1860, at the great rally of the Republican National Convention, 
 which met at Chicago, Lincoln s name was coupled with those of 
 Seward and Chase as the prominent candidates for nomination. 
 After two or three ballots had been cast, the issue which has be 
 come historic gave Mr. Lincoln the unanimous nomination of the 
 convention, and the election, following in order, sustained the 
 choice, with that of the people at large, and the humble, unpre 
 tentious rail-splitter * of early days became President of the 
 United States, with Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, as vice-presi 
 dent]. 
 
 ADDRESS AT PITTSBURG, PENN., FEB. 15, 1861. 
 
 [The following speech was one among many others delivered by 
 Mr. Lincoln, after his election to the Presidency, on his triumphal 
 progress from Springfield, 111., to assume the reins of govern 
 ment at Washington. When the Republican victory was won, 
 in the choice of Mr. Lincoln, the South, making the excuse of the 
 election of " a sectional and minority President/ seceded from 
 the Union, organized a confederate government, and seized upon 
 Federal property. At this crisis, the President s journey to the 
 Capital began, stops being made here and there to allow Mr. 
 Lincoln to receive addresses of welcome, and, with some brief 
 remarks, to acknowledge them. The subjoined is one of these 
 addresses, in reply to the Mayor and citizens of Pittsburg, Pa. 
 Naturally, allusion was made in his replies to the then dis 
 tracted state of the country, and here, at Pittsburg, he specially 
 gives expression to his optimism in regard to events, and com 
 mends all to retain their self-possession and calmly abide the 
 issues of things. The subject of the tariff, it will be seen, comes 
 in for some remarks on the occasion]. 
 
 I MOST cordially thank his Honor Mayor Wilson, and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 297 
 
 the citizens of Pittsburg generally, for their flattering 
 reception. I am the more grateful because I know that 
 it is not given to me alone, but to the cause I represent, 
 which clearly proves to me their good-will, and that 
 sincere feeling is at the bottom of it. And here I may 
 remark that in every short address I have made to the 
 people, in every crowd through which I have passed of 
 late, some allusion has been made to the present dis 
 tracted condition of the country. It is natural to ex 
 pect that I should say something on this subject; but 
 to touch upon it at all would involve an elaborate dis 
 cussion of a great many questions and circumstances, 
 requiring more time than I can at present command, 
 and would, perhaps, unnecessarily commit me upon 
 matters which have not yet fully developed themselves. 
 The condition of the country is an extraordinary one, 
 and fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It is 
 my intention to give this subject all the consideration I 
 possibly can before specially deciding in regard to it, 
 so that when I do speak it may be as nearly right as 
 possible. When I do speak I hope I may say nothing 
 in opposition to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary 
 to the integrity of the Union, or which will prove ini 
 mical to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of 
 the whole country. And, furthermore, when the time 
 arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I hope 
 I may say nothing to disappoint the people generally 
 throughout the country, especially if the expectation 
 has been based upon anything which I may have here 
 tofore said. Notwithstanding the troubles across the 
 river [the speaker pointing southwardly across the 
 Monongahela, and smiling], there is no crisis but an 
 artificial one. What is there now to warrant the con 
 dition of affairs presented by our friends over the 
 river? Take even their own view of the questions in 
 volved, and there is nothing to justify the course they 
 are pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, except 
 ing such a one as may be gotten up at any time by tur- 
 
298 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 bulent men aided by designing politicans. My advice 
 to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. 
 If the great American people only keep their temper on 
 both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, 
 and the question which now distracts the country will 
 be settled, just as surely as all other difficulties of a 
 like character which have originated in this govern 
 ment have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides 
 keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds 
 have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation 
 continue to prosper as heretofore. But, fellow-citizens, 
 I have spoken longer on this subject than I intended at 
 the outset. 
 
 It is often said that the tariff is the specialty of 
 Pennsylvania. Assuming that direct taxation is not to 
 be adopted, the tariff question must be as durable as 
 the government itself. It is a question of national 
 housekeeping. It is to the government what replenish 
 ing the meal-tub is to the family. Ever-varying cir 
 cumstances will require frequent modifications as to 
 the amount needed and the sources of supply. So far 
 there is little difference of opinion among the people. 
 It is as to whether, and how far, duties on imports 
 shall be adjusted to favor home production in the home 
 market, that controversy begins. One party insists 
 that such adjustment oppresses one class for the ad 
 vantage of another; while the other party argues that, 
 with all its incidents, in the long run all classes are 
 benefited. In the Chicago platform there is a plank 
 upon this subject which should be a general law to the 
 incoming administration. We should do neither more 
 nor less than w r e gave the people reason to believe we 
 would when they gave us their votes. Permit me, fel 
 low-citizens, to read the tariff plank of the Chicago 
 platform, or rather have it read in your hearing by 
 one who has younger eyes. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln s private secretary then read Section 12 
 of the Chicago platform, as follows: 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 299 
 
 That while providing revenue for the support of the General 
 Government by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such 
 an adjustment of these imposts as will encourage the develop 
 ment of the industrial interest of the whole country; and we 
 commend that policy of national exchanges which secures to 
 working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices, 
 to mechanics and manufacturers adequate reward for their skill, 
 labor, and enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity 
 and independence. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln resumed: As with all general proposi 
 tions, doubtless there will be shades of difference in 
 construing this. I have by no means a thoroughly ma 
 tured judgment upon this subject, especially as to de 
 tails; some general ideas are about all. I have long 
 thought it would be to our advantage to produce any 
 necessary article at home which can be made of as good 
 quality and with as little labor at home as abroad, at 
 least by the difference of the carrying from abroad. In 
 such case the carrying is demonstrably a dead loss of 
 labor. For instance, labor being the true standard 
 of value, is it not plain that if equal labor get a bar of 
 railroad iron out of a mine in England, and another 
 out of a mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down 
 in a track at home cheaper than they could exchange 
 countries, at least by the carriage? If there be a 
 present cause why one can be both made and carried 
 cheaper in money price than the other can be made 
 without carrying, that cause is an unnatural and in 
 jurious one, and ought gradually, if not rapidly, to be 
 removed. The condition of the treasury at this time 
 would seem to render an early revision of the tariff 
 indispensable. The Morill [tariff] bill, now pending 
 before Congress, may or may not become a law. I am 
 not posted as to its particular provisions, but if they 
 are generally satisfactory, and the bill shall now pass, 
 there will be an end for the present. If, however, it 
 shall not pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one 
 of the most pressing and important for the next Con 
 gress. By the Constitution, the executive may reconi- 
 
300 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 mend measures which he may think proper, and he 
 may veto those he thinks improper, and it is supposed 
 that he may add to these certain indirect influences to 
 affect the action of Congress. My political education 
 strongly inclines me against a very free use of any of 
 these means by the executive to control the legislation 
 of the country. As a rule, I think it better that Con 
 gress should originate as well as perfect its measures 
 without external bias. I therefore would rather recom 
 mend to every gentleman who knows he is to be a mem 
 ber of the next Congress to take an enlarged view, and 
 post himself thoroughly, so as to contribute his part to 
 such an adjustment of the tariff as shall produce a 
 sufficient revenue, and in its other bearings, so far as 
 possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country 
 and classes of the people. 
 
Lincoln Portrait by Sartain 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 30! 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW 
 YORK, AT ALBANY, N. Y., FEB. 18, 1861. 
 
 [In the subjoined speech, one of those delivered on his journey 
 from his Illinois home to the Capital, the president-elect returns 
 thanks to the General Assembly of New York State for its greet 
 ings and warm reception. He speaks with becoming modesty of 
 himself as the recipient of the united support of the great Em 
 pire State in the difficult task before him, in assuming the reins 
 of government at a most critical juncture in the affairs of the 
 Nation. Of the policy of the new government, he, as yet, wisely 
 says nothing, as the time and place had not come for that. 
 Meantime, he indicates that he is seeking diligently for light on 
 the problems with which he must shortly deal, and promises that 
 when ready to speak and act it shall be in the best interests of 
 both sections of the country, South as well as North], 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the General As 
 sembly of the State of New York: It is with feelings 
 of great diffidence, and, I may say, with feelings of awe, 
 perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, that 
 I meet you here in this place. The history of this great 
 State, the renown of those great men who have stood 
 here, and have spoken here, and been heard here, all 
 crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink from 
 any attempt to address you. Yet I have some confidence 
 given me by the generous manner in which you have 
 invited me, and by the still more generous manner in 
 which you have received me, to speak further. You 
 have invited and received me without distinction of 
 party. I cannot for a moment suppose that this has 
 been done in any considerable degree with reference to 
 my personal services, but that it is done, in so far as 
 I am regarded, at this time, as the representative of the 
 majesty of this great nation. I doubt not this is the 
 truth, and the whole truth, of the case, and this is as 
 it should be. It is much more gratifying to me that 
 this reception has been given to me as the elected 
 
302 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 representative of a free people, than it could possibly 
 be if tendered merely as an evidence of devotion to me, 
 or to any one man personally. 
 
 And now I think it were more fitting that I should 
 close these hasty remarks. It is true that, while I hold 
 myself, without mock modesty, the humblest of all 
 individuals that have ever been elevated to the presi 
 dency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any 
 one of them. 
 
 You have generously tendered me the support the 
 united support of the great Empire State. For this, 
 in behalf of the nation in behalf of the present and 
 future of the nation in behalf of civil and religious 
 liberty for all time to come, most gratefully do I thank 
 you. I do not propose to enter into an explanation of 
 any particular line of policy, as to our present difficul 
 ties, to be adopted by the incoming administration. I 
 deem it just to you, to myself, to all, that I should see 
 everything, that I should hear everything, that I should 
 have every light that can be brought within my reach, 
 in order that, when I do so speak, I shall have enjoyed 
 every opportunity to take correct and true ground; 
 and for this reason I do not propose to speak at this 
 time of the policy of the government. But when the 
 time comes, I shall speak, as well as I am able, for the 
 good of the present and future of this country for the 
 good both of the North and of the South for the good 
 of the one and the other, and of all sections of the coun 
 try. In the mean time, if we have patience, if we re 
 strain ourselves, if we allow ourselves not to run off in a 
 passion, I still have confidence that the Almighty, the 
 Maker of the universe, will, through the instrumen 
 tality of this great and intelligent people, bring us 
 through this as he has through all the other difficulties 
 of our country. Relying on this, I again thank you for 
 this generous reception. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 393 
 
 ADDRESS IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILA 
 DELPHIA, FEB. 22, 1861. 
 
 [Mr. Lincoln, in this Address, speaks feelingly, and, obviously, 
 with impressive effect, on finding himself in the historic Hall 
 " from which sprang the institutions under which we live/ and 
 over which he was on the occasion called upon to raise a flag 
 to mark the recent admission of Kansas as a State of the Union. 
 The day was the anniversary of Washington s birth, and the 
 president-elect recalls with patriotic unction the efforts of those 
 who had achieved independence, while he rejoices in the famous 
 Declaration which gave liberty to the American people and hope 
 to the world. The reference in the address to Mr. Lincoln s pur 
 pose, to seek to save the country at this grave juncture in its 
 annals by loyal adherence to the principles enunciated in the 
 Declaration of Independence, even at the cost of assassination, 
 was suggested by the current rumors of intended personal as 
 sault upon the President, which it seems were but too well 
 founded, and against which he was guarded by the vigilance of 
 the National secret police]. 
 
 Mr. Cuyler: I am filled with deep emotion at finding 
 myself standing in this place, where were collected to 
 gether the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to 
 principle, from which sprang the institutions under 
 which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that 
 in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our dis 
 tracted country. I can say in return, sir, that all the 
 political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so 
 far as I have been able to draw them, from the senti 
 ments which originated in and were given to the world 
 from this hall. I have never had a feeling, politically, 
 that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in 
 the Declaration of Independence. I have often pon 
 dered over the dangers which were incurred by the men 
 who assembled here and framed and adopted that Dec 
 laration. I have pondered over the toils that were en 
 dured by the officers and soldiers of the army who 
 
304 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 achieved that independence. I have often inquired of 
 myself what great principle or idea it was that kept 
 this Confederacy so long together. It was not the 
 mere matter of separation of the colonies from the 
 motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of 
 Independence which gave liberty not alone to the peo 
 pie of this country, but hope to all the world, for all 
 future time. It was that which gave promise that in 
 due time the weights would be lifted from the shoulders 
 of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. 
 This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of 
 Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be 
 saved on that basis? If it can, I will consider myself 
 one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to 
 save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it 
 will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be 
 saved without giving up that principle, I was about to 
 say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than 
 surrender it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of 
 affairs, there is no need of bloodshed and war. There is 
 no necessity for it. I am not in favor of such a course ; 
 and I may say in advance that there will be no blood 
 shed unless it is forced upon the government. The 
 government will not use force, unless force is used 
 against it. 
 
 My friends, this is wholly an unprepared speech. I 
 did not expect to be called on to say a word when I 
 came here. I supposed I was merely to do something 
 toward raising a flag. I may, therefore, have said 
 something indiscreet. [Cries of " No, no."] But I 
 have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, 
 if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 305 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF PENNSYL 
 VANIA, AT HARRISBURG, PA., FEB. 22, 1861. 
 
 [In this speech, addressed to the speakers and members of the 
 General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania, President Lin 
 coln, it will be observed, makes allusion to his engagement in 
 the early functions of the day the anniversary of Washington s 
 birth and of his visit to the historic Independence Hall. He 
 depreciates, it will be seen, the call for the services of the mili 
 tary arm of the Nation in the then crisis, and trusts that the oc 
 casion may not arise for its use, especially in shedding fraternal 
 blood. He nevertheless expresses pleasure in relying upon the 
 military aid which the general government may expect from the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in any emergency that may arise, 
 though the call for such, so far as wisdom may direct, shall not 
 come through any fault or neglect of his]. 
 
 Mr. Speaker of the Senate, and also Mr. Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives, and Gentlemen of the 
 General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania: I ap 
 pear before you only for a very few brief remarks in re 
 sponse to what has been said to me. I thank you most 
 sincerely for this reception, and the generous words in 
 which support has been promised me upon this oc 
 casion. I thank your great commonwealth for the over 
 whelming support it recently gave, not me personally, 
 but the cause which I think a just one, in the late 
 election. 
 
 Allusion has been made to the fact the interesting 
 fact perhaps we should say that I for the first time 
 appear at the capital of the great commonwealth of 
 Pennsylvania upon the birthday of the Father of his 
 Country. In connection with that beloved anniver 
 sary connected with the history of this country, I have 
 already gone through one exceedingly interesting scene 
 this morning in the ceremonies at Philadelphia. 
 Under the kind conduct of gentlemen there, I was for 
 20 
 
306 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 the first time allowed the privilege of standing in old 
 Independence Hall to have a few words addressed to 
 me there, and opening up to me an opportunity of mani 
 festing my deep regret that I had not more time to ex 
 press something of my own feelings excited by the oc 
 casion, that had been really the feelings of my whole 
 life. 
 
 Besides this, our friends there had provided a mag 
 nificent flag of the country. They had arranged it so 
 that I was given the honor of raising it to the head of 
 its staff, and when it went up I was pleased that it went 
 to its place by the strength of my own feeble arm. 
 When, according to the arrangement, the cord was 
 pulled, and it floated gloriously to the wind, without an 
 accident, in the bright, glowing sunshine of the morn 
 ing, I could not help hoping that there was in the entire 
 success of that beautiful ceremony at least something 
 of an omen of what is to come. Nor could I help feel 
 ing then, as I have often felt, that in the whole of that 
 proceeding I was a very humble instrument. I had 
 not provided the flag; I had not made the arrange 
 ments for elevating it to its place; I had applied but a 
 very small portion of even my feeble strength in raising 
 it. In the whole transaction I was in the hands of the 
 people who had arranged it, and if I can have the same 
 generous cooperation of the people of this nation, I 
 think the flag of our country may yet be kept flaunt 
 ing gloriously. 
 
 I recur for a moment but to repeat some words ut 
 tered at the hotel in regard to what has been said about 
 the military support which the General Government 
 may expect from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania 
 in a proper emergency. To guard against any pos 
 sible mistake do I recur to this. It is not with any 
 pleasure that I contemplate the possibility that a 
 necessity may arise in this country for the use of the 
 military arm. While I am exceedingly gratified to 
 see the manifestation upon your streets of your niili- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 307 
 
 tary force here, and exceedingly gratified at your 
 promise to use that force upon a proper emergency 
 while I make these acknowledgments I desire to repeat, 
 in order to preclude any possible misconstruction, that 
 I do most sincerely hope that we shall have no use for 
 them; that it will never become their duty to shed 
 blood, and most especially never to shed fraternal 
 blood. I promise that so far as I may have wisdom 
 to direct, if so painful a result shall in any wise be 
 brought about, it shall be through no fault of mine. 
 
 Allusion has also been made by one of your honored 
 speakers to some remarks recently made by myself at 
 Pittsburg in regard to what is supposed to be the 
 especial interest of this great commonwealth of Penn 
 sylvania. I now wish only to say in regard to that 
 matter, that the few remarks which I uttered on that 
 occasion were rather carefully worded. I took pains 
 that they should be so. I have seen no occasion since 
 to add to them or subtract from them. I leave them 
 precisely as they stand, adding only now that I am 
 pleased to have an expression from you, gentlemen of 
 Pennsylvania, signifying that they are satisfactory to 
 you. 
 
 And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly of the 
 Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, allow me again to 
 return to you my most sincere thanks. 
 
308 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1861. 
 
 [By the time the following memorable address was delivered, 
 President Lincoln had reached Washington and been sworn into 
 office as successor to President Buchanan. He had, moreover, 
 organized his government, calling to the Cabinet such influential 
 men of the anti-slavery and national party as Seward, Chase, 
 Blair, Welles, Cameron, Stanton, Caleb B. Smith, and Edward 
 Bates. The Confederate government had also been organized, 
 with Jefferson Davis as President, and Alex. H. Stevens as 
 Vice-President ; though actual hostilities had not as yet com 
 menced, if we except the grave menace of seizing Federal 
 property, the investment in Charleston harbor of Fort Sum- 
 ter, and holding and expressing disunion sentiments. A little 
 more than a month later, came the firing on Fort Sumter, its 
 surrender to the South Carolina troops, and the indignant rising 
 and patriotic enthusiasm of the North, with the call to arms in 
 support of the Union. 
 
 Lincoln, as the choice of the nation for the presidency, was 
 soon justified by the force of will, firmness, and justice which 
 characterized Mr. Lincoln s every word and act ; while he won all 
 to him by his urbanity, modesty, approachableness, and the un 
 wearying care which he gave to the exacting duties of his oner 
 ous office. His ability and judgment, as well as his conciliatory 
 manner and kindliness of mood, won over to him and the North 
 ern cause, of which he was the embodiment, even his old ad 
 versary, Judge S. A. Douglas, whose regretted death was soon 
 now to occur. At the same time, Lincoln succeeded in gaining 
 the support and confidence of all his Cabinet, and won the esteem 
 and respect of so commanding a figure in the councils of the 
 Nation as his Secretary of State, William H. Seward, who was 
 compelled, on a notable occasion which shortly arose, to bow be 
 fore the President s will-power and ready, tactical resource. The 
 Inaugural, it will be seen, is a remarkable and statesmanlike 
 utterance, marked by an earnest appeal for unity and peace, 
 despite its announcement of the law-abiding policy of the gov 
 ernment, and the placing of responsibility for any bloodshed upon 
 those who should defy and resist Federal authority and engage 
 in the breaking of the law]. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the United States: In compliance 
 with a custom as old as the government itself, I appear 
 before you to address you briefly, and to take in your 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 399 
 
 presence the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the 
 United States to be taken by the President " before he 
 enters on the execution of his office." 
 
 I do not consider it necessary at present for me to 
 discuss those matters of administration about which 
 there is no special anxiety or excitement. 
 
 Apprehension seems to exist among the people of 
 the Southern States that by the accession of a Republi 
 can administration their property and their peace and 
 personal security are to be endangered. There has 
 never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. 
 Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has 
 all the while existed and been open to their inspection. 
 It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him 
 who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of 
 those speeches when I declare that " I have no purpose, 
 directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution 
 of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe 
 I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclina 
 tion to do so." Those who nominated and elected me 
 did so with full knowledge that I had made this and 
 many similar declarations, and had never recanted 
 them. And, more than this, they placed in the platform 
 for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves and to 
 me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now 
 read: 
 
 Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the 
 States, and especially the right of each State to order and control 
 its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment ex 
 clusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the per 
 fection and endurance of our political fabric depend, and we 
 denounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil of any 
 State or Territory, no matter under what pretext, as among the 
 gravest of crimes. 
 
 I now reiterate these sentiments; and, in doing so, 
 I only press upon the public attention the most con 
 clusive evidence of which the case is susceptible, that 
 the property, peace, andsecurity of no section are to be 
 
310 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 in any wise endangered by the now incoming adminis 
 tration. I add, too, that all the protection which, 
 consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can 
 be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when 
 lawfully demanded, for whatever cause as cheerfully 
 to one section as to another. 
 
 There is much controversy about the delivering up 
 of fugitives from service or labor. The clause I now 
 read is as plainly written in the -Constitution as any 
 other of its provisions : 
 
 No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws 
 thereof, escaping into another, shall in consequence of any law or 
 regulation therein be discharged from such service or labor, but 
 shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service 
 or labor may be due. 
 
 It is scarcely questioned that this provision was 
 intended by those who made it for the reclaiming of 
 what we call fugitive slaves; and the intention of the 
 lawgiver is the law. All members of Congress swear 
 their support to the whole Constitution to this pro 
 vision as much as to any other. To the proposition, 
 then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of 
 this clause " shall be delivered up," their oaths are 
 unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in 
 good temper, could they not with nearly equal un 
 animity frame and pass a law by means of which to 
 keep good that unanimous oath? 
 
 There is some difference of opinion whether this 
 clause should be enforced by national or by State 
 authority; but surely that difference is not a very 
 material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can 
 be of but little consequence to him or to others by 
 which authority it is done. And should any one in any 
 case be content that his oath shall go unkept on a 
 merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be 
 kept? 
 
 Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the 
 safeguards of liberty known in civilized and humane 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 jurisprudence to be introduced, so that a free man be 
 not, in any case, surrendered as a slave? And might 
 it not be well at the same time to provide by law for 
 the enforcement of that clause in the Constitution 
 which guarantees that " the citizen of each State shall 
 be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens 
 in the several States"? 
 
 I take the official oath to-day with no mental reser 
 vations, and with no purpose to construe the Constitu 
 tion or laws by any hypercritical rules. And while I 
 do not choose now to specify particular acts of Con 
 gress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest that it will 
 be much safer for all, both in official and private 
 stations, to conform to and abide by all those acts 
 which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, 
 trusting to find impunity in having them held to be un 
 constitutional. 
 
 It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of 
 a President under our National Constitution. During 
 that period fifteen different and greatly distinguished 
 citizens have, in succession, administered the executive 
 branch of the government. They have conducted it 
 through many perils, and generally with great success. 
 Yet, with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon 
 the same task for the brief constitutional term of four 
 years under great and peculiar difficulty. A disrup 
 tion of the Federal Union, heretofore only menaced, is 
 now formidably attempted. 
 
 I hold that, in contemplation of universal law and 
 of the Constitution, the Union of these States is per 
 petual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the 
 fundamental law of all national governments. It is 
 safe to assert that no government proper ever had a 
 provision in its organic law for its own termination. 
 Continue to execute all the express provisions of our 
 National Constitution, and the Union will endure for 
 ever it being impossible to destroy it except by some 
 action not provided for in the instrument itself. 
 
312 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Again, if the United States be not a government 
 proper, but an association of States in the nature of 
 contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably 
 unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One 
 party to a contract may violate it break it, so to 
 speak; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind 
 it? 
 
 Descending from these general principles, we find 
 the proposition that, in legal contemplation the Union 
 is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union it 
 self. The Union is much older than the Constitution. 
 It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association 
 in 1774. It was matured and continued by the Declara 
 tion of Independence in 1776. It was further matured, 
 and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly 
 plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, 
 by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And, finally, 
 in 1787 one of the declared objects for ordaining and 
 establishing the Constitution was " to form a more per 
 fect Union." 
 
 But if the destruction of the Union by one or by a 
 part only of the States be lawfully possible, the Union 
 is less perfect than before the Constitution, having lost 
 the vital element of perpetuity. 
 
 It follows from these views that no State upon its 
 own mere motion can lawfully get out of the Union ; 
 that resolves and ordinances to that effect are legally 
 void; and that acts of violence, within any State or 
 States, against the authority of the United States, are 
 insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circum 
 stances. 
 
 I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitu 
 tion and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and to the 
 extent of my ability I shall take care, as the Constitu 
 tion itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of 
 the Union be faithfully executed in all the States. 
 Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part ; 
 and I shall perform it so far as practicable, unless iny 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 313 
 
 rightful masters, the American people, shall withhold 
 the requisite means, or in some authoritative manner 
 direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded 
 as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the 
 Union that it will constitutionally defend and main 
 tain itself. 
 
 In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or 
 violence; and there shall be none, unless it be forced 
 upon the national authority. The power confided to 
 me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the prop 
 erty and places belonging to the government, and to col 
 lect the duties and imposts; but beyond what may be 
 necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion, 
 110 using of force against or among the people any 
 where. Where hostility to the United States, in any 
 interior locality, shall be so great and universal as 
 to prevent competent resident citizens from holding 
 the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force 
 obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. 
 While the strict legal right may exist in the govern 
 ment to enforce the exercise of these offices, the at 
 tempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly 
 impracticable withal, that I deem it better to forego 
 for the time the uses of such offices. 
 
 The mails, unless repelled, w r ill continue to be fur 
 nished in all parts of the Union. So far as possible, the 
 people everywhere shall have that sense of perfect 
 security which is most favorable to calm thought and 
 reflection. The course here indicated will be followed 
 unless current events and experience shall show a modi 
 fication or change to be proper, and in every case and 
 exigency my best discretion will be exercised accord 
 ing to circumstances actually existing, and with a view 
 and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national 
 troubles and the restoration of fraternal sympathies 
 and affections. 
 
 That there are persons in one section or another who 
 seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of 
 
314 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 any pretext to do it, I will neither affirm nor deny; but 
 if there be such, I need address no word to them. To 
 those, however, who really love the Union may I not 
 speak ? 
 
 Before entering upon so grave a matter as the de 
 struction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, 
 its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to 
 ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard 
 so desperate a step while there is any possibility that 
 any portion of the ills you fly from have no real exis 
 tence? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to are 
 greater than all the real ones you fly from will you 
 risk the commission of so fearful a mistake? 
 
 All profess to be content in the Union if all con 
 stitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, 
 that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has 
 been denied? I think not. Happily the human mind 
 is so constituted that no party can reach to the auda 
 city of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single in 
 stance in which a plainly written provision of the Con 
 stitution has ever been denied. If by the mere force 
 of numbers a majority should deprive a minority of any 
 clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a 
 moral point of view, justify revolution certainly 
 would if such a right were a vital one. But such is not 
 our case. All the vital rights of minorities and of 
 individuals are so plainly assured to them by affirma 
 tions and negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in 
 the Constitution, that controversies never arise con 
 cerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed 
 with a provision specifically applicable to every ques 
 tion which may occur in practical administration. No 
 foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reason 
 able length contain, express provisions for all possible 
 questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered 
 by national or by State authority? The Constitution 
 does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery 
 in the Territories? The Constitution does not ex- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 pressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the 
 Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. 
 
 From questions of this class spring all our constitu 
 tional controversies, and we divide upon them into 
 majorities and minorities. If the minority will not 
 acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must 
 cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing 
 the government is acquiescence on one side or the other. 
 
 If a minority in such case will secede rather than 
 acquiesce, they make a precedent which in turn will 
 divide and ruin them ; for a minority of their own will 
 secede from them whenever a majority refuses to be 
 controlled by such minority. For instance, why may 
 not any portion of a new confederacy a year or two 
 hence arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions 
 of the present Union now claim to secede from it? All 
 who cherish disunion sentiments are now being edu 
 cated to the exact temper of doing this. 
 
 Is there such perfect identity of interest among the 
 States to compose a new Union, as to produce harmony 
 only, and prevent renewed secession? 
 
 Plainly, the central idea of secession is the essence of 
 anarchy. A majority held in restraint by constitu 
 tional checks and limitations, and always changing 
 easily with deliberate changes of popular opinions and 
 sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. 
 Whoever rejects it does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or 
 to despotism. Unanimity is impossible; the rule of a 
 minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly in 
 admissible; so that, rejecting the majority principle, 
 anarchy or despotism in some form is all that is left. 
 
 I do not forget the position, assumed by some, that 
 constitutional questions are to be decided by the Su 
 preme Court; nor do I deny that such decisions must be 
 binding, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to 
 the object of that suit, while they are also entitled to 
 very high respect and consideration in all parallel cases 
 by all other departments of the government. And while 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 it is obviously possible that such decision may be 
 erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect follow 
 ing it, being limited to that particular case, with the 
 chance that it may be overruled and never become a 
 precedent for other cases, can better be borne than 
 could the evils of a different practice. At the same 
 time, the candid citizen must confess that if the policy 
 of the government, upon vital questions affecting the 
 whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of 
 the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in 
 ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, 
 the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, hav 
 ing to that extent practically resigned their government 
 into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there 
 in this view any assault upon the court or the judges. 
 It is a duty from which they may not shrink to decide 
 cases properly brought before them, and it is no fault 
 of theirs if others seek to turn their decisions to poli 
 tical purposes. 
 
 One section of our country believes slavery is right, 
 and ought to be extended, w r hile the other believes it is 
 wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only 
 substantial dispute. The fugitive-slave clause of the 
 Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the 
 foreign slave-trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps, 
 as any law can ever be in a community where the moral 
 sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. 
 The great body of the people abide by the dry legal 
 obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. 
 This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured; and it would 
 be worse in both cases after the separation of the sec 
 tions than before. The foreign slave-trade, now im 
 perfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived, 
 without restriction, in one section, while fugitive 
 slaves, now only partially surrendered, would not be 
 surrendered at all by the other. 
 
 Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot 
 remove our respective sections from each other, nor 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 317; 
 
 build an impassable wall between them. A husband 
 and w T ife may be divorced, and go out of the presence 
 and beyond the reach of each other; but the different 
 parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but 
 remain face to face, and intercourse, either amicable 
 or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible, 
 then, to make that intercourse more advantageous or 
 more satisfactory after separation than before? Can 
 aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? 
 Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens 
 than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, 
 you cannot fight always ; and when, after much loss on 
 both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, 
 the identical old questions as to terms of intercourse 
 are again upon you. 
 
 This country, with its institutions, belongs to the 
 people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary 
 of the existing government, they can exercise their 
 constitutional right of amending it, or their revolu 
 tionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot 
 be ignorant of the fact that many worthy and patriotic 
 citizens are desirous of having the National Constitu 
 tion amended. While I make no recommendation of 
 amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority 
 of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in 
 either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself ; 
 and I should, under existing circumstances, favor 
 rather than oppose a fair opportunity being afforded 
 the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that 
 to me the convention mode seems preferable, in that 
 it allows amendments to originate with the people 
 themselves, instead of only permitting them to take or 
 reject propositions originated by others not especially 
 chosen for the purpose, and which might not be pre 
 cisely such as they would wish to either accept or re 
 fuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Con 
 stitution which amendment, however, I have not seen 
 has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal 
 
318 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Government shall never interfere with the domestic 
 institutions of the States, including that of persons 
 held to service. To avoid misconstruction of what I 
 have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of 
 particular amendments so far as to say that, holding 
 such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, 
 I have no objection to its being made express and 
 irrevocable. 
 
 The chief magistrate derives all his authority from 
 the people, and they have conferred none upon him to 
 fix terms for the separation of the States. The people 
 themselves can do this also if they choose; but the 
 executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His 
 duty is to administer the present government, as it 
 came to his hands, and to transmit it, unimpaired by 
 him, to his successor. 
 
 Why should there not be a patient confidence in the 
 ultimate justice of the people? Is there any better or 
 equal hope in the world? In our present differences is 
 either party without faith of being in the right? If 
 the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with his eternal truth 
 and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours 
 of the South, that truth and that justice will surely 
 prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the 
 American people. 
 
 By the frame of the government under which we live, 
 this same people have wisely given their public servants 
 but little power for mischief; and have, with equal 
 wisdom, provided for the return of that little to their 
 own hands at very short intervals. While the people 
 retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, 
 by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seri 
 ously injure the government in the short space of four 
 J^ears. 
 
 My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well 
 upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost 
 by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of 
 you in hot haste to a step which you would never take 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 deliberately, that object will be frustrated by taking 
 time; but no good object can be frustrated by it. 
 Such of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old 
 Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, 
 the laws of your own framing under it; while the new 
 administration will have no immediate power, if it 
 would, to change either. If it were admitted that you 
 who are dissatisfied hold the right side in the dispute, 
 there still is no single good reason for precipitate 
 action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a 
 firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this 
 favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best 
 way all our present difficulty. 
 
 In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, 
 and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. 
 The government will not assail you. You can have no 
 conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You 
 have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the govern 
 ment, while I shall have the most solemn one to " pre 
 serve, protect, and defend it." 
 
 I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. 
 We must not be enemies. Though passion may have 
 strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. 
 The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every 
 battle-field and patriot grave to every living heart and 
 hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the 
 chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely 
 they will be, by the better angels of our nature. 
 
320 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, CONVENED IN 
 SPECIAL SESSION, JULY 4, 1861. 
 
 [The occasion for summoning Congress in special session at this 
 juncture was, as all know, the seceding of ten States from the 
 Union, the organization of the Confederate Government, together 
 with the seizure by the seceding States of United States forts 
 and arsenals, the consequent defiance of Federal authority and 
 the power of the general government, and the determined resort 
 to hostilities on the part of the aggressing South. In the syn 
 opsis here given of the Message, Mr. Lincoln justifies the resort 
 to arms in defense of the Union, forced upon the country by the 
 attitude and acts of the South. Disintegration of the Union he 
 cannot tolerate, consistent with his oath of office and loyalty to 
 the Constitution ; nor can he refrain from denying and repudi 
 ating the Confederate right of Secession; and hence the duty 
 which devolved upon him to resist and combat the formidable 
 internal attempt to overthrow the Republic, even by employing 
 the war power of the Nation for its maintenance and the reas- 
 sertion of the Federal authority]. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Represen 
 tatives: Having been convened on an extraordinary oc 
 casion, as authorized by the Constitution, your at 
 tention is not called to any ordinary subject of legis 
 lation. 
 
 At the beginning of the present presidential term, 
 four months ago, the functions of the Federal Govern 
 ment were found to be generally suspended within the 
 several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, 
 Mississippi, Louisiana, and Florida, excepting only 
 those of the Post-office Department. 
 
 Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dock 
 yards, customhouses, and the like, including the mov 
 able and stationary property in and about them, had 
 been seized, and were held in open hostility to this 
 government, excepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and 
 Jefferson, on and near the Florida coast, and Fort 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 321 
 
 Sumter, in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. The 
 forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, 
 new ones had been built, and armed forces had been 
 organized and were organizing, all avowedly with the 
 same hostile purpose. 
 
 The forts remaining in the possession of the Federal 
 Government in and near these States were either be 
 sieged or menaced by warlike preparations, and espec 
 ially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by well-pro 
 tected hostile batteries, with guns equal in quality to 
 the best of its own, and outnumbering the latter as 
 perhaps ten to one. A disproportionate share of the 
 Federal muskets and rifles had somehow found their 
 way into these States, and had been seized to be used 
 against the government. Accumulations of the public 
 revenue lying within them had been seized for the same 
 object. The navy was scattered in distant seas, leav 
 ing but a very small part of it within the immediate 
 reach of the government. Officers of the Federal army 
 and navy had resigned in great numbers; and of those 
 resigning a large proportion had taken up arms against 
 the government. Simultaneously, and in connection 
 with all this, the purpose to sever the Federal Union 
 was openly avowed. In accordance with this purpose, 
 an ordinance had been adopted in each of these States, 
 declaring the States respectively to be separated from 
 the National Union. A formula for instituting a com 
 bined government of these States had been promul 
 gated; and this illegal organization, in the character of 
 confederate States, was already invoking recognition, 
 aid, and intervention from foreign powers. 
 
 Finding this condition of things, and believing it to 
 be an imperative duty upon the incoming executive to 
 prevent, if possible, the consummation of such attempt 
 to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of means to 
 that end became indispensable. This choice was made 
 and was declared in the inaugural address. The policy 
 chosen looked to the exhaustion of all peaceful meas- 
 21 
 
322 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought 
 only to hold the public places and property not al 
 ready wrested from the government, and to collect the 
 revenue, relying for the rest on time, discussion, and 
 the ballot-box. It promised a continuance of the mails, 
 at government expense, to the very people who were 
 resisting the government; and it gave repeated pledges 
 against any disturbance to any of the people, or any 
 of their rights. Of all that which a President might 
 constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, every 
 thing was forborne without which it was believed pos 
 sible to keep the government on foot. 
 
 On the 5th of March (the present incumbent s first 
 full day in office), a letter of Major Anderson, com 
 manding at Fort Sumter, written on the 23th of 
 February and received at the War Department on the 
 4th of March, was by that department placed in his 
 hands. This letter expressed the professional opinion 
 of the writer that reinforcements could not be thrown 
 into that fort within the time for his relief, rendered 
 necessary by the limited supply of provisions, and with 
 a view of holding possession of the same, with a force 
 of less than twenty thousand good and well-disciplined 
 men. This opinion was concurred in by all the officers 
 of his command, and their memoranda on the subject 
 were made inclosures of Major Anderson s letter. The 
 whole was immediately laid before Lieutenant-Gen- 
 eral Scott, who at once concurred with Major Ander 
 son in opinion. On reflection, however, he took full 
 time, consulting with other officers, both of the army 
 and the navy, and at the end of four days came reluc 
 tantly but decidedly to the same conclusion as before. 
 He also stated at the same time that no such sufficient 
 force was then at the control of the government, or 
 could be raised and brought to the ground within the 
 time when the provisions in the fort would be ex 
 hausted. In a purely military point of view, this re 
 duced the duty of the administration in the case to 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 303 
 
 the mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of 
 the fort. 
 
 It was believed, however, that to so abandon that 
 position, under the circumstances, would be utterly 
 ruinous; that the necessity under which it was to be 
 done would not be fully understood; that by many it 
 would be construed as a part of a voluntary policy; 
 that at home it would discourage the friends of the 
 Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure 
 to the latter a recognition abroad; that, in fact, it 
 would be our national destruction consummated. This 
 could not be allowed. Starvation was not yet upon 
 the garrison, and ere it would be reached Fort Pickens 
 might be reinforced. This last would be a clear indi 
 cation of policy, and would better enable the country 
 to accept the evacuation of Fort Sumter as a military 
 necessity. An order was at once directed to be sent 
 for the landing of the troops from the steamship BrooJc- 
 lijn into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by 
 land, but must take the longer and slower route by sea. 
 The first return news from the order was received just 
 one week before the fall of Fort Sumter. The news it 
 self was that the officer commanding the Sabine, to 
 which vessel the troops had been transferred from the 
 Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the late 
 administration (and of the existence of which the 
 present administration, up to the time the order was 
 despatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors 
 to fix attention), had refused to land the troops. To 
 now reinforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be 
 reached at Fort Sumter was impossible rendered so 
 by the near exhaustion of provisions in the latter- 
 named fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture, 
 the government had, a few days before, commenced 
 preparing an expedition as well adapted as might be 
 to relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended 
 to be ultimately used, or not, according to circum 
 stances. The strongest anticipated case for using it 
 
324 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 was now presented, and it was resolved to send it 
 forward. As had been intended in this contingency, it 
 was also resolved to notify the governor of South 
 Carolina that he might expect an attempt would be 
 made to provision the fort; and that, if the attempt 
 should not be resisted, there would be no effort to throw 
 in men, arms, or ammunition, without further notice, 
 or in case of an attack upon the fort. This notice was 
 accordingly given; whereupon the fort was attacked 
 and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting the 
 arrival of the provisioning expedition. 
 
 It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction 
 of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-de 
 fense on the part of the assailants. They well knew 
 that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility 
 commit aggression upon them. They knew they were 
 expressly notified that the giving of bread to the few 
 brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which 
 w r ould on that occasion be attempted, unless them 
 selves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. 
 They knew that this government desired to keep the 
 garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but merely to 
 maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the 
 Union from actual and immediate dissolution trust 
 ing, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and 
 the ballot-box for final adjustment; and they assailed 
 and reduced the fort for precisely the reverse object 
 to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, 
 and thus force it to immediate dissolution. That this 
 was their object the executive well understood; and 
 having said to them in the inaugural address, " You 
 can have no conflict without being yourselves the ag 
 gressors," he took pains not only to keep this declara 
 tion good, but also to keep the case so free from the 
 power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not 
 be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sum- 
 ter, with its surrounding circumstances, that point 
 was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 335 
 
 government began the conflict of arms, without a gun 
 in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only 
 the few in the fort sent to that harbor years before 
 for their own protection, and still ready to give that 
 protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, dis 
 carding all else, they have forced upon the country the 
 distinct issue, " immediate dissolution or blood." 
 
 And this issue embraces more than the fate of these 
 United States. It presents to the whole family of man 
 the question whether a constitutional republic or 
 democracy a government of the people by the same 
 people can or cannot maintain its territorial integ 
 rity against its own domestic foes. It presents the 
 question whether discontented individuals, too few in 
 numbers to control administration according to organic 
 law in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made 
 in this case, or on any other pretenses, or arbitrarily 
 without any pretense, break up their government, and 
 thus practically put an end to free government upon 
 the earth. It forces us to ask : " Is there, in all re 
 publics, this inherent and fatal weakness?" "Must 
 a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liber 
 ties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own 
 existence? " 
 
 So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call 
 out the war power of the government ; and so to resist 
 force employed for its destruction, by force for its 
 preservation. 
 
 The call was made, and the response of the country 
 was most gratifying, surpassing in unanimity and 
 spirit the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the 
 States commonly called slave States, except Delaware, 
 gave a regiment through regular State organization. 
 A few regiments have been organized within some 
 others of those States by individual enterprise, and 
 received into the government service. Of course the 
 seceded States, so called (and to which Texas had been 
 joined about the time of the inauguration), gave no 
 
326 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 troops to the cause of the Union. The border States, 
 so called, were not uniform in their action, some of 
 them being almost for the Union, while in others as 
 Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas 
 the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and silenced. 
 The course taken in Virginia was the most remarkable 
 perhaps the most important. A convention elected 
 by the people of that State to consider this very ques 
 tion of disrupting the Federal Union was in session 
 at the capital of Virginia when Fort Sumter fell. 
 To this body the people had chosen a large majority 
 of professed Union men. Almost immediately after 
 the fall of Sumter, many members of that majority 
 went over to the original disunion minority, and with 
 them adopted an ordinance for withdrawing the State 
 from the Union. Whether this change was wrought 
 by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or 
 their great resentment at the government s resistance 
 to that assault, is not definitely known. Although they 
 submitted the ordinance for ratification to a vote of 
 the people, to be taken on a day then somewhat more 
 than a month distant, the convention and the legis 
 lature (which was also in session at the same time and 
 place), with leading men of the State not members of 
 either, immediately commenced acting as if the State 
 were already out of the Union. They pushed military 
 preparations vigorously forward all over the State. 
 They seized the United States armory at Harper s 
 Ferry, and the navy-yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. 
 They received perhaps invited into their State large 
 bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, 
 from the so-called seceded States. They formally 
 entered into a treaty of temporary alliance and co 
 operation with the so-called " Confederate States," and 
 sent members to their congress at Montgomery. And, 
 finally, they permitted the insurrectionary government 
 to be transferred to their capital nt Richmond. 
 
 The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 insurrection to make its nest within her borders; and 
 this government has no choice left but to deal with it 
 where it finds it. And it has the less regret as the loyal 
 citizens have, in due form, claimed its protection. 
 Those loyal citizens this government is bound to recog 
 nize and protect, as being Virginia. 
 
 In the border States, so called, in fact, the Middle 
 States, there are those who favor a policy which they 
 call "armed neutrality"; that is, an arming of those 
 States to prevent the Union forces passing one way, or 
 the disunion the other, over their soil. This would 
 be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it 
 would be the building of an impassable wall along the 
 line of separation and yet not quite an impassable 
 one, for under the guise of neutrality it would tie the 
 hands of Union men and freely pass supplies from 
 among them to the insurrectionists, which it could 
 not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would take 
 all the trouble off the hands of secession, except only 
 what proceeds from the external blockade. It would 
 do for the disunionists that which, of all things, they 
 most desire feed them well, and give them disunion 
 without a struggle of their own. It recognizes no 
 fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to maintain 
 the Union ; and while very many who have favored it 
 are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very in 
 jurious in effect. 
 
 Recurring to the action of the government, it may 
 be stated that at first a call was made for 75,000 
 militia ; and, rapidly following this, a proclamation 
 was issued for closing the ports of the insurrectionary 
 districts by proceedings in the nature of blockade. So 
 far all was believed to be strictly legal. At this point 
 the insurrectionists announced their purpose to enter 
 upon the practice of privateering. 
 
 Other calls were made for volunteers to serve for 
 three years, unless sooner discharged, and also for 
 large additions to the regular army and navy. These 
 
$28 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured 
 upon, under what appeared to be a popular demand 
 and a public necessity; trusting then, as now, that 
 Congress would readily ratify them. It is believed 
 that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional 
 competency of Congress. 
 
 Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered 
 a duty to authorize the commanding general in proper 
 cases, according to his discretion, to suspend the priv 
 ilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in other words, 
 to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary 
 processes and forms of law, such individuals as he 
 might deem dangerous to the public safety. This 
 authority has purposely been exercised but very spar 
 ingly. Nevertheless, the legality and propriety of 
 what has been done under it are questioned, and the 
 attention of the country has been called to the proposi 
 tion that one who has sworn to " take care that the 
 laws be faithfully executed " should not himself vio 
 late them. Of course some consideration was given to 
 the questions of power and propriety before this matter 
 was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were 
 required to be faithfully executed were being resisted 
 and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the 
 States. Must they be allowed to finally fail of execu 
 tion, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of 
 the means necessary to their execution some single 
 law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citizen s 
 liberty that, practically, it relieves more of the guilty 
 than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent 
 be violated? To state the question more directly, are 
 all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the govern 
 ment itself go to pieces lest that one be violated? Even 
 in such a case, would not the official oath be broken if 
 the government should be overthrown, when it was 
 believed that disregarding the single law would tend 
 to preserve it? But it was not believed that this ques 
 tion was presented. It was not believed that any law 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 399 
 
 was violated. The provision of the Constitution that 
 " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not 
 be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or in 
 vasion, the public safety may require it," is equivalent 
 to a provision is a provision that such privilege may 
 be suspended when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the 
 public safety does require it. It was decided that w r e 
 have a case of rebellion, and that the public safety 
 does require the qualified suspension of the privilege 
 of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it 
 is insisted that Congress, and not the executive, is 
 vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is 
 silent as to which or who is to exercise the power; and 
 as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous 
 emergency, it cannot be believed the framers of the in 
 strument intended that in every case the danger should 
 run its course until Congress could be called together, 
 the very assembling of which might be prevented, as 
 was intended in this case, by the rebellion. 
 
 No more extended argument is now offered, as an 
 opinion at some length will probably be presented by 
 the attorney -general. Whether there shall be any legis 
 lation upon the subject, and if any, what, is submitted 
 entirely to the better judgment of Congress. 
 
 The forbearance of this government had been so 
 extraordinary and so long continued as to lead some 
 foreign nations to shape their action as if they sup 
 posed the early destruction of our National Union was 
 probable. While this, on discovery, gave the executive 
 some concern, he is now happy to say that the sov 
 ereignty and rights of the United States are now every 
 where practically respected by foreign powers; and a 
 general sympathy with the country is manifested 
 throughout the world. 
 
 The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, 
 and the Navy will give the information in detail deemed 
 necessary and convenient for your deliberation and 
 action; while the executive and all the departments 
 
330 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 will stand ready to supply omissions, or to communi 
 cate new facts considered important for you to know. 
 
 It is now recommended that you give the legal means 
 for making this contest a short and decisive one: that 
 you place at the control of the government for the work 
 at least four hundred thousand men and $400,000,000. 
 That number of men is about one tenth of those of 
 proper ages within the regions where, apparently, all 
 are willing to engage; and the sum is less than a 
 twenty-third part of the money value owned by the 
 men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of 
 $600,000,000 now is a less sum per head than was the 
 debt of our Revolution when we came out of that strug 
 gle ; and the money value in the country now bears even 
 a greater proportion to what it was then than does the 
 population. Surely each man has as strong a motive 
 now to preserve our liberties as each had then to 
 establish them. 
 
 A right result at this time will be worth more to the 
 world than ten times the men and ten times the money. 
 The evidence reaching us from the country leaves no 
 doubt that the material for the w r ork is abundant, and 
 that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it 
 legal sanction, and the hand of the executive to give 
 it practical shape and efficiency. One of the greatest 
 perplexities of the government is to avoid receiving 
 troops faster than it can provide for them. In a word, 
 the people will save their government if the government 
 itself will do its part only indifferently well. 
 
 It might seem, at first thought, to be of little dif 
 ference whether the present movement at the South be 
 called " secession " or " rebellion." The movers, how 
 ever, well understand the difference. At the beginning 
 they knew they could never raise their treason to any 
 respectable magnitude by any name which implies viola 
 tion of law. They knew their people possessed as much 
 of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and ordor, 
 and as much pride in and reverence for the history and 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 ^ 
 
 government of their common country as any other civi 
 lized and patriotic people. They knew they could 
 make no advancement directly in the teeth of these 
 strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they com 
 menced by an insidious debauching of the public mind. 
 They invented an ingenious sophism which, if conceded, 
 was followed by perfectly logical steps, through all the 
 incidents, to the complete destruction of the Union. 
 The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may 
 consistently with the National Constitution, and there 
 fore lawfully and peacefully, withdraw from the Union 
 without the consent of the Union or of any other 
 State. The little disguise that the supposed right is to 
 be exercised only for just cause, themselves to be the 
 sole judges of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice. 
 
 With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have been 
 drugging the public mind of their section for more than 
 thirty years, and until at length they have brought 
 many good men to a willingness to take up arms 
 against the government the day after some assemblage 
 of men have enacted the farcical pretense of taking 
 their State out of the Union, who could have been 
 brought to no such thing the day before. 
 
 This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its 
 currency from the assumption that there is some omni 
 potent and sacred supremacy pertaining to a State 
 to each State of our Federal Union. Our States have 
 neither more nor less power than that reserved to 
 them in the Union by the Constitution no one of 
 them ever having been a State out of the Union. The 
 original ones passed into the Union even before they 
 cast off their British colonial dependence; and the new 
 ones each came into the Union directly from a con 
 dition of dependence, excepting Texas. And even 
 Texas, in its temporary independence, was never desig 
 nated a State. The new ones only took the designation 
 of States on coming into the Union, while that name 
 was first adopted for the old ones in and by the Declara- 
 
332 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tion of Independence. Therein the " United Colonies " 
 were declared to be " free and independent States " ; 
 but even then the object plainly was not to declare their 
 independence of one another or of the Union, but 
 directly the contrary, as their mutual pledge and their 
 mutual action before, at the time, and afterward, 
 abundantly show. The express plighting of faith by 
 each and all of the original thirteen in the Articles 
 of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall 
 be perpetual, is most conclusive. Having never been 
 States either in substance or in name outside of the 
 Union, whence this magical omnipotence of " State 
 Eights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy 
 the Union itself? Much is said about the "sov 
 ereignty " of the States ; but the word even is not in the 
 National Constitution, nor, as is believed, in any of the 
 State constitutions. What is " sovereignty " in the 
 political sense of the term? Would it be far wrong to 
 define it " a political community without a political 
 superior "? Tested by this, no one of our States except 
 Texas ever was a sovereignty. And even Texas gave 
 up the character on coming into the Union ; by which 
 act she acknowledged the Constitution of the United 
 States, and the laws and treaties of the United States 
 made in pursuance of the Constitution, to be for her the 
 supreme law of the land. The States have their status 
 in the Union, and they have no other legal status. If 
 they break from this, they can only do so against law 
 and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves 
 separately, procured their independence and their 
 liberty. By conquest or purchase the Union gave each 
 of them whatever of independence or liberty it has. 
 The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, 
 it created them as States. Originally some dependent 
 colonies made the Union, and, in turn, the Union threw 
 off their old dependence for them, and made them 
 States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a 
 State constitution independent of the Union. Of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 333 
 
 course, it is not forgotten that all the new States 
 framed their constitutions before they entered the 
 Union nevertheless, dependent upon and preparatory 
 to coming into the Union. 
 
 Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights 
 reserved to them in and by the National Constitution ; 
 but among these surely are not included all conceivable 
 powers, however mischievous or destructive, but, at 
 most, such only as were known in the world at the time 
 as governmental powers; and certainly a power to 
 destroy the government itself had never been known as 
 a governmental, as a merely administrative power. 
 This relative matter of national power and State 
 rights, as a principle, is no other than the principle of 
 generality and locality. Whatever concerns the whole 
 should be confided to the whole to the General Govern 
 ment; while whatever concerns only the State should 
 be left exclusively to the State. This is all there is of 
 original principle about it. Whether the National 
 Constitution in defining boundaries between the two 
 has applied the principle with exact accuracy, is not to 
 be questioned. We are all bound by that defining, 
 without question. 
 
 What is now combated is the position that secession 
 is consistent with the Constitution is lawful and 
 peaceful. It is not contended that there is any express 
 law for it; and nothing should ever be implied as law 
 which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The 
 nation purchased with money the countries out of 
 which several of these States were formed. Is it just 
 that they shall go off without leave and without re 
 funding? The nation paid very large sums (in the 
 aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to re 
 lieve Florida of the aboriginal tribes. Is it just that 
 she shall now be off without consent or without mak 
 ing any return? The nation is now in debt for money 
 applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States 
 in common with the rest. Is it just either that credi- 
 
334: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 tors shall go unpaid or the remaining States pay the 
 whole? A part of the present national debt was con 
 tracted to pay the old debts of Texas. Is it just that 
 she shall leave and pay no part of this herself? 
 
 Again, if one State may secede, so may another; ana 
 when all shall have seceded, none is left to pay the 
 debts. Is this quite just to creditors? Did we notify 
 them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed their 
 money? If we now recognize this doctrine by allow 
 ing the seceders to go in peace, it is difficult to see what 
 we can do if others choose to go or to extort terms 
 upon which they will promise to remain. 
 
 The seceders insist that our Constitution admits of 
 secession. They have assumed to make a national con 
 stitution of their own, in which of necessity they have 
 either discarded or retained the right of secession as 
 they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it, 
 they thereby admit that on principle it ought not to be 
 in ours. If they have retained it by their own con 
 struction of ours, they show that to be consistent they 
 must secede from one another whenever they shall find 
 it the easiest way of settling their debts, or effecting any 
 other selfish or unjust object. The principle itself is 
 one of disintegration, and upon w r hich no government 
 can possibly endure. 
 
 If all the States save one should assert the power 
 to drive that one out of the Union, it is presumed the 
 whole class of seceder politicians would at once deny 
 the power and denounce the act as the greatest out 
 rage upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the 
 same act, instead of being called " driving the one out," 
 should be called " the seceding of the others from that 
 one," it would be exactly what the seceders claim to do, 
 unless, indeed, they make the point that the one, 
 because it is a minority, may rightfully do what the 
 others, because they are a majority, may not rightfully 
 do. These politicians are subtle and profound on the 
 rights of minorities. They are not partial to that 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 335 
 
 power which made the Constitution and speaks from 
 the preamble calling itself " We, the People." 
 
 It may well be questioned whether there is to-day a 
 majority of the legally qualified voters of any State, 
 except perhaps South Carolina, in favor of disunion. 
 There is much reason to believe that the Union men 
 are the majority in many, if not in every other one, of 
 the so-called seceded States. The contrary has not 
 been demonstrated in any one of them. It is ventured 
 to affirm this even of Virginia and Tennessee; for the 
 result of an election held in military camps, where the 
 bayonets are all on one side of the question voted 
 upon, can scarcely be considered as demonstrating 
 popular sentiment. At such an election, all that large 
 class who are at once for the Union and against 
 coercion would be coerced to vote against the Union. 
 
 It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free 
 institutions we enjoy have developed the powers and 
 improved the condition of our whole people beyond any 
 example in the world. Of this we now have a striking 
 and an impressive illustration. So large an army as 
 the government has now on foot was never before 
 known, without a soldier in it but who has taken his 
 place there of his own free choice. But more than this, 
 there are many single regiments whose members, one 
 and another, possess full practical knowledge of all 
 the arts, sciences, professions, and whatever else, 
 whether useful or elegant, is known in the world ; and 
 there is scarcely one from which there could not be 
 selected a President, a cabinet, a congress, and perhaps 
 a court, abundantly competent to administer the 
 government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also 
 in the army of our late friends, now adversaries in this 
 contest ; but if it is, so much better the reason why the 
 government which has conferred such benefits on both 
 them and us should not be broken up. Whoever in any 
 section proposes to abandon such a government would 
 do well to consider in deference to what principle it is 
 
336 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that he does it what better he is likely to get in its 
 stead whether the substitute will give, or be in 
 tended to give, so much of good to the people? There 
 are some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adver 
 saries have adopted some declarations of independence 
 in which, unlike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, 
 they omit the words " all men are created equal. " 
 Why? They have adopted a temporary national con 
 stitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good 
 old one, signed by Washington, they omit " We, the 
 People," and substitute, " We, the deputies of the sov 
 ereign and independent States." Why? Why this 
 deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and 
 the authority of the people? 
 
 This is essentially a people s contest. On the side of 
 the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world 
 that form and substance of government whose leading 
 object is to elevate the condition of men to lift arti 
 ficial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of 
 laudable pursuit for all ; to afford all an unfettered 
 start, and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding 
 to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, 
 this is the leading object of the government for whose 
 existence we contend. 
 
 I am most happy to believe that the plain people 
 understand and appreciate this. It is worthy of note 
 that while in this, the government s hour of trial, 
 large numbers of those in the army and navy who have 
 been favored with the offices have resigned and proved 
 false to the hand which had pampered them, not one 
 common soldier or common sailor is known to have 
 deserted his flag. 
 
 Great honor is due to those officers who remained 
 true, despite the example of their treacherous asso 
 ciates; but the greatest honor, and most important fact 
 of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers 
 and common sailors. To the last man, so far as known, 
 they have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 337 
 
 of those whose commands, but an hour before, they 
 obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct 
 of the plain people. They understand, without an argu 
 ment, that the destroying of the government which was 
 made by Washington means no good to them. 
 
 Our popular government has often been called an 
 experiment. Two points in it our people have already 
 settled the successful establishing and the successful 
 administering of it. One still remains its successful 
 maintenance against a formidable internal attempt to 
 overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to 
 the world that those who can fairly carry an election 
 can also suppress a rebellion ; that ballots are the right 
 ful and peaceful successors of bullets; and that when 
 ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there 
 can be no successful appeal back to bullets ; that there 
 can be no successful appeal, except to ballots them 
 selves, at succeeding elections. Such will be a great 
 lesson of peace: teaching men that what they cannot 
 take by an election, neither can they take it by a war; 
 teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. 
 
 Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid 
 men as to what is to be the course of the government 
 toward the Southern States after the rebellion shall 
 have been suppressed, the executive deems it proper to 
 say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by 
 the Constitution and the laws; and that he probably 
 will have no different understanding of the powers and 
 duties of the Federal Government relatively to the 
 rights of the States and the people, under the Constitu 
 tion, than that expressed in the inaugural address. 
 
 He desires to preserve the government, that it may 
 be administered for all as it was administered by the 
 men who made it. Loyal citizens everywhere have the 
 right to claim this of their government, and the govern 
 ment has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not 
 perceived that in giving it there is any coercion, any 
 22 
 
338 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 conquest, or any subjugation, in any just sense of those 
 terms. 
 
 The Constitution provides, and all the States have 
 accepted the provision, that " the United States shall 
 guarantee to every State in this Union a republican 
 form of government." But if a State may lawfully go 
 out of the Union, having done so, it may also discard 
 the republican form of government ; so that to prevent 
 its going out is an indispensable means to the end of 
 maintaining the guarantee mentioned ; and when an 
 end is lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means 
 to it are also lawful and obligatory. 
 
 It was with the deepest regret that the executive 
 found the duty of employing the war power in defense 
 of the government forced upon him. He could but per 
 form this duty or surrender the existence of the govern 
 ment. No compromise by public servants could, in 
 this case, be a cure; not that compromises are not often 
 proper, but that no popular government can long 
 survive a marked precedent that those who carry an 
 election can only save the government from immediate 
 destruction by giving up the main point upon which 
 the people gave the election. The people themselves, 
 and not their servants, can safely reverse their own 
 deliberate decisions. 
 
 As a private citizen the executive could not have 
 consented that these institutions shall perish; much 
 less could he, in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a 
 trust as the free people have confided to him. He felt 
 that he had no moral right to shrink, nor even to count 
 the chances of his own life in what might follow. In 
 full view of his great responsibility he has, so far, done 
 what he has deemed his duty. You will now, accord 
 ing to your own judgment, perform yours. He sincerely 
 hopes that your views and your actions may so accord 
 with his, as to assure all faithful citizens who have been 
 disturbed in their rights of a certain and speedy res 
 toration to them, under the Constitution and the laws. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 339 
 
 And having thus chosen our course, without guile 
 and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, 
 and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 July 4, 1861. 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF A NATIONAL FAST-DAY, 
 AUG. 12, 1861. 
 
 WHEREAS a joint committee of both Houses of Con 
 gress has waited on the President of the United States 
 and requested him to " recommend a day of public 
 prayer, humiliation, and fasting, to be observed by the 
 people of the United States with religious solemnities, 
 and the offering of fervent supplications to Almighty 
 God for the safety and welfare of these States, his 
 blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of 
 peace " : 
 
 And whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at 
 all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme 
 government of God; to bow in humble submission to 
 his chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and 
 transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of 
 the Lord is the beginning of wisdom ; and to pray with 
 all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their past 
 offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and 
 prospective action : 
 
 And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by 
 the blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is 
 now afflicted with faction and civil war, it is peculiarly 
 fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible 
 visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own 
 faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to 
 humble ourselves before him and to pray for his mercy 
 
340 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to pray that we may be spared further punishment, 
 though most justly deserved; that our arms may be 
 blessed and made effectual for the reestablishment of 
 law, order, and peace throughout the wide extent of our 
 country; and that the inestimable boon of civil and 
 religious liberty, earned under his guidance and bless 
 ing by the labors and sufferings of our fathers, may 
 be restored in all its original excellence: 
 
 Therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, do appoint the last Thursday in Sep 
 tember next as a day of humiliation, prayer, and fast 
 ing for all the people of the nation. And I do earnestly 
 recommend to all the people, and especially to all 
 ministers and teachers of religion, of all denominations, 
 and to all heads of families, to observe and keep that 
 day, according to their several creeds and modes of 
 worship, in all humility and with all religious solem 
 nity, to the end that the united prayer of the nation 
 may ascend to the Throne of Grace, and bring down 
 plentiful blessings upon our country. 
 
 (Signed) ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 By the President : WM. H. SEWARD, 
 Secretary of State. 
 
{SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC. 3, 1861. 
 
 [In this message addressed to Congress, the substance of which 
 is here given, President Lincoln contends that the War of the 
 Rebellion is one waged " upon the first principle of popular 
 government the rights of the people." Be this as it may, the 
 period was a dark and perplexing one at the North, for the 
 Trent affair had just happened, and there was danger of war 
 with England, which nation had, with France, recognized the 
 Confederates as belligerents. The South, moreover, was jubilant 
 over Bull Run and the panic that ensued, and actively aggressive 
 in other sections where its forces were operating; while the 
 Northern capital, it was then feared, was not safe from Southern 
 attack. Thanks to Lincoln s wisdom and courage, and to the 
 patriotic backing of the people of the North, the ominous out 
 look passed for the time being and the country breathed more 
 freely, as it was assured by the President that the cause of the 
 Union was steadily and surely advancing. The war, however, 
 though few comparatively as yet thought so or admitted, was to 
 be a long and disastrous one, particularly until the coming of 
 General Grant, whose military genius was to crown Northern 
 armies with well-won laurels and do much to restore and reunite 
 the riven Republic]. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Represen 
 tatives: In the midst of unprecedented political 
 troubles we have cause of great gratitude to God for 
 unusual good health and most abundant harvests. 
 
 You will not be surprised to learn that, in the pecu 
 liar exigencies of the times, our intercourse with for 
 eign nations has been attended with profound solici 
 tude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs. 
 
 A disloyal portion of the American people have, dur 
 ing the whole year, been engaged in an attempt to 
 divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures 
 factious domestic division is exposed to disrespect 
 abroad; and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner or 
 later, to invoke foreign intervention. Nations thus 
 tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the- 
 
342 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 counsels of seeming expediency and ungenerous ambi 
 tion, although measures adopted under such influences 
 seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those 
 adopting them. 
 
 The disloyal citizens of the United States who have 
 offered the ruin of our country in return for the aid and 
 comfort which they have invoked abroad, have received 
 less patronage and encouragement than they probably 
 expected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents 
 have seemed to assume, that foreign nations in this 
 case, discarding all moral, social, and treaty obliga 
 tions, would act solely and selfishly for the most 
 speedy restoration of commerce, including, especially, 
 the acquisition of cotton, those nations appear as yet 
 not to have seen their way to their object more directly 
 or clearly through the destruction than through the 
 preservation of the Union. If we could dare to believe 
 that foreign nations are actuated by no higher prin 
 ciple than this, I am quite sure a sound argument could 
 be made to show them that they can reach their aim 
 more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion 
 than by giving encouragement to it. ... 
 
 The inaugural address at the beginning of the ad 
 ministration, and the message to Congress at the late 
 special session, were both mainly devoted to the do 
 mestic controversy out of which the insurrection and 
 consequent war have sprung. Nothing now occurs to 
 add or subtract, to or from, the principles or general 
 purposes stated and expressed in those documents. 
 
 The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peace 
 ably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter; and a 
 general review of what has occurred since may not be 
 unprofitable. What was painfully uncertain then is 
 much better defined and more distinct now; and the 
 progress of events is plainly in the right direction. 
 The insurgents confidently claimed a strong support 
 from north of Mason and Dixon s line ; and the friends 
 of the Union were not free from apprehension on 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 343 
 
 point. This, however, was soon settled definitely, and 
 on the right side. South of the line, noble little Dela 
 ware led off right from the first. Maryland was made 
 to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were as 
 saulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up 
 within her limits, and we were many days, at one 
 time, without the ability to bring a single regiment 
 over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and rail 
 roads are repaired and open to the government; she 
 already gives seven regiments to the cause of the Union 
 and none to the enemy; and her people, at a regular 
 election, have sustained the Union by a larger majority 
 and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave 
 to any candidate or any question. Kentucky, too, for 
 some time in doubt, is now decidedly, and, I think, un 
 changeably, ranged on the side of the Union. Missouri 
 is comparatively quiet, and, I believe, cannot again be 
 overrun by the insurrectionists. These three States of 
 Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, neither of which 
 would promise a single soldier at first, have now an 
 aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field 
 for the Union, while of their citizens certainly not 
 more than a third of that number, and they of doubt 
 ful whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms 
 against it. After a somewhat bloody struggle of 
 months, winter closes on the Union people of western 
 Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country. 
 
 An insurgent force of about 1500, for months domi 
 nating the narrow peninsular region constituting the 
 counties of Accomac and Northampton, and known as 
 the eastern shore of Virginia, together with some con 
 tiguous parts of Maryland, have laid down their arms, 
 and the people there have renewed their allegiance to 
 and accepted the protection of the old flag. This leaves 
 no armed insurrectionist north of the Potomac or east 
 of the Chesapeake. 
 
 Also we have obtained a footing at each of the iso 
 lated points, on the southern coast, of Hatteras, Port 
 
344 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Royal, Tybee Island, near Savannah, and Ship Island; 
 and we likewise have some general accounts of popular 
 movements in behalf of the Union in North Carolina 
 and Tennessee. 
 
 These things demonstrate that the cause of the 
 Union is advancing steadily and certainly southward. 
 
 Since your last adjournment Lieutenant-General 
 Scott has retired from the head of the army. During 
 his long life the nation has not been unmindful of his 
 merit; yet, on calling to mind how faithfully, ably, and 
 brilliantly he has served the country from a time far 
 back in our history when few of the now living had been 
 born, and thenceforward continually, I cannot but 
 think we are still his debtors. I submit, therefore, for 
 your consideration what further mark of recognition 
 is due to him and to ourselves as a grateful people. 
 
 With the retirement of General Scott came the exe 
 cutive duty of appointing in his stead a geueral-in- 
 chief of the army. It is a fortunate circumstance that 
 neither in council nor country was there, so far as I 
 know, any difference of opinion as to the proper person 
 to be selected. The retiring chief repeatedly expressed 
 his judgment in favor of General McClellan for the 
 position, and in this the nation seemed to give a un 
 animous concurrence. The designation of General Mc 
 Clellan is, therefore, in considerable degree the selec 
 tion of the country as well as of the executive, and 
 hence there is better reason to hope there will be given 
 him the confidence and cordial support thus by fair 
 implication promised, and without which he cannot 
 with so full efficiency serve the country. 
 
 It has been said that one bad general is better than 
 two good ones ; and the saying is true, if taken to mean 
 no more than that an army is better directed by a single 
 mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at 
 variance and cross-purposes with each other. 
 
 And the same is true in all joint operations wherein 
 those engaged can have none but a common end in view, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 345 
 
 and can differ only as to the choice of means. In a 
 storm at sea no one on board can wish the ship to sink; 
 and yet not infrequently all go down together because 
 too many will direct, and no single mind can be allowed 
 to control. 
 
 It continues to develop that the insurrection is 
 largely, if not exclusively, a war upon the first princi 
 ple of popular government the rights of the people. 
 Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave 
 and maturely considered public documents as well as in 
 the general tone of the insurgents. In those docu 
 ments we find the abridgment of the existing right of 
 suffrage and the denial to the people of all right to 
 participate in the selection of public officers except the 
 legislative, boldly advocated, with labored arguments 
 to prove that large control of the people in government 
 is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is 
 sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power 
 of the people. 
 
 In my present position I could scarcely be justified 
 were I to omit raising a warning voice against this 
 approach of returning despotism. 
 
 It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argu 
 ment should be made in favor of popular institutions; 
 but there is one point, with its connections, not so 
 hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief at 
 tention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal 
 footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of 
 government. It is assumed that labor is available only 
 in connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless 
 somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of 
 it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next con 
 sidered whether it is best that capital shall hire 
 laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own 
 consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their 
 consent. Having proceeded thus far, it is naturally 
 concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers 
 or what we call slaves. And, further, it is assumed 
 
346 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that con 
 dition for life. 
 
 Now, there is no such relation between capital and 
 labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free 
 man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired 
 laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all in 
 ferences from them are groundless. 
 
 Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. 
 Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have 
 existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the 
 superior of capital, and deserves much the higher con 
 sideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy 
 of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that 
 there is, and probably always will be, a relation be 
 tween labor and capital producing mutual benefits. 
 The error is in assuming that the whole labor of the 
 community exists within that relation. A few men 
 own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and 
 with their capital hire or buy another few to labor for 
 them. A large majority belong to neither class 
 neither work for others nor have others working for 
 them. In most of the Southern States a majority of 
 the whole people, of all colors, are neither slaves nor 
 masters; while in the Northern a large majority are 
 neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families 
 wives, sons, and daughters work for themselves, on 
 their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking 
 the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors 
 of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or 
 slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a consider 
 able number of persons mingle their own labor with 
 capital that is, they labor with their own hands and 
 also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this 
 is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle 
 stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. 
 
 Again, as has already been said, there is not, of 
 necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer 
 being fixed to that condition for life. Many inde- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 347 
 
 pendent men everywhere in these States, a few years 
 back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent, 
 penniless beginner in the world labors for wages 
 awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land 
 for himself, then labors on his own account another 
 while, and at length hires another new beginner to 
 help him. This is the just and generous and pros 
 perous system which opens the way to all gives hope 
 to all, and consequent energy and progress and im 
 provement of condition to all. No men living are 
 more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from 
 poverty none less inclined to take or touch aught 
 which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware 
 of surrendering a political power which they already 
 possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely be used 
 to close the door of advancement against such as they, 
 and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, 
 till all of liberty shall be lost. 
 
 From the first taking of our national census to the 
 last are seventy years; and w r e find our population at 
 the end of the period eight times as great as it was at 
 the beginning. The increase of those other things 
 which men deem desirable has been even greater. We 
 thus have, at one view, what the popular principle, 
 applied to government, through the machinery of the 
 States and the Union, has produced in a given time; 
 and also what, if firmly maintained, it promises for the 
 future. There are already among us those who, if the 
 Union be preserved, will live to see it contain 250,000,- 
 000. The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to 
 day it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on 
 Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us pro 
 ceed in the great task which events have devolved upon 
 us. 
 
348 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 MESSAGE TO CONGRESS RECOMMENDING COM 
 PENSATED EMANCIPATION, MARCH 6, 1862. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Repre 
 sentatives: I recommend the adoption of a joint resolu 
 tion by your honorable bodies, which shall be substan 
 tially as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate 
 with any State which may adopt gradual abolishment 
 of slavery, giving to such State pecuniary aid, to be 
 used by such State, in its discretion, to compensate 
 for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by 
 such change of system. 
 
 If the proposition contained in the resolution does 
 not meet the approval of Congress and the country, 
 there is the end; but if it does command such approval, 
 I deem it of importance that the States and people 
 immediately interested should be at once distinctly 
 notified of the fact, so that they may begin to consider 
 whether to accept or reject it. The Federal Govern 
 ment would find its highest interest in such a measure, 
 as one of the most efficient means of self-preservation. 
 The leaders of the existing insurrection entertain the 
 hope that this government will ultimately be forced to 
 acknowledge the independence of some part of the disaf 
 fected region, and that all the slave States north of 
 such part will then say, " The Union for which we have 
 struggled being already gone, we now choose to go with 
 the Southern section." To deprive them of this hope 
 substantially ends the rebellion ; and the initiation of 
 emancipation completely deprives them of it as to all 
 the States initiating it. The point is not that all the 
 States tolerating slavery would very soon, if at all, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 349 
 
 initiate emancipation; but that while the offer is 
 equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such 
 initiation, make it certain to the more Southern that 
 in no event will the former ever join the latter in their 
 proposed confederacy. I say " initiation " because, in 
 my judgment, gradual and not sudden emancipation is 
 better for all. In the mere financial or pecuniary view, 
 any member of Congress, with the census tables and 
 treasury reports before him, can readily see for him 
 self how very soon the current expenditures of this war 
 would purchase, at fair valuation, all the slaves in any 
 named State. Such a proposition on the part of the 
 General Government sets up no claim of a right by 
 Federal authority to interfere with slavery within 
 State limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control 
 of the subject in each case to the State and its people 
 immediately interested. It is proposed as a matter of 
 perfectly free choice with them. 
 
 In the annual message, last December, I thought fit 
 to say, " The Union must be preserved, and hence all 
 indispensable means must be employed." I said this 
 not hastily, but deliberately. War has been made, and 
 continues to be, an indispensable means to this end. 
 A practical reacknowledgment of the national author 
 ity would render the war unnecessary, and it would at 
 once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war 
 must also continue; and it is impossible to foresee all 
 the incidents which may attend and all the ruin which 
 may follow it. Such as may seem indispensable, or 
 may obviously promise great efficiency, toward ending 
 the struggle, must and will come. 
 
 The proposition now made, though an offer only, I 
 hope it may be esteemed no offense to ask whether the 
 pecuniary consideration tendered would not be of more 
 value to the States and private persons concerned than 
 are the institution and property in it, in the present 
 aspect of affairs? 
 
 While it is true that the adoption of the proposed 
 
350 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 resolution would be merely initiatory, and not within 
 itself a practical measure, it is recommended in the 
 hope that it would soon lead to important practical re 
 sults. In full view of my great responsibility to my 
 God and to my country, I earnestly beg the attention 
 of Congress and the people to the subject. 
 
 [It should be noted that the South paid no heed to this proposal 
 and took no advantage of it. On the Northern side, on the other 
 hand, Congress, on April 16, 1862, purchased at the cost of close 
 upon a million dollars the slaves in the District of Columbia and 
 gave them their freedom] . 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
 PROCLAMATION RECOMMENDING THANKS 
 GIVING FOR VICTORIES, APRIL 10, 1862. 
 
 IT has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal 
 victories to the land and naval forces engaged in sup 
 pressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to 
 avert from our country the dangers of foreign inter 
 vention and invasion : 
 
 It is therefore recommended to the people of the 
 United States that, at their next weekly assemblages 
 in their accustomed places of public worship which 
 shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall have 
 been received, they especially acknowledge and render 
 thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable 
 blessings; that they then and there implore spiritual 
 consolation in behalf of all who have been brought in 
 to affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedi 
 tion and civil war; and that they reverently invoke 
 the divine guidance for our national counsels, to the 
 end that they may speedily result in the restoration of 
 peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders, and 
 hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among 
 all the countries of the earth. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 } 
 
 PRELIMINARY EMANCIPATION, PROCLAMA 
 TION, SEPTEMBER 22, 1862. 
 
 I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States 
 of America, and commander-in-chief of the army and 
 navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that here 
 after, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for 
 the object of practically restoring the constitutional 
 relation between the United States and each of the 
 States, and the people thereof, in which States that re 
 lation is or may be suspended or disturbed. 
 
 That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of 
 Congress, to again recommend the adoption of a prac 
 tical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free ac 
 ceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the 
 people whereof may not then be in rebellion against 
 the United States, and which States may then have 
 voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily 
 adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery 
 within their respective limits; and that the effort to 
 colonize persons of African descent with their consent 
 upon this continent or elsewhere, with the previously 
 obtained consent of the government existing there, will 
 be continued. 
 
 That on the first day of January, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all 
 persons held as slaves within any State or designated 
 part of a State the people whereof shall then be in re 
 bellion against the United States, shall be then, thence 
 forward, and forever free; and the Executive Govern 
 ment of the United States, including the military and 
 naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain 
 the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or 
 acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any 
 efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 
 
352 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 That the Executive will, on the first day of January 
 aforesaid, by proclamation designate the States and 
 parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, re 
 spectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United 
 States; and the fact that any State, or the people 
 thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented 
 in the Congress of the United States by members 
 chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the 
 qualified voters of such State shall have participated, 
 shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testi 
 mony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, 
 and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion 
 against the United States. 
 
 That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress 
 entitled " An act to make an additional article of war," 
 approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words 
 and figure following: 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled, That here 
 after the following shall be promulgated as an additional article 
 of war, for the government of the army of the United States, and 
 shall be obeyed and observed as such: 
 
 ARTICLE . All officers or persons in the military or naval 
 service of the United States are prohibited from employing any 
 of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose 
 of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have es 
 caped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed 
 to be due; and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court 
 martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the 
 service. 
 
 SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That this act shall take 
 effect from and after its passage. 
 
 Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act en 
 titled " An act to suppress insurrection, to punish 
 treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate property 
 of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 
 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures 
 following : 
 
 SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That all slaves of persona 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 353 
 
 who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Govern 
 ment of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or 
 comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge 
 within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such 
 persons or deserted by them, and coming under the control of the 
 Government of the United States; and all slaves of such persona 
 found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces 
 and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall 
 be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their 
 servitude, and not again held as slaves. 
 
 SEC. 10. And be it further enacted. That no slave escaping 
 into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, from any 
 other State, shall be delivered up, or in any way impeded or 
 hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some ofTense against 
 the laws, unless the person claiming said fugitive shnll first make 
 oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugi 
 tive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne 
 arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in 
 any way given aid and comfort thereto ; and no person engaged 
 in the military or naval service of the United States shall, 
 under any pretense whatever, assume to decide on the validity 
 of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other 
 person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain, 
 of being dismissed from the service. 
 
 And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons 
 engaged in the military and naval service of the United 
 States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their re 
 spective spheres of service, the act and sections above 
 recited. 
 
 And the Executive will in due time recommend that 
 all citizens of the United States who shall have re 
 mained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall 
 (upon the restoration of the constitutional relation 
 between the United States and their respective States 
 and people, if that relation shall have been suspended 
 or disturbed) be compensated for all losses by acts of 
 the United States, including the loss of slaves. 
 23 
 
354 SPEECHES OF ABKAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE TO 
 CONGRESS, DEC. 1, 1862. 
 
 [In this Message, the President touches upon the progress of 
 events in the Civil War and on the relations of the Republic with 
 foreign governments at the critical era. The condition of the 
 finances is then dealt with and the return to specie payments is 
 recommended, as speedily as conditions will permit. He then 
 remarks upon the inadequacy of disunion as a remedy for 
 the differences between North and South, commenting on the in 
 ability to find or locate a line of division separating the two 
 warring sections of the country, were it practicable or patriotic 
 to consider any such proposal as the line by which to separate 
 slave and free. The President closes with a reference once more 
 to his idea of compensated emancipation as a means of restoring 
 peace and saving the Union in its integrity from the continuance 
 of the fiery trial through which the nation has been called upon 
 to pass]. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Repre 
 sentatives: Since your last annual assembling another 
 year of health and bountiful harvests has passed; and 
 while it has not pleased the Almighty to bless us with 
 a return of peace, we can but press on, guided by the 
 best light he gives us, trusting that in his own good 
 time and wise way all will yet be well. 
 
 The correspondence touching foreign affairs which 
 has taken place during the last year is herewith sub 
 mitted, in virtual compliance with a request to that 
 effect, made by the House of Representatives near the 
 close of the last session of Congress. 
 
 If the condition of our relations with other nations 
 is less gratifying than it has usually been at former 
 periods, it is certainly more satisfactory than a nation 
 so unhappily distracted as we are might reasonably 
 have apprehended. In the month of June last there 
 L were some grounds to expect that the maritime powers 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LIXCOLN. 355 
 
 which, at the beginning of our domestic difficulties, so 
 unwisely and unnecessarily, as we think, recognized 
 the insurgents as a belligerent, would soon recede from 
 that position, which has proved only less injurious to 
 themselves than to our own country. But the tem 
 porary reverses which afterward befell the national 
 arms, and which were exaggerated by our own dis 
 loyal citizens abroad, have hitherto delayed that act 
 of simple justice. 
 
 The civil war, which has so radically changed, for 
 the moment, the occupations and habits of the Ameri 
 can people, has necessarily disturbed the social con 
 dition, and affected very deeply the prosperity of the 
 nations with which we have carried on a commerce 
 that has been steadily increasing throughout a period 
 of half a century. It has, at the same time, excited 
 political ambitions and apprehensions which have pro 
 duced a profound agitation throughout the civilized 
 world. In this unusual agitation we have forborne 
 from taking part in any controversy between foreign 
 states, and between parties or factions in such states. 
 We have attempted no propagandisrn, and acknowl 
 edge no revolution. But we have left to every nation 
 the exclusive conduct and management of its own 
 affairs. Our struggle has been, of course, contemplated 
 by foreign nations with reference less to its own merits 
 than to its supposed and often exaggerated effects and 
 consequences resulting to those nations themselves. 
 Nevertheless, complaint on the part of this govern 
 ment, even if it were just, would certainly be unwise. 
 
 The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of 
 the slave-trade has been put into operation with a good 
 prospect of complete success. It is an occasion of 
 special pleasure to acknowledge that the execution of 
 it on the part of her Majesty s government has been 
 marked with a jealous respect for the authority of the 
 United States, and the rights of their moral and loyal 
 citizens. , 
 
356 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 A blockade of three thousand miles of sea-coast could 
 not be established and vigorously enforced, in a season 
 of great commercial activity like the present, without 
 committing occasional mistakes, and inflicting unin 
 tentional injuries upon foreign nations and their sub 
 jects. 
 
 A civil war occurring in a country where foreigners 
 reside and carry on trade under treaty stipulations, is 
 necessarily fruitful of complaints of the violation of 
 neutral rights. All such collisions tend to excite mis 
 apprehensions, and possibly to produce mutual recla 
 mations between nations which have a common interest 
 in preserving peace and friendship. In clear cases of 
 these kinds I have, so far as possible, heard and re 
 dressed complaints which have been presented by 
 friendly powers. There is still, however, a large and 
 an augmenting number of doubtful cases upon which 
 the government is unable to agree with the governments 
 whose protection is demanded by the claimants. There 
 are, moreover, many cases in which the United States 
 or their citizens suffer wrongs from the naval or mili 
 tary authorities of foreign nations, which the govern 
 ments of those states are not at once prepared to re 
 dress. I have proposed to some of the foreign states 
 thus interested mutual conventions to examine and 
 adjust such complaints. This proposition has been 
 made especially to Great Britain, to France, to Spain, 
 and to Prussia. In each case it has been kindly re 
 ceived, but has not yet been formally adopted. . . . 
 
 I have favored the project for connecting the United 
 States with Europe by an Atlantic telegraph, and a 
 similar project to extend the telegraph from San Fran 
 cisco, to connect by a Pacific telegraph with the line 
 which is being extended across the Russian empire. 
 
 The Territories of the United States, with unimpor 
 tant exceptions, have remained undisturbed by the civil 
 war, and they are exhibiting such evidence of pros 
 perity as justifies an expectation that some of them will 
 
SPEECHES OP ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 357 
 
 soon be in a condition to be organized as States and be 
 constitutionally admitted into the Federal Union. 
 
 The immense mineral resources of some of those Ter 
 ritories ought to be developed as rapidly as possible. 
 Every step in that direction would have a tendency to 
 improve the revenues of the government, and diminish 
 the burdens of the people. It is worthy of your serious 
 consideration whether some extraordinary measures to 
 promote that end cannot be adopted. The means which 
 suggests itself as most likely to be effective is a scien 
 tific exploration of the mineral regions in those Terri 
 tories, with a view to the publication of its results at 
 home and in foreign countries results which cannot 
 fail to be auspicious. 
 
 The condition of the finances will claim your most 
 diligent consideration. The vast expenditures incident 
 to the military and naval operations required for the 
 suppression of the rebellion have hitherto been met 
 with a promptitude and certainty unusual in similar 
 circumstances, and the public credit has been fully 
 maintained. The continuance of the war, however, 
 and the increased disbursements made necessary by the 
 augmented forces now in the field, demand your best 
 reflections as to the best modes of providing the neces 
 sary revenue without injury to business and with the 
 least possible burdens upon labor. 
 
 The suspension of specie payments by the banks, soon 
 after the commencement of your last session, made 
 large issues of United States notes unavoidable. In no 
 other way could the payment of the troops, and the 
 satisfaction of other just demands, be so economically 
 or so well provided for. The judicious legislation of 
 Congress, securing the receivability of these notes for 
 loans and internal duties, and making them a legal 
 tender for other debts, has made them a universal 
 currency, and has satisfied, partially at least, and for 
 the time, the long-felt want of a uniform circulating 
 
358 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN". 
 
 medium, saving thereby to the people immense sums 
 in discounts and exchanges. 
 
 A return to specie payments, however, at the earliest 
 period compatible with due regard to all interests con 
 cerned, should ever be kept in view. Fluctuations in 
 the value of currency are always injurious, and to re 
 duce these fluctuations to the lowest possible point 
 will always be a leading purpose in wise legislation. 
 Convertibility prompt and certain convertibility 
 into coin is generally acknowledged to be the best and 
 surest safeguard against them; and it is extremely 
 doubtful whether a circulation of United States notes, 
 payable in coin, and sufficiently large for the wants of 
 the people, can be permanently, usefully, and safely 
 maintained. . . . 
 
 A nation may be said to consist of its territory, its 
 people, and its laws. The territory is the only part 
 which is of certain durability. " One generation 
 passeth away, and another generation cometh, but the 
 earth abideth forever." It is of the first importance to 
 duly consider and estimate this ever-enduring part. 
 That portion of the earth s surface w r hich is owned and 
 inhabited by the people of the United States is w y ell 
 adapted to be the home of one national family, and it 
 is not well adapted for two or more. Its vast extent 
 and its variety of climate and productions are of ad 
 vantage in this age for one people, whatever they might 
 have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and in 
 telligence have brought these to be an advantageous 
 combination for one united people. 
 
 In the inaugural address I briefly pointed out the 
 total inadequacy of disunion as a remedy for the dif 
 ferences between the people of the two sections. I 
 did so in language which I cannot improve and which, 
 therefore, I beg to repeat : 
 
 One section of our country believes slavery is right and ought 
 to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong and ought not 
 to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugi- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 359 
 
 tive-slave clause of the Constitution and the law for the suppres 
 sion of the foreign slave-trade are each as well enforced, per 
 haps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral 
 sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great 
 body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both 
 cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be per 
 fectly cured; and it would be worse in both cases after the 
 separation of the sections than before. The foreign slave-trade, 
 now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without 
 restriction in one section; while fugitive slaves, now only 
 partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all by the 
 other. 
 
 Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot remove 
 our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassible 
 wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced and go 
 out of the presence and beyond the reach of each other; but the 
 different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but 
 remain face to face; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, 
 must continue between them. Is it possible, then, to make that 
 intercourse more advantageous or more satisfactory after separ 
 ation than before? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends 
 can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced be 
 tween aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to 
 war, you cannot fight always ; and when, after much loss on both 
 sides and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical 
 old questions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. 
 
 There is no line, straight or crooked, suitable for 
 a national boundary upon which to divide. Trace 
 through, from east to west, upon the line between the 
 free and slave country, and we shall find a little more 
 than one third of its length are rivers, easy to be 
 crossed, and populated, or soon to be populated, thickly 
 upon both sides ; while nearly all its remaining length 
 are merely surveyors lines, over which people may 
 walk back and forth without any consciousness of 
 their presence. No part of this line can be made any 
 more difficult to pass by writing it down on paper or 
 parchment as a national boundary. The fact of separa 
 tion, if it comes, gives up on the part of the seceding 
 section the fugitive-slave clause along with all other 
 constitutional obligations upon the section seceded 
 from, while I should expect no treaty stipulation would 
 be ever made to take its place. 
 
360 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLK. 
 
 But there is another difficulty. The great interior 
 region, bounded east by the Alleghanies, north by the 
 British dominions, west by the Rocky Mountains, and 
 south by the line along which the culture of corn and 
 cotton meets, and which includes part of Virginia, part 
 of Tennessee, all of Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, 
 Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, 
 and the Territories of Dakota, Nebraska, and part of 
 Colorado, already has above ten millions of people, 
 and will have fifty millions within fifty years if not 
 prevented by any political folly or mistake. It contains 
 more than one third of the country owned by the 
 United States certainly more than one million of 
 square miles. Once half as populous as Massachusetts 
 already is, it would have more than seventy-five millions 
 of people. A glance at the map shows that, terri 
 torially speaking, it is the great body of the republic. 
 The other parts are but marginal borders to it, the 
 magnificent region sloping west from the Rocky Moun 
 tains to the Pacific being the deepest and also the rich 
 est in undeveloped resources. In the production of 
 provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed 
 from them, this great interior region is naturally one 
 of the most important in the world. Ascertain from 
 the statistics the small proportion of the region which 
 has, as yet, been brought into cultivation, and also the 
 large and rapidly increasing amount of its products, 
 and we shall be overwhelmed with the magnitude of 
 the prospect presented ; and yet this region has no sea- 
 coast, touches no ocean anywhere. As part of one 
 nation, its people now find, and may forever find, their 
 way to Europe by New York, to South America and 
 Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco. 
 But separate our common country into two nations, as 
 designed by the present rebellion, and every man of 
 this great interior region is thereby cut off from some 
 one or more of these outlets not, perhaps, by a phy- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 sical barrier, but by embarrassing and onerous trade 
 regulations. 
 
 And this is true wherever a dividing or boundary 
 line may be fixed. Place it between the now free and 
 slave country, or place it south of Kentucky or north of 
 Ohio, and still the truth remains that none south of it 
 can trade to any port or place north of it, and none 
 north of it can trade to any port or place south of it, 
 except upon terms dictated by a government foreign 
 to them. These outlets, east, west, and south, are in 
 dispensable to the well-being of the people inhabiting, 
 and to inhabit, this vast interior region. Which of the 
 three may be the best, is no proper question. All are 
 better than either; and all of right belong to that peo 
 ple and to their successors forever. True to themselves, 
 they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, 
 but will vow rather that there shall be no such line. 
 Xor are the marginal regions less interested in these 
 communications to and through them to the great out 
 side world. They, too, and each of them, must have ac 
 cess to this Egypt of the West without paying toll at 
 the crossing of any national boundary. 
 
 Our national strife springs not from our permanent 
 part, not from the land we inhabit, not from our 
 national homestead. There is no possible severing of 
 this but would multiply, and not mitigate, evils among 
 us. In all its adaptations and aptitudes it demands 
 union and abhors separation. In fact, it would ere 
 long force reunion, however much of blood and treasure 
 the separation might have cost. 
 
 Our strife pertains to ourselves to the passing gen 
 erations of men; and it can without convulsion be 
 hushed forever with the passing of one generation. . . . 
 
 I do not forget the gravity which should characterize 
 a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the 
 Chief Magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that 
 some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have 
 more experience than I in the conduct of public affairs. 
 Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility 
 
362 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect 
 to yourselves in any undue earnestness I may seem to 
 display. 
 
 Is it doubted, then, that the plan I propose, if 
 adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its 
 expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted 
 that it would restore the national authority and na 
 tional prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely? Is 
 it doubted that we here Congress and Executive 
 can secure its adoption? Will not the good people 
 respond to a united and earnest appeal from us? Can 
 we, can they, by any other means so certainly or so 
 speedily assure these vital objects? We can succeed 
 only by concert. It is not " Can any of us imagine 
 better?" but, " Can we all do better ?"" Object what 
 soever is possible, still the question occurs, " Can we 
 do better?" The dogmas of the quiet past are inade 
 quate to the stormy present. The occasion is plied 
 high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occas 
 ion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and 
 act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we 
 shall save our country. 
 
 Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of 
 this Congress and this administration will be remem 
 bered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance 
 or insignificance can spare one or another of us. The 
 fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, 
 in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say 
 we are for the Union. The world will not forget that 
 we say this. We know how to save the Union. The 
 world knows we do know how to save it. We even 
 we here hold the power and bear the responsibility. 
 In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to 
 the free honorable alike in what we give and what 
 we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose 
 the last, best hope of earth. Other means may suc 
 ceed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peace 
 ful, generous, just a way which, if followed, the world 
 will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. 
 
s 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 353 
 
 FINAL EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, 
 JANUARY 1, 18G3. 
 
 WHEREAS, on the twenty-second day of September, in 
 the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President 
 of the United States, containing, among other things, 
 the following, to wit: 
 
 " That on the first day of January, in the year of our 
 Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all 
 persons held as slaves within any State, or designated 
 part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in 
 rebellion _ against the United States, shall be then, 
 thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive 
 Government of the United States, including the mili 
 tary and naval authority thereof, will recognize and 
 maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no 
 act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in 
 any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 
 
 " That the Executive will, on the first day of Jan 
 uary aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States 
 and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof 
 respectively shall then be in rebellion against the 
 United States; and the fact that any State, or the peo 
 ple thereof, shall on that day be in good faith repre 
 sented in the Congress of the United States by members 
 chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the 
 qualified voters of such State shall have participated, 
 shall in the absence of strong countervailing testi 
 mony be deemed conclusive evidence that such State 
 and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against 
 the United States," 
 
364: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of 
 the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested 
 as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the 
 United States, in time of actual armed rebellion against 
 the authority and government of the United States, 
 and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppres 
 sing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in 
 the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to 
 do, publicly proclaimed for the full period of 100 days 
 from the day first above mentioned, order and desig 
 nate as the States and parts of States wherein the peo 
 ple thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion 
 against the United States, the following, to wit : 
 
 Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of 
 St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. 
 Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre 
 Bonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, 
 including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Ala 
 bama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Caro 
 lina, and Virginia (except the forty -eight counties 
 designated as West Virginia, and also the countries of 
 Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, 
 York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities 
 of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts 
 are for the present left precisely as if this proclama 
 tion were not issued. 
 
 And by virtue of the power and for the purpose 
 aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held 
 as slaves within said designated States and parts of 
 States are, and henceforward shall be, free; and that 
 the Executive Government of the United States, in 
 cluding the military and naval authorities thereof, 
 will recognize and maintain the freedom of said 
 persons. 
 
 And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to 
 be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary 
 self-defense; and I recommend to them that, in all 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 3(55 
 
 cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reason 
 able wages. 
 
 And I further declare and make known that such 
 persons of suitable condition will be received into the 
 armed service of the United States to garrison forts, 
 positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels 
 of all sorts in said service. 
 
 And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act 
 of justice, warranted by the Constitution upon mili 
 tary necessity, T invoke the considerate judgment of 
 mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. 
 
3GG SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION, JULY 15, 1863. 
 
 [The reasons for this earnest summons of the President to give 
 thanks, were, happily, at this period both abundant and gratify 
 ing to the North. Emancipation had been a stroke of the 
 first magnitude, as Lincoln, with his usual foresight, had divined 
 it would be, and it was astutely timed, so that, though termed 
 " a war measure/ it was not the resort of the President and 
 Cabinet at an era of disaster, but after Antietam had been fought 
 and won by Northern prowess, followed by the bloody but de 
 cisive battle of Gettysburg, which forced Lee to return to the 
 Virginia side of the Potomac. Further triumphs were the 
 capture and occupation by Grant of Vicksburg; the surrender 
 of Port Hudson to Banks; and the opening of the Mississippi to 
 its mouth, with the occupation of New Orleans by Union troops. 
 These victories brought the internecine strife nearer to a close, 
 and inspired the North with new hopes of restoring the riven 
 Union. At this period the result was no longer doubtful, and 
 hence the dutifulness and especial fitness of the call for thanks 
 giving]. 
 
 IT has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the sup 
 plications and prayers of an afflicted people, and to 
 vouchsafe to the army and navy of the United States 
 victories on land and on the sea so signal and so 
 effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for aug 
 mented confidence that the union of these States will 
 be maintained, their Constitution preserved, and their 
 peace and prosperity permanently restored. But these 
 victories have been accorded not without sacrifices of 
 life, limb, health, and liberty, incurred by brave, loyal, 
 and patriotic citizens. Domestic affliction in every 
 part of the country follows in the train of these fearful 
 bereavements. It is meet and right to recognize and 
 confess the presence of the Almighty Father, and the 
 power of his hand equally in these triumphs and in 
 these sorrows. 
 
 , therefore, be it known that I do set apart 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Thursday, the 6th day of August next, to be observed 
 as a day for national thanksgiving, praise, and prayer, 
 and I invite the people of the United States to assemble 
 on that occasion in their customary places of worship, 
 and, in the forms approved by their own consciences, 
 render the homage due to the Divine Majesty for the 
 wonderful things he has done in the nation s behalf, 
 and invoke the influence of his Holy Spirit to subdue 
 the anger which has produced and so long sustained a 
 needless and cruel rebellion, to change the hearts of the 
 insurgents, to guide the counsels of the government 
 with wisdom adequate to so great a national emerg 
 ency, and to visit with tender care and consolation 
 throughout the length and breadth of our land all those 
 who, through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, 
 battles, and sieges have been brought to suffer in mind, 
 body, or estate, and finally to lead the whole nation 
 through the paths of repentance and submission to the 
 Divine Will back to the perfect enjoyment of union 
 and fraternal peace. 
 
368 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOV. 19, 1863. 
 
 [This Address at the Dedication of the Gettysburg National 
 Cemetery, brief though it is, is immortal, and has taken its place 
 among the most treasured of the world s orations. Short and 
 unstudied as it is, there is nothing to surpass it in simple, un 
 adorned eloquence, in the literatures of either the Old or the New 
 World. This is the judgment of the best and most competent 
 of critics]. 
 
 FOURSCORE and seven years ago our fathers brought 
 forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in 
 liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men 
 are created equal. 
 
 Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
 whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
 dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great 
 battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a 
 portion of that field as a final resting-place for those 
 who here gave their lives that that nation might live. 
 It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do 
 this. 
 
 But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate we can 
 not consecrate we cannot hallow this ground. The 
 brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have 
 consecrated it far above our poor power to add or de 
 tract. The world will little note nor long remember 
 what we say here, but it can never forget what they did 
 here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated 
 here to the unfinished work which they who fought here 
 have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to 
 be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us 
 that from these honored dead we take increased devo 
 tion to that cause for which they gave the last full 
 measure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve that 
 these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, 
 under God, shall have a new birth of freedom ; and that 
 government of the people, by the people, for the people, 
 shall not perish from the earth. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF AMNESTY AND RECON 
 STRUCTION, DEC. 8, 1863. 
 
 [With the most assuring outlook and justified hope of the re 
 turn of peace, the President turns his attention to the subject of 
 amnesty and pardon for those who had taken active part in the 
 rebellion, with the view of restoring them to the status of citizens. 
 In the following proclamation, the persons who may claim the 
 benefit of the pardoning grace, and the conditio- on which such 
 pardon was to be granted, may be learned, as well as the offer 
 made to the States that have been in rebellion and the conditions 
 on which such may be readmitted to the Union, on the lines of 
 the policy so far determined upon of restoration and recon 
 struction]. 
 
 WHEREAS, in and by the Constitution of the United 
 States, it is provided that the President " shall have 
 power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses 
 against the United States, except in cases of impeach 
 ment " ; and 
 
 Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal 
 State governments of several States have for a long 
 time been subverted, and many persons have committed, 
 and are now guilty of, treason against the United 
 States; and 
 
 Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and trea 
 son, laws have been enacted by Congress, declaring 
 forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation 
 of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, 
 and also declaring that the President was thereby au 
 thorized at an}^ time thereafter, by proclamation, to 
 extend to persons who may have participated in the 
 existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof, pardon 
 and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times 
 and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for 
 the public welfare; and 
 
 Whereas the congressional declaration for limited 
 24 
 
370 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 and conditional pardon accords with well-established 
 judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and 
 
 Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the Presi 
 dent of the United States has issued several proclama 
 tions, with provisions in regard to the liberation of 
 slaves; and 
 
 Whereas it is now desired by some persons hereto 
 fore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance 
 to the United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State 
 governments within and for their respective States; 
 therefore 
 
 I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, 
 do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons 
 who have, directly or by implication, participated in 
 the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, 
 that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each 
 of them, with restoration of all rights of property, ex 
 cept as to slaves, and in property cases where rights 
 of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the 
 condition that every such person shall take and sub 
 scribe an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain 
 said oath inviolate ; and which oath shall be registered 
 for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor 
 and effect, to wit: 
 
 I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of almighty God, 
 
 that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the 
 Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States 
 thereunder; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faith 
 fully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing re 
 bellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not re 
 pealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the 
 Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and 
 faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during 
 the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so 
 far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme 
 Court. So help me God. 
 
 The persons exempted from the benefits of the fore 
 going provisions are all who are, or shall have been, 
 civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 37} 
 
 Confederate Government; all who have left judicial 
 stations under the United States to aid the rebellion ; 
 all who are or shall have been military or naval officers 
 of said so-called Confederate Government above the 
 rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the navy ; 
 all who left seats in the United States Congress to 
 aid the rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the 
 army or navy of the United States and afterward aided 
 the rebellion; and all who have engaged in any way 
 in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge 
 of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, 
 and which persons may have been found in the United 
 States service as soldiers, seamen, or in any other 
 capacity. 
 
 And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known 
 that whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, 
 Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, 
 Florida, South Carolina, and North Carolina, a number 
 of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the 
 votes cast in such State at the presidential election of 
 the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
 sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid and not 
 having since violated it, and being a qualified voter 
 by the election law of the State existing immediately 
 before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all 
 others, shall reestablish a State government which shall 
 be republican, and in no wise contravening said oath, 
 such shall be recognized as the true government of the 
 State, and the State shall receive thereunder the bene 
 fits of the constitutional provision which declares that 
 " the United States shall guaranty to every State in 
 this Union a republican form of government, and shall 
 protect each of them against invasion ; and, on applica 
 tion of the legislature, or the executive (when the legis 
 lature cannot be convened), against domestic violence." 
 
 And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, 
 that any provision which may be adopted by such State 
 government in relation to the freed people of such 
 
372 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 State, which shall recognize and declare their per 
 manent freedom, provide for their education, and 
 which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrange 
 ment with their present condition as a laboring, land 
 less, and homeless class, will not be objected to by 
 the national executive. 
 
 And it is suggested as not improper that, in con 
 structing a loyal State government in any State, the 
 name of the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the 
 constitution, and the general code of laws, as before 
 the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the modi 
 fications made necessary by the conditions hereinbe 
 fore stated, and such others, if any, not contravening 
 said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient 
 by those framing the new State government. 
 
 To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say 
 that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State 
 governments, has no reference to States, wherein loyal 
 State governments have all the while been maintained. 
 
 And, for the same reason, it may be proper to further 
 say, that whether members sent to Congress from any 
 State shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests 
 exclusively with the respective houses, and not to any 
 extent with the executive. And still further, that this 
 proclamation is intended to present the people of the 
 States wherein the national authority has been sus 
 pended, and loyal State governments have been sub 
 verted, a mode in and by which the national authority 
 and loyal State governments may be reestablished with 
 in said States, or in any of them ; and while the mode 
 presented is the best the executive can suggest, with his 
 present impressions, it must not be understood that no 
 other possible mode would be acceptable. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 373 
 
 ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC. 8, 1863. 
 
 [Only the important parts of this Message are here given, 
 which review, to some extent, the progress ^mad j within the past 
 year toward peace, with allusion to the practical features of the 
 Governmental policy of reconstruction and the offer made to any 
 State or States that desired to return to their allegiance to the 
 Federal power and submit to the national authority. The 
 Message, as usual, bears on its face the evidences of having bedii 
 carefully and thoughtfully prepared, and that by a grateful heart, 
 still fervently hoping for a speedy and happy ending to the 
 calamitous and protracted period of strife]. 
 
 Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Represen 
 tatives: Another year of health, and of sufficiently 
 abundant harvest, has passed. For these, and especially 
 for the improved condition of our national affairs, our 
 renewed and profoundest gratitude to God is due. 
 
 We remain in peace and friendship with foreign 
 powers. 
 
 The efforts of disloyal citizens of the United States 
 to involve us in foreign wars, to aid an inexcusable in 
 surrection, have been unavailing. Her Britannic 
 Majesty s government, as was justly expected, have 
 exercised their authority to prevent the departure of 
 new hostile expeditions from British ports. The Em 
 peror of France has, by a like proceeding, promptly 
 vindicated the neutrality which he proclaimed at the 
 beginning of the contest. Questions of great intricacy 
 and importance have arisen out of the blockade, and 
 other belligerent operations, between the government 
 and several of the maritime powers, but they have been 
 discussed, and, as far as was possible, accommodated, in 
 a spirit of frankness, justice, and mutual good-will. 
 It is especially gratifying that our prize courts by the 
 impartiality of their adjudications, have commanded 
 the respect and confidence of maritime powers. 
 
374 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 The supplemental treaty between the United States 
 and Great Britain for the suppression of the African 
 slave-trade, made on the 17th day of February last, has 
 been duly ratified and carried into execution. It is 
 believed that, so far as American ports and American 
 citizens are concerned, that inhuman and odious traffic 
 has been brought to an end. 
 
 I shall submit, for the consideration of the Senate, 
 a convention for the adjustment of possessory claims 
 in Washington Territory, arising out of the treaty of 
 the 15th of June, 1846, between the United States and 
 Great Britain, and w T hich have been the source of some 
 disquiet among the citizens of that now rapidly im 
 proving part of the country. 
 
 A novel and important question, involving the extent 
 of the maritime jurisdiction of Spain in the waters 
 which surround the island of Cuba, has been debated 
 without reaching an agreement, and it is proposed, in 
 an amicable spirit, to refer it to the arbitrament of a 
 friendly power. A convention for that purpose will be 
 submitted to the Senate. 
 
 I have thought it proper, subject to the approval of 
 the Senate, to concur with the interested commercial 
 powers in an arrangement for the liquidation of the 
 Scheldt dues upon the principles which have been here 
 tofore adopted in regard to the imposts upon naviga 
 tion in the waters of Denmark. 
 
 The long-pending controversy between this govern 
 ment and that of Chile, touching the seizure at Sitana, 
 in Peru, by Chilian officers, of a large amount in 
 treasure belonging to citizens of the United States, has 
 been brought to a close by the award of his Majesty 
 the King of the Belgians, to whose arbitration the ques 
 tion was referred by the parties. The subject was 
 thoroughly and patiently examined by that justly re 
 spected magistrate, and although the sum awarded to 
 the claimants may not have been as large as they ex 
 pected, there is no reason to distrust the wisdom of his 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 375 
 
 Majesty s decision. That decision was promptly com 
 plied with by Chile, when intelligence in regard to it 
 reached that country. 
 
 The joint commission, under the act of the last ses 
 sion, for carrying into effect the convention with Peru, 
 on the subject of claims, has been organized at Lima, 
 and is engaged in the business intrusted to it. 
 
 Difficulties concerning inter-oceanic transit through 
 Nicaragua are in course of amicable adjustment. 
 
 In conformity with principles set forth in my last 
 annual message, I have received a representative from 
 the United States of Coloumbia, and have accredited a 
 minister to that republic. 
 
 Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war 
 have forced upon my attention the uncertain state of 
 international questions touching the rights of for 
 eigners in this country and of United States citizens 
 abroad. In regard to some governments, these rights 
 are at least partially defined by treaties. In no in 
 stance, however, is it expressly stipulated that, in 
 the event of civil war, a foreigner residing in this 
 country, within the lines of the insurgents, is to be 
 exempted from the rule which classes him as a belli 
 gerent, in whose behalf the government of his country 
 cannot expect any privileges or immunities distinct 
 from that character. I regret to say, however, that 
 such claims have been put forward, and, in some in 
 stances, in behalf of foreigners who have lived in the 
 United States the greater part of their lives. 
 
 There is reason to believe that many persons born 
 in foreign countries, who have declared their inten 
 tion to become citizens, or who have been fully natura 
 lized, have evaded the military duty required of them 
 by denying the fact, and thereby throwing upon the 
 government the burden of proof. It has been found 
 difficult or impracticable to obtain this proof, from the 
 want of guides to the proper sources of information. 
 These might be supplied by requiring clerks of courts, 
 
376 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 where declarations of intention may be made, or 
 naturalizations effected, to send, periodically, lists of 
 the names of the persons naturalized, or declaring their 
 intention to become citizens, to the Secretary of the In 
 terior, in whose department those names might be 
 arranged and printed for general information. 
 
 There is also reason to believe that foreigners fre 
 quently become citizens of the United States for the 
 sole purpose of evading duties imposed by the laws of 
 their native countries, to which, on becoming natura 
 lized here, they at once repair, and, though never re 
 turning to the United States, they still claim the inter 
 position of this government as citizens. Many alter 
 cations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen 
 out of this abuse. It is, therefore, submitted to your 
 serious consideration. It might be advisable to fix a 
 limit, beyond which no citizen of the United States 
 residing abroad may claim the interposition of his 
 government. 
 
 The right of suffrage has often been assumed and 
 exercised by aliens, under pretenses of naturalization, 
 which they have disavowed when drafted into the 
 military service. I submit the expediency of such an 
 amendment of the law as will make the fact of voting 
 an estoppel against any plea of exemption from mili 
 tary service, or other civil obligation, on the ground 
 of alienage. 
 
 In common with other Western powers, our relations 
 with Japan have been brought into serious jeopardy, 
 through the perverse opposition of the hereditary aris 
 tocracy of the empire to the enlightened and liberal 
 policy of the Tycoon, designed to bring the country 
 into the society of nations. It is hoped, although not 
 with entire confidence, that these difficulties may be 
 peacefully overcome. I ask your attention to the claim 
 of the minister residing there for the damages he sus 
 tained in the destruction by fire of the residence of the 
 legation at Yeddo. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 377 
 
 Satisfactory arrangements have been made with the 
 Emperor of Russia, which, it is believed, will result in 
 effecting a continuous line of telegraph through that 
 empire from our Pacific coast. 
 
 I recommend to your favorable consideration the 
 subject of an international telegraph across the At 
 lantic Ocean; and also of a telegraph between this 
 capital and the national forts along the Atlantic sea 
 board and the Gulf of Mexico. Such communications, 
 established with any reasonable outlay, would be eco 
 nomical as well as effective aids to the diplomatic, 
 military, and naval service. 
 
 The consular system of the United States, under the 
 enactments of the last Congress, begins to be self-sus 
 taining; and there is reason to hope that it may become 
 entirely so, with the increase of trade which will ensue 
 whenever peace is restored. Our ministers abroad 
 have been faithful in defending American rights. In 
 protecting commercial interests, our consuls have 
 necessarily had to encounter increased labors and 
 responsibilities, growing out of the war. These they 
 have, for the most part, met and discharged with zeal 
 and efficiency. This acknowledgment justly includes 
 those consuls who, residing in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, 
 Japan, China, and other Oriental countries, are 
 charged with complex functions and extraordinary 
 powers. 
 
 The condition of the several organized Territories is 
 generally satisfactory, although Indian disturbances in 
 New Mexico have not been entirely suppressed. The 
 mineral resources of Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, New 
 Mexico, and Arizona are proving far richer than has 
 been heretofore understood. I lay before you a com 
 munication on this subject from the governor of New 
 Mexico. I again submit to your consideration the ex 
 pediency of establishing a system for the encourage 
 ment of immigration. Although this source of national 
 wealth and strength is again flowing with greater free- 
 
378 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 dom than for several years before the insurrection oc 
 curred, there is still a great deficiency of laborers in 
 every field of industry, especially in agriculture, and 
 in our mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious 
 metals. While the demand for labor is thus increased 
 here, tens of thousands of persons, destitute of re 
 munerative occupation, are thronging our foreign con 
 sulates, and offering to emigrate to the United States 
 if essential, but very cheap, assistance can be afforded 
 them. It is easy to see that, under the sharp discipline 
 of civil war, the nation is beginning a new life. This 
 noble effort demands the aid, and ought to receive the 
 attention and support of the government. 
 
 Injuries, unforeseen by the government and unin 
 tended, may, in some cases, have been inflicted on the 
 subjects or citizens of foreign countries, both at sea 
 and on land, by persons in the service of the United 
 States. As this government expects redress from other 
 powers when similar injuries are inflicted by persons 
 in their service upon citizens of the United States, we 
 must be prepared to do justice to foreigners. If the 
 existing judicial tribunals are inadequate to this pur 
 pose, a special court may be authorized, with power 
 to hear and decide such claims of the character re 
 ferred to as may have arisen under treaties and the 
 public law. Conventions for adjusting the claims by 
 joint commission have been proposed to some govern 
 ments, but no definitive answer to the proposition has 
 yet been received from any. 
 
 In the course of the session I shall probably have oc 
 casion to request you to provide indemnification to 
 claimants where decrees of restitution have been ren 
 dered, and damages awarded by admiralty courts; and 
 in other cases, where this government may be acknowl 
 edged to be liable in principle, and where the amount 
 of that liability has been ascertained by an informal 
 arbitration. 
 
 The proper officers of the treasury have deemed them- 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 379 
 
 selves required by the law of the United States upon the 
 subject to demand a tax upon the incomes of foreign 
 consuls in this country. While such a demand may 
 not, in strictness, be in derogation of public law, 
 or perhaps of any existing treaty between the United 
 States and a foreign country, the expediency of so far 
 modifying the act as to exempt from tax the income of 
 such consuls as are not citizens of the United States, 
 derived from the emoluments of their office, or from 
 property not situated in the United States, is sub 
 mitted to your serious consideration. I make this 
 suggestion upon the ground that a comity which ought 
 to be reciprocated exempts our consuls, in all other 
 countries, from taxation to the extent thus indicated. 
 The United States, I think, ought not to be exception 
 ally illiberal to international trade and commerce. 
 
 The operations of the treasury during the last year 
 have been successfully conducted. The enactment by 
 Congress of a national banking law has proved a 
 valuable support of the public credit; and the general 
 legislation in relation to loans has fully answered the 
 expectations of its favorers. Some amendments may 
 be required to perfect existing laws, but no change in 
 their principles or general scope is believed to be 
 needed. 
 
 Since these measures have been in operation, all de 
 mands on the treasury, including the pay of the army 
 and navy, have been promptly met and fully satisfied. 
 No considerable body of troops, it is believed, were ever 
 more amply provided, and more liberally and punctu 
 ally paid; and it may be added, that by no people were 
 the burdens incident to a great war ever more cheer 
 fully borne. 
 
 The receipts during the year from all sources, in 
 cluding loans and the balance in the treasury at its 
 commencement, were 1901,125,674.86, and the aggregate 
 disbursements $895,796,630.65, leaving a balance on the 
 1st of July, 1863, of $5,329,044.21 Of the receipts there 
 
380 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 were derived from customs $69,059,642.40; from in 
 ternal revenue, f 37,640,787.95 ; from direct tax, $1,- 
 485,103.61; from lands, $167,617.17; from miscellane 
 ous sources, $3,046,615.35; and from loans, $776,682, 
 361.57; making the aggregate, $901,125,674.86. Of the 
 disbursements there were for the civil service, $23,- 
 253,922.08; for pensions and Indians, $4,216,520.79; for 
 interest on public debt, $24,729,846.51 ; for the War De 
 partment, $599,298,600.83 ; for the Navy Department, 
 $63,211,105.27; for payment of funded and temporary 
 debt, $181,086, 635.07; making the aggregate, $895- 
 796,630.65, and leaving the balance of $5,329,044.21. 
 But the payments of funded and temporary debt, hav 
 ing been made from moneys borrowed during the 
 year, must be regarded as merely nominal payments, 
 and the moneys borrowed to make them as merely 
 nominal receipts; and their amount, $181,086,635.07, 
 should therefore be deducted both from receipts and 
 disbursements. This being done, there remain as 
 actual receipts, $720,039,039.79, and the actual dis 
 bursements, $714,709,995.58, leaving the balance as 
 already stated. 
 
 The actual receipts and disbursements for the first 
 quarter, and the estimated receipts and disbursements 
 for the remaining three quarters, of the current fiscal 
 year, 1864, will be shown in detail by the report of the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, to which I invite your at 
 tention. It is sufficient to say here that it is not 
 believed that actual results will exhibit a state of the 
 finances less favorable to the country than the esti 
 mates of that officer heretofore submitted; while it is 
 confidently expected that at the close of the year both 
 disbursements and debt will be found very considerably 
 less than has been anticipated. 
 
 The report of the Secretary of War is a document of 
 great interest. It consists of 
 
 1. The military operations of the year, detailed in 
 the report of the General-in-Chief. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 331 
 
 2. The organization of colored persons into the war 
 service. 
 
 3. The exchange of prisoners, fully set forth in the 
 letter of General Hitchcock. 
 
 4. The operations under the act for enrolling and 
 calling out the national forces, detailed in the re 
 port of the Provost-Marshal-General. 
 
 5. The organization of the invalid corps; and 
 
 G. The operation of the several departments of the 
 Quartermaster-General, Commissary-General, Pay 
 master-General, Chief of Engineers, Chief of Ordnance, 
 and Surgeon-General. 
 
 It has appeared impossible to make a valuable sum 
 mary of this report except such as would be too ex 
 tended for this place, and hence I content myself by 
 asking your careful attention to the report itself. 
 
 The duties devolving on the naval branch of the 
 service during the year, and throughout the whole of 
 this unhappy contest, have been discharged with fidelity 
 and eminent success. The extensive blockade has been 
 constantly increasing in efficiency, as the navy has ex 
 panded; yet on so long a line it has so far been im 
 possible to entirely suppress illicit trade. From re 
 turns received at the Navy Department, it appears 
 that more than one thousand vessels have been cap 
 tured since the blockade was instituted, and that the 
 value of prizes already sent in for adjudication amounts 
 to over thirteen millions of dollars. 
 
 The naval force of the United States consists at 
 this time of five hundred and eighty-eight vessels, com 
 pleted and in the course of completion, and of these, 
 seventy-five are iron-clad or armored steamers. The 
 events of the war give an increased interest and impor 
 tance to the navy which will probably extend beyond 
 the war itself. 
 
 The armored vessels in our navy, completed and in 
 service, or which are under contract and approaching 
 completion, are believed to exceed in number those of 
 
382 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 any other power. But while these may be relied upon 
 for harbor defense and coast service, others of greater 
 strength and capacity will be necessary for cruising 
 purposes, and to maintain our rightful position on the 
 ocean. 
 
 The change that has taken place in naval vessels and 
 naval warfare since the introduction of steam as a 
 motive power for ships of war demands either a cor 
 responding change in some of our existing navy-yards, 
 or the establishment of new ones, for the construction 
 and necessary repair of modern naval vessels. No 
 inconsiderable embarrassment, delay, and public in 
 jury have been experienced from the want of such 
 governmental establishments. The necessity of such a 
 navy-yard, so furnished, at some suitable place upon 
 the Atlantic seaboard, has on repeated occasions been 
 brought to the attention of Congress by the Navy De 
 partment, and is again presented in the report of the 
 Secretary which accompanies this communication. I 
 think it my duty to invite your special attention to this 
 subject, and also to that of establishing a yard and de 
 pot for naval purposes upon one of the western rivers. 
 A naval force has been created on those interior waters, 
 and under many disadvantages, within little more than 
 two years, exceeding in numbers the whole naval force 
 of the country at the commencement of the present ad 
 ministration. Satisfactory and important as have been 
 the performances of the heroic men of the navy at this 
 interesting period, they are scarcely more wonderful 
 than the success of our mechanics and artisans in the 
 production of war vessels which has created a new 
 form of naval power. 
 
 Our country has advantages superior to any other 
 nation in our resources of iron and timber, with inex 
 haustible quantities of fuel in the immediate vicinity 
 of both, all available, and in close proximity to navi 
 gable waters. Without the advantage of public works 
 the resources of the nation have been developed, and its 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 353 
 
 power displayed, in the construction of a navy of such 
 magnitude, which has, at the very period of its creation, 
 rendered signal service to the Union. 
 
 The increase of the number of seamen in the public 
 service, from seven thousand five hundred men, in 
 the spring of 1861, to about thirty-four thousand at 
 the present time, has been accomplished without special 
 legislation, or extraordinary bounties to promote that 
 increase. It has been found, however, that the opera 
 tion of the draft, with the high bounties paid for army 
 recruits, is beginning to affect injuriously the naval 
 service, and will, if not corrected, be likely to impair 
 its efficiency, by detaching seamen from their proper 
 vocation and inducing them to enter the army. I 
 therefore respectfully suggest that Congress might aid 
 both the army and naval services by a definite provis 
 ion on this subject, which would at the same time be 
 equitable to the communities more especially inter 
 ested. 
 
 I commend to your consideration the suggestion of 
 the Secretary of the Navy in regard to the policy of 
 fostering and training seamen, and also the education 
 of officers and engineers for the naval service. The 
 Naval Academy is rendering signal service in prepar 
 ing midshipmen for the highly responsible duties which 
 in after life they will be required to perform. In 
 order that the country should not be deprived of the 
 proper quota of educated officers, for which legal pro 
 vision has been made at the naval school, the vacan 
 cies caused by the neglect or omission to make nomi 
 nations from the State in insurrection have been filled 
 by the Secretary of the Navy. The school is now more 
 full and complete than at any former period, and in 
 every respect entitled to the favorable consideration 
 of Congress. 
 
 During the past fiscal year the financial condition 
 of the Post Office Department has been one of in 
 creasing prosperity, and I am gratified in being able 
 
384 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to state that the actual postal revenue has nearly 
 equaled the entire expenditures; the latter amounting 
 to $11,314,206.84, and the former to $11,163,789.59, 
 leaving a deficiency of but $150,417.25. In 1860, the 
 year immediately preceding the rebellion, the deficiency 
 amounted to $5,656,705.49, the postal receipts of that 
 year being $2,645,722.19 less than those of 1863. The 
 decrease since 1860 in the annual amount of transpor 
 tation has been only about 25 per cent., but the annual 
 expenditure on account of the same has been reduced 35 
 per cent. It is manifest, therefore, that the Post Office 
 Department may become self-sustaining in a few years 
 even with the restoration of the whole service. 
 
 The international conference of postal delegates 
 from the principal countries of Europe and America, 
 which was called at the suggestion of the Postmaster- 
 General, met at Paris on the llth of May last, and con 
 cluded its deliberations on the 8th of June. The prin 
 ciples established by the conference as best adapted to 
 facilitate postal intercourse between nations, and as 
 the basis of future postal conventions, inaugurate a 
 general system of uniform international charges, at 
 reduced rates of postage, and cannot fail to produce 
 beneficial results. 
 
 I refer you to the report of the Secretary of the In 
 terior, which is herewith laid before you, for useful 
 and varied information in relation to the public lands, 
 Indian affairs, patents, pensions, and other matters 
 of public concern pertaining to his department. 
 
 The quantity of land disposed of during the last and 
 the first quarter of the present fiscal year was three 
 million eight hundred and forty-one thousand five hun 
 dred and forty-nine acres, of which one hundred and 
 sixty-one thousand nine hundred and eleven acres were 
 sold for cash, one million four hundred and fifty-six 
 thousand five hundred and fourteen acres were taken 
 up under the homestead law, and the residue disposed 
 of under laws granting lands for military bounties, for 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 355 
 
 railroad and other purposes. It also appears that 
 the sale of the public lands is largely on the increase. 
 
 It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our 
 wisest statesmen that the people of the United States 
 had a higher and more enduring interest in the early 
 settlement and substantial cultivation of the public 
 lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be de 
 rived from the sale of them. This opinion has had a 
 controlling influence in shaping legislation upon the 
 subject of our national domain. I may cite, as evi 
 dence of this, the liberal measures adopted in refer 
 ence to actual settlers; the grant to the States of the 
 overflowed lands within their limits in order to their 
 being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation; the 
 grants to railway companies of alternate sections of 
 land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which, 
 when completed, will so largely multiply the facilities 
 for reaching our distant possessions. This policy has 
 received its most signal and beneficent illustration in 
 the recent enactment granting homesteads to actual 
 settlers. Since the first day of January last the before- 
 mentioned quantity of one million four hundred and 
 fifty-six thousand five hundred and fourteen acres of 
 land have been taken up under its provisions. This 
 fact, and the amount of sales, furnish gratifying evi 
 dence of increasing settlement upon the public lands 
 notwithstanding the great struggle in which the ener 
 gies of the nation have been engaged, and which has 
 required so large a withdrawal of our citizens from 
 their accustomed pursuits. I cordially concur in the 
 recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior, sug 
 gesting a modification of the act in favor of those en 
 gaged in the military and naval service of the United 
 States. I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully 
 adopt such measures as will, without essentially chang 
 ing the general features of the system, secure, to the 
 greatest practicable extent, its benefits to those who 
 25 
 
386 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 have left their homes in defense of the country in this 
 arduous crisis. 
 
 I invite your attention to the views of the Secretary 
 as to the propriety of raising, by appropriate legisla 
 tion, a revenue from the mineral lands of the United 
 States. 
 
 The measures provided at your last session for the 
 removal of certain Indian tribes have been carried into 
 effect. Sundry treaties have been negotiated, which 
 will, in due time, be submitted for the constitutional 
 action of the Senate. They contain stipulations for 
 extinguishing the possessory rights of the Indians to 
 large and valuable tracts of land. It is hoped that the 
 effect of these treaties will result in the establishment 
 of permanent friendly relations with such of these 
 tribes as have been brought into frequent and bloody 
 collision with our outlying settlements and emigrants. 
 Sound policy, and our imperative duty to these wards 
 of the government, demand our anxious and constant 
 attention to their material well-being, to their progress 
 in the arts of civilization, and, above all, to that moral 
 training which, under the blessing of Divine Provi 
 dence, will confer upon them the elevated and sancti 
 fying influences, the hopes and consolations, of the 
 Christian faith. 
 
 I suggested in my last annual message the propriety 
 of remodeling our Indian system. Subsequent events 
 have satisfied me of its necessity. The details set forth 
 in the report of the Secretary evince the urgent need 
 for immediate legislative action. 
 
 I commend the benevolent institutions established or 
 patronized by the government in this District to your 
 generous and fostering care. 
 
 The attention of Congress, during the last session, 
 was engaged to some extent with a proposition for en 
 larging the water communication between the Missis 
 sippi River and the northeastern seaboard, which prop 
 osition, however, failed for the time. Since then, upon 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLK. 337 
 
 a call of the greatest respectability, a convention has 
 been held at Chicago upon the same subject, a sum 
 mary of whose views is contained in a memorial ad 
 dressed to the President and Congress, and which I 
 now have the honor to lay before you. That this in 
 terest is one which, ere long, will force its own way, I 
 do not entertain a doubt, while it is submitted en 
 tirely to your wisdom as to what can be done now. 
 Augmented interest is given to this subject by the 
 actual commencement of work upon the Pacific rail 
 road, under auspices so favorable to rapid progress 
 and completion. The enlarged navigation becomes a 
 palpable need to the great road. 
 
 I transmit the second annual report of the Commis 
 sioner of the Department of Agriculture, asking your 
 attention to the developments in that vital interest of 
 the nation. 
 
 When Congress assembled a year ago the war had 
 already lasted nearly twenty months, and there had 
 been many conflicts on both land and sea with varying 
 results. The rebellion had been pressed back into re 
 duced limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, 
 at home and abroad, was not satisfactory. With other 
 signs, the popular elections, then just past, indicated 
 uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid much that 
 was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from 
 Europe were uttered in accents of pity that we were 
 too blind to surrender a hopeless cause. Our com 
 merce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels 
 built upon, and furnished from, foreign shores, and we 
 were threatened with such additions from the same 
 quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea and 
 raise our blockade. We had failed to elicit from Euro 
 pean governments anything hopeful upon this subject. 
 The preliminary emancipation proclamation, issued 
 in September, was running its assigned period to the be 
 ginning of the new year. A month later the final procla 
 mation came, including the announcement that colored 
 
388 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 men of suitable condition would be received into the 
 war service. The policy of emancipation, and of em 
 ploying black soldiers, gave to the future a new aspect, 
 about which hope, and fear, and doubt contended in 
 uncertain conflict. According to our political system, 
 as a matter of civil administration, the General 
 Government had no lawful power to effect emanci 
 pation in any State, and for a long time it had been* 
 hoped that the rebellion could be suppressed without 
 resorting to it as a military measure. It was all the 
 while deemed possible that the necessity for it might 
 come, and that if it should, the crisis of the contest 
 would then be presented. It came, and, as was antici 
 pated, it was followed by dark and doubtful days. 
 Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted 
 to take another review. The rebel borders are pressed 
 still further back, and, by the complete opening of the 
 Mississippi, the country dominated by the rebellion is 
 divided into distinct parts, with no practical communi 
 cation between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have 
 been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and 
 influential citizens in each, owners of slaves and ad 
 vocates of slavery at the beginning of the rebellion, now 
 declare openly for emancipation in their respective 
 States. Of those States not included in the Emancipa 
 tion Proclamation, Maryland and Missouri, neither of 
 which three years ago would tolerate any restraint up 
 on the extension of slavery into new Territories, only 
 dispute now as to the best mode of removing it within 
 their own limits. 
 
 Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the re 
 bellion, full one hundred thousand are now in the 
 United States military service, about one half of which 
 number actually bear arms in the ranks; thus giving 
 the double advantage of taking so much labor from the 
 insurgent cause, and supplying the places which other 
 wise must be filled with so many white men. So far as 
 tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 339 
 
 as any. No servile insurrection, or tendency to violence 
 or cruelty, has marked the measures of emancipation 
 and arming the blacks. The measures have been much 
 discussed in foreign countries, and contemporary with 
 such discussion the tone of public sentiment there is 
 much improved. At home the same measures have been 
 fully discussed, supported, criticized, and denounced, 
 and the annual elections following are highly encourag 
 ing to those whose official duty it is to bear the country 
 through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckon 
 ing. The crisis which threatened to divide the friends 
 of the Union is past. 
 
 Looking now to the present and future, and with ref 
 erence to a resumption of the national authority with 
 in the States wherein that authority has been sus 
 pended, I have thought fit to issue a proclamation, a 
 copy of which is herewith transmitted. On examina 
 tion of this proclamation it will appear, as is believed, 
 that nothing is attempted beyond what is amply justi 
 fied by the Constitution. True, the form of an oath is 
 given, but no man is coerced to take it. The man is 
 only promised a pardon in case he voluntarily takes 
 the oath. The Constitution authorizes the executive 
 to grant or withhold the pardon at his own absolute 
 discretion; and this includes the power to grant on 
 terms, as is fully established by judicial and other 
 authorities. 
 
 It is also proffered that if, in any of the States 
 named, a State government shall be, in the mode pre 
 scribed, set up, such government shall be recognized 
 and guaranteed by the United States, and that under 
 it the State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be 
 protected against invasion and domestic violence. The 
 constitutional obligation of the United States to 
 guarantee to every State in the Union a republican 
 form of government, and to protect the State in the 
 cases stated, is explicit and full. But why tender the 
 benefits of this provision only to a State government 
 
390 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 set up in this particular way? This section of the Con- 
 stitution contemplates a case wherein the element 
 within a State favorable to republican government in 
 the Union may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile 
 element external to, or even within, the State; and 
 such are precisely the cases with which we are now 
 dealing. 
 
 An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State 
 government, constructed in whole, or in preponderating 
 part, from the very element against whose hostility 
 and violence it is to be protected, is simply absurd. 
 There must be a test by which to separate the oppos 
 ing elements, so as to build only from the sound; and 
 that test is a sufficiently liberal one which accepts as 
 sound whoever will make a sworn recantation of his 
 former unsoundness. 
 
 But if it be proper to require, as a test of admission 
 to the political body, an oath of allegiance to the Con 
 stitution of the United States, and to the Union under 
 it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard 
 to slavery? Those laws and proclamations were en 
 acted and put forth for the purpose of aiding in the 
 suppression of the rebellion. To give them their fullest 
 effect, there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. 
 In my judgment they have aided, and will further aid, 
 the cause for which they were intended. To now 
 abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever 
 of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding 
 breach of faith. I may add, at this point, that while I 
 remain in my present position I shall not attempt to 
 retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation ; nor 
 shall I return to slavery any person who is free by 
 the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the acts of 
 Congress. For these and other reasons it is thought 
 best that support of these measures shall be included 
 in the oath; and it is believed the executive may law 
 fully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of 
 forfeited rights, which he has clear constitutional 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 power to withhold altogether, or grant upon the terms 
 which he shall deem wisest for the public interest. It 
 should be observed, also, that this part of the oath is 
 subject to the modifying and abrogating power of 
 legislation and supreme judicial decision. 
 
 The proposed acquiescence of the national executive 
 in any reasonable temporary State arrangement for 
 the freed people is made with the view of possibly 
 modifying the confusion and destitution which must 
 at best attend all classes by a total revolution of labor 
 throughout whole States. It is hoped that the already 
 deeply afflicted people in those States may be some 
 what more ready to give up the cause of their affliction, 
 if, to this extent, this vital matter be left to them 
 selves; while no power of the national executive to 
 prevent an abuse is abridged by the proposition. 
 
 The suggestion in the proclamation as to maintain 
 ing the political framework of the States on what is 
 called reconstruction is made in the hope that it may 
 do good without danger of harm. It will save labor, 
 and avoid great confusion. 
 
 But why any proclamation now upon this subject? 
 This question is beset with the conflicting views that 
 the step might be delayed too long or be taken too 
 soon. In some States the elements for resumption 
 seem ready for action, but remain inactive apparently 
 for want of a rallying-point a plan of action. Why 
 shall A adopt the plan of B, rather than B that of A? 
 And if A and B should agree, how can they know but 
 that the General Government here will reject their 
 plan? By the proclamation a plan is presented which 
 may be accepted by them as a rallying-point, and 
 which they are assured in advance will not be rejected 
 here. This may bring them to act sooner than they 
 otherwise would. 
 
 The objection to a premature presentation of a plan 
 by the national executive consists in the danger of 
 committals on points which could be more safely left 
 
392 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 to further developments. Care has been taken to so 
 shape the document as to avoid embarrassments from 
 this source. Saying that, on certain terms, certain 
 classes will be pardoned, with rights restored, it is not 
 said that other classes, or other terms, will never be 
 included. Saying that reconstruction will be accepted 
 if presented in a specified way, it is not said it will 
 never be accepted in any other way. 
 
 The movements, by State action, for emancipation in 
 several of the States not included in the Emancipation 
 Proclamation, are matters of profound gratulation. 
 And while I do not repeat in detail what I have here 
 tofore so earnestly urged upon this subject, my general 
 views and feelings remain unchanged ; and I trust that 
 Congress will omit no fair opportunity of aiding these 
 important steps to a great consummation. 
 
 In the midst of other cares, however important, we 
 must not lose sight of the fact that the war power is 
 still our main reliance. To that power alone can we 
 look, yet for a time, to give confidence to the people in 
 the contested regions that the insurgent power will not 
 again overrun them. Until that confidence shall be estab 
 lished, little can be done anywhere for what is called 
 reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must still be 
 directed to the army and navy, who have thus far 
 borne their harder part so nobly and well. And it may 
 be esteemed fortunate that in giving the greatest 
 efficiency to these indispensable arms, we do also 
 honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander 
 to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom, more 
 than to others, the world must stand indebted for the 
 home of freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, 
 and perpetuated. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 393 
 
 ADDRESS AT SANITARY FAIR IN BALTIMORE, 
 APRIL 18, 1864. 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: Calling to mind that we are 
 in Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the world 
 moves. Looking upon these many people assembled 
 here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the 
 Union, it occurs at once that three years ago the same 
 soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. 
 The change from then till now is both great and gratify 
 ing. Blessings on the brave men who have wrought the 
 change, and the fair women who strive to reward them 
 for it ! 
 
 But Baltimore suggests more than could happen 
 within Baltimore. The change within Baltimore is 
 part only of a far wider change. When the war began, 
 three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected 
 it would last till now. Each looked for the end, in 
 some way, long ere to-day. Neither did any anticipate 
 that domestic slavery would be much affected by the 
 war. But here we are; the war has not ended, and 
 slavery has been much affected how much needs not 
 now to be recounted. So true is it that man proposes 
 and God disposes. 
 
 But we can see the past, though we may not claim to 
 have directed it; and seeing it, in this case, we feel 
 more hopeful and confident for the future. 
 
 The world has never had a good definition of the 
 word liberty, and the American people just now, are 
 much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but 
 in using the same word we do not all mean the same 
 thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each 
 man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product 
 of his labor; while with others the same word 
 
394 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 mean for some men to do as they please with other 
 men, and the product of other men s labor. Here are 
 two, not only different, but incompatible things, called 
 by the same name, liberty. And it follows that each 
 of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two 
 different and incompatible names liberty and tyranny. 
 
 The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep s throat, 
 for w r hich the sheep thanks the shepherd as his libera 
 tor, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as 
 the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a 
 black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not 
 agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and pre 
 cisely the same difference prevails to-day among us 
 human creatures, even in the North, and all professing 
 to love liberty. Hence we behold the process by which 
 thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of 
 bondage hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and 
 bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. 
 Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been 
 doing something to define liberty, and thanks to them 
 that, in what they have done, the wolfs dictionary has 
 been repudiated. 
 
 It is not very becoming for one in my position to 
 make speeches at great length; but there is another 
 subject upon which I feel that I ought to say a word. 
 
 A painful rumor true, I fear has reached us of the 
 massacre by the rebel forces at Fort Pillow, in the west 
 end of Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, of some 
 three hundred colored soldiers and white officers, who 
 had just been overpowered by their assailants. There 
 seems to be some anxiety in the public mind whether 
 the government is doing its duty to the colored soldier, 
 and to the service, at this point. At the beginning of 
 the war, and for some time, the use of colored troops 
 was not contemplated ; and how the change of purpose 
 was wrought I will not now take time to explain. 
 Upon a clear conviction of duty I resolved to turn that 
 element of strength to account; and I am responsible 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 395 
 
 for it to the American people, to the Christian world, 
 to history, and in my final account to God. Having 
 determined to use the negro as a soldier, there is no 
 way but to give him all the protection given to any 
 other soldier. The difficulty is not in stating the 
 principle, but in practically applying it. It is a mis 
 take to suppose the government is indifferent to this 
 matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard to it. 
 We do not to-day know that a colored soldier, or white 
 officer commanding colored soldiers, has been massacred 
 by the rebels when made a prisoner. We fear it, 
 believe it, I may say, but we do not know it. To 
 take the life of one of their prisoners on the assumption 
 that they murder ours, when it is short of certainty 
 that they do murder ours, might be too serious, too 
 cruel, a mistake. We are having the Fort Pillow 
 affair thoroughly investigated; and such investigation 
 will probably show conclusively how the truth is. If 
 after all that has been said it shall turn out that there 
 has been no massacre at Fort Pillow, it will be almost 
 safe to say there has been none, and will be none, 
 elsewhere. If there has been the massacre of three 
 hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, 
 it will be conclusively proved ; and being so proved, 
 the retribution shall as surely come. It will be matter 
 of grave consideration in what exact course to apply 
 the retribution; but in the supposed case it must 
 come. 
 
396 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 SPEECH AT A SANITARY FAIR IN PHILADEL- 
 PHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, JUNE 16, 1864. 
 
 I SUPPOSE that this toast was intended to open the 
 way for me to say something. 
 
 War, at the best, is terrible, and this war of ours, in 
 its magnitude and in its duration, is one of the most 
 terrible. It has deranged business, totally in many 
 localities, and partially in all localities. It has de 
 stroyed property and ruined homes; it has produced a 
 national debt and taxation unprecedented, at least in 
 this country ; it has carried mourning to almost every 
 home, until it can almost be said that the " heavens are 
 hung in black." 
 
 Yet the war continues, and several relieving coinci 
 dents have accompanied it from the very beginning 
 which have not been known, as I understand, or have 
 any knowledge of, in any former wars in the history of 
 the world. The Sanitary Commission, with all its 
 benevolent labors; the Christian Commission, with all 
 its Christian and benevolent labors; and the various 
 places, arrangements, so to speak, and institutions, 
 have contributed to the comfort and relief of the 
 soldiers. You have two of these places in this city 
 the Cooper Shop and Union Volunteer Refreshment 
 Saloons. And lastly, these fairs, which, I believe, 
 began only last August, if I mistake not, in Chicago, 
 then at Boston, at Cincinnati, Brooklyn, New York, 
 and Baltimore, and those at present held at St. Louis, 
 Pittsburg, and Philadelphia. The motive and object 
 that lie at the bottom of all these are most worthy ; for, 
 say what you will, after all, the most is due to the 
 soldier who takes his life in his hands and goes to fight 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 397 
 
 the battles of his country. In what is contributed to 
 his comfort when he passes to and fro, and in what is 
 contributed to him when he is sick and wounded, in 
 whatever shape it comes, whether from the fair and 
 tender hand of woman, or from any other source, it is 
 much, very much. But I think that there is still that 
 which is of as much value to him in the continual 
 reminders he sees in the newspapers that while he is 
 absent he is yet remembered by the loved ones at home. 
 Another view of these various institutions, if I may 
 so call them, is worthy of consideration, I think. 
 They are voluntary contributions, given zealously and 
 earnestly, on top of all the disturbances of business, 
 of all the disorders, of all the taxation, and of all the 
 burdens that the war has imposed upon us, giving 
 proof that the national resources are not at all ex 
 hausted, and that the national spirit of patriotism is 
 even firmer and stronger than at the commencement of 
 the war. 
 
 It is a pertinent question, often asked in the mind 
 privately, and from one to the other, when is the war to 
 end? Surely I feel as deep an interest in this question 
 as any other can ; but I do not wish to name a day, a 
 month, or a year, when it is to end. I do not wish to 
 run any risk of seeing the time come without our being 
 ready for the end, for fear of disappointment because 
 the time had come and not the end. We accepted this 
 war for an object, a worthy object, and the war will 
 end when that object is attained. Under God, I hope 
 it never will end until that time. Speaking of the 
 present campaign, General Grant is reported to have 
 said, " I am going through on this line if it takes all 
 summer." This war has taken three years; it was 
 begun or accepted upon the line of restoring the na 
 tional authority over the whole national domain, and 
 for the American people, as far as my knowledge 
 enables me to speak, I say we are going through on this 
 line if it takes three years more. 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 My friends, I did not know but that I might be called 
 upon to say a few words before I got away from here, 
 but I did not know it was coming just here. I have 
 never been in the habit of making predictions in regard 
 to the war, but I am almost tempted to make one. If 
 I were to hazard it, it is this : That Grant is this 
 evening, with General Meade and General Hancock, 
 and the brave officers and soldiers with him, in a posi 
 tion from whence he will never be dislodged until 
 Richmond is taken; and I have but one single proposi 
 tion to put now, and perhaps I can best put it in the 
 form of an interrogative. If I shall discover that 
 General Grant and the noble officers and men under 
 him can be greatly facilitated in their work by a sudden 
 pouring forward of men and assistance, will you give 
 them to me? Are you ready to march? [Cries of 
 " Yes."] Then I say, Stand ready, for I am watching 
 for the chance. I thank you, gentlemen. 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE 166TH OHIO REGIMENT, 
 AUG. 22, 1864. 
 
 Soldiers: I suppose you are going home to see your 
 families and friends. For the services you have done 
 in this great struggle in which we are all engaged, I 
 present you sincere thanks for myself and the country. 
 
 I almost always feel inclined, when I happen to say 
 anything to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few 
 brief remarks, the importance of success in this con 
 test. It is not merely for to-day, but for all time to 
 come, that we should perpetuate for our children s 
 children that great and free government which we 
 have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember 
 this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 399 
 
 temporarily, to occupy this White House. I am a 
 living witness that any one of your children may look 
 to come here as my father s child has. It is in order 
 that each one of you may have, through this free 
 government which we have enjoyed, an open field and 
 a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelli 
 gence ; that you may all have equal privileges in the 
 race of life, with all its desirable human aspirations. 
 It is for this the struggle should be maintained, that 
 we may not lose our birthright not only for one, but 
 for two or three years. The nation is worth fighting 
 for, to secure such an inestimable jewel. 
 
 ADDRESS TO THE 148TH OHIO REGIMENT, 
 AUGUST 31, 1864. 
 
 SOLDIERS OF THE 148TH OHIO : 
 
 I am most happy to meet you on this occasion. I 
 understand that it has been your honorable privilege to 
 stand, for a brief period, in the defense of your 
 country, and that now you are on your way to your 
 homes. I congratulate you, and those who are waiting 
 to bid you welcome home from the war; and permit 
 me in the name of the people to thank you for the part 
 you have taken in this struggle for the life of the na 
 tion. You are soldiers of the republic, everywhere 
 honored and respected. Whenever I appear before a 
 body of soldiers, I feel tempted to talk to them of the 
 nature of the struggle in which we are engaged. I 
 look upon it as an attempt on the one hand to over 
 whelm and destroy the national existence, while on 
 our part we are striving to maintain the government 
 and institutions of our fathers, to enjoy them our 
 selves, and transmit them to our children and our 
 children s children forever. 
 
400 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 To do this the constitutional administration of our 
 government must be sustained, and I beg of you not to 
 allow your minds or your hearts to be diverted from 
 the support of all necessary measures for that pur 
 pose, by any miserable picayune arguments addressed 
 to your pockets, or inflammatory appeals made to your 
 passions and your prejudices. 
 
 It is vain and foolish to arraign this man or that for 
 the part he has taken or has not taken, and to hold the 
 government responsible for his acts. In no administra 
 tion can there be perfect equality of action and uniform 
 satisfaction rendered by all. 
 
 But this government must be preserved in spite of 
 the acts of any man or set of men. It is worthy of 
 your every effort. Nowhere in the world is presented 
 a government of so much liberty and equality. To the 
 humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the 
 highest privileges and positions. The present moment 
 finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a 
 chance for your children as there was for my father s. 
 
 Again I admonish you not to be turned from your 
 stern purpose of defending our beloved country and its 
 free institutions by any arguments urged by ambitious 
 and designing men, but to stand fast for the Union and 
 the old flag. 
 
 Soldiers, I bid you God-speed to your homes. 
 
 PROCLAMATION OF THANKSGIVING, 
 OCTOBER 20, 1864. 
 
 IT has pleased almighty God to prolong our national 
 life another year, defending us with his guardian care 
 against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouch 
 safing to us in his mercy many and signal victories 
 over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 also pleased our heavenly Father to favor as well our 
 citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps, 
 and our sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual 
 health. He has largely augmented our free population 
 by emancipation and by immigration, while he has 
 opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned 
 the labor of our working-men in every department of 
 industry with abundant rewards. Moreover, he has 
 been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and 
 hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution suffi 
 cient for the great trial of civil war into which we have 
 been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause 
 of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reason 
 able hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from 
 all our dangers and afflictions. 
 
 Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
 United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the 
 last Thursday of November next as a day which I 
 desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever 
 they may then be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise 
 to almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of 
 the universe. And I do further recommend to my 
 fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they do 
 reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from 
 thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and 
 supplications to the great Disposer of events for a 
 return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and 
 harmony throughout the land which it has pleased him 
 to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and for our 
 posterity throughout all generations. 
 26 
 
402 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, NOVEMBER 10, 
 
 1864. 
 
 IT has long been a grave question whether any 
 government, not too strong for the liberties of its 
 people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence 
 in great emergencies. On this point the present re 
 bellion brought our republic to a severe test, and a 
 presidential election occurring in regular course dur 
 ing the rebellion, added not a little to the strain. 
 
 If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of 
 their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail 
 when divided and partially paralyzed by a political 
 war among themselves? But the election was a 
 necessity. We cannot have free government without 
 elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego 
 or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim 
 to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife 
 of the election is but human nature practically applied 
 to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this 
 case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature 
 will not change. In any future great national trial, 
 compared with the men of this, we shall have as weak 
 and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. 
 Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as phil 
 osophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as 
 wrongs to be revenged. But the election, along with 
 its incidental and undesirable strife, has done good 
 too. It has demonstrated that a people s government 
 can sustain a national election in the midst of a great 
 civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the 
 world that this was a possibility. It shows, also, how 
 sound and how strong we still are. It shows that, 
 even among candidates of the same party, he who is 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 40$ 
 
 most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason 
 can receive most of the people s votes. It shows, also, 
 to the extent yet known, that we have more men 
 now than we had when the war began. Gold is good 
 in its place, but living, brave, patriotic men are better 
 than gold. 
 
 But the rebellion continues, and now that the elec 
 tion is over, may not all having a common interest 
 reunite in a common effort to save our common 
 country? For my own part, I have striven and shall 
 strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So 
 long as I have been here I have not willingly planted a 
 thorn in any man s bosom. While I am deeply sensible 
 to the high compliment of a reelection, and duly grate 
 ful, as I trust, to almighty God for having directed 
 my countrymen to a right conclusion, as I think, for 
 their own good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that 
 any other man may be disappointed or pained by the 
 result. 
 
 May I ask those who have not differed with me to 
 join with me in this same spirit toward those who 
 have? And now let me close by asking three hearty 
 cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen and their 
 gallant and skilful commanders. 
 
404: SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DEC. 6, 1864. 
 
 [In this Message, the extracts from which are confined to the 
 portions of vital interest, the evidences are multiplied of the ap 
 proaching end of the war, with the maintenance of the Union. 
 Just before the Message was delivered, the military events in 
 dicated that the power of the Confederacy was on the wane. 
 Sherman had begun his famous March to the Sea, which was to 
 bring the President his Christmas gift, in the capture of 
 Savannah : Grant was doggedly hammering away, keeping skilful 
 watch on Lee s terrible Army of Northern Virginia; while in 
 August, Farragut had captured Mobile, and other successes on 
 land and sea were now speedily to follow, which brought the un 
 natural strife to a final close. Lincoln, moreover, in spite of 
 the unpopular draft, of 500,000 men, in July, and a summer and 
 autumn of severe fighting, both East and West, had been re- 
 elected to the Presidency ; while he was soon to be gratified by the 
 final passing of the thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution by 
 which slavery was to be maue forever impossible in the United 
 States. These were among the happy events which give interest 
 to the present Congressional Message]. 
 
 IN a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of 
 action among those seeking a common end is very 
 desirable almost indispensable. And yet no ap 
 proach to such unanimity is attainable unless some 
 deference shall be paid to the will of the majority, 
 simply because it is the will of the majority. In this 
 case the common end is the maintenance of the Union, 
 and among the means to secure that end, such will, 
 through the election, is most clearly declared in favor 
 of such constitutional amendment. 
 
 The most reliable indication of public purpose in 
 this country is derived through our popular elections. 
 Judging by the recent canvass and its result, the pur 
 pose of the people within the loyal States to maintain 
 the integrity of the Union, was never more firm nor 
 more nearly unanimous than now. The extraordinary 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 495 
 
 calmness and good order with which the millions of 
 voters met and mingled at the polls give strong assur 
 ance of this. Not only all those who supported the 
 Union ticket, so called, but a great majority of the 
 opposing party also, may be fairly claimed to enter 
 tain, and to be actuated by, the same purpose. It is 
 an unanswerable argument to this effect, that no candi 
 date for any office whatever, high or low, has ventured 
 to seek votes on the avowal that he was for giving up 
 the Union. There has been much impugning of mo 
 tives, and much heated controversy as to the proper 
 means and best mode of advancing the Union cause; 
 but on the distinct issue of Union or no Union the 
 politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge 
 that there is no diversity among the people. In afford 
 ing the people the fair opportunity of showing one to 
 another and to the world this firmness and unanimity 
 of purpose, the election has been of vast value to the 
 national cause. 
 
 The election has exhibited another fact, not less 
 valuable to be known the fact that we do not ap 
 proach exhaustion in the most important branch of 
 national resources that of living men. While it is 
 melancholy to reflect that the war has filled so many 
 graves, and carried mourning to so many hearts, it is 
 some relief to know that compared with the surviving, 
 the fallen have been so few. While corps, and di 
 visions, and brigades, and regiments have formed, and 
 fought, and dwindled, and gone out of existence, a 
 great majority of the men who composed them are 
 still living. The same is true of the naval service. 
 The election returns prove this. So many voters 
 could not else be found. The States regularly holding 
 elections, both now and four years ago to wit : Cali 
 fornia, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, 
 Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, 
 Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New 
 York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, 
 
406 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Vermont, West Virginia, and Wisconsin cast 
 3,982,011 votes now, against 3,870,222 cast then; show 
 ing an aggregate now of 3,982,011. To this is to be 
 added 33,762 cast now in the new States of Kansas 
 and Nevada, which States did not vote in 1860; thus 
 swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773, and the net in 
 crease during the three years and a half of war, to 
 145,551. A table is appended, showing particulars. 
 To this again should be added the number of all sol 
 diers in the field from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
 New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, and Cali 
 fornia, who by the laws of those States could not vote 
 away from their homes, and which number cannot be 
 less than 90,000. Nor yet is this all. The number in 
 organized Territories is triple now what it w r as four 
 years ago, while thousands, white and black, join us as 
 the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So 
 much is shown, affirmatively and negatively, by the 
 election. 
 
 It is not material to inquire how the increase has 
 been produced, or to show that it would have been 
 greater but for the war, which is probably true. The 
 important fact remains demonstrated that we have 
 more men now than we had when the war began ; that 
 we are not exhausted, nor in process of exhaustion; 
 that we are gaining strength, and may, if need be, 
 maintain the contest indefinitely. This as to men. 
 Material resources are now more complete and abun 
 dant than ever. 
 
 The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as 
 we believe, inexhaustible. The public purpose to re 
 establish and maintain the national authority is un 
 changed, and, as we believe, unchangeable. The 
 manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. 
 On careful consideration of all the evidence accessible, 
 it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the 
 insurgent leader could result in any good. He would 
 accept nothing short of severance of the Union 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 precisely what we will not and cannot give. His de 
 clarations to this effect are explicit and oft repeated. 
 He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us no 
 excuse to deceive ourselves. He cannot voluntarily 
 re-accept the Union; we cannot voluntarily yield it. 
 
 Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and 
 inflexible. It is an issue which can only be tried by 
 war, and decided by victory. If we yield, we are 
 beaten; if the Southern people fail him, he is beaten. 
 Either way it would be the victory and defeat follow 
 ing war. What is true, however, of him who heads 
 the insurgent cause, is not necessarily true of those 
 who follow. Although he cannot re-accept the Union, 
 they can. Some of them, we know, already desire 
 peace and reunion. The number of such may increase. 
 
 They can at any moment have peace simply by lay 
 ing down their arms and submitting to the national 
 authority under the Constitution. After so much the 
 government could not, if it would, maintain war 
 against them. The loyal people would not sustain or 
 allow it. If questions should remain, we would ad 
 just them by the peaceful means of legislation, con 
 ference, courts, and votes, operating only in constitu 
 tional and lawful channels. Some certain, and other 
 possible, questions are, and would be, beyond the ex 
 ecutive power to adjust; as, for instance, the admission 
 of members into Congress, and whatever might require 
 the appropriation of money. The executive power 
 itself would be greatly diminished by the cessation of 
 actual war. Pardons and remissions of forfeitures, 
 however, would still be within executive control. In 
 what spirit and temper this control would be exercised, 
 can be fairly judged of by the past. 
 
 A year ago general pardon and amnesty, upon 
 specified terms, were offered to all except certain desig 
 nated classes, and it was at the same time made known 
 that the excepted classes were still within contempla 
 tion of special clemency. During the year many 
 
4Q8 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 availed themselves of the general provision, and many 
 more would only that the signs of bad faith in some 
 led to such precautionary measures as rendered the 
 practical process less easy and certain. During the 
 same time, also, special pardons have been granted to 
 individuals of the excepted classes, and no voluntary 
 application has been denied. 
 
 Thus, practically, the door has been for a full year 
 open to all, except such as were not in condition to 
 make free choice that is, such as were in custody or 
 under constraint. It is still so open to all; but the 
 time may come probably will come when public 
 duty shall demand that it be closed; and that in lieu 
 more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be 
 adopted. 
 
 In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance 
 to the national authority on the part of the insurgents 
 as the only indispensable condition to ending the war 
 on the part of the government, I retract nothing hereto 
 fore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made 
 a year ago, that " while I remain in my present posi 
 tion I shall not attempt to retract or modify the 
 Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to 
 slavery any person who is free by the terms of that 
 proclamation, or by any of the acts of Congress." 
 
 If the people should, by whatever mode or means, 
 make it an executive duty to reenslave such persons, 
 another, and not I, must be their instrument to per 
 form it. 
 
 In stating a single condition of peace, I mean simply 
 to say, that the war will cease on the part of the 
 government whenever it shall have ceased on the part 
 of those who began it. 
 
Assassination of Lincoln 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 409 
 
 SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 18G5. 
 
 [With this Second Inaugural the great work was nearly done 
 which Lincoln was providentially raised up to do, in guiding the 
 nation through the tempestuous scenes of the terrible Civil War, 
 in ridding the land of the blighting curse of slavery, and in 
 restoring the sorely distracted, dissevered, but now about to be 
 reunited, Union. Precisely two months later, at the cemetery in 
 Springfield, 111., Lincoln s home, the Inaugural was read over the 
 martyred President s grave. It is a masterly production, and is 
 perhaps the most characteristic embodiment of Lincoln s genius, 
 filled as it is with lofty sentiment, and reaching the highwater 
 mark of the political wisdom of the age. Well may the London 
 Times speak of it at the era as " the most sublime State paper 
 of the century."]. 
 
 Fellow-countrymen: At this second appearing to 
 take the oath of the presidential office, there is less 
 occasion for an extended address than there was at the 
 first. Then a statement, somewhat in detail, of a 
 course to be pursued, seemed fitting and proper. Now, 
 at the expiration of four years, during which public 
 declarations have been constantly called forth on every 
 point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs 
 the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, 
 little that is new could be presented. The progress 
 of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as 
 well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I 
 trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. 
 With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard 
 to it is ventured. 
 
 On the occasion corresponding to this four years 
 ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an im 
 pending civil war. All dreaded it all sought to avert 
 it. While the inaugural address was being delivered 
 from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union 
 without war, insurgent agents were in the city seek- 
 
410 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 ing to destroy it without war seeking to dissolve the 
 Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties 
 deprecated war; but one of them would make war 
 rather than let the nation survive ; and the other would 
 accept war rather than let it perish. And the war 
 came. 
 
 One-eighth of the whole population were colored 
 slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but 
 localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves con 
 stituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew 
 that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. 
 To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was 
 the object for which the insurgents would rend the 
 Union, even by war; while the government claimed no 
 right to do more than to restrict the territorial en 
 largement of it. 
 
 Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or 
 the duration which it has already attained. Neither 
 anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease 
 with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. 
 Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less 
 fundamental and astounding. Both read the same 
 Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes 
 his aid against the other. It may seem strange that 
 any men should dare to ask a just God s assistance in 
 wringing their bread from the sweat of other men s 
 faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. 
 The prayers of both could not be answered that of 
 neither has been answered fully. 
 
 The Almighty has his own purposes. " Woe unto 
 the world because of offenses! for it must needs be 
 that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the 
 offense coineth." If we shall suppose that American 
 slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence 
 of God, must needs come, but which, having continued 
 through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, 
 and that he gives to both North and South this terrible 
 war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 shall we discern therein any departure from those 
 divine attributes which the believers in a living God 
 always ascribe to him? Fondly do we hope fer 
 vently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war 
 may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it 
 continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman s 
 two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be 
 sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the 
 lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, 
 as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must 
 be said, " The judgments of the Lord are true and 
 righteous altogether." 
 
 With malice toward none; with charity for all; with 
 firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, 
 let us strive on to finish the work we are in ; to bind 
 up the nation s wounds ; to care for him who shall have 
 borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan to 
 do all which may achieve and cherish a just and last 
 ing peace among ourselves, and with all nations. 
 
412 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS, APRIL 11, 1865. 
 
 [This, the final public utterance we have of Lincoln s, was de 
 livered in Washington just three days before his martyred death. 
 The close of the great war had by this time practically come, 
 for earlier in the month the Confederates had evacuated Rich 
 mond, and two days before the speech was spoken Lee had sur 
 rendered with his army to Grant at Appomattox. The Address, 
 it will be seen, rejoices over these events and gratefully an 
 nounces the President s intention of calling for a national thanks 
 giving. In other respects, the Address deals with the problem of 
 reconstruction and the reinauguration, in the late seceded States, 
 of the national authority]. 
 
 WE meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness 
 of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Rich 
 mond, and the surrender of the principal insurgent 
 army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace, whose 
 joyous expression cannot, be restrained. In the midst 
 of this, however, He from whom all blessings flow must 
 not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving 
 is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor 
 must those whose harder part give us the cause of re 
 joicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be par 
 celed out with others. I myself was near the front, 
 and had the high pleasure of transmitting much of the 
 good news to you; but no part of the honor for plan 
 or execution is mine. To General Grant, his skilful 
 officers and brave men, all belongs. The gallant navy 
 stood ready, but was not in reach to take active part. 
 
 By these recent successes the reinauguration of the 
 national authority reconstruction which has had a 
 large share of thought from the first, is pressed much 
 more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with 
 great difficulty. Unlike a case of war between in 
 dependent nations, there is no authorized organ for us 
 to treat with no one man has authority to give up the 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 rebellion for any other man. We simply must begin 
 with and mold from disorganized and discordant ele 
 ments. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment 
 that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to 
 the mode, manner, and measure of reconstruction. As 
 a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports 
 of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by 
 that to which I cannot properly offer an answer. In 
 spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my knowl 
 edge that I am much censured for some supposed 
 agency in setting up and seeking to sustain the new 
 State government of Louisiana. 
 
 In this I have done just so much as, and no more 
 than, the public knows. In the annual message of 
 December, 1863, and in the accompanying proclama 
 tion, I presented a plan of reconstruction, as the phrase 
 goes, which I promised, if adopted by any State, should 
 be acceptable to and sustained by the executive govern 
 ment of the nation. I distinctly stated that this was 
 not the only plan which might possibly be acceptable, 
 and I also distinctly protested that the executive 
 claimed no right to say when or whether members 
 should be admitted to seats in Congress from such 
 States. This plan was in advance submitted to the 
 then Cabinet, and distinctly approved by every member 
 of it. One of them suggested that I should then and 
 in that connection apply the Emancipation Proclama 
 tion to the theretofore excepted parts of Virginia and 
 Louisiana; that I should drop the suggestion about 
 apprenticeship for freed people, and that I should omit 
 the protest against my own power in regard to the 
 admission of members to Congress. But even he ap 
 proved every part and parcel of the plan which has 
 since been employed or touched by the action of 
 Louisiana. 
 
 The new constitution of Louisiana, declaring emanci 
 pation for the whole State, practically applies the 
 proclamation to the part previously excepted. It does 
 
414; SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 not adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and it is 
 silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the 
 admission of members to Congress. So that, as it 
 applies to Louisiana, every member of the cabinet 
 fully approved the plan. The message went to Con 
 gress, and I received many commendations of the plan, 
 written and verbal, and not a single objection to it 
 from any professed emancipationist came to my knowl 
 edge until after the news reached Washington that the 
 people of Louisiana had begun to move in accordance 
 with it. From about July, 1862, I had corresponded 
 with different persons supposed to be interested [in] 
 seeking a reconstruction of a State government for 
 Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan 
 before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks 
 wrote me that he was confident that the people, with 
 his military cooperation, would reconstruct substan 
 tially on that plan. I wrote to him and some of them 
 to try it. They tried it, and the result is known. 
 Such has been my only agency in getting up the 
 Louisiana government. 
 
 As to sustaining it, my promise is out, as before 
 stated. But as bad promises are better broken than 
 kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise, and break it 
 whenever I shall be convinced that keeping it is adverse 
 to the public interest; but I have not yet been so con 
 vinced. I have been shown a letter on this subject, 
 supposed to be an able one, in which the writer ex 
 presses regret that my mind has not seemed to be 
 definitely fixed on the question whether the seceded 
 States, so called, are in the Union or out of it. It 
 would perhaps add astonishment to his regret were 
 he to learn that since I have found professed Union 
 men endeavoring to make that question, I have pur 
 posely forborne any public expression upon it. As 
 appears to me, that question has not been, nor yet is, 
 a practically material one, and that any discussion 
 Of it, while it thus remains practically immaterial, 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 could have no effect other than the mischievous one of 
 dividing our friends. As yet, whatever it may here 
 after become, that question is bad as the basis of 
 a controversy, and good for nothing at all a merely 
 pernicious abstraction. 
 
 We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are 
 out of their proper practical relation with the Union, 
 and that the sole object of the government, civil and 
 militar} 7 , in regard to those States is to again get 
 them into that proper practical relation. I believe 
 that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this 
 without deciding or even considering whether these 
 States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. 
 Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly 
 immaterial whether they had ever been abroad. Let 
 us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the 
 proper practical relations between these States and 
 the Union, and each forever after innocently indulge 
 his own opinion whether in doing the acts he brought 
 the States from without into the Union, or only gave 
 them proper assistance, they never having been out 
 of it. The amount of constituency, so to speak, on 
 which the new Louisiana government rests, would be 
 more satisfactory to all if it contained 50,000, or 
 30,000, or even 20,000, instead of only about 12,000, 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? Some twelve thousand 
 voters in the heretofore slave State of Louisiana have 
 
416 SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the right 
 ful political power of the State, held elections, or 
 ganized a State government, adopted a free-State 
 constitution, giving the benefit of public schools equally 
 to black and white, and empowering the legislature to 
 confer the elective franchise upon the colored man. 
 Their legislature has already voted to ratify the con 
 stitutional amendment recently passed by Congress, 
 abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These 
 12,000 persons are thus fully committed to the Union 
 and to perpetual freedom in the State committed to 
 the very things, and nearly all the things, the nation 
 wants and they ask the nation s recognition and its 
 assistance to make good their committal. 
 
 Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost 
 to disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say 
 to the white man : You are worthless or worse ; we 
 will neither help you, nor be helped by you. To the 
 blacks we say: This cup of liberty which these, your 
 old masters, hold to your lips we will dash from you, 
 and leave you to the chances of gathering the spilled 
 and scattered contents in some vague and undefined 
 when, where, and how. If this course, discouraging 
 and paralyzing both white and black, has any tendency 
 to bring Louisiana into proper practical relations with 
 the Union, I have so far been unable to perceive it. 
 If, on the contrary, we recognize and sustain the new 
 government of Louisiana, the converse of all this is 
 made true. We encourage the hearts and nerve the 
 arms of the 12,000 to adhere to their work, and argue 
 for it, and proselyte for it, and fight for it, and feed it, 
 and grow it, and ripen it to a complete success. The 
 colored man, too, in seeing all united for him, is in 
 spired with vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the 
 same end. Grant that he desires the elective fran 
 chise, will he not attain it sooner by saving the already 
 advanced steps toward it than by running backward 
 over them? Concede that, the new government of 
 
SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to 
 the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatching 
 the egg than by smashing it. 
 
 Again, if we reject Louisiana we also reject one 
 vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the na 
 tional Constitution. To meet this proposition it has 
 been argued that no more than three-fourths of those 
 States which have not attempted secession are neces 
 sary to validly ratify the amendment. I do not commit 
 myself against this further than to say that such a 
 ratification would be questionable, and sure to be per- 
 .sistently questioned, while a ratification by three- 
 fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and 
 unquestionable. I repeat the question : Can Louisiana 
 be brought into proper practical relation with the 
 Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new 
 State government? What has been said of Louisiana 
 will apply generally to other States. And yet so great 
 peculiarities pertain to each State, and such important 
 and sudden changes occur in the same State, and 
 withal so new and unprecedented is the whole case 
 that no exclusive and inflexible plan can safely be 
 prescribed as to details and collaterals. Such ex 
 clusive and inflexible plan would surely become a new 
 entanglement. Important principles may and must be 
 inflexible. In the present situation, as the phrase 
 goes, it may be my duty to make some new announce 
 ment to the people of the South. I am considering, 
 and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will 
 be proper. 
 
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