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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14274-0.txt b/14274-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f6f85e4 --- /dev/null +++ b/14274-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4635 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14274 *** + +Longman's English Classics + +LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + +(SELECTIONS) + + + + +EDITED + +WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR AND NOTES + + +BY + +DANIEL KILHAM DODGE, PH.D. + + + +PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT THE + +UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS + + + + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + +FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK + +PRAIRIE AVENUE & 25TH STREET, CHICAGO + + + + +Copyright, 1910, + +BY + +LONGMANS GREEN AND CO. + + + + + +FIRST EDITION, JULY, 1910 + +REPRINTED, JUNE, 1913, MAY, 1915, MARCH, 1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--LINCOLN + +INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES, AND LETTERS + + Address to the People of Sangamon County, March 9, 1832 + The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions, January 27, 1837 + Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 + Second Joint Debate at Freeport, August 27, 1858 + The Cooper Institute Address, Monday, February 27, 1860 + Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 1861 + Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861 + Address in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, February 22, 1861 + First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 + Response to Serenade, March 4, 1861 + Letter to Colonel Ellsworth's Parents, May 25, 1861 + Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862 + Extract from the Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 + The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 + Thanksgiving Proclamation, July 15, 1863 + Letter to J. C. Conkling, August 26, 1863 + Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 + Letter to Mrs. Bixby, November 21, 1864 + Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 + Last Public Address, April 11, 1865 + +APPENDIX. Autobiography, December 20, 1859 + +NOTES + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The facts of Lincoln's early life are best stated in his own words, +communicated in 1859[see Appendix] to Mr. J. W. Fell, of Bloomington, +Illinois. Unlike many men who have risen from humble surroundings, +Lincoln never boasted of his wonderful struggle with poverty. His +nature had no room for the false pride of a Mr. Bounderby, even though +the facts warranted the claim. Indeed, he seldom mentioned his early +life at all. On one occasion he referred to it as "the short and +simple annals of the poor." Lincoln himself did not in any way base +his claims to public recognition upon the fact that he was born in a +log cabin and that he had split rails in his youth, although, on the +other hand, he was not ashamed of the facts. More, perhaps, than any +other man of his time he believed and by his actions realized the truth +of Burns' saying, "The man's the goud, for a' that." The real lesson +to be drawn from Lincoln's life is that under any conditions real +success is to be won by intelligent, unwavering effort, the degree of +success being determined by the ability and character of the +individual. Still less profitable is the attempt to contrast the +success of Lincoln with that of Washington, or Jefferson or of any +other American whose early circumstances were more favorable than +Lincoln's. In each case success has been worthily won, and we +Americans of the present generation should rejoice that our country has +produced so many great men. True patriotism does not consist in the +recognition of only one type of Americanism, but rather in the grateful +acceptance of every service that advances the fortunes and raises the +reputation of the republic. Peculiar interest attaches to the +character of Lincoln's early reading and especially to the small number +of books that were accessible to him. In these days of cheap and +plentiful literature it is hard for us to realize the conditions in +pioneer Kentucky and Indiana, where half a dozen volumes formed a +family library and even newspapers were few and far between. There was +no room for mental dissipation, and the few precious volumes that could +be obtained were read and re-read until their contents were fully +mastered. When Sir Henry Irving was asked to prepare a list of the +hundred best books he replied, "Before a hundred books, commend me to +the reading of two, the Bible and Shakespeare." Fortunately these two +classics came at an early age within the reach of Lincoln and the +frequency with which he quotes from both at all periods of his career, +both in his writings and in his conversation, shows that he had made +good use of them. The boy Lincoln not only read books, he made copious +extracts from them, often using a smooth shingle in the absence of +paper and depending upon the uncertain light of the log fire in his +father's cabin. Such use of books makes for intellectual growth, and +much of Lincoln's later success as a writer can be referred back to +this careful method of reading. + +Lincoln's later reading shows considerable variety within certain +limits. He himself once remarked that he liked "little sad songs." +Among, his special favorites in this class of poetry were "Ben Bolt," +"The Lament of the Irish Emigrant," Holmes' "The Last Leaf," and +Charles Mackay's "The Enquiry." The poem from which he most frequently +quoted and which seems to have impressed him most was, "Oh, Why Should +the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?" His own marked tendency to melancholy, +which is reflected in his face, seemed to respond to appeals of this +sort. Among his favorite poets besides Shakespeare were Burns, +Longfellow, Hood, and Lowell. Many of the poems in his personal +anthology were picked from the poets' corner of newspapers, and it was +in this way that he became acquainted with Longfellow. Lincoln was +especially fond of humorous writings, both in prose and verse, a taste +that is closely connected with his lifelong fondness for funny stories. +His favorite humorous writer during the presidential period was +Petroleum V. Nasby (David P. Locke), from whose letters he frequently +read to more or less sympathetic listeners. It was eminently +characteristic of Lincoln that the presentation to the Cabinet of the +Emancipation Proclamation was prefaced by the reading of the latest +Nasby letter. + +Lincoln's statement in the Autobiography that he had picked up the +little advance he had made upon his early education, or rather lack of +education, is altogether too modest. It is known that after his term +in Congress he studied and mastered geometry; and, like Washington, he +early became a successful surveyor. His study of the law, too, was +characteristically thorough, and his skill in debate, in which he had +no superior, was the result of careful preparation. During the +presidential period Lincoln gave evidence of critical ability that is +little short of marvellous in a man whose schooling amounted to less +than a year. In a letter to the actor Hackett and in several +conversations he analyzed passages from "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and other +plays with an insight and sympathy that have rarely been surpassed even +by eminent literary critics. + +At an early age Lincoln's interest was aroused in public speaking and +he soon began to exercise himself in this direction and to attend +meetings addressed by those skilled in the art of oratory. Many +stories are told of his local reputation as a speaker and story-teller +even before he moved to Illinois, much of his success then as in later +life being due to the singular charm of his personality. Lincoln never +overcame a certain awkwardness, almost uncouthness of appearance, and +he never acquired the finer arts of oratory for which his rival Douglas +was so conspicuous. But in spite of these physical difficulties he was +acknowledged by Douglas to be the man whom he most feared in debate; +and Lincoln was able to sway the critical, unfamiliar audience +assembled in Cooper Union as readily as the ruder crowds gathered about +the Illinois stump. + +On the subject of Lincoln's religious belief, about which such varying +opinions have been held, it is sufficient to state that, although he +was not a member of any religious body, he had a firm conviction of the +protecting power of Providence and the efficacy of special prayer. +This latter characteristic seems to have been especially developed +during the presidential period. Both in his proclamations and in many +private interviews and communications he expresses himself clearly and +emphatically upon this subject. It is probable, too, that Lincoln read +more deeply and more frequently in the Bible during the storm and +stress of the Civil War than at any other period of his life. There +seems to be no authority for the statement sometimes made that after +the death of his son Willie, Lincoln showed a tendency to believe in +the doctrines of spiritualism. He was not free, however, from a belief +in the significance of dreams as portending important events. He was +also not a little of a fatalist, as he himself once stated to his +friend Arnold. + +Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Lincoln's personality apart +from his honesty and sincerity was his perfect simplicity and +naturalness. Frederick A. Douglass, the great leader of the colored +race, once remarked that President Lincoln was the only white man that +he had ever met who never suggested by his manner a sense of +superiority. Not that Lincoln was lacking in personal dignity. +Neither as a practising lawyer nor as President of the United States, +would he permit anyone to take what he regarded as liberties with him. +But, on the other hand, he did not allow his elevated position to +change his personal relations. His old Illinois friends found in the +White House the same cordial welcome and simple manners to which they +had been accustomed in the pleasant home at Springfield. + +During the first few weeks of the administration it was believed by +many persons, including Mr. Seward himself, that President Lincoln +would be greatly influenced in his policy by the superior experience in +public affairs of his Secretary of State. Mr. Seward even went so far +as to draw up a plan of action, which he submitted to his chief. +Lincoln soon showed, however, that he was not a follower, but a leader +of men, beneath whose good nature and kindly spirit was a power of +initiative that has rarely been equalled among the statesmen of the +world. Even the dictatorial Secretary of War found it necessary to +yield to the President on all points that the latter regarded as being +fundamental. Few other presidents have been so bitterly attacked and +so cruelly misrepresented as Lincoln, but nothing could turn him from +his purpose when that was once formed. Like the wise man that he was, +Lincoln was always ready to listen to the suggestions of others, but +the conclusion finally reached by him was always his own. He applied +to questions of state the same methods of careful, impartial inquiry +that had served him so well as a lawyer on the Illinois circuit, and +if, being human, he did not always avoid committing errors, he never +acted from impulse or prejudice. Lincoln was a strong leader, but he +was at the same time a wise leader. + + +Turning now from the man to his works, we note first that the +development of Lincoln's style was slow. One might almost be tempted +to say that Lincoln developed several different styles in succession. +This, however, is hardly true, for in spite of the numerous marked +changes and improvements in Lincoln's manner of writing, certain +fundamental qualities remained, the real expression of his personality, +that is, the real style of Lincoln. From the beginning to the end we +find an effort to say something and to say it in as clear a manner as +possible, an effort without which there can be no real success in +writing. After a practice in public speaking of over thirty years +Lincoln as President could still say: "I believe I shall never be old +enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk +about." + +The first specimen of Lincoln's writings that has been preserved is a +communication to the voters of Sangamon County in 1832, when Lincoln +was for the first time a candidate for the State legislature. It is +significant of Lincoln's imperfect command of English at that time that +"some of the grammatical errors" were corrected by a friend before the +circular was issued. Although this circumstance makes it impossible +for us to judge exactly what his style was at this period, we may be +sure that the changes were comparatively slight and that the general +form at least was Lincoln's. The question naturally arises whether +there is anything in this first specimen of Lincoln's writing that +suggests, however remotely, the Gettysburg Address and the Second +Inaugural. A little study will discover suggestions at least of the +later manner, just as in the uncouth and awkward young candidate for +the Illinois State Legislature, we can note many traits, intellectual +and moral, that distinguish the mature and well-poised statesman of +thirty years later. It is the same man, but developed and +strengthened, it is the same style, strengthened and refined. If +Nicolay and Hay go too far when they say of the address: "This is +almost precisely the style of his later years," it would be quite as +wrong to deny any likeness between the two. In the first place, we +have the same severely logical treatment of the subject matter, from +which Lincoln, a lawyer and public speaker, never departed. Lincoln's +grammar may not have been impeccable at this time, but his thinking +powers were already little short of masterly. This, then, is the first +element in the makeup of Lincoln's style, the ability to think straight +and consequently to write straight. His legal training, which was then +very meagre, cannot account for his logical thinking; it is more +correct to say that he later became a successful lawyer because of the +logical bent of his mind. + +Closely connected with this early development of the form of thinking +was Lincoln's interest in words, and his desire always to use words +with a perfect understanding of their meaning. Even in his boyhood he +found pleasure in discovering the exact meaning of a new word and in +later life he was constantly adding to his verbal stores. Shortly +before his inauguration Lincoln remarked to a clergyman, who had asked +him how he had acquired his remarkable power of "putting things": "I +can say this, that among my earliest recollections I remember how, when +a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a +way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything +else in my life. But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever +since. I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the +neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part +of the night walking up and down, trying to make out what was the exact +meaning of their, to me, dark sayings." + +In this first address we find no loose use of words. The character of +the address does not of course admit of ornament or figurative +language, but any subject, however simple, admits of digressions and +mental excursions by the illogical and careless writer. Of these there +is not a trace. Even in the most informal letters and telegrams, +written at post haste and at times under the most extreme pressure of +business and anxiety, Lincoln shows a natural feeling for the +appropriate expression that is found only in the masters of language. + +Five years later, in 1837, the interval being represented by only a few +unimportant letters, Lincoln entered upon a period distinguished by +qualities that are not usually associated with his name, a tendency to +fine writing that we should look for earlier than at the age of +twenty-eight. The subject of the address is "The Perpetuation of our +Political Institutions," and the complete text is given in this volume. +Here for once Lincoln speaks of an Alexander, a Buonoparte, a +Washington. The influence of Webster is apparent, in this first purely +oratorical attempt of Lincoln's. It could hardly have been otherwise +at a time when the great Whig orator was making the whole country ring +with his wonderful speeches. It is almost certain, too, that Henry +Clay, to whom Lincoln later referred as _beau ideal_ of an orator, had +a part in moulding this early manner, though this is probably less +apparent here than in the later soberer addresses. + +But it must not be supposed that this speech consists merely of what +Hamlet would call "words, words, words." Neither are all the figures +inferior and commonplace. Although it is more ornate than anything in +the later period, the following description of the passing away of the +heroes of the Revolution is a fine example of the Websterian style: +"They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless hurricane 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 ruder storms, then to sink and be no more." The closing +sentence of the address is almost wholly, in the later style and might +have served for the close of the First Inaugural, which, in its +original form, did actually contain a Biblical quotation. + +That the rhetorical manner had not gained entire possession of Lincoln +at that time, but was simply used by him on what seemed to be +appropriate occasions, is sufficiently shown by a speech delivered in +the legislature early in 1839, in which we find the strictly logical +discussion of the first address. This speech is especially interesting +because of the fact that it is the earliest encounter of Lincoln and +Douglas that has been preserved. In a way, therefore, it may be +regarded as the first Lincoln-Douglas debate. + +One other rhetorical effort was made, in 1842, and then we find no more +specimens of this class of speaking until the so-called Lost Speech of +1856. This address of 1842 was delivered before the Springfield +Washingtonian Temperance Society, on Washington's Birthday, and it is +even more inflated than the first specimen. Combined with the +rhetoric, however, there is a mass of sober argument that again +suggests the later Lincoln. The arguments, too, are characterized by a +sound common sense that is no less characteristic of the speaker. The +peroration deserves quotation as being one of the finest and at the +same time one of the least familiar passages in Lincoln's writings: +"This is the one hundredth and tenth anniversary of the birthday of +Washington. We are met to celebrate this day. Washington is the +mightiest name of earth: long since mightiest in the cause of civil +liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name a eulogy +is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to +the name of Washington is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In +solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked, deathless splendor +leave it shining on." This approaches very closely the beauty and +strength of the presidential period. + +In 1844 Lincoln wrote several poems, which are not without merit. As a +boy he was famous among his companions for his skill in writing +humorous verses, but these later specimens of his muse are serious, +even melancholy in their tone. + +We next come to the congressional period, from 1847 to 1849. The +best-known speech from this period, Lincoln's introduction to a +national public, is that of July 27, 1848, on General Taylor and the +veto, Taylor being then the Whig candidate for the presidency. This +speech, which was received with immense applause, owes its special +prominence to the fact that it is the only purely humorous speech by +Lincoln that has been preserved. The subject of the attack is General +Cass, Taylor's Democratic opponent, whom Lincoln treats in a manner +that somewhat suggests Douglas' later treatment of Lincoln on the +stump. Its peroration is of peculiar interest, since it consists of a +funny story. + +To anyone familiar with Lincoln's habit of story-telling the +introduction of a story at the end of a speech may not seem strange. +But, as a matter of fact, this is the only case of the kind that has +been noted, and a careful reading of the speeches shows either that +they were not fully reported or that as a rule he confined his +story-telling to conversation. Even in the debates with Douglas, when +he was addressing Illinois crowds from the stump at a time when stories +were even more popular than they are now, Lincoln seldom used this +device to rouse interest or to strengthen his argument. A partial +explanation of this curious contrast between his conversation and his +writing, so far as the debates are concerned, may be found in a remark +made by Lincoln to a friend who had urged him to treat the subject more +popularly. Lincoln said; "The occasion is too serious, the issues are +too grave. I do not seek applause, or to amuse the people, but to +convince them." With Lincoln the desire to prove his proposition, +whatever it might be, was always uppermost. In the earliest speeches +were noted the severe logic and the strict adherence to the subject in +hand. To the end Lincoln never changed this principle of his public +speaking. + +Although the stories, then, have but little direct bearing upon +Lincoln's writings, they are so characteristic a feature of the man +that they cannot be wholly disregarded. In the two cases already noted +the stories were illustrative, and this appears to be true of all of +Lincoln's anecdotes, whether they occur in his conversation or in his +writings. He apparently never dragged in stories for their own sake, +as so many conversational bores are in the habit of doing, but the +story was suggested by or served to illustrate some incident or +principle. Indeed, in aptness of illustration Lincoln has never been +surpassed. Emerson said of him: "I am sure if this man had ruled in a +period of less facility of printing, he would have become mythological +in a very few years, like Aesop or Pilpay, or one of the Seven Wise +Masters, by his fables and proverbs." Many of the anecdotes attributed +to Lincoln are undoubtedly to be referred to other sources, but the +number of authentic stories noted, especially during the presidency, is +very large. + +The question has often been raised whether Lincoln originated the +stories he told so well. Fortunately we have his own words in this +matter. To Noah Brooks he said: "I do generally remember a good story +when I hear it, but I never did invent anything original. I am only a +retail dealer." Slightly differing from this, though probably not +contradicting it, is Lincoln's statement to Mr. Chauncey M. Depew: "I +have originated but two stories in my life, but I tell tolerably well +other people's stories." + +During the Civil War Lincoln's stories served a special purpose as a +sort of safety valve. To a Congressman, who had remonstrated with him +for his apparent frivolity in combining funny stories with serious +discussion, he said: "If it were not for these stories I should die." +The addresses of the presidential period, however, with the exception +of a few responses to serenades, are entirely without humorous +anecdotes. Although Lincoln never hesitated to clear the discussion of +the most momentous questions through the medium of a funny story, his +sense of official and literary propriety made him confine them to +informal occasions. + +The Eulogy of Henry Clay of 1852 is of interest as being the only +address of this kind that Lincoln ever delivered. It might perhaps +better be called an appreciation, and because of its sincerity and deep +sympathy it may be regarded as a model of its kind. Two years later +Lincoln engaged in his first real debate with Douglas on the burning +question of the day, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. From the +purely literary point of view the Peoria Speech is superior to the +better-known debates of four years later. While it lacks the finish +and poise of the two Inaugurals it is far more imaginative than the +Debates. One of its most striking features is the comparatively large +number of quotations, both from the Bible and from profane writings. +Although as a rule Lincoln quotes sparingly, this one speech contains +no fewer than twelve quotations, seven of these being from the Bible. +The only other speech that equals this one in the number of quotations +is the so-called Lost Speech of 1856, the authenticity of which is +doubtful. The very much shorter Second Inaugural, however, with its +four Bible quotations, has a larger proportionate number. Lincoln's +quotations seem to be suggested emotionally rather than intellectually. +This is indicated by the fact that the most emotional speeches contain +the greatest number of quotations. The first Inaugural, for example, +which is in the main a sober statement of principles, intended to quiet +rather than to excite passion, is four times as long as the emotional +Second Inaugural, but contains only one quotation to the four of the +other. We may note in this connection that almost exactly one-half of +the total number of quotations occurring in Lincoln's writings are +taken from the Bible, and that a large proportion of the profane +quotations are from Shakespeare. Lincoln was also fond of using +proverbial sayings, a habit that emphasized his character as a popular +or national writer. For most of his proverbs are local and many of +them are intensely homely. Quotations of this class occur at all +periods of his life, beginning with the first address, and they are +sometimes used in such unexpected places as official telegrams to +officers in the field. Strange to say, the maxim that is most +frequently associated with Lincoln's name cannot with any certainty be +regarded as having been used by him, either as a quotation or as an +original saying, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and +some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all +the time." + +At the first regular Republican State Convention in Illinois, held at +Bloomington, May 29, 1856, Lincoln delivered an address on the public +issues of the day that roused the enthusiasm of his hearers to such a +degree that the reporters forgot to take notes and therefore failed to +furnish the text to their respective newspapers. In the course of time +it came to be known as the Lost Speech, and such, in the opinion of +many who were present on the occasion, it continued to be. Mr. W. C. +Whitney, a young lawyer from the neighboring town of Champaign, later +prepared a version based upon notes, from which some general idea of +the character of the speech can perhaps be gained. + +The Lincoln-Douglas Debates furnish perhaps the best example of this +class of public speaking that is available. Although they were +extempore, as far as the actual language is concerned, they have been +preserved in full. In spite of the informal style appropriate to the +"stump," these discussions of the Dred Scott decision, Popular +Sovereignty, and the other questions suggested by slavery are marked by +a closeness of reasoning and a readiness of retort that show the great +master in the difficult art of debate. These qualities are not +confined to the one speaker, for his opponent was no less adroit and +ready. We may well say in this connection, "there were giants in those +days." + +Much of Lincoln's success in these historic debates was due to his +intense conviction of the righteousness of the cause for which he was +pleading. As lawyer and political speaker Lincoln always felt the +necessity of believing in his case. He frequently refused to appear in +suits because he could not put his heart into them, and he never +defended a policy from mere party loyalty. Much of Lincoln's success +as a speaker was due to the fact that his hearers felt that they could +trust him. This is simply a new application of the old principle that +the chief qualification for success in oratory is character. In +reading a man's books we may forget his character for the time, but in +listening to an orator we have the man himself constantly before us, +and he himself makes or mars his success. + +In 1859 Lincoln delivered his second and last long occasional +address--a discussion of agriculture at the Wisconsin State Fair at +Milwaukee. This is the only important non-political speech by Lincoln +that has been preserved and it is interesting as showing his ability to +treat a subject of general interest. Here, as in his discussions of +political questions, Lincoln displayed true statesmanlike insight and +foresight, long before the time when experiment stations and farmers' +institutes began to teach the very principles that he so wisely and +effectively expounded. + +In 1860 Lincoln appeared for the first time before a New York audience +and we have his own word for it that he suffered a severe attack of +stage fright on that occasion. The event showed, however, that he had +no reason to fear the judgment of one of the most critical audiences +that ever assembled in the Cooper Union. The Hon. Joseph H. Choate, +who was present, writes of his appearance: "When he spoke he was +transformed, his eye kindled, his voice rang, his face shone and seemed +to light up the whole assembly. For an hour and a half he held his +audience in the hollow of his hand." This address may be regarded as a +precursor, and a worthy precursor, of the First Inaugural, and by many +competent critics it has been given the first place among the +discussions of the political situation just before the war. After such +a performance there could be no hesitation on the part of those that +heard it in acknowledging Abraham Lincoln as one of the most powerful +speakers of his day. Before returning to Illinois Lincoln travelled +through several of the New England States, making speeches in a number +of the larger towns. + +The speeches delivered by Lincoln on the journey to Washington, in +1860, beginning with the exquisite Farewell Address at Springfield, +include some of the best of his shorter addresses. The most +interesting of these is the one delivered in Independence Hall. + +The First Inaugural Address was not received at the time of its first +publication in the newspapers, even at the North, with the general +enthusiasm that we should now be inclined to assume; and in the South +it was severely criticised for its alleged lack of force and +definiteness. Its effect, however, upon the immense audience gathered +in front of the Capitol seems to have been immediate. The document had +been written with great care at Springfield, some changes being made +after the arrival at Washington. The most important of these were the +substitution for the original closing paragraph of the beautiful +peroration suggested by Secretary Seward. In beauty of language and +elevation of thought this first public utterance by President Lincoln +may be compared to the great political utterances of Burke. + +First among the little classics of the world stands the Gettysburg +Address. At the time of its delivery it does not seem to have been +generally accepted as a notable utterance. By many of the newspaper +correspondents it was referred to as "remarks by the President," and +some of the papers contained no comment upon it. By others it was +dismissed with a few words of mild praise. Even after the death of +Lincoln there was no general agreement as to its supreme merits as a +part of our national literature. Conflicting stories still pass +current in books and articles on Lincoln about its composition, and +original reception. An examination of the testimony shows that the +following facts may be accepted as fairly proved. The greater part of +the address was written in Washington after very careful preparation, +and profound reflection. The address was read from MS., but with some +variations that apparently occurred to the speaker at the time of +delivery. Mr. Everett did not clasp the President's hand while he +expressed a willingness to exchange his hundred pages for the twenty +lines just read. It is uncertain whether Lincoln said at the time that +the address did not "scour," but if he did use such an expression it +was not because of a consciousness of having failed to make adequate +preparation for the occasion. + +One of the best commentaries on the Second Inaugural Address appeared +in an article in the London _Spectator_: "We cannot read it without a +renewed conviction that it is the noblest political document known to +history, and should have for the nation and the statesmen he left +behind him something of a sacred and almost prophetic character." Carl +Schurz compared it to a sacred poem, and all discriminating readers +agree in placing it by the side of the Gettysburg Address as an almost +perfect specimen of pure English prose. + +The other addresses of the presidential period are, with the exception +of the last speech, on the reconstruction of Louisiana, of minor +importance. They consist in the main of responses to serenades, a form +of address which Lincoln cordially detested and in which as a rule he +achieved only a moderate degree of success. The cares of his great +office made such cruel demands upon his time and strength that he +declined many requests to speak in public, and whenever he did appear +he confined his remarks within the smallest possible limits. +Furthermore, Lincoln was not a reader speaker and rarely did himself +justice without careful preparation. Writers on Lincoln have failed to +note the severe criticisms upon Lincoln's impromptu remarks that +appeared in the opposition press and in the English newspapers. Even +as late as 1863 newspaper writers not opposed to him did not hesitate +to refer to the plainness of the President's public speaking. + +The Messages to Congress are distinguished from most documents of that +class by their frequent purple patches. To the enumeration of dry +facts furnished by the various departments they add an elevation and +breadth of thought of the first order. + +In a class by themselves are the various proclamations, some of them of +a purely formal character, such as those announcing blockades, others +of a distinctly literary character, like the announcements of fasts and +feasts. Midway between these two classes is the most important of all, +the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which, with the +exception of the concluding sentence, is entirely free from ornament. +Perhaps Lincoln felt here, as with the Debates, that the occasion was +too serious, not only for jesting but even for attempting the mere +graces of language. + +Finally, mention should be made of the letters and telegrams written by +President Lincoln. Although many letters have been preserved from +earlier times, none make special claims to attention outside of the +information that they furnish. But during the last four years of his +life Lincoln wrote some of the most beautiful letters that have ever +been composed. One of these, the letter to Mrs. Bixby, has been given +a place on the walls of one of the Oxford colleges, as a model of noble +English. The Conkling letter and the letter to Horace Greeley are +among the most important statements of Lincoln's policy and are really +short political tracts. + +The First Inaugural can be traced through the Cooper Union Address and +the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the Peoria Speech, and the speeches of +1854 to the seed of 1832, the plain, logical, direct statement of +principles of Lincoln's first address to the public. The development +of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, those supreme +expressions of Lincoln's feelings, is not, in the main, to be traced +through complete speeches, but it must be sought for in isolated +passages, when he left logic for the moment and gave himself up to the +passing emotion. The real seed of the majestic simplicity of those +addresses is perhaps to be found in those rhetorical speeches of an +early period, so lacking apparently in the qualities that we love and +admire. In writing, as in so many other things, we reap not what we +sow, but its fruition. The effect may seem very remotely related to +the cause, but he would be a fool who would deny the relation between +them. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The complete works of Abraham Lincoln have been compiled and edited by +his biographers, John G. Nicolay and John Hay (two vols., Century +Company). Their life of Lincoln in ten volumes (Century Company) is +the standard authority. There is also an excellent condensation in one +volume. Other biographies are by W. H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner +(two vols., Putnam); by Miss Ida Tarbell (two vols., McClure); by John +T. Morse, Jr., in the American Statesmen Series (Houghton, Mifflin & +Co.); and by Norman Hapgood (Macmillan). + +Among the many tributes to Lincoln, are the essays by James Russell +Lowell, Carl Schurz, the address by Emerson; and poems by Stedman, +Bryant, Holmes, Stoddard, Gilder, and Whitman, and the noble lines in +Lowell's Commemoration Ode. + +The student of Lincoln's writings should be familiar with the history +of the United States, and should consult the standard histories for +explanation of the references to events in the long struggle which +culminated in the Civil War. + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE + + LIFE OF LINCOLN. CONTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY + BIOGRAPHY. AMERICAN HISTORY. + + 1809. Lincoln born, 1809. Gladstone, 1809. Madison President. + Feb. 12. Darwin, Tennyson, + Poe, Holmes born. + + 1813. Douglas born. + + 1816. Family moved 1816. Indiana admitted + to Indiana. as a state. + + 1818. Mother died. 1818. Illinois admitted + as a state. + + 1819. Father married + Sarah Johnston. + + 1820. Missouri Compromise. + + 1821. Missouri admitted + as a state. + + 1822. Grant born. + + 1829. Jackson President. + + 1830. Family moved 1830. Douglas moved 1830. Speeches of Hayne + to Illinois. to New York. and Webster. + + 1831. Settled in 1831. Publication of + New Salem. _The Liberatur_. + + 1832. Enlisted in the 1832. Founding of the + Black Hawk War: New England Anti-Slavery + unsuccessful Society. + candidate for the + legislature + + 1833. Postmaster of 1833. Douglas moved 1833. Founding of the + New Salem; deputy to Illinois. American Anti-Slavery + surveyor's clerk. Society. + + 1834. Elected to the 1834. Douglas admitted + legislature. to the bar. + + 1835. Douglas elected + State's Attorney. + + 1836. Reelected to 1836. Douglas elected + the legislature. to the legislature. + Presidential Elector. + + 1837. Admitted to 1837. Douglas 1837. Van Buren + the bar. Moved appointed Registrar President. Murder + to Springfield. of the Land Office; of Owen Lovejoy. + nominated for + Congress. + + 1838. Reelected to + the legislature. + + 1840. Presidential 1840. Douglas + Elector. appointed Judge + of the Illinois + Supreme Court. + + 1841. Harrison + President. Tyler + President. + + 1843. Married to + Mary Todd. + + 1844. Presidential 1844. Douglas elected + Elector. to Congress. + + 1845. Polk President. + Texas admitted as a + state. + + 1846. Elected to 1846-48. War with Mexico. + Congress. + + 1847. Douglas elected + U.S. Senator; moved + to Chicago. + + 1848. Presidential + Elector. + + 1849. Taylor President. + + 1850. Death of + Calhoun. + + 1850. Fillmore President. + Clay's Compromise + Measure. + + 1852. Death of Clay + and of Webster. + + 1853. Douglas 1853. Pierce President. + reelected Senator. + + 1854. Reelected to the 1854. Kansas-Nebraska + legislature. Bill. + + 1855. Resigned from the + legislature. Candidate + for the U. S. Senate. + + 1856. Candidate for 1856. Fremont first + nomination for Republican candidate for + Vice-President. the presidency. Civil + war in Kansas. + + 1857. Buchanan President. + The Dred Scott Decision. + + 1858. Candidate for 1858. Lincoln-Douglas + the U. S. Senate. Debates. + + 1859. Douglas 1859. Death of John + reelected Brown. + to the Senate. + + 1860. Cooper Institute 1860. Douglas 1860. South Carolina + Address. Elected Democratic Ordinance of Secession. + President. candidate + for the Presidency. + + 1861. Left Springfield, 1861. Douglas died, 1861. Fall of Fort Sumter, + Feb. 11; inaugurated June 3. April 12. Battle + March 4. McClellan of Bull Run, July 21. + Commander-in-Chief. Kansas admitted as a + state. + + 1862. The Preliminary 1862. Slavery abolished + Emancipation in the District of + Proclamation, Sept. 22. Columbia, April 16. + + 1863. The Final 1863. Battle of + Emancipation Gettysburg, July 1-5. + Proclamation, + Jan. 1. The + Gettysburg Address, + Nov. 19. + + 1864. Reelected to 1864. Grant 1864. Battles of the + the Presidency. appointed Wilderness, May 6-7. + Lieutenant-General. + + 1865. Inaugurated, 1865. Fall of Richmond, + Mar. 4. Assassinated, April 3. Surrender of + April 14; died April Lee, April 9. Johnson + 15; buried at sworn in as President, + Springfield, May 4. April 15. + + + + +SELECTIONS FROM INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + + + + +LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + +ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY, MARCH 9, 1832 + +FELLOW-CITIZENS: Having become a candidate for the honorable office of +one of your representatives in the next General Assembly of this state, +in accordance with an established custom and the principles of true +republicanism, it becomes my duty to make known to you--the people whom +I propose to represent--my sentiments with regard to local affairs. + +Time and experience have verified to a demonstration, the public +utility of internal improvements. That the poorest and most thinly +populated countries would be greatly benefited by the opening of good +roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams within their limits, is +what no person will deny. But yet it is folly to undertake works of +this or any other kind, without first knowing that we are able to +finish them--as half finished work generally proves to be labor lost. +There cannot justly be any objection to having railroads and canals, +any more than to other good things, provided they cost nothing. The +only objection is to paying for them; and the objection to paying +arises from the want of ability to pay. + +With respect to the county of Sangamon, some more easy means of +communication than we now possess, for the purpose of facilitating the +task of exporting the surplus products of its fertile soil, and +importing necessary articles from abroad, are indispensably necessary. +A meeting has been held of the citizens of Jacksonville, and the +adjacent country, for the purpose of deliberating and enquiring into +the expediency of constructing a railroad from some eligible point on +the Illinois river, through the town of Jacksonville, in Morgan county, +to the town of Springfield in Sangamon county. This is, indeed, a very +desirable object. No other improvement that reason will justify us in +hoping for, can equal in utility the railroad. It is a never failing +source of communication, between places of business remotely situated +from each other. Upon the railroad the regular progress of commercial +intercourse is not interrupted by either high or low water, or freezing +weather, which are the principal difficulties that render our future +hopes of water communication precarious and uncertain. Yet, however +desirable an object the construction of a railroad through our country +may be; however high our imaginations may be heated at thoughts of +it--there is always a heart appalling shock accompanying the account of +its cost, which forces us to shrink from our pleasing anticipations. +The probable cost of this contemplated railroad is estimated at +$290,000;--the bare statement of which, in my opinion, is sufficient to +justify the belief, that the improvement of the Sangamon river is an +object much better suited to our infant resources. + +Respecting this view, I think I may say, without the fear of being +contradicted, that its navigation may be rendered completely +practicable, as high as the mouth of the South Fork, or probably +higher, to vessels of from 25 to 30 tons burthen, for at least one half +of all common years, and to vessels of much greater burthen a part of +that time. From my peculiar circumstances, it is probable that for the +last twelve months I have given as particular attention to the stage of +the water in this river, as any other person in the country. In the +month of March, 1831, in company with others, I commenced the building +of a flatboat on the Sangamon, and finished and took her out in the +course of the spring. Since that time, I have been concerned in the +mill at New Salem. These circumstances are sufficient evidence, that I +have not been very inattentive to the stages of the water.--The time at +which we crossed the milldam, being in the last days of April, the +water was lower than it had been since the breaking of winter in +February, or than it was for several weeks after. The principal +difficulties we encountered in descending the river, were from the +drifted timber, which obstructions all know is not difficult to be +removed. Knowing almost precisely the height of water at that time, I +believe I am safe in saying that it has as often been higher as lower +since. + +From this view of the subject, it appears that my calculations with +regard to the navigation of the Sangamon, cannot be unfounded in +reason; but whatever may be its natural advantages, certain it is, that +it never can be practically useful to any great extent, without being +greatly improved by art. The drifted timber, as I have before +mentioned, is the most formidable barrier to this object. Of all parts +of this river, none will require so much labor in proportion, to make +it navigable as the last thirty or thirty-five miles; and going with +the meanderings of the channel, when we are this distance above its +mouth, we are only between twelve and eighteen miles above Beardstown +in something near a straight direction, and this route is upon such low +ground as to retain water in many places during the season, and in all +parts such as to draw two-thirds or three-fourths of the river water at +all stages. + +This route is up on prairieland the whole distance;--so that it appears +to me, by removing the turf, a sufficient width, and damming up the old +channel, the whole river in a short time would wash its way through, +thereby curtailing the distance, and increasing the velocity of the +current very considerably, while there would be no timber upon the +banks to obstruct its navigation in future; and being nearly straight, +the timber which might float in at the head, would be apt to go clear +through. There are also many places above this where the river, in its +zigzag course, forms such complete peninsulas, as to be easier cut +through at the necks than to remove the obstructions from the +bends--which if done, would also lessen the distance. + +What the cost of this work would be, I am unable to say. It is +probable, however, that it would not be greater than is common to +streams of the same length. Finally, I believe the improvement of the +Sangamon river, to be vastly important and highly desirable to the +improvement of the county; and if elected, any measure in the +legislature having this for its object, which may appear judicious, +will meet my approbation and shall receive my support. + +It appears that the practice of loaning money at exorbitant rates of +interest, has already been opened as a field for discussion; so I +suppose I may enter upon it without claiming the honor, or risking the +danger, which may await its first explorer. It seems as though we are +never to have an end to this baneful and corroding system, acting +almost as prejudicial to the general interests of the community as a +direct tax of several thousand dollars annually laid on each county, +for the benefit of a few individuals only, unless there be a law made +setting a limit to the rates of usury. A law for this purpose, I am of +opinion, may be made without materially injuring any class of people. +In cases of extreme necessity there could always be means found to +cheat the law, while in all other cases it would have its intended +effect. I would not favor the passage of a law upon this subject which +might be very easily evaded. Let it be such that the labor and +difficulty of evading it could only be justified in cases of greatest +necessity. + +Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or +system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most +important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every +man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled +to read the history of his own and other countries, by which he may +duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an +object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing +of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to +read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral +nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the time when +education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and +industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be +gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the +advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate +the happy period. + +With regard to existing laws, some alterations are thought to be +necessary. Many respectable men have suggested that our estray +laws--the law respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, and +some others, are deficient in their present form, and require +alterations. But considering the great probability that the framers of +those laws were wiser than myself, I should prefer [not] meddling with +them, unless they were first attacked by others, in which case I should +feel it both a privilege and a duty to take that stand, which in my +view, might tend most to the advancement of justice. + +But, fellow-citizens, I shall conclude.--Considering the great degree +of modesty which should always attend youth, it is probable I have +already been more presuming than becomes me. However, upon the +subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be +wrong in regard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim, +that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, +so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to +renounce them. + +Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or +not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being +truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their +esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to +be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and +have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy +or popular relations to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively +upon the independent voters of this county, and if elected they will +have conferred a favor upon me, for which I shall be unremitting in my +labors to compensate. But, if the good people in their wisdom shall +see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with +disappointments to be very much chagrined. + + Your friend and fellow-citizen, + A. LINCOLN. + + NEW SALEM, March 9, 1832. + + + + +THE PERPETUATION OF OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, JANUARY 27, 1837 + +In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the +American People, find our account running under date of the nineteenth +century of the Christian era.--We find ourselves in the peaceful +possession 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 essentially 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; 'tis 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 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 us faithfully to 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 Buonaparte 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 destruction 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 country; 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 fearful 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 pervaded 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 slave-holding or the non-slave-holding states. +Alike 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 following for a livelihood a very +useful or very honest occupation; but one which, so far from being +forbidden by the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the +Legislature 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 hanging, 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 McIntosh 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 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 consequences 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 Vicksburg was of but little +consequence. They constitute a portion of population that is worse +than useless in any community; and their death, if no pernicious +example be set by it, is never matter of reasonable regret with any +one. If they were annually swept from the stage of existence by the +plague or small-pox, honest men would perhaps be much profited by the +operation.--Similar too is the correct reasoning in regard 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 +afterwards. 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 murderers, +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, acting 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 +innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations 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 defence 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 unrestrained. 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 defence 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 government 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 feelings +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 ambition will not be +wanting to seize the opportunity, strike the blow, and overturn that +fair fabric which for the last half century as 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 expected. + +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 property, +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 of all sexes and tongues and +colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. + +While ever a state of feeling such as this shall universally 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 +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 instance, the promulgation of +abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true--that is, the +thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of +all law and all good citizens, or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to +be prohibited by legal enactments; 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 dangers may be +overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be +extremely dangerous. 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 been maintained in its original form, from its +establishment 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 experiment; now it is understood to be a successful +one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame and distinction expected +to find them in the success of that experiment. Their _all_ was staked +upon it; their destiny was _inseparably_ linked with it. Their +ambition aspired 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 problematical--namely, _the +capability of a people to govern themselves_. If they succeeded they +were to be immortalized; 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 gratification 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 beyond a seat in Congress, +a gubernatorial or a presidential 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 Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! +Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto +unexplored. It sees no distinction 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 +unreasonable 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 a one +does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached +to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully +frustrate his designs. + +Distinction will be his paramount object, and, although he would as +willingly, perhaps more so, acquire 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 have well existed heretofore. + +Another reason which _once was_, but which, to the same extent, is _now +no more_, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far, I +mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the +Revolution had upon the _passions_ of the people as distinguished 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 conscious 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_, instead of being turned against each +other, were directed exclusively against the British nation. And thus, +from the force of circumstances, the basest principles 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 +maintaining 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 Revolution _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 participator 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 testimonies 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 foeman could _never do_, the silent artillery of time +_has done_--the levelling of its walls. They are gone. They _were_ a +forest of giant oaks; but the all-restless hurricane 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 limbs a few +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, calculating, unimpassioned +reason--must furnish all the materials for our future support and +defence. Let those materials be moulded 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 permitted 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_." + + + + +SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE 16, 1858 + +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 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 permanently half slave +and half free. I do not expect 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 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. + +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 consider 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 prohibition. This opened +all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. + +But, so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement 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 argument 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 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." +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 Congress, 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 +Territory 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. Before 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 constitutionally +exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers: "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 hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly +reliable and satisfactory. The out-going President, in his last annual +message, as impressively 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 President 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 indorseing the Dred Scott decision, and +vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, +seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and +strongly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that +any different view had ever been entertained! + +At length a squabble springs up between the President 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 intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he +would impress upon the public mind--the principle 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 existence, tumbled down like temporary +scaffolding--like the mould 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 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 connection 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 to 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 thousand slaves, in Illinois, or +in any other free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould 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 already stated. Several +things will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they +were transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," +"subject only to the Constitution." What the Constitution 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 declare the perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at +all. Why was the amendment, expressly declaring 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 President's felicitation +on the indorsement? Why the delay of a reargument? Why the incoming +President's advance 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 President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations 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 joined together, and +see they exactly make the 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 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 beginning, 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 Constitution." 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 mention 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 +opinions of all the concurring judges, expressly declare that the +Constitution of the United States neither permits Congress nor a +Territorial Legislature to exclude slavery from any United States +Territory, they all omit to declare whether or not the same +Constitution permits 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 behalf of the +people of a Territory, into the Nebraska bill--I ask, who can be quite +sure that it would not have been voted down in the one case as it had +been in the other? The nearest approach to the point of declaring 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 jurisdiction." 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 sufficiently 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 unwelcome, 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 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 +protection, he will be wholly without a ground of opposition. + +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 himself has given +no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I 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 +nation 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. + + + + +SECOND JOINT DEBATE AT FREEPORT, AUGUST 27, 1858 + +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 during 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, +answered one of the interrogatories then. I then distinctly 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 +intimation at the time of the proposition, nor did he in his reply +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 respond. 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 propound 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 responsible but myself. + +Having said thus 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 today stands as he did +in 1854, in favor of the unconditional 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?" + +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 Compromise 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 examination of these +questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not +_pledged_ to this, that, or the other. The Judge has not framed his +interrogatories to ask me anything more than this, and I have answered +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. Having 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 now not 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 having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly 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 during 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 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 exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the +District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the +constitutional 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 +consideration 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 prominently 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 constitutional 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 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 regard to the question whether I am opposed to the +acquisition 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 persons and +render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this +audience. + +I now proceed to propound to the Judge the interrogatories, 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 inhabitants 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 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, adopting, and following such decision as a rule of +political action? + +Q. 4. Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, 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 myself had participated in adopting, in the first +Republican State Convention, held at Springfield, in October, 1854. He +insisted that I and Judge Trumbull, and perhaps 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 itself a +Republican State convention; yet it is true there was a convention, or +assemblage of men calling themselves a convention, at Springfield, that +did pass _some_ resolutions. But so little did I really know of the +proceedings 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 denying, 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 discovery 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 +resolutions 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 his name has become of +world-wide renown,--it is _most extraordinary_ that he should so far +forget all the suggestions 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 advantage 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 extraordinary by this incident--is, that he +is in the habit, in almost all the speeches he makes, of charging +falsehood 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 Nebraska 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 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 implicated 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 conceive 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 afterward, 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 increased 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 people; and to test the sincerity of this +mode of argument, 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 Territory should have the power to exclude slavery if +they 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 amendment 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 coming in collision with the decision when it +was made. Anybody can conceive that if there was an intention or +expectation that such a decision 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 Douglas +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, intelligible reason why it was voted down than to stand upon +his dignity and call people liars. Well, on Saturday he did make his +answer, and what do you think it 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 forward with his amendment expressly +authorizing the people to exclude slavery from the limits of every +Territory, 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 +confident, 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 +Douglas'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 decision 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 no such thing--that Mr. Chase was one of the +men differing from them on the broad principle of his insisting 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 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 +themselves? 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 disposed 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 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 of two other occasions, to the enormity of Lincoln--an +insignificant individual 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 Constitution. Made by whom? The framers of that +constitution. Advocated by whom? By all the members of the party in +the nation who advocated the introduction 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 advocating 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 attention to the enormity of my making a like +charge against him. + +Go on, Judge Douglas. + + + + +THE COOPER INSTITUTE ADDRESS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1860 + +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 Columbus, 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 a text for this discourse. I +so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and 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 +subsequently 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, forbid 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 denial 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 +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, properly +forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal +territory. The other of the four--James McHenry--voted against the +prohibition, showing 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 +prohibiting slavery in the Territory again came before the Congress of +the Confederation; and three more of the "thirty-nine" who afterward +signed the Constitution were in that Congress, and voted on the +question. They were William Blount, William Few, and Abraham Baldwin; +and they all 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 Territories seems not +to have been directly before the convention 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. + +In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution, an act +was passed to enforce the Ordinance 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 Fitzsimmons, then a member +of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. It went through all +its stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed both +branches without ayes and nays, which is equivalent to an unanimous +passage. In this Congress there were sixteen of the "thirty-nine" +fathers who framed the original Constitution. They were John Langdon, +Nicholas Gilman, Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. +Fitzsimmons, William Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William +Patterson, George Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, +Daniel Carroll, and James Madison. + +This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from +Federal authority, nor anything in the Constitution, properly forbade +Congress to prohibit slavery in the Federal territory; else both their +fidelity to correct principle, and their oath to support the +Constitution, would have constrained them to oppose 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 condition by the ceding States that the +Federal Government 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 probably voted for +it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition to it upon +record if, in their understanding, any line dividing local from Federal +authority, 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 Louisiana 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. Congress 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: + +First. That no slave should be imported into the Territory from +foreign parts. + +Second. That no slave should be carried into it who had been imported +into the United States since the first day of May, 1798. + +Third. That no slave should be carried into it, except by the owner, +and for his own use as a settler; the penalty 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 and 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 opposition to it if, in their +understanding, it violated either the line properly dividing local from +Federal authority, 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 prohibition and against all compromises, while Mr. +Pinckney 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 Federal +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, three in +1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 1798, two in 1804, and two in +1819-20, there would be thirty of them. But this would be counting +John Langdon, Roger 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;" and twenty-one of them--a clear majority of +the whole "thirty-nine"--so acting upon it as to make them guilty of +gross political impropriety and wilful perjury if, in their +understanding, 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 support the +Constitution can conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an +unconstitutional measure, however expedient he may think it; but one +may and ought to vote against a measure which he deems constitutional +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 control 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 understanding upon the direct +question of Federal control 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 appear to us that on the direct question +of Federal control 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 +anti-slavery 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-one--a clear majority of the +whole--certainly understood that no proper division of local from +Federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the +Federal Government to control slavery in the Federal Territories; while +all the rest probably had 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 understanding of the question +manifested by the framers of the original Constitution. In and by the +original instrument, a mode was provided for amending it; and, as I +have already stated, the present frame of "the government 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, I understand, +they all fix upon provisions 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 Constitution--the identical Congress which +passed the act already mentioned, enforcing the prohibition of slavery +in the Northwestern Territory. Not only was it the same Congress, but +they were the identical, same individual men who, at the same session, +and at the same time within the session, had under consideration, and +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. + +That Congress, consisting in all of seventy-six members, 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 Territories. + +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 amendments 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 understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, +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 (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 +Federal 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 +experience--to reject all progress, all improvement. What I do say is, +that if we would supplant the opinions 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 Government 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 +Government under which we live" were of the same opinion--thus +substituting falsehood and deception for truthful 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 them to understand that a +proper division of local from Federal authority, or some part of the +Constitution, 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 responsibility 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 understood 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 grudgingly, 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 Southern 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 inferior to any other people. Still, when you +speak of us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, +at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to +pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to "Black Republicans." In +all your contentions with one another, each of you deems an +unconditional condemnation of "Black Republicanism" as the first thing +to be attended to. Indeed, 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. You 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 making, 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 discussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our +principle, put in practice, would wrong your section for the benefit 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 Government 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 consideration. + +Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning 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 have 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 commend it to you, together with his example pointing to the +right application of it. + +But you say you are conservative--eminently conservative--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 reject, +and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting +something new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what that +substitute shall be. You are divided on new propositions and plans, +but you are unanimous in rejecting and denouncing the old policy of the +fathers. Some of you are for reviving the foreign slave-trade; some +for a congressional slave-code for the Territories; some for Congress +forbidding the Territories to prohibit slavery within their limits; +some for maintaining slavery in the Territories through the judiciary; +some for the "gur-reat pur-rinciple" that "if one man would enslave +another, no third man should object," fantastically called "Popular +Sovereignty;" but never a man among you is in favor of Federal +prohibition of slavery in Federal Territories, 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 Government 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? Harper's Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown +was no Republican; 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 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 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 no doctrine, and make no declaration, 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 +elections came, and your expectations were not quite fulfilled. 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. Republican 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 belief 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 Republicanism; and then, to give point to the charge, +defines Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, and +thunder among the slaves. + +Slave insurrections are no more common now than they were before the +Republican party was organized. 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 conclusion that Southampton was "got up +by Black Republicanism." 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 indispensable concert of action cannot +be obtained. The slaves have no means of rapid communication; nor can +incendiary freemen, black or white, supply it. The explosive 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 +individuals 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 +consequence, 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. 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 Government. 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 institution--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 refused 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 enthusiast 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 else than in 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 disprove 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, break up the Republican +organization? Human action can be modified to some extent, but human +nature cannot 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 peaceful 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 specific and well +understood allusion to an assumed constitutional right of yours to take +slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as +property. But no such right is specifically written in the +Constitution. 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 construe 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 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 property. + +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 statement in the opinion that "the right of +property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the +Constitution." + +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 expressly" affirmed +there--"distinctly," that is, not mingled with anything +else--"expressly," that is, in words meaning just that, without the aid +of any inference, 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 +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 a 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 yourself justified to +break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is shall +be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political +action? + +But you will not abide the election of a Republican 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 the 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 Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all +parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony one +with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even +though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion 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 controversy with us, let +us determine if we can, what will satisfy them. + +Will they be satisfied if the Territories be unconditionally +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 detected 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. Senator +Douglas's new sedition law must be enacted and 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 +fugitive 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 precisely 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 continue to accuse us of doing, +until we cease saying. + +I am also aware they have not as yet in terms demanded 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 object to its +nationality--its universality; if it is wrong, they cannot justly +insist upon its extension--its enlargement. All they ask we could +readily grant, if we thought slavery right; all we ask they could as +readily 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 fearlessly 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 beseeching true Union men to yield to +Disunionists, reversing 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 menaces 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. + + + +FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 12, 1861 + +My Friends: No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel +at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have +lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and +here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you +again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that +which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He +never could have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, +upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed +without the same Divine Aid which sustained him; and in the same +Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you, my +friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine Assistance, +without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. +Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell. + + + + +FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 11, 1861 + +My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of +sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these +people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, +and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been +born and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever +I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon +Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever +attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. +Trusting in Him, who can go with me and remain with you, and be +everywhere for good; let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. +To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend +me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. + + + + +ADDRESS IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 22, 1861 + +Mr. Cutler: I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing in +this place, where were collected together 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 distracted 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 sentiments +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 +pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled +here and framed and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over the +toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who +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 the separation of the colonies from the +motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which +gave liberty not alone to the people 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 bloodshed 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. + + + + +FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1861 + +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 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 Republican 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 inclination 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 exclusively, is +essential to that balance of power on which the perfection 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 conclusive evidence of which the case is +susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are +to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming administration. 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 provision 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 unanimity 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 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 reservations, and with +no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical +rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of +Congress 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 +unconstitutional. + +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 disruption 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 perpetual. +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 forever--it being impossible to +destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument +itself. + +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 itself. 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 Declaration 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 perfect 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 circumstances. + +I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, +the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take +care, as the Constitution 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 my 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 maintain 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 +property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the +duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, +there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the +people anywhere. 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 government to enforce the +exercise of these offices, the attempt 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, will continue to be furnished 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 modification or change to be +proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be +exercised according 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 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 destruction 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 existence? 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 constitutional 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 audacity of doing +this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly +written provision of the Constitution 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 affirmations and +negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that +controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever +be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question +which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can +anticipate, nor any document of reasonable 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 expressly say. _Must_ Congress protect +slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. + +From questions of this class spring all our constitutional +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 educated to the exact +temper of doing this. + +Is there such perfect identity of interests 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 constitutional 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 inadmissible; 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 Supreme 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 it is obviously possible that +such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect +following 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, having 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 political purposes. + +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 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 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 impassable 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 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 +revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant +of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirious of +having the National Constitution 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 precisely such as they +would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed +amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not +seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal 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 seriously injure the government in the short space +of four years. + +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 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 your present difficulties. + +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 government, while I +shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, 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. + + + + +RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, MARCH 4, 1861 + +Fellow Citizens: I thank you for this visit. I thank you that you call +upon me, not in any sectional spirit, but that you come, without +distinction of party, to pay your respects to the President of the +United States. I am informed that you are mostly citizens of New York. +[Cries of "all," "all."] You all appear to be very happy. May I hope +that the public expression which I have this day given to my +sentiments, may have contributed in some degree to your happiness. +[Emphatic exclamations of assent.] As far as I am concerned, the loyal +citizens of every State, and of every section, shall have no cause to +feel any other sentiment. [Cries of "good," "good."] As towards the +disaffected portions of our fellow-citizens, I will say, as every good +man throughout the country must feel, that there will be more rejoicing +over one sheep that is lost, and is found, than over the ninety and +nine which have not gone astray. [Great cheering.] And now, my +friends, as I have risen from the dinner-table to see you, you will +excuse me for the brevity of my remarks, and permit me again to thank +you heartily and cordially for the pleasant visit, as I rejoin those +who await my return. + + + + +LETTER TO COLONEL ELLSWORTH'S PARENTS + +Washington, D.C., May 25, 1861. + +To the Father and Mother of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth: + +My dear Sir and Madam: In the untimely loss of your noble son, our +affliction here is scarcely less than your own. So much of promised +usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for one's self and +friends, have rarely been so suddenly dashed as in his fall. In size, +in years, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his power to command +men was surpassingly great. This power, combined with a fine +intellect, an indomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, +constituted in him, as seemed to me, the best natural talent in that +department I ever knew. + +And yet, he was singularly modest and deferential in social +intercourse. My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; +yet through the latter part of the intervening period it was as +intimate as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing engagements +would permit. To me he appeared to have no indulgences or pastimes; +and I never heard him utter a profane or an intemperate word. What was +conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents. The honors +he labored for so laudably, and for which in the sad end he so +gallantly gave his life, he meant for them no less than for himself. + +In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness of your +sorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to the memory of my +young friend and your brave and early fallen child. + +May God give you that consolation which is beyond all earthly power. + +Sincerely your friend in a common affliction, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY + +Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862. + +Hon. Horace Greeley: + +Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed to myself +through the N. Y. _Tribune_. If there be in it any statements or +assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and +here controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may +believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. +If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I +waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always +supposed to be right. + +As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant +to leave any one in doubt. + +I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the +Constitution. + +The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union +will be "the Union as it was." + +If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the +same time _save_ Slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those +who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time +_destroy_ Slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in +this struggle is to save the Union, and is _not_ either to save or to +destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing _any_ +slave, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing _all_ the slaves, I +would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others +alone, I would also do that. What I do about Slavery and the colored +race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I +forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the +Union. I shall do _less_ whenever I shall believe that what I am doing +hurts the cause, and I shall do _more_ whenever I shall believe doing +more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to +be errors; and I shall adopt new views as fast as they shall appear to +be true views. + +I have here stated my purpose according to my views of _official_ duty; +and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed _personal_ wish that +all men, everywhere could be free. Yours, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + + +EXTRACT FROM THE SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 1, 1862 + +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 which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States +is well 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 advantage in this age for one people +whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and +intelligence 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 differences 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 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 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 impassable 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 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. + + +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 and back 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 separation, 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. + +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, territorially 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 Mountains to the +Pacific being the deepest and also the richest 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 seacoast, 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 physical 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 indispensable 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 people 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. Nor are the marginal +regions less interested in these communications to and through them to +the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access +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 generations 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 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 national +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 whatsoever is +possible, still the question occurs, "Can we do better?" The dogmas of +the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is +piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our +case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthral +ourselves, and then we shall save our country. + +Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and +this administration will be remembered 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 succeed; this could not fail. The way is +plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which, if followed, the world +will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +Washington, Dec. 1, 1862. + + + + +THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, JANUARY 1, 1863 + +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 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. + +"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 respectively 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 testimony be deemed +conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then +in rebellion against the United States." + + +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 suppressing 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 designate as the States and parts of States +wherein the people 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, Alabama, Florida, +Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the +forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties +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 +proclamation 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, including 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-defence, and I recommend to +them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for +reasonable 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 military necessity, I invoke the +considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. + + + + +THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION, JULY 15, 1863 + +It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications 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 augmented 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. + +Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart 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 +emergency, 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. + + + + +LETTER TO J. C. CONKLING + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, August 26, 1863. + +Hon. James C. Conkling: + +My dear Sir: Your letter inviting me to attend a mass-meeting of +unconditional Union men, to be held at the capital of Illinois on the +3d day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable to +me to thus meet my old friends at my own home; but I cannot just now be +absent from here so long as a visit there would require. + +The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion +to the Union; and I am sure my old political friends will thank me for +tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those and other noble men +whom no partizan malice or partizan hope can make false to the nation's +life. + +There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You +desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we +attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to suppress +the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for +it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second +way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If +you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet +for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise. I do +not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union +is now possible. All I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The +strength of the rebellion is its military, its army. That army +dominates all the country and all the people within its range. Any +offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition +to that army, is simply nothing for the present, because such man or +men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if +one were made with them. + +To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of the +North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise +embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that compromise +be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's army can keep +Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it +out of existence. But no paper compromise to which the controllers of +Lee's army are not agreed can at all affect that army. In an effort at +such compromise we should waste time which the enemy would improve to +our disadvantage; and that would be all. A compromise, to be +effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, +or with the people first liberated from the domination of that army by +the success of our own army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word +or intimation from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling +it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge +or belief. All charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive +and groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall +hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. I +freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the +bond of service,--the United States Constitution,--and that, as such, I +am responsible to them. + +But to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite +likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon +that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I +suppose you do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed any +measure which is not consistent with even your views, provided you are +for the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation, to which you +replied you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked +you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from +greater taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means. + +You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have it +retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I +think the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief with the law of +war in time of war. The most that can be said--if so much--is, that +slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that, +by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken +when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it helps us or hurts +the enemy? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' property when they +cannot use it, and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. +Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt +the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among +the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, +male and female. + +But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it +is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot be +retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you +profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. +Why better after the retraction than before the issue? There was more +than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the +Proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an +explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt +returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as +favorably for us since the issue of the Proclamation as before. + +I know, as fully as one can know the opinions of others, that some of +the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most +important successes, believe the emancipation policy and the use of +colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion, +and that at least one of these important successes could not have been +achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the +commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity +with what is called "Abolitionism," or with "Republican party +politics," but who hold them purely as military opinions. I submit +their opinions as being entitled to some weight against the objections +often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as +military measures, and were not adopted as such in good faith. + +You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing +to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively, to save +the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving +the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the +Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time +then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes. + +I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the +negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the +enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought +that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much +less for white soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear +otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. +Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If +they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the strongest +motive, even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must +be kept. + +The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the +sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it. Nor yet wholly to them. +Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and +Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more +colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot, their part of the +history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great +national one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it. +And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, +even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more +bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and +on many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle Sam's webfeet be +forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only +on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the +narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they +have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all,--for the great +Republic, for the principle it lives by and keeps alive, for man's vast +future,--thanks to all. + +Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, +and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future +time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no +successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take +such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then +there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, +and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have +helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will +be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and +deceitful speech they strove to hinder it. + +Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us +be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that +a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result. + +Yours very truly, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOV. 19, 1863 + +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 battle-field 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 cannot 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 +detract. 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 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, for the people, shall not perish from the +earth, + + + + +LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. + +To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass. + +Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a +statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the +mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I +feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should +attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I +cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found +in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our +Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave +you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn +pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the +altar of freedom. + +Yours very sincerely and respectfully, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1865 + +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 impending 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 seeking 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 constituted 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 +enlargement 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 +offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man +by whom the offence cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery +is one of those offences 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 offence came, 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--fervently 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 lasting peace among +ourselves, and with all nations. + + + + +LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS, APRIL 11, 1865 + +We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The +evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, 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 +rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled 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 +independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. +No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. +We simply must begin with and mold from disorganized and discordant +elements. 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 +knowledge 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 +proclamation, 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 government 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 Proclamation 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 +approved 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 emancipation for the whole +State, practically applies the proclamation to the part previously +excepted. It does 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 Congress, +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 knowledge until after the news reached Washington that the people of +Louisiana had began 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 he was confident that the +people, with his military cooperation, would reconstruct substantially +on that plan. I wrote him and some of them to try it. They tried it, +and the result is known. Such only has been my 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 convinced. + +I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, +in which the writer expresses 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 _purposely_ 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, could have no +effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, +whatever it may hereafter 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 military, 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 +really 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 sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful +political power of the State, held elections, organized 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 constitutional +amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout +the nation. These twelve thousand 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 twelve thousand 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 inspired with +vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the same end. Grant that he +desires the elective franchise, 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 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 national Constitution. To meet this +proposition it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those +States which have not attempted secession are necessary 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 +persistently 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 exclusive 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 announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, +and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper. + + + + +FROM A LETTER TO J. W. FELL, DECEMBER 20, 1859 + +I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents +were born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, +perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a +family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and +others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham +Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky about +1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed by the Indians, +not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in +the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from +Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New +England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a +similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, +Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. + +My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he +grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what +is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new +home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild +region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. +There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no +qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', +and cipherin'" to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to +understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked +upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for +education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, +somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that +was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now +have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time +under the pressure of necessity. + +I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At +twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, +at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year +as a sort of clerk in a store. + +Then came the Black Hawk War; and I was elected a captain of +volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had +since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the +same year (1832), and was beaten--the only time I ever have been beaten +by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was +elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During +this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield +to practise it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of +Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, +both inclusive, practised law more assiduously than ever before. +Always a Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, +making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done +since then is pretty well known. + +If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said +I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean, in flesh, weighing +on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with +coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. + + + + +NOTES + + +COMMUNICATION TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY + +This announcement of political principles appeared in the Sangamon +_Journal_, at that time the only newspaper published in Springfield. +The present text, which differs in some details from that found in the +various editions of Lincoln's works, follows the original, except in +changing the spelling of Sangamo to Sangamon. + + + +PERPETUATION OF OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. + +On the close of the address resolutions were passed requesting the +author to furnish a copy to the press, but for some unexplained reason +it was not published until a year later. The present text is taken +from the Sangamon Journal. Lincoln was one of the organizers of the +Lyceum. + +All through his life Lincoln showed a marked respect for the law, and +the present warning against the consequences of lawlessness, so +rhetorically sounded by the young orator of twenty-eight, was a +perfectly sincere expression of a profound conviction. + +"_The gates of hell_." Matthew xvi. 18. This quotation was repeated +in a speech delivered at Indianapolis twenty-four years later, when +civil war was threatening. + + + +THE SPRINGFIELD SPEECH + +During the summer of 1858 Lincoln delivered two important anti-slavery +speeches at Springfield. The first and more important of these was +made June 16,[*] at the close of the Republican State Convention, at +which Lincoln was declared the party candidate for the United States +Senate. The second, delivered a month later, is in part a defence and +explanation of the earlier speech, which had been severely criticised +by Lincoln's old opponent Judge Douglas. The first Springfield speech +was very carefully prepared and the MS. was submitted to several of +Lincoln's friends, all of whom objected to the opening statement as +being impolitic and sure to lose the speaker the position for which he +was a candidate. Lincoln refused to make any change, however, saying +that he preferred to go down linked with truth, if that was necessary. + +[*]By Herndon the date is given as June 17. + +"_A house divided against itself_." Suggested by Matthew xii. 25, and +Mark iii. 25. This quotation had already been used in 1843 in a Whig +circular signed by Lincoln and two others, and in a letter written in +1863 Lincoln speaks of the government as a house divided against itself. + +_Nebraska doctrine_. The doctrine of "squatter sovereignty" was +recognized in the bill, introduced in the Senate January 4, 1854, by +Douglas, to give territorial government to the district west of +Missouri and Iowa known as Nebraska. A similar bill had been +introduced the year before by Douglas. In its original form the bill +contained no reference to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, but in +the form in which it was passed it declared the Missouri Compromise to +be null and void. Under the terms of this compromise slavery had been +restricted to the territory south of 36 degrees 30 minutes. + +_Dred Scott decision_. This decision was rendered March 6, 1857. + +_Silliman letter_. A statement on the situation in Kansas by the +electors of Connecticut, which received its name from Professor +Silliman of Yale College, by whom it was in the main drawn up. + +_Lecompton Constitution_. In 1857 a convention was held at Lecompton, +Kan., to draw up a state constitution. In this convention the +advocates of slavery were in the majority and the instrument was so +prepared as not to interfere with slavery wherever it already existed +in the territory. The free-soil advocates refused to accept this +constitution. When the question of admitting Kansas under the +Lecompton Constitution was presented before Congress, Douglas, in +accordance with his principles of popular sovereignty, broke with his +party and opposed the effort. From our present point of view Lincoln +does not seem to do Douglas justice. + +_Stephen, Franklin, etc._ The reference is to Stephen A. Douglas, +President Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, and James +Buchanan. Lincoln's perfectly sincere belief in a deliberate +conspiracy among these men to perpetuate slavery, which was shared by +many Republicans of that time, is not sustained by the impartial +investigations of later historians. + +_McLean or Curtis_. John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis were the only +justices who were strongly opposed to the Dred Scott decision. Curtis, +who was a Whig from Massachusetts and who resigned the same year, wrote +a minority decision. + +_Chase and Mace_. Salmon P. Chase was at that time Senator from Ohio. +Daniel Mace was a Democrat representative, who was opposed to the +Nebraska Bill. + +_Judge Nelson_. Samuel Nelson, a justice of the Supreme Court. + +"_A living dog is better than a dead lion_." Ecclesiastes ix. 4. + + + +THE FREEPORT DEBATE. + +The Lincoln-Douglas Joint Debates took place in seven towns in various +parts of Illinois between August 21 and October 15, 1858. The proposal +for these meetings was made by Lincoln in a note addressed to Douglas. +The length of each debate and the division of time between the speakers +are stated in the opening sentence of the speech given in the text. +The speeches, which were all extempore, as far as the actual form is +concerned, were later collected from the newspaper reports, and after +some slight revision by the authors were published in 1860 in Columbus, +Ohio. This volume, from which the present text is taken, contained in +addition a number of speeches delivered by Lincoln and Douglas earlier +in 1858 and two speeches made by Lincoln in Ohio in 1859. Lincoln's +statement at the close of a letter to the publishers, accompanying the +copy for the book, is characteristic and interesting: "I wish the +reprint to be precisely as the copies I send, without any comment +whatever." This Columbus issue was used as a Republican campaign +document and large numbers were sold. + +The Freeport Debate, the second in the series, was held on the +afternoon of August 27. With the exception of the Galesburg Debate, it +was the most largely attended of the seven meetings, and in its effect +upon the campaign it is now regarded as the most important. + +_Judge Douglas and myself_. In the informal speeches Lincoln +frequently committed errors of speech like this. Even during the +presidential period he shows a marked tendency to use the cleft +infinitive. But in the carefully written addresses the language is +almost always correct. + +_Fugitive Slave law_. This statute was passed in 1850 for the stricter +regulation of the return of escaped slaves to their owners. In his +answer to this question Lincoln showed clearly that he was not an +Abolitionist, as that term was then understood. + +_Question 2_. Douglas' reply to this question was as follows: "I +answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times +from every stump in Illinois that in my opinion the people of a +territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior +to the formation of a State Constitution." It is claimed that this +question was put by Lincoln in spite of the protests of several of his +friends, who believed that it would give Douglas an advantage. But +here, as in the equally feared Springfield Speech, Lincoln proved his +superior sagacity. Douglas' affirmative answer probably gained him the +senatorship, but it certainly lost him the presidency two years later. + +_First Republican State Convention_. The reference is to a meeting +held in Springfield, which was addressed by Owen Lovejoy. Lincoln was +not present on this occasion. Recent investigation seems to show that +there was no foundation for the charge that this was exclusively a +meeting of Abolitionists, but that it included many men who held the +same political views as Lincoln. Douglas honestly believed that the +resolutions read by him at the Ottawa meeting were genuine and he was +greatly chagrined at the mistake. + +_By an amendment_. This amendment was offered by Douglas. + + + +THE COOPER INSTITUTE ADDRESS. + +This address, Lincoln's first important direct message to the people of +the East, was very carefully prepared. The text in this volume is +taken from _The Tribune Tract_, issued as a campaign document. + +The Northwestern Territory. The district comprising the present States +of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been ceded to +the national government by the original States. + +"_Black Republicans_." Douglas constantly referred to his opponents +under this title. In the Ottawa Debate he affirmed that in 1854 +Lincoln and Trumbull had arranged to form "an Abolition party, under +the name and disguise of a Republican party." + +"_Popular sovereignty_." This principle is defined by Douglas as +follows: "My principle is to recognize each State of the Union as +independent, sovereign, and equal in its sovereignty." + +_Harper's Ferry! John Brown!_ John Brown was a New Englander, who had +taken an active part in the Kansas disorders in 1856. During the +summer of 1859 he engaged in an attempt to free the slaves of Virginia. +After capturing the Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, he was overpowered by a +body of marines and with the survivors of his "army," was hanged. By +the extreme anti-slavery people he was regarded as a martyr, the best +expression of this spirit being given by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's "Battle +Hymn of the Republic." In a speech in Congress of January 16, 1860, +Senator Douglas had stated his "firm and deliberate conviction that the +Harper's Ferry crime was the natural, logical, inevitable result of the +doctrines and teachings of the Republican party." + +_The Southampton insurrection_. The reference is to a slave +insurrection which occurred in 1831 in Southampton, Va. + +_Helper's Book_. Hinton P. Helper, a North Carolinian of the so-called +poor white class, was the author of a book on the effects of slavery, +entitled _The Impending Crisis in the South_. The special reference is +to the recent agreement among sixty-four Republican representatives to +publish a compendium of the book for circulation in doubtful States. + + + +THE FAREWELL SPEECH. + +This beautiful little address was delivered from the platform of the +car that bore the President-elect away from his old home. It has been +preserved in two slightly differing versions, neither of which probably +exactly reproduces the words used. The Springfield papers, which were +followed by Herndon, gave an inaccurate report that robbed the speech +of much of its rare beauty. + + + +THE FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +The First Inaugural was carefully written in Springfield a month before +its delivery. Contrary to his usual practice in public speaking, +Lincoln read from the MS. The address was enthusiastically received by +an immense audience assembled front of the Capitol and the general +impression produced at the North was favorable. By the Southern and +the Abolition press it was severely criticised, both with regard to its +form and its content. + +_The mystic chords of memory_. This passage was suggested by Mr. +Seward, to whom the address had been submitted for criticism. The +customary usury of genius was paid for the verbal loan. + + + +RESPONSE TO SERENADE. + +This speech was delivered before a delegation of New Yorkers, who +called at the White House on the evening of March 4. Two other similar +responses have been preserved from the same day. The present address +is reprinted here for the first time, from the New York _Times_. + + + +LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY. + +Greeley's letter of August 19, which was headed "The Prayer of Twenty +Millions," began as follows: "I do not intrude to tell you--for you +must know already--that a great proportion of those who triumphed in +your election, and of all who desire the unqualified suppression of the +Rebellion now desolating our country, are sorely disappointed and +deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing." That Lincoln had +good reason to complain of "an impatient and dictatorial tone" is +sufficiently shown by the closing sentence, "I entreat you to render +hearty and unequivocal obedience to the laws of the land." The +following issue of the _Tribune_ contained a long editorial on the same +subject. The influence of the _Tribune_ in the Northern States was +immense, and Lincoln realized the importance of making a clear +statement of his policy to its readers. + + + +SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. + +After a long statement about the conditions of the finances and of the +different departments, the President devoted the remainder of the space +to the discussion of compensated emancipation, on which he had already +made a recommendation earlier in the year in a special message to +Congress. The concluding paragraph is in the elevated style of the +Inaugurals. + + + +THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. + +The first draft of the Proclamation was submitted to the Cabinet in the +preceding July, with the remark that he had fully determined to issue +it immediately. Secretary Seward suggested that its issue be postponed +until it could be given to the country supported by some military +success. The President saw the force of the suggestion and waited +until after the battle of Antietam. The Preliminary Proclamation was +dated September 22, 1862. In a reply to a serenade two days later the +President said: "I can only trust in God I have made no mistake." + +_Upon military necessity_. This phrase was inserted in the concluding +sentence, which had been suggested by Secretary Chase, as furnishing +the only authority by which the President felt that he could free the +slaves of the enemy. The Proclamation did not refer to those slaves +held by persons who were not in rebellion. + + + +LETTER TO J. C. CONKLING. + +Mr. Conkling was a personal friend of the President, and the formal +letter was accompanied by the following note: + +"MY DEAR CONKLING: + +"I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You are one +of the best public readers. I have but one request--read it very +slowly and now God bless you, and all good Union men." + +In spite of precautions, the letter was published in the New York +_Evening Post_ several days before the meeting. + +I know as fully as one can know. The portion of the paragraph from +these words to the end was not in the original letter, but was added by +telegraph. + + + +THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. + +The standard text of the address does not agree exactly either with the +original written form or with the form in which it was delivered, but +it is a combination of these, made by Lincoln a few days later. In the +contemporary newspaper reports it was variously referred to as an +address, a speech, and remarks. + +_Government of the people_. The thought contained in this sentence was +not original with Lincoln, but it has been traced back through several +centuries. It was probably suggested to Lincoln by the following +passage in an address by Theodore Parker, which he is known to have +read: "Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, for all +the people, by all the people." + + + +THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +This address is in marked contrast, both in length and character, to +President Lincoln's first official communication. Some of the main +thoughts and two of the Biblical quotations occur in a letter written +May 30, 1864. + +_Let us judge not, that we be not judged_. Adapted from Matthew vii. 1. + +"_Woe unto the world_." Matthew xviii. 7. + +_Fondly do we hope_. The accidental rhyme in this passage is the only +blemish that has been objected to in the address, and it is not serious. + +"_The judgments of the Lord_." Psalms xix. 9. The opening words of +the last paragraph are the best expression ever given of the spirit of +Lincoln, who on another occasion said, "I have never willingly planted +a thorn in any man's bosom." + + + +THE LAST SPEECH. + +This address, the longest of the presidential period with the exception +of the First Inaugural, was delivered before a great crowd gathered in +front of the White House, four days before Lincoln's assassination. +The evening before, on a similar occasion, he had requested the people +to wait until he could prepare his remarks, adding that he wished to be +careful, as everything he said got into print. The newspaper reports +of the following day state that it was received with great enthusiasm. +The address is of special interest as indicating the attitude of the +President toward the difficult question of Reconstruction. + +_The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond_. April 2 and 3 +respectively. General Lee surrendered April 9. + +_The new constitution of Louisiana_. The constitution was adopted +September 5, 1861. + +_The proposed amendment_. The thirteenth amendment, abolishing slavery +throughout the United States, was proposed in 1864, but failed to +receive the necessary two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. +It was passed in 1865, and after receiving the endorsement of the +necessary number of States went into effect December 15 of the same +year. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and +Letters (Selections), by Abraham Lincoln + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14274 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..88dad60 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14274 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14274) diff --git a/old/14274.txt b/old/14274.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa03b36 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14274.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5022 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters +(Selections), by Abraham Lincoln + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters (Selections) + +Author: Abraham Lincoln + +Release Date: December 6, 2004 [EBook #14274] +[Date last updated: July 28, 2006] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +Longman's English Classics + +LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + +(SELECTIONS) + + + + +EDITED + +WITH AN INTRODUCTORY MEMOIR AND NOTES + + +BY + +DANIEL KILHAM DODGE, PH.D. + + + +PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE AT THE + +UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS + + + + +LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. + +FOURTH AVENUE & 30TH STREET, NEW YORK + +PRAIRIE AVENUE & 25TH STREET, CHICAGO + + + + +Copyright, 1910, + +BY + +LONGMANS GREEN AND CO. + + + + + +FIRST EDITION, JULY, 1910 + +REPRINTED, JUNE, 1913, MAY, 1915, MARCH, 1917 + + + + +CONTENTS + +INTRODUCTION + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--LINCOLN + +INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES, AND LETTERS + + Address to the People of Sangamon County, March 9, 1832 + The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions, January 27, 1837 + Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 + Second Joint Debate at Freeport, August 27, 1858 + The Cooper Institute Address, Monday, February 27, 1860 + Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 12, 1861 + Farewell Address at Springfield, Illinois, February 11, 1861 + Address in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, February 22, 1861 + First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861 + Response to Serenade, March 4, 1861 + Letter to Colonel Ellsworth's Parents, May 25, 1861 + Letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862 + Extract from the Second Annual Message to Congress, December 1, 1862 + The Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863 + Thanksgiving Proclamation, July 15, 1863 + Letter to J. C. Conkling, August 26, 1863 + Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863 + Letter to Mrs. Bixby, November 21, 1864 + Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865 + Last Public Address, April 11, 1865 + +APPENDIX. Autobiography, December 20, 1859 + +NOTES + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +The facts of Lincoln's early life are best stated in his own words, +communicated in 1859[see Appendix] to Mr. J. W. Fell, of Bloomington, +Illinois. Unlike many men who have risen from humble surroundings, +Lincoln never boasted of his wonderful struggle with poverty. His +nature had no room for the false pride of a Mr. Bounderby, even though +the facts warranted the claim. Indeed, he seldom mentioned his early +life at all. On one occasion he referred to it as "the short and +simple annals of the poor." Lincoln himself did not in any way base +his claims to public recognition upon the fact that he was born in a +log cabin and that he had split rails in his youth, although, on the +other hand, he was not ashamed of the facts. More, perhaps, than any +other man of his time he believed and by his actions realized the truth +of Burns' saying, "The man's the goud, for a' that." The real lesson +to be drawn from Lincoln's life is that under any conditions real +success is to be won by intelligent, unwavering effort, the degree of +success being determined by the ability and character of the +individual. Still less profitable is the attempt to contrast the +success of Lincoln with that of Washington, or Jefferson or of any +other American whose early circumstances were more favorable than +Lincoln's. In each case success has been worthily won, and we +Americans of the present generation should rejoice that our country has +produced so many great men. True patriotism does not consist in the +recognition of only one type of Americanism, but rather in the grateful +acceptance of every service that advances the fortunes and raises the +reputation of the republic. Peculiar interest attaches to the +character of Lincoln's early reading and especially to the small number +of books that were accessible to him. In these days of cheap and +plentiful literature it is hard for us to realize the conditions in +pioneer Kentucky and Indiana, where half a dozen volumes formed a +family library and even newspapers were few and far between. There was +no room for mental dissipation, and the few precious volumes that could +be obtained were read and re-read until their contents were fully +mastered. When Sir Henry Irving was asked to prepare a list of the +hundred best books he replied, "Before a hundred books, commend me to +the reading of two, the Bible and Shakespeare." Fortunately these two +classics came at an early age within the reach of Lincoln and the +frequency with which he quotes from both at all periods of his career, +both in his writings and in his conversation, shows that he had made +good use of them. The boy Lincoln not only read books, he made copious +extracts from them, often using a smooth shingle in the absence of +paper and depending upon the uncertain light of the log fire in his +father's cabin. Such use of books makes for intellectual growth, and +much of Lincoln's later success as a writer can be referred back to +this careful method of reading. + +Lincoln's later reading shows considerable variety within certain +limits. He himself once remarked that he liked "little sad songs." +Among, his special favorites in this class of poetry were "Ben Bolt," +"The Lament of the Irish Emigrant," Holmes' "The Last Leaf," and +Charles Mackay's "The Enquiry." The poem from which he most frequently +quoted and which seems to have impressed him most was, "Oh, Why Should +the Spirit of Mortal be Proud?" His own marked tendency to melancholy, +which is reflected in his face, seemed to respond to appeals of this +sort. Among his favorite poets besides Shakespeare were Burns, +Longfellow, Hood, and Lowell. Many of the poems in his personal +anthology were picked from the poets' corner of newspapers, and it was +in this way that he became acquainted with Longfellow. Lincoln was +especially fond of humorous writings, both in prose and verse, a taste +that is closely connected with his lifelong fondness for funny stories. +His favorite humorous writer during the presidential period was +Petroleum V. Nasby (David P. Locke), from whose letters he frequently +read to more or less sympathetic listeners. It was eminently +characteristic of Lincoln that the presentation to the Cabinet of the +Emancipation Proclamation was prefaced by the reading of the latest +Nasby letter. + +Lincoln's statement in the Autobiography that he had picked up the +little advance he had made upon his early education, or rather lack of +education, is altogether too modest. It is known that after his term +in Congress he studied and mastered geometry; and, like Washington, he +early became a successful surveyor. His study of the law, too, was +characteristically thorough, and his skill in debate, in which he had +no superior, was the result of careful preparation. During the +presidential period Lincoln gave evidence of critical ability that is +little short of marvellous in a man whose schooling amounted to less +than a year. In a letter to the actor Hackett and in several +conversations he analyzed passages from "Hamlet," "Macbeth," and other +plays with an insight and sympathy that have rarely been surpassed even +by eminent literary critics. + +At an early age Lincoln's interest was aroused in public speaking and +he soon began to exercise himself in this direction and to attend +meetings addressed by those skilled in the art of oratory. Many +stories are told of his local reputation as a speaker and story-teller +even before he moved to Illinois, much of his success then as in later +life being due to the singular charm of his personality. Lincoln never +overcame a certain awkwardness, almost uncouthness of appearance, and +he never acquired the finer arts of oratory for which his rival Douglas +was so conspicuous. But in spite of these physical difficulties he was +acknowledged by Douglas to be the man whom he most feared in debate; +and Lincoln was able to sway the critical, unfamiliar audience +assembled in Cooper Union as readily as the ruder crowds gathered about +the Illinois stump. + +On the subject of Lincoln's religious belief, about which such varying +opinions have been held, it is sufficient to state that, although he +was not a member of any religious body, he had a firm conviction of the +protecting power of Providence and the efficacy of special prayer. +This latter characteristic seems to have been especially developed +during the presidential period. Both in his proclamations and in many +private interviews and communications he expresses himself clearly and +emphatically upon this subject. It is probable, too, that Lincoln read +more deeply and more frequently in the Bible during the storm and +stress of the Civil War than at any other period of his life. There +seems to be no authority for the statement sometimes made that after +the death of his son Willie, Lincoln showed a tendency to believe in +the doctrines of spiritualism. He was not free, however, from a belief +in the significance of dreams as portending important events. He was +also not a little of a fatalist, as he himself once stated to his +friend Arnold. + +Perhaps the most striking characteristic of Lincoln's personality apart +from his honesty and sincerity was his perfect simplicity and +naturalness. Frederick A. Douglass, the great leader of the colored +race, once remarked that President Lincoln was the only white man that +he had ever met who never suggested by his manner a sense of +superiority. Not that Lincoln was lacking in personal dignity. +Neither as a practising lawyer nor as President of the United States, +would he permit anyone to take what he regarded as liberties with him. +But, on the other hand, he did not allow his elevated position to +change his personal relations. His old Illinois friends found in the +White House the same cordial welcome and simple manners to which they +had been accustomed in the pleasant home at Springfield. + +During the first few weeks of the administration it was believed by +many persons, including Mr. Seward himself, that President Lincoln +would be greatly influenced in his policy by the superior experience in +public affairs of his Secretary of State. Mr. Seward even went so far +as to draw up a plan of action, which he submitted to his chief. +Lincoln soon showed, however, that he was not a follower, but a leader +of men, beneath whose good nature and kindly spirit was a power of +initiative that has rarely been equalled among the statesmen of the +world. Even the dictatorial Secretary of War found it necessary to +yield to the President on all points that the latter regarded as being +fundamental. Few other presidents have been so bitterly attacked and +so cruelly misrepresented as Lincoln, but nothing could turn him from +his purpose when that was once formed. Like the wise man that he was, +Lincoln was always ready to listen to the suggestions of others, but +the conclusion finally reached by him was always his own. He applied +to questions of state the same methods of careful, impartial inquiry +that had served him so well as a lawyer on the Illinois circuit, and +if, being human, he did not always avoid committing errors, he never +acted from impulse or prejudice. Lincoln was a strong leader, but he +was at the same time a wise leader. + + +Turning now from the man to his works, we note first that the +development of Lincoln's style was slow. One might almost be tempted +to say that Lincoln developed several different styles in succession. +This, however, is hardly true, for in spite of the numerous marked +changes and improvements in Lincoln's manner of writing, certain +fundamental qualities remained, the real expression of his personality, +that is, the real style of Lincoln. From the beginning to the end we +find an effort to say something and to say it in as clear a manner as +possible, an effort without which there can be no real success in +writing. After a practice in public speaking of over thirty years +Lincoln as President could still say: "I believe I shall never be old +enough to speak without embarrassment when I have nothing to talk +about." + +The first specimen of Lincoln's writings that has been preserved is a +communication to the voters of Sangamon County in 1832, when Lincoln +was for the first time a candidate for the State legislature. It is +significant of Lincoln's imperfect command of English at that time that +"some of the grammatical errors" were corrected by a friend before the +circular was issued. Although this circumstance makes it impossible +for us to judge exactly what his style was at this period, we may be +sure that the changes were comparatively slight and that the general +form at least was Lincoln's. The question naturally arises whether +there is anything in this first specimen of Lincoln's writing that +suggests, however remotely, the Gettysburg Address and the Second +Inaugural. A little study will discover suggestions at least of the +later manner, just as in the uncouth and awkward young candidate for +the Illinois State Legislature, we can note many traits, intellectual +and moral, that distinguish the mature and well-poised statesman of +thirty years later. It is the same man, but developed and +strengthened, it is the same style, strengthened and refined. If +Nicolay and Hay go too far when they say of the address: "This is +almost precisely the style of his later years," it would be quite as +wrong to deny any likeness between the two. In the first place, we +have the same severely logical treatment of the subject matter, from +which Lincoln, a lawyer and public speaker, never departed. Lincoln's +grammar may not have been impeccable at this time, but his thinking +powers were already little short of masterly. This, then, is the first +element in the makeup of Lincoln's style, the ability to think straight +and consequently to write straight. His legal training, which was then +very meagre, cannot account for his logical thinking; it is more +correct to say that he later became a successful lawyer because of the +logical bent of his mind. + +Closely connected with this early development of the form of thinking +was Lincoln's interest in words, and his desire always to use words +with a perfect understanding of their meaning. Even in his boyhood he +found pleasure in discovering the exact meaning of a new word and in +later life he was constantly adding to his verbal stores. Shortly +before his inauguration Lincoln remarked to a clergyman, who had asked +him how he had acquired his remarkable power of "putting things": "I +can say this, that among my earliest recollections I remember how, when +a mere child, I used to get irritated when anybody talked to me in a +way I could not understand. I don't think I ever got angry at anything +else in my life. But that always disturbed my temper, and has ever +since. I can remember going to my little bedroom, after hearing the +neighbors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small part +of the night walking up and down, trying to make out what was the exact +meaning of their, to me, dark sayings." + +In this first address we find no loose use of words. The character of +the address does not of course admit of ornament or figurative +language, but any subject, however simple, admits of digressions and +mental excursions by the illogical and careless writer. Of these there +is not a trace. Even in the most informal letters and telegrams, +written at post haste and at times under the most extreme pressure of +business and anxiety, Lincoln shows a natural feeling for the +appropriate expression that is found only in the masters of language. + +Five years later, in 1837, the interval being represented by only a few +unimportant letters, Lincoln entered upon a period distinguished by +qualities that are not usually associated with his name, a tendency to +fine writing that we should look for earlier than at the age of +twenty-eight. The subject of the address is "The Perpetuation of our +Political Institutions," and the complete text is given in this volume. +Here for once Lincoln speaks of an Alexander, a Buonoparte, a +Washington. The influence of Webster is apparent, in this first purely +oratorical attempt of Lincoln's. It could hardly have been otherwise +at a time when the great Whig orator was making the whole country ring +with his wonderful speeches. It is almost certain, too, that Henry +Clay, to whom Lincoln later referred as _beau ideal_ of an orator, had +a part in moulding this early manner, though this is probably less +apparent here than in the later soberer addresses. + +But it must not be supposed that this speech consists merely of what +Hamlet would call "words, words, words." Neither are all the figures +inferior and commonplace. Although it is more ornate than anything in +the later period, the following description of the passing away of the +heroes of the Revolution is a fine example of the Websterian style: +"They were a forest of giant oaks; but the all-resistless hurricane 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 ruder storms, then to sink and be no more." The closing +sentence of the address is almost wholly, in the later style and might +have served for the close of the First Inaugural, which, in its +original form, did actually contain a Biblical quotation. + +That the rhetorical manner had not gained entire possession of Lincoln +at that time, but was simply used by him on what seemed to be +appropriate occasions, is sufficiently shown by a speech delivered in +the legislature early in 1839, in which we find the strictly logical +discussion of the first address. This speech is especially interesting +because of the fact that it is the earliest encounter of Lincoln and +Douglas that has been preserved. In a way, therefore, it may be +regarded as the first Lincoln-Douglas debate. + +One other rhetorical effort was made, in 1842, and then we find no more +specimens of this class of speaking until the so-called Lost Speech of +1856. This address of 1842 was delivered before the Springfield +Washingtonian Temperance Society, on Washington's Birthday, and it is +even more inflated than the first specimen. Combined with the +rhetoric, however, there is a mass of sober argument that again +suggests the later Lincoln. The arguments, too, are characterized by a +sound common sense that is no less characteristic of the speaker. The +peroration deserves quotation as being one of the finest and at the +same time one of the least familiar passages in Lincoln's writings: +"This is the one hundredth and tenth anniversary of the birthday of +Washington. We are met to celebrate this day. Washington is the +mightiest name of earth: long since mightiest in the cause of civil +liberty, still mightiest in moral reformation. On that name a eulogy +is expected. It cannot be. To add brightness to the sun or glory to +the name of Washington is alike impossible. Let none attempt it. In +solemn awe pronounce the name, and in its naked, deathless splendor +leave it shining on." This approaches very closely the beauty and +strength of the presidential period. + +In 1844 Lincoln wrote several poems, which are not without merit. As a +boy he was famous among his companions for his skill in writing +humorous verses, but these later specimens of his muse are serious, +even melancholy in their tone. + +We next come to the congressional period, from 1847 to 1849. The +best-known speech from this period, Lincoln's introduction to a +national public, is that of July 27, 1848, on General Taylor and the +veto, Taylor being then the Whig candidate for the presidency. This +speech, which was received with immense applause, owes its special +prominence to the fact that it is the only purely humorous speech by +Lincoln that has been preserved. The subject of the attack is General +Cass, Taylor's Democratic opponent, whom Lincoln treats in a manner +that somewhat suggests Douglas' later treatment of Lincoln on the +stump. Its peroration is of peculiar interest, since it consists of a +funny story. + +To anyone familiar with Lincoln's habit of story-telling the +introduction of a story at the end of a speech may not seem strange. +But, as a matter of fact, this is the only case of the kind that has +been noted, and a careful reading of the speeches shows either that +they were not fully reported or that as a rule he confined his +story-telling to conversation. Even in the debates with Douglas, when +he was addressing Illinois crowds from the stump at a time when stories +were even more popular than they are now, Lincoln seldom used this +device to rouse interest or to strengthen his argument. A partial +explanation of this curious contrast between his conversation and his +writing, so far as the debates are concerned, may be found in a remark +made by Lincoln to a friend who had urged him to treat the subject more +popularly. Lincoln said; "The occasion is too serious, the issues are +too grave. I do not seek applause, or to amuse the people, but to +convince them." With Lincoln the desire to prove his proposition, +whatever it might be, was always uppermost. In the earliest speeches +were noted the severe logic and the strict adherence to the subject in +hand. To the end Lincoln never changed this principle of his public +speaking. + +Although the stories, then, have but little direct bearing upon +Lincoln's writings, they are so characteristic a feature of the man +that they cannot be wholly disregarded. In the two cases already noted +the stories were illustrative, and this appears to be true of all of +Lincoln's anecdotes, whether they occur in his conversation or in his +writings. He apparently never dragged in stories for their own sake, +as so many conversational bores are in the habit of doing, but the +story was suggested by or served to illustrate some incident or +principle. Indeed, in aptness of illustration Lincoln has never been +surpassed. Emerson said of him: "I am sure if this man had ruled in a +period of less facility of printing, he would have become mythological +in a very few years, like Aesop or Pilpay, or one of the Seven Wise +Masters, by his fables and proverbs." Many of the anecdotes attributed +to Lincoln are undoubtedly to be referred to other sources, but the +number of authentic stories noted, especially during the presidency, is +very large. + +The question has often been raised whether Lincoln originated the +stories he told so well. Fortunately we have his own words in this +matter. To Noah Brooks he said: "I do generally remember a good story +when I hear it, but I never did invent anything original. I am only a +retail dealer." Slightly differing from this, though probably not +contradicting it, is Lincoln's statement to Mr. Chauncey M. Depew: "I +have originated but two stories in my life, but I tell tolerably well +other people's stories." + +During the Civil War Lincoln's stories served a special purpose as a +sort of safety valve. To a Congressman, who had remonstrated with him +for his apparent frivolity in combining funny stories with serious +discussion, he said: "If it were not for these stories I should die." +The addresses of the presidential period, however, with the exception +of a few responses to serenades, are entirely without humorous +anecdotes. Although Lincoln never hesitated to clear the discussion of +the most momentous questions through the medium of a funny story, his +sense of official and literary propriety made him confine them to +informal occasions. + +The Eulogy of Henry Clay of 1852 is of interest as being the only +address of this kind that Lincoln ever delivered. It might perhaps +better be called an appreciation, and because of its sincerity and deep +sympathy it may be regarded as a model of its kind. Two years later +Lincoln engaged in his first real debate with Douglas on the burning +question of the day, the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. From the +purely literary point of view the Peoria Speech is superior to the +better-known debates of four years later. While it lacks the finish +and poise of the two Inaugurals it is far more imaginative than the +Debates. One of its most striking features is the comparatively large +number of quotations, both from the Bible and from profane writings. +Although as a rule Lincoln quotes sparingly, this one speech contains +no fewer than twelve quotations, seven of these being from the Bible. +The only other speech that equals this one in the number of quotations +is the so-called Lost Speech of 1856, the authenticity of which is +doubtful. The very much shorter Second Inaugural, however, with its +four Bible quotations, has a larger proportionate number. Lincoln's +quotations seem to be suggested emotionally rather than intellectually. +This is indicated by the fact that the most emotional speeches contain +the greatest number of quotations. The first Inaugural, for example, +which is in the main a sober statement of principles, intended to quiet +rather than to excite passion, is four times as long as the emotional +Second Inaugural, but contains only one quotation to the four of the +other. We may note in this connection that almost exactly one-half of +the total number of quotations occurring in Lincoln's writings are +taken from the Bible, and that a large proportion of the profane +quotations are from Shakespeare. Lincoln was also fond of using +proverbial sayings, a habit that emphasized his character as a popular +or national writer. For most of his proverbs are local and many of +them are intensely homely. Quotations of this class occur at all +periods of his life, beginning with the first address, and they are +sometimes used in such unexpected places as official telegrams to +officers in the field. Strange to say, the maxim that is most +frequently associated with Lincoln's name cannot with any certainty be +regarded as having been used by him, either as a quotation or as an +original saying, "You can fool all of the people some of the time, and +some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all +the time." + +At the first regular Republican State Convention in Illinois, held at +Bloomington, May 29, 1856, Lincoln delivered an address on the public +issues of the day that roused the enthusiasm of his hearers to such a +degree that the reporters forgot to take notes and therefore failed to +furnish the text to their respective newspapers. In the course of time +it came to be known as the Lost Speech, and such, in the opinion of +many who were present on the occasion, it continued to be. Mr. W. C. +Whitney, a young lawyer from the neighboring town of Champaign, later +prepared a version based upon notes, from which some general idea of +the character of the speech can perhaps be gained. + +The Lincoln-Douglas Debates furnish perhaps the best example of this +class of public speaking that is available. Although they were +extempore, as far as the actual language is concerned, they have been +preserved in full. In spite of the informal style appropriate to the +"stump," these discussions of the Dred Scott decision, Popular +Sovereignty, and the other questions suggested by slavery are marked by +a closeness of reasoning and a readiness of retort that show the great +master in the difficult art of debate. These qualities are not +confined to the one speaker, for his opponent was no less adroit and +ready. We may well say in this connection, "there were giants in those +days." + +Much of Lincoln's success in these historic debates was due to his +intense conviction of the righteousness of the cause for which he was +pleading. As lawyer and political speaker Lincoln always felt the +necessity of believing in his case. He frequently refused to appear in +suits because he could not put his heart into them, and he never +defended a policy from mere party loyalty. Much of Lincoln's success +as a speaker was due to the fact that his hearers felt that they could +trust him. This is simply a new application of the old principle that +the chief qualification for success in oratory is character. In +reading a man's books we may forget his character for the time, but in +listening to an orator we have the man himself constantly before us, +and he himself makes or mars his success. + +In 1859 Lincoln delivered his second and last long occasional +address--a discussion of agriculture at the Wisconsin State Fair at +Milwaukee. This is the only important non-political speech by Lincoln +that has been preserved and it is interesting as showing his ability to +treat a subject of general interest. Here, as in his discussions of +political questions, Lincoln displayed true statesmanlike insight and +foresight, long before the time when experiment stations and farmers' +institutes began to teach the very principles that he so wisely and +effectively expounded. + +In 1860 Lincoln appeared for the first time before a New York audience +and we have his own word for it that he suffered a severe attack of +stage fright on that occasion. The event showed, however, that he had +no reason to fear the judgment of one of the most critical audiences +that ever assembled in the Cooper Union. The Hon. Joseph H. Choate, +who was present, writes of his appearance: "When he spoke he was +transformed, his eye kindled, his voice rang, his face shone and seemed +to light up the whole assembly. For an hour and a half he held his +audience in the hollow of his hand." This address may be regarded as a +precursor, and a worthy precursor, of the First Inaugural, and by many +competent critics it has been given the first place among the +discussions of the political situation just before the war. After such +a performance there could be no hesitation on the part of those that +heard it in acknowledging Abraham Lincoln as one of the most powerful +speakers of his day. Before returning to Illinois Lincoln travelled +through several of the New England States, making speeches in a number +of the larger towns. + +The speeches delivered by Lincoln on the journey to Washington, in +1860, beginning with the exquisite Farewell Address at Springfield, +include some of the best of his shorter addresses. The most +interesting of these is the one delivered in Independence Hall. + +The First Inaugural Address was not received at the time of its first +publication in the newspapers, even at the North, with the general +enthusiasm that we should now be inclined to assume; and in the South +it was severely criticised for its alleged lack of force and +definiteness. Its effect, however, upon the immense audience gathered +in front of the Capitol seems to have been immediate. The document had +been written with great care at Springfield, some changes being made +after the arrival at Washington. The most important of these were the +substitution for the original closing paragraph of the beautiful +peroration suggested by Secretary Seward. In beauty of language and +elevation of thought this first public utterance by President Lincoln +may be compared to the great political utterances of Burke. + +First among the little classics of the world stands the Gettysburg +Address. At the time of its delivery it does not seem to have been +generally accepted as a notable utterance. By many of the newspaper +correspondents it was referred to as "remarks by the President," and +some of the papers contained no comment upon it. By others it was +dismissed with a few words of mild praise. Even after the death of +Lincoln there was no general agreement as to its supreme merits as a +part of our national literature. Conflicting stories still pass +current in books and articles on Lincoln about its composition, and +original reception. An examination of the testimony shows that the +following facts may be accepted as fairly proved. The greater part of +the address was written in Washington after very careful preparation, +and profound reflection. The address was read from MS., but with some +variations that apparently occurred to the speaker at the time of +delivery. Mr. Everett did not clasp the President's hand while he +expressed a willingness to exchange his hundred pages for the twenty +lines just read. It is uncertain whether Lincoln said at the time that +the address did not "scour," but if he did use such an expression it +was not because of a consciousness of having failed to make adequate +preparation for the occasion. + +One of the best commentaries on the Second Inaugural Address appeared +in an article in the London _Spectator_: "We cannot read it without a +renewed conviction that it is the noblest political document known to +history, and should have for the nation and the statesmen he left +behind him something of a sacred and almost prophetic character." Carl +Schurz compared it to a sacred poem, and all discriminating readers +agree in placing it by the side of the Gettysburg Address as an almost +perfect specimen of pure English prose. + +The other addresses of the presidential period are, with the exception +of the last speech, on the reconstruction of Louisiana, of minor +importance. They consist in the main of responses to serenades, a form +of address which Lincoln cordially detested and in which as a rule he +achieved only a moderate degree of success. The cares of his great +office made such cruel demands upon his time and strength that he +declined many requests to speak in public, and whenever he did appear +he confined his remarks within the smallest possible limits. +Furthermore, Lincoln was not a reader speaker and rarely did himself +justice without careful preparation. Writers on Lincoln have failed to +note the severe criticisms upon Lincoln's impromptu remarks that +appeared in the opposition press and in the English newspapers. Even +as late as 1863 newspaper writers not opposed to him did not hesitate +to refer to the plainness of the President's public speaking. + +The Messages to Congress are distinguished from most documents of that +class by their frequent purple patches. To the enumeration of dry +facts furnished by the various departments they add an elevation and +breadth of thought of the first order. + +In a class by themselves are the various proclamations, some of them of +a purely formal character, such as those announcing blockades, others +of a distinctly literary character, like the announcements of fasts and +feasts. Midway between these two classes is the most important of all, +the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, which, with the +exception of the concluding sentence, is entirely free from ornament. +Perhaps Lincoln felt here, as with the Debates, that the occasion was +too serious, not only for jesting but even for attempting the mere +graces of language. + +Finally, mention should be made of the letters and telegrams written by +President Lincoln. Although many letters have been preserved from +earlier times, none make special claims to attention outside of the +information that they furnish. But during the last four years of his +life Lincoln wrote some of the most beautiful letters that have ever +been composed. One of these, the letter to Mrs. Bixby, has been given +a place on the walls of one of the Oxford colleges, as a model of noble +English. The Conkling letter and the letter to Horace Greeley are +among the most important statements of Lincoln's policy and are really +short political tracts. + +The First Inaugural can be traced through the Cooper Union Address and +the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, the Peoria Speech, and the speeches of +1854 to the seed of 1832, the plain, logical, direct statement of +principles of Lincoln's first address to the public. The development +of the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural, those supreme +expressions of Lincoln's feelings, is not, in the main, to be traced +through complete speeches, but it must be sought for in isolated +passages, when he left logic for the moment and gave himself up to the +passing emotion. The real seed of the majestic simplicity of those +addresses is perhaps to be found in those rhetorical speeches of an +early period, so lacking apparently in the qualities that we love and +admire. In writing, as in so many other things, we reap not what we +sow, but its fruition. The effect may seem very remotely related to +the cause, but he would be a fool who would deny the relation between +them. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +The complete works of Abraham Lincoln have been compiled and edited by +his biographers, John G. Nicolay and John Hay (two vols., Century +Company). Their life of Lincoln in ten volumes (Century Company) is +the standard authority. There is also an excellent condensation in one +volume. Other biographies are by W. H. Herndon, Lincoln's law partner +(two vols., Putnam); by Miss Ida Tarbell (two vols., McClure); by John +T. Morse, Jr., in the American Statesmen Series (Houghton, Mifflin & +Co.); and by Norman Hapgood (Macmillan). + +Among the many tributes to Lincoln, are the essays by James Russell +Lowell, Carl Schurz, the address by Emerson; and poems by Stedman, +Bryant, Holmes, Stoddard, Gilder, and Whitman, and the noble lines in +Lowell's Commemoration Ode. + +The student of Lincoln's writings should be familiar with the history +of the United States, and should consult the standard histories for +explanation of the references to events in the long struggle which +culminated in the Civil War. + + + + +CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE + + LIFE OF LINCOLN. CONTEMPORARY CONTEMPORARY + BIOGRAPHY. AMERICAN HISTORY. + + 1809. Lincoln born, 1809. Gladstone, 1809. Madison President. + Feb. 12. Darwin, Tennyson, + Poe, Holmes born. + + 1813. Douglas born. + + 1816. Family moved 1816. Indiana admitted + to Indiana. as a state. + + 1818. Mother died. 1818. Illinois admitted + as a state. + + 1819. Father married + Sarah Johnston. + + 1820. Missouri Compromise. + + 1821. Missouri admitted + as a state. + + 1822. Grant born. + + 1829. Jackson President. + + 1830. Family moved 1830. Douglas moved 1830. Speeches of Hayne + to Illinois. to New York. and Webster. + + 1831. Settled in 1831. Publication of + New Salem. _The Liberatur_. + + 1832. Enlisted in the 1832. Founding of the + Black Hawk War: New England Anti-Slavery + unsuccessful Society. + candidate for the + legislature + + 1833. Postmaster of 1833. Douglas moved 1833. Founding of the + New Salem; deputy to Illinois. American Anti-Slavery + surveyor's clerk. Society. + + 1834. Elected to the 1834. Douglas admitted + legislature. to the bar. + + 1835. Douglas elected + State's Attorney. + + 1836. Reelected to 1836. Douglas elected + the legislature. to the legislature. + Presidential Elector. + + 1837. Admitted to 1837. Douglas 1837. Van Buren + the bar. Moved appointed Registrar President. Murder + to Springfield. of the Land Office; of Owen Lovejoy. + nominated for + Congress. + + 1838. Reelected to + the legislature. + + 1840. Presidential 1840. Douglas + Elector. appointed Judge + of the Illinois + Supreme Court. + + 1841. Harrison + President. Tyler + President. + + 1843. Married to + Mary Todd. + + 1844. Presidential 1844. Douglas elected + Elector. to Congress. + + 1845. Polk President. + Texas admitted as a + state. + + 1846. Elected to 1846-48. War with Mexico. + Congress. + + 1847. Douglas elected + U.S. Senator; moved + to Chicago. + + 1848. Presidential + Elector. + + 1849. Taylor President. + + 1850. Death of + Calhoun. + + 1850. Fillmore President. + Clay's Compromise + Measure. + + 1852. Death of Clay + and of Webster. + + 1853. Douglas 1853. Pierce President. + reelected Senator. + + 1854. Reelected to the 1854. Kansas-Nebraska + legislature. Bill. + + 1855. Resigned from the + legislature. Candidate + for the U. S. Senate. + + 1856. Candidate for 1856. Fremont first + nomination for Republican candidate for + Vice-President. the presidency. Civil + war in Kansas. + + 1857. Buchanan President. + The Dred Scott Decision. + + 1858. Candidate for 1858. Lincoln-Douglas + the U. S. Senate. Debates. + + 1859. Douglas 1859. Death of John + reelected Brown. + to the Senate. + + 1860. Cooper Institute 1860. Douglas 1860. South Carolina + Address. Elected Democratic Ordinance of Secession. + President. candidate + for the Presidency. + + 1861. Left Springfield, 1861. Douglas died, 1861. Fall of Fort Sumter, + Feb. 11; inaugurated June 3. April 12. Battle + March 4. McClellan of Bull Run, July 21. + Commander-in-Chief. Kansas admitted as a + state. + + 1862. The Preliminary 1862. Slavery abolished + Emancipation in the District of + Proclamation, Sept. 22. Columbia, April 16. + + 1863. The Final 1863. Battle of + Emancipation Gettysburg, July 1-5. + Proclamation, + Jan. 1. The + Gettysburg Address, + Nov. 19. + + 1864. Reelected to 1864. Grant 1864. Battles of the + the Presidency. appointed Wilderness, May 6-7. + Lieutenant-General. + + 1865. Inaugurated, 1865. Fall of Richmond, + Mar. 4. Assassinated, April 3. Surrender of + April 14; died April Lee, April 9. Johnson + 15; buried at sworn in as President, + Springfield, May 4. April 15. + + + + +SELECTIONS FROM INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN + + + + +LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, ADDRESSES AND LETTERS + +ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY, MARCH 9, 1832 + +FELLOW-CITIZENS: Having become a candidate for the honorable office of +one of your representatives in the next General Assembly of this state, +in accordance with an established custom and the principles of true +republicanism, it becomes my duty to make known to you--the people whom +I propose to represent--my sentiments with regard to local affairs. + +Time and experience have verified to a demonstration, the public +utility of internal improvements. That the poorest and most thinly +populated countries would be greatly benefited by the opening of good +roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams within their limits, is +what no person will deny. But yet it is folly to undertake works of +this or any other kind, without first knowing that we are able to +finish them--as half finished work generally proves to be labor lost. +There cannot justly be any objection to having railroads and canals, +any more than to other good things, provided they cost nothing. The +only objection is to paying for them; and the objection to paying +arises from the want of ability to pay. + +With respect to the county of Sangamon, some more easy means of +communication than we now possess, for the purpose of facilitating the +task of exporting the surplus products of its fertile soil, and +importing necessary articles from abroad, are indispensably necessary. +A meeting has been held of the citizens of Jacksonville, and the +adjacent country, for the purpose of deliberating and enquiring into +the expediency of constructing a railroad from some eligible point on +the Illinois river, through the town of Jacksonville, in Morgan county, +to the town of Springfield in Sangamon county. This is, indeed, a very +desirable object. No other improvement that reason will justify us in +hoping for, can equal in utility the railroad. It is a never failing +source of communication, between places of business remotely situated +from each other. Upon the railroad the regular progress of commercial +intercourse is not interrupted by either high or low water, or freezing +weather, which are the principal difficulties that render our future +hopes of water communication precarious and uncertain. Yet, however +desirable an object the construction of a railroad through our country +may be; however high our imaginations may be heated at thoughts of +it--there is always a heart appalling shock accompanying the account of +its cost, which forces us to shrink from our pleasing anticipations. +The probable cost of this contemplated railroad is estimated at +$290,000;--the bare statement of which, in my opinion, is sufficient to +justify the belief, that the improvement of the Sangamon river is an +object much better suited to our infant resources. + +Respecting this view, I think I may say, without the fear of being +contradicted, that its navigation may be rendered completely +practicable, as high as the mouth of the South Fork, or probably +higher, to vessels of from 25 to 30 tons burthen, for at least one half +of all common years, and to vessels of much greater burthen a part of +that time. From my peculiar circumstances, it is probable that for the +last twelve months I have given as particular attention to the stage of +the water in this river, as any other person in the country. In the +month of March, 1831, in company with others, I commenced the building +of a flatboat on the Sangamon, and finished and took her out in the +course of the spring. Since that time, I have been concerned in the +mill at New Salem. These circumstances are sufficient evidence, that I +have not been very inattentive to the stages of the water.--The time at +which we crossed the milldam, being in the last days of April, the +water was lower than it had been since the breaking of winter in +February, or than it was for several weeks after. The principal +difficulties we encountered in descending the river, were from the +drifted timber, which obstructions all know is not difficult to be +removed. Knowing almost precisely the height of water at that time, I +believe I am safe in saying that it has as often been higher as lower +since. + +From this view of the subject, it appears that my calculations with +regard to the navigation of the Sangamon, cannot be unfounded in +reason; but whatever may be its natural advantages, certain it is, that +it never can be practically useful to any great extent, without being +greatly improved by art. The drifted timber, as I have before +mentioned, is the most formidable barrier to this object. Of all parts +of this river, none will require so much labor in proportion, to make +it navigable as the last thirty or thirty-five miles; and going with +the meanderings of the channel, when we are this distance above its +mouth, we are only between twelve and eighteen miles above Beardstown +in something near a straight direction, and this route is upon such low +ground as to retain water in many places during the season, and in all +parts such as to draw two-thirds or three-fourths of the river water at +all stages. + +This route is up on prairieland the whole distance;--so that it appears +to me, by removing the turf, a sufficient width, and damming up the old +channel, the whole river in a short time would wash its way through, +thereby curtailing the distance, and increasing the velocity of the +current very considerably, while there would be no timber upon the +banks to obstruct its navigation in future; and being nearly straight, +the timber which might float in at the head, would be apt to go clear +through. There are also many places above this where the river, in its +zigzag course, forms such complete peninsulas, as to be easier cut +through at the necks than to remove the obstructions from the +bends--which if done, would also lessen the distance. + +What the cost of this work would be, I am unable to say. It is +probable, however, that it would not be greater than is common to +streams of the same length. Finally, I believe the improvement of the +Sangamon river, to be vastly important and highly desirable to the +improvement of the county; and if elected, any measure in the +legislature having this for its object, which may appear judicious, +will meet my approbation and shall receive my support. + +It appears that the practice of loaning money at exorbitant rates of +interest, has already been opened as a field for discussion; so I +suppose I may enter upon it without claiming the honor, or risking the +danger, which may await its first explorer. It seems as though we are +never to have an end to this baneful and corroding system, acting +almost as prejudicial to the general interests of the community as a +direct tax of several thousand dollars annually laid on each county, +for the benefit of a few individuals only, unless there be a law made +setting a limit to the rates of usury. A law for this purpose, I am of +opinion, may be made without materially injuring any class of people. +In cases of extreme necessity there could always be means found to +cheat the law, while in all other cases it would have its intended +effect. I would not favor the passage of a law upon this subject which +might be very easily evaded. Let it be such that the labor and +difficulty of evading it could only be justified in cases of greatest +necessity. + +Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or +system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most +important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every +man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled +to read the history of his own and other countries, by which he may +duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an +object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing +of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to +read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral +nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the time when +education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and +industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be +gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the +advancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate +the happy period. + +With regard to existing laws, some alterations are thought to be +necessary. Many respectable men have suggested that our estray +laws--the law respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, and +some others, are deficient in their present form, and require +alterations. But considering the great probability that the framers of +those laws were wiser than myself, I should prefer [not] meddling with +them, unless they were first attacked by others, in which case I should +feel it both a privilege and a duty to take that stand, which in my +view, might tend most to the advancement of justice. + +But, fellow-citizens, I shall conclude.--Considering the great degree +of modesty which should always attend youth, it is probable I have +already been more presuming than becomes me. However, upon the +subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be +wrong in regard to any or all of them; but, holding it a sound maxim, +that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, +so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to +renounce them. + +Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or +not, I can say, for one, that I have no other so great as that of being +truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their +esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to +be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and +have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy +or popular relations to recommend me. My case is thrown exclusively +upon the independent voters of this county, and if elected they will +have conferred a favor upon me, for which I shall be unremitting in my +labors to compensate. But, if the good people in their wisdom shall +see fit to keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with +disappointments to be very much chagrined. + + Your friend and fellow-citizen, + A. LINCOLN. + + NEW SALEM, March 9, 1832. + + + + +THE PERPETUATION OF OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS, JANUARY 27, 1837 + +In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the +American People, find our account running under date of the nineteenth +century of the Christian era.--We find ourselves in the peaceful +possession 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 essentially 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; 'tis 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 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 us faithfully to 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 Buonaparte 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 destruction 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 country; 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 fearful 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 pervaded 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 slave-holding or the non-slave-holding states. +Alike 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 following for a livelihood a very +useful or very honest occupation; but one which, so far from being +forbidden by the laws, was actually licensed by an act of the +Legislature 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 hanging, 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 McIntosh 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 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 consequences 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 Vicksburg was of but little +consequence. They constitute a portion of population that is worse +than useless in any community; and their death, if no pernicious +example be set by it, is never matter of reasonable regret with any +one. If they were annually swept from the stage of existence by the +plague or small-pox, honest men would perhaps be much profited by the +operation.--Similar too is the correct reasoning in regard 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 +afterwards. 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 murderers, +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, acting 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 +innocent, those who have ever set their faces against violations 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 defence 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 unrestrained. 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 defence 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 government 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 feelings +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 ambition will not be +wanting to seize the opportunity, strike the blow, and overturn that +fair fabric which for the last half century as 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 expected. + +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 property, +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 of all sexes and tongues and +colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. + +While ever a state of feeling such as this shall universally 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 +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 instance, the promulgation of +abolitionism, one of two positions is necessarily true--that is, the +thing is right within itself, and therefore deserves the protection of +all law and all good citizens, or, it is wrong, and therefore proper to +be prohibited by legal enactments; 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 dangers may be +overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be +extremely dangerous. 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 been maintained in its original form, from its +establishment 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 experiment; now it is understood to be a successful +one.--Then, all that sought celebrity and fame and distinction expected +to find them in the success of that experiment. Their _all_ was staked +upon it; their destiny was _inseparably_ linked with it. Their +ambition aspired 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 problematical--namely, _the +capability of a people to govern themselves_. If they succeeded they +were to be immortalized; 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 gratification 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 beyond a seat in Congress, +a gubernatorial or a presidential 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 Caesar, or a Napoleon? Never! +Towering genius disdains a beaten path. It seeks regions hitherto +unexplored. It sees no distinction 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 +unreasonable 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 a one +does, it will require the people to be united with each other, attached +to the government and laws, and generally intelligent, to successfully +frustrate his designs. + +Distinction will be his paramount object, and, although he would as +willingly, perhaps more so, acquire 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 have well existed heretofore. + +Another reason which _once was_, but which, to the same extent, is _now +no more_, has done much in maintaining our institutions thus far, I +mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the +Revolution had upon the _passions_ of the people as distinguished 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 conscious 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_, instead of being turned against each +other, were directed exclusively against the British nation. And thus, +from the force of circumstances, the basest principles 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 +maintaining 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 Revolution _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 participator 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 testimonies 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 foeman could _never do_, the silent artillery of time +_has done_--the levelling of its walls. They are gone. They _were_ a +forest of giant oaks; but the all-restless hurricane 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 limbs a few +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, calculating, unimpassioned +reason--must furnish all the materials for our future support and +defence. Let those materials be moulded 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 permitted 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_." + + + + +SPEECH, AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, JUNE 16, 1858 + +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 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 permanently half slave +and half free. I do not expect 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 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. + +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 consider 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 prohibition. This opened +all the national territory to slavery, and was the first point gained. + +But, so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement 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 argument 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 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." +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 Congress, 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 +Territory 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. Before 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 constitutionally +exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers: "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 hundred thousand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly +reliable and satisfactory. The out-going President, in his last annual +message, as impressively 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 President 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 indorseing the Dred Scott decision, and +vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, +seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and +strongly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that +any different view had ever been entertained! + +At length a squabble springs up between the President 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 intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he +would impress upon the public mind--the principle 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 existence, tumbled down like temporary +scaffolding--like the mould 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 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 connection 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 to 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 thousand slaves, in Illinois, or +in any other free State. + +Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska +doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould 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 already stated. Several +things will now appear less dark and mysterious than they did when they +were transpiring. The people were to be left "perfectly free," +"subject only to the Constitution." What the Constitution 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 declare the perfect freedom of the people to be just no freedom at +all. Why was the amendment, expressly declaring 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 President's felicitation +on the indorsement? Why the delay of a reargument? Why the incoming +President's advance 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 President and others? + +We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations 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 joined together, and +see they exactly make the 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 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 beginning, 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 Constitution." 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 mention 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 +opinions of all the concurring judges, expressly declare that the +Constitution of the United States neither permits Congress nor a +Territorial Legislature to exclude slavery from any United States +Territory, they all omit to declare whether or not the same +Constitution permits 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 behalf of the +people of a Territory, into the Nebraska bill--I ask, who can be quite +sure that it would not have been voted down in the one case as it had +been in the other? The nearest approach to the point of declaring 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 jurisdiction." 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 sufficiently 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 unwelcome, 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 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 +protection, he will be wholly without a ground of opposition. + +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 himself has given +no intimation? Can we safely base our action upon any such vague +inference? Now, as ever, I 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 +nation 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. + + + + +SECOND JOINT DEBATE AT FREEPORT, AUGUST 27, 1858 + +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 during 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, +answered one of the interrogatories then. I then distinctly 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 +intimation at the time of the proposition, nor did he in his reply +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 respond. 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 propound 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 responsible but myself. + +Having said thus 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 today stands as he did +in 1854, in favor of the unconditional 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?" + +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 Compromise 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 examination of these +questions and answers, that so far I have only answered that I was not +_pledged_ to this, that, or the other. The Judge has not framed his +interrogatories to ask me anything more than this, and I have answered +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. Having 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 now not 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 having to pass upon that question. I should be exceedingly 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 during 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 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 exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the +District of Columbia. I believe that Congress possesses the +constitutional 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 +consideration 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 prominently 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 constitutional 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 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 regard to the question whether I am opposed to the +acquisition 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 persons and +render them enemies to myself, would be offensive to persons in this +audience. + +I now proceed to propound to the Judge the interrogatories, 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 inhabitants 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 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, adopting, and following such decision as a rule of +political action? + +Q. 4. Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, 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 myself had participated in adopting, in the first +Republican State Convention, held at Springfield, in October, 1854. He +insisted that I and Judge Trumbull, and perhaps 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 itself a +Republican State convention; yet it is true there was a convention, or +assemblage of men calling themselves a convention, at Springfield, that +did pass _some_ resolutions. But so little did I really know of the +proceedings 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 denying, 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 discovery 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 +resolutions 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 his name has become of +world-wide renown,--it is _most extraordinary_ that he should so far +forget all the suggestions 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 advantage 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 extraordinary by this incident--is, that he +is in the habit, in almost all the speeches he makes, of charging +falsehood 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 Nebraska 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 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 implicated 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 conceive 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 afterward, 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 increased 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 people; and to test the sincerity of this +mode of argument, 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 Territory should have the power to exclude slavery if +they 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 amendment 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 coming in collision with the decision when it +was made. Anybody can conceive that if there was an intention or +expectation that such a decision 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 Douglas +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, intelligible reason why it was voted down than to stand upon +his dignity and call people liars. Well, on Saturday he did make his +answer, and what do you think it 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 forward with his amendment expressly +authorizing the people to exclude slavery from the limits of every +Territory, 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 +confident, 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 +Douglas'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 decision 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 no such thing--that Mr. Chase was one of the +men differing from them on the broad principle of his insisting 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 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 +themselves? 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 disposed 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 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 of two other occasions, to the enormity of Lincoln--an +insignificant individual 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 Constitution. Made by whom? The framers of that +constitution. Advocated by whom? By all the members of the party in +the nation who advocated the introduction 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 advocating 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 attention to the enormity of my making a like +charge against him. + +Go on, Judge Douglas. + + + + +THE COOPER INSTITUTE ADDRESS, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1860 + +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 Columbus, 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 a text for this discourse. I +so adopt it because it furnishes a precise and 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 +subsequently 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, forbid 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 denial 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 +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, properly +forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in Federal +territory. The other of the four--James McHenry--voted against the +prohibition, showing 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 +prohibiting slavery in the Territory again came before the Congress of +the Confederation; and three more of the "thirty-nine" who afterward +signed the Constitution were in that Congress, and voted on the +question. They were William Blount, William Few, and Abraham Baldwin; +and they all 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 Territories seems not +to have been directly before the convention 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. + +In 1789, by the first Congress which sat under the Constitution, an act +was passed to enforce the Ordinance 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 Fitzsimmons, then a member +of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. It went through all +its stages without a word of opposition, and finally passed both +branches without ayes and nays, which is equivalent to an unanimous +passage. In this Congress there were sixteen of the "thirty-nine" +fathers who framed the original Constitution. They were John Langdon, +Nicholas Gilman, Wm. S. Johnson, Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Thos. +Fitzsimmons, William Few, Abraham Baldwin, Rufus King, William +Patterson, George Clymer, Richard Bassett, George Read, Pierce Butler, +Daniel Carroll, and James Madison. + +This shows that, in their understanding, no line dividing local from +Federal authority, nor anything in the Constitution, properly forbade +Congress to prohibit slavery in the Federal territory; else both their +fidelity to correct principle, and their oath to support the +Constitution, would have constrained them to oppose 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 condition by the ceding States that the +Federal Government 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 probably voted for +it. Certainly they would have placed their opposition to it upon +record if, in their understanding, any line dividing local from Federal +authority, 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 Louisiana 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. Congress 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: + +First. That no slave should be imported into the Territory from +foreign parts. + +Second. That no slave should be carried into it who had been imported +into the United States since the first day of May, 1798. + +Third. That no slave should be carried into it, except by the owner, +and for his own use as a settler; the penalty 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 and 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 opposition to it if, in their +understanding, it violated either the line properly dividing local from +Federal authority, 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 prohibition and against all compromises, while Mr. +Pinckney 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 Federal +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, three in +1787, seventeen in 1789, three in 1798, two in 1804, and two in +1819-20, there would be thirty of them. But this would be counting +John Langdon, Roger 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;" and twenty-one of them--a clear majority of +the whole "thirty-nine"--so acting upon it as to make them guilty of +gross political impropriety and wilful perjury if, in their +understanding, 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 support the +Constitution can conscientiously vote for what he understands to be an +unconstitutional measure, however expedient he may think it; but one +may and ought to vote against a measure which he deems constitutional +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 control 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 understanding upon the direct +question of Federal control 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 appear to us that on the direct question +of Federal control 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 +anti-slavery 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-one--a clear majority of the +whole--certainly understood that no proper division of local from +Federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the +Federal Government to control slavery in the Federal Territories; while +all the rest probably had 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 understanding of the question +manifested by the framers of the original Constitution. In and by the +original instrument, a mode was provided for amending it; and, as I +have already stated, the present frame of "the government 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, I understand, +they all fix upon provisions 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 Constitution--the identical Congress which +passed the act already mentioned, enforcing the prohibition of slavery +in the Northwestern Territory. Not only was it the same Congress, but +they were the identical, same individual men who, at the same session, +and at the same time within the session, had under consideration, and +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. + +That Congress, consisting in all of seventy-six members, 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 Territories. + +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 amendments 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 understanding, any proper division of local from Federal authority, +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 (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 +Federal 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 +experience--to reject all progress, all improvement. What I do say is, +that if we would supplant the opinions 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 Government 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 +Government under which we live" were of the same opinion--thus +substituting falsehood and deception for truthful 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 them to understand that a +proper division of local from Federal authority, or some part of the +Constitution, 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 responsibility 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 understood 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 grudgingly, 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 Southern 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 inferior to any other people. Still, when you +speak of us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, +at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to +pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to "Black Republicans." In +all your contentions with one another, each of you deems an +unconditional condemnation of "Black Republicanism" as the first thing +to be attended to. Indeed, 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. You 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 making, 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 discussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our +principle, put in practice, would wrong your section for the benefit 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 Government 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 consideration. + +Some of you delight to flaunt in our faces the warning 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 have 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 commend it to you, together with his example pointing to the +right application of it. + +But you say you are conservative--eminently conservative--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 reject, +and scout, and spit upon that old policy, and insist upon substituting +something new. True, you disagree among yourselves as to what that +substitute shall be. You are divided on new propositions and plans, +but you are unanimous in rejecting and denouncing the old policy of the +fathers. Some of you are for reviving the foreign slave-trade; some +for a congressional slave-code for the Territories; some for Congress +forbidding the Territories to prohibit slavery within their limits; +some for maintaining slavery in the Territories through the judiciary; +some for the "gur-reat pur-rinciple" that "if one man would enslave +another, no third man should object," fantastically called "Popular +Sovereignty;" but never a man among you is in favor of Federal +prohibition of slavery in Federal Territories, 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 Government 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? Harper's Ferry! John Brown!! John Brown +was no Republican; 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 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 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 no doctrine, and make no declaration, 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 +elections came, and your expectations were not quite fulfilled. 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. Republican 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 belief 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 Republicanism; and then, to give point to the charge, +defines Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, and +thunder among the slaves. + +Slave insurrections are no more common now than they were before the +Republican party was organized. 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 conclusion that Southampton was "got up +by Black Republicanism." 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 indispensable concert of action cannot +be obtained. The slaves have no means of rapid communication; nor can +incendiary freemen, black or white, supply it. The explosive 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 +individuals 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 +consequence, 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. 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 Government. 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 institution--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 refused 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 enthusiast 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 else than in 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 disprove 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, break up the Republican +organization? Human action can be modified to some extent, but human +nature cannot 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 peaceful 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 specific and well +understood allusion to an assumed constitutional right of yours to take +slaves into the Federal Territories, and to hold them there as +property. But no such right is specifically written in the +Constitution. 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 construe 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 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 property. + +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 statement in the opinion that "the right of +property in a slave is distinctly and expressly affirmed in the +Constitution." + +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 expressly" affirmed +there--"distinctly," that is, not mingled with anything +else--"expressly," that is, in words meaning just that, without the aid +of any inference, 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 +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 a 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 yourself justified to +break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is shall +be at once submitted to as a conclusive and final rule of political +action? + +But you will not abide the election of a Republican 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 the 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 Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all +parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony one +with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even +though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion 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 controversy with us, let +us determine if we can, what will satisfy them. + +Will they be satisfied if the Territories be unconditionally +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 detected 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. Senator +Douglas's new sedition law must be enacted and 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 +fugitive 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 precisely 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 continue to accuse us of doing, +until we cease saying. + +I am also aware they have not as yet in terms demanded 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 object to its +nationality--its universality; if it is wrong, they cannot justly +insist upon its extension--its enlargement. All they ask we could +readily grant, if we thought slavery right; all we ask they could as +readily 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 fearlessly 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 beseeching true Union men to yield to +Disunionists, reversing 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 menaces 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. + + + +FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 12, 1861 + +My Friends: No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel +at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have +lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and +here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you +again. A duty devolves upon me which is, perhaps, greater than that +which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He +never could have succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, +upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed +without the same Divine Aid which sustained him; and in the same +Almighty Being I place my reliance for support; and I hope you, my +friends, will all pray that I may receive that Divine Assistance, +without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. +Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell. + + + + +FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 11, 1861 + +My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of +sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these +people, I owe everything. Here I have lived a quarter of a century, +and have passed from a young to an old man. Here my children have been +born and one is buried. I now leave, not knowing when or whether ever +I may return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon +Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever +attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. +Trusting in Him, who can go with me and remain with you, and be +everywhere for good; let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. +To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend +me, I bid you an affectionate farewell. + + + + +ADDRESS IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, FEBRUARY 22, 1861 + +Mr. Cutler: I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing in +this place, where were collected together 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 distracted 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 sentiments +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 +pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled +here and framed and adopted that Declaration. I have pondered over the +toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who +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 the separation of the colonies from the +motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which +gave liberty not alone to the people 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 bloodshed 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. + + + + +FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1861 + +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 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 Republican 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 inclination 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 exclusively, is +essential to that balance of power on which the perfection 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 conclusive evidence of which the case is +susceptible, that the property, peace, and security of no section are +to be in any wise endangered by the now incoming administration. 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 provision 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 unanimity 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 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 reservations, and with +no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical +rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of +Congress 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 +unconstitutional. + +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 disruption 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 perpetual. +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 forever--it being impossible to +destroy it except by some action not provided for in the instrument +itself. + +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 itself. 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 Declaration 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 perfect 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 circumstances. + +I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, +the Union is unbroken; and to the extent of my ability I shall take +care, as the Constitution 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 my 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 maintain 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 +property and places belonging to the government, and to collect the +duties and imposts; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, +there will be no invasion, no using of force against or among the +people anywhere. 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 government to enforce the +exercise of these offices, the attempt 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, will continue to be furnished 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 modification or change to be +proper, and in every case and exigency my best discretion will be +exercised according 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 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 destruction 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 existence? 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 constitutional 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 audacity of doing +this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly +written provision of the Constitution 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 affirmations and +negations, guarantees and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that +controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever +be framed with a provision specifically applicable to every question +which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can +anticipate, nor any document of reasonable 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 expressly say. _Must_ Congress protect +slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. + +From questions of this class spring all our constitutional +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 educated to the exact +temper of doing this. + +Is there such perfect identity of interests 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 constitutional 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 inadmissible; 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 Supreme 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 it is obviously possible that +such decision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect +following 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, having 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 political purposes. + +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 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 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 impassable 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 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 +revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it. I cannot be ignorant +of the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens are desirious of +having the National Constitution 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 precisely such as they +would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed +amendment to the Constitution--which amendment, however, I have not +seen--has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal 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 seriously injure the government in the short space +of four years. + +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 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 your present difficulties. + +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 government, while I +shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, 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. + + + + +RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, MARCH 4, 1861 + +Fellow Citizens: I thank you for this visit. I thank you that you call +upon me, not in any sectional spirit, but that you come, without +distinction of party, to pay your respects to the President of the +United States. I am informed that you are mostly citizens of New York. +[Cries of "all," "all."] You all appear to be very happy. May I hope +that the public expression which I have this day given to my +sentiments, may have contributed in some degree to your happiness. +[Emphatic exclamations of assent.] As far as I am concerned, the loyal +citizens of every State, and of every section, shall have no cause to +feel any other sentiment. [Cries of "good," "good."] As towards the +disaffected portions of our fellow-citizens, I will say, as every good +man throughout the country must feel, that there will be more rejoicing +over one sheep that is lost, and is found, than over the ninety and +nine which have not gone astray. [Great cheering.] And now, my +friends, as I have risen from the dinner-table to see you, you will +excuse me for the brevity of my remarks, and permit me again to thank +you heartily and cordially for the pleasant visit, as I rejoin those +who await my return. + + + + +LETTER TO COLONEL ELLSWORTH'S PARENTS + +Washington, D.C., May 25, 1861. + +To the Father and Mother of Colonel Elmer E. Ellsworth: + +My dear Sir and Madam: In the untimely loss of your noble son, our +affliction here is scarcely less than your own. So much of promised +usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for one's self and +friends, have rarely been so suddenly dashed as in his fall. In size, +in years, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his power to command +men was surpassingly great. This power, combined with a fine +intellect, an indomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, +constituted in him, as seemed to me, the best natural talent in that +department I ever knew. + +And yet, he was singularly modest and deferential in social +intercourse. My acquaintance with him began less than two years ago; +yet through the latter part of the intervening period it was as +intimate as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing engagements +would permit. To me he appeared to have no indulgences or pastimes; +and I never heard him utter a profane or an intemperate word. What was +conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents. The honors +he labored for so laudably, and for which in the sad end he so +gallantly gave his life, he meant for them no less than for himself. + +In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness of your +sorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to the memory of my +young friend and your brave and early fallen child. + +May God give you that consolation which is beyond all earthly power. + +Sincerely your friend in a common affliction, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY + +Executive Mansion, Washington, August 22, 1862. + +Hon. Horace Greeley: + +Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed to myself +through the N. Y. _Tribune_. If there be in it any statements or +assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous, I do not now and +here controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may +believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here argue against them. +If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I +waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always +supposed to be right. + +As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant +to leave any one in doubt. + +I would save the Union. I would save it in the shortest way under the +Constitution. + +The sooner the National authority can be restored, the nearer the Union +will be "the Union as it was." + +If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the +same time _save_ Slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those +who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time +_destroy_ Slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in +this struggle is to save the Union, and is _not_ either to save or to +destroy Slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing _any_ +slave, I would do it; if I could save it by freeing _all_ the slaves, I +would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others +alone, I would also do that. What I do about Slavery and the colored +race, I do because I believe it helps to save this Union; and what I +forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the +Union. I shall do _less_ whenever I shall believe that what I am doing +hurts the cause, and I shall do _more_ whenever I shall believe doing +more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to +be errors; and I shall adopt new views as fast as they shall appear to +be true views. + +I have here stated my purpose according to my views of _official_ duty; +and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed _personal_ wish that +all men, everywhere could be free. Yours, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + + +EXTRACT FROM THE SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, DECEMBER 1, 1862 + +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 which is owned and inhabited by the people of the United States +is well 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 advantage in this age for one people +whatever they might have been in former ages. Steam, telegraphs, and +intelligence 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 differences 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 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 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 impassable 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 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. + + +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 and back 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 separation, 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. + +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, territorially 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 Mountains to the +Pacific being the deepest and also the richest 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 seacoast, 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 physical 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 indispensable 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 people 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. Nor are the marginal +regions less interested in these communications to and through them to +the great outside world. They, too, and each of them, must have access +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 generations 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 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 national +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 whatsoever is +possible, still the question occurs, "Can we do better?" The dogmas of +the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is +piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our +case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthral +ourselves, and then we shall save our country. + +Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and +this administration will be remembered 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 succeed; this could not fail. The way is +plain, peaceful, generous, just--a way which, if followed, the world +will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN. + +Washington, Dec. 1, 1862. + + + + +THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION, JANUARY 1, 1863 + +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 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. + +"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 respectively 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 testimony be deemed +conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then +in rebellion against the United States." + + +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 suppressing 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 designate as the States and parts of States +wherein the people 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, Alabama, Florida, +Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the +forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties +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 +proclamation 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, including 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-defence, and I recommend to +them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for +reasonable 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 military necessity, I invoke the +considerate judgment of mankind and the gracious favor of Almighty God. + + + + +THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION, JULY 15, 1863 + +It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications 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 augmented 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. + +Now, therefore, be it known that I do set apart 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 +emergency, 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. + + + + +LETTER TO J. C. CONKLING + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, August 26, 1863. + +Hon. James C. Conkling: + +My dear Sir: Your letter inviting me to attend a mass-meeting of +unconditional Union men, to be held at the capital of Illinois on the +3d day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable to +me to thus meet my old friends at my own home; but I cannot just now be +absent from here so long as a visit there would require. + +The meeting is to be of all those who maintain unconditional devotion +to the Union; and I am sure my old political friends will thank me for +tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those and other noble men +whom no partizan malice or partizan hope can make false to the nation's +life. + +There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say: You +desire peace, and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we +attain it? There are but three conceivable ways: First, to suppress +the rebellion by force of arms. This I am trying to do. Are you for +it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second +way is to give up the Union. I am against this. Are you for it? If +you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet +for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable compromise. I do +not believe that any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union +is now possible. All I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The +strength of the rebellion is its military, its army. That army +dominates all the country and all the people within its range. Any +offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition +to that army, is simply nothing for the present, because such man or +men have no power whatever to enforce their side of a compromise, if +one were made with them. + +To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of the +North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise +embracing a restoration of the Union. In what way can that compromise +be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsylvania? Meade's army can keep +Lee's army out of Pennsylvania, and, I think, can ultimately drive it +out of existence. But no paper compromise to which the controllers of +Lee's army are not agreed can at all affect that army. In an effort at +such compromise we should waste time which the enemy would improve to +our disadvantage; and that would be all. A compromise, to be +effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, +or with the people first liberated from the domination of that army by +the success of our own army. Now, allow me to assure you that no word +or intimation from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling +it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge +or belief. All charges and insinuations to the contrary are deceptive +and groundless. And I promise you that if any such proposition shall +hereafter come, it shall not be rejected and kept a secret from you. I +freely acknowledge myself the servant of the people, according to the +bond of service,--the United States Constitution,--and that, as such, I +am responsible to them. + +But to be plain. You are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite +likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon +that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I +suppose you do not. Yet I have neither adopted nor proposed any +measure which is not consistent with even your views, provided you are +for the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation, to which you +replied you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked +you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way as to save you from +greater taxation to save the Union exclusively by other means. + +You dislike the Emancipation Proclamation, and perhaps would have it +retracted. You say it is unconstitutional. I think differently. I +think the Constitution invests its commander-in-chief with the law of +war in time of war. The most that can be said--if so much--is, that +slaves are property. Is there, has there ever been, any question that, +by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken +when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it helps us or hurts +the enemy? Armies, the world over, destroy enemies' property when they +cannot use it, and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. +Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves or hurt +the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among +the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-combatants, +male and female. + +But the Proclamation, as law, either is valid or is not valid. If it +is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it cannot be +retracted any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you +profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. +Why better after the retraction than before the issue? There was more +than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the +Proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an +explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt +returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progressed as +favorably for us since the issue of the Proclamation as before. + +I know, as fully as one can know the opinions of others, that some of +the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most +important successes, believe the emancipation policy and the use of +colored troops constitute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion, +and that at least one of these important successes could not have been +achieved when it was but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the +commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity +with what is called "Abolitionism," or with "Republican party +politics," but who hold them purely as military opinions. I submit +their opinions as being entitled to some weight against the objections +often urged that emancipation and arming the blacks are unwise as +military measures, and were not adopted as such in good faith. + +You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing +to fight for you; but no matter. Fight you, then, exclusively, to save +the Union. I issued the Proclamation on purpose to aid you in saving +the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the +Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time +then for you to declare you will not fight to free negroes. + +I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the +negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the +enemy in his resistance to you. Do you think differently? I thought +that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much +less for white soldiers to do in saving the Union. Does it appear +otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. +Why should they do anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If +they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the strongest +motive, even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must +be kept. + +The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the +sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it. Nor yet wholly to them. +Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and +Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more +colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot, their part of the +history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great +national one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it. +And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, +even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more +bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and +on many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle Sam's webfeet be +forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only +on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the +narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they +have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all,--for the great +Republic, for the principle it lives by and keeps alive, for man's vast +future,--thanks to all. + +Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, +and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future +time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no +successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take +such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then +there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue, +and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have +helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will +be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and +deceitful speech they strove to hinder it. + +Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us +be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that +a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result. + +Yours very truly, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOV. 19, 1863 + +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 battle-field 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 cannot 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 +detract. 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 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, for the people, shall not perish from the +earth, + + + + +LETTER TO MRS. BIXBY + +Executive Mansion, + +Washington, Nov. 21, 1864. + +To Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Mass. + +Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a +statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the +mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I +feel how weak and fruitless must be any word of mine which should +attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I +cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found +in the thanks of the republic they died to save. I pray that our +Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave +you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn +pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the +altar of freedom. + +Yours very sincerely and respectfully, + +A. LINCOLN. + + + + +SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS, MARCH 4, 1865 + +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 impending 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 seeking 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 constituted 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 +enlargement 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 +offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man +by whom the offence cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery +is one of those offences 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 offence came, 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--fervently 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 lasting peace among +ourselves, and with all nations. + + + + +LAST PUBLIC ADDRESS, APRIL 11, 1865 + +We meet this evening not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The +evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, 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 +rejoicing be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled 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 +independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. +No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man. +We simply must begin with and mold from disorganized and discordant +elements. 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 +knowledge 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 +proclamation, 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 government 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 Proclamation 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 +approved 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 emancipation for the whole +State, practically applies the proclamation to the part previously +excepted. It does 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 Congress, +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 knowledge until after the news reached Washington that the people of +Louisiana had began 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 he was confident that the +people, with his military cooperation, would reconstruct substantially +on that plan. I wrote him and some of them to try it. They tried it, +and the result is known. Such only has been my 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 convinced. + +I have been shown a letter on this subject, supposed to be an able one, +in which the writer expresses 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 _purposely_ 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, could have no +effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, +whatever it may hereafter 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 military, 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 +really 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 sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to be the rightful +political power of the State, held elections, organized 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 constitutional +amendment recently passed by Congress, abolishing slavery throughout +the nation. These twelve thousand 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 twelve thousand 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 inspired with +vigilance, and energy, and daring, to the same end. Grant that he +desires the elective franchise, 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 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 national Constitution. To meet this +proposition it has been argued that no more than three-fourths of those +States which have not attempted secession are necessary 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 +persistently 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 exclusive 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 announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, +and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper. + + + + +FROM A LETTER TO J. W. FELL, DECEMBER 20, 1859 + +I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents +were born in Virginia, of undistinguished families--second families, +perhaps I should say. My mother, who died in my tenth year, was of a +family of the name of Hanks, some of whom now reside in Adams, and +others in Macon County, Illinois. My paternal grandfather, Abraham +Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky about +1781 or 1782, where a year or two later he was killed by the Indians, +not in battle, but by stealth, when he was laboring to open a farm in +the forest. His ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from +Berks County, Pennsylvania. An effort to identify them with the New +England family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a +similarity of Christian names in both families, such as Enoch, Levi, +Mordecai, Solomon, Abraham, and the like. + +My father, at the death of his father, was but six years of age, and he +grew up literally without education. He removed from Kentucky to what +is now Spencer County, Indiana, in my eighth year. We reached our new +home about the time the State came into the Union. It was a wild +region, with many bears and other wild animals still in the woods. +There I grew up. There were some schools, so called, but no +qualification was ever required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', +and cipherin'" to the rule of three. If a straggler supposed to +understand Latin happened to sojourn in the neighborhood, he was looked +upon as a wizard. There was absolutely nothing to excite ambition for +education. Of course, when I came of age, I did not know much. Still, +somehow, I could read, write, and cipher to the rule of three, but that +was all. I have not been to school since. The little advance I now +have upon this store of education I have picked up from time to time +under the pressure of necessity. + +I was raised to farm work, which I continued till I was twenty-two. At +twenty-one I came to Illinois, Macon County. Then I got to New Salem, +at that time in Sangamon, now in Menard County, where I remained a year +as a sort of clerk in a store. + +Then came the Black Hawk War; and I was elected a captain of +volunteers, a success which gave me more pleasure than any I have had +since. I went the campaign, was elated, ran for the legislature the +same year (1832), and was beaten--the only time I ever have been beaten +by the people. The next and three succeeding biennial elections I was +elected to the legislature. I was not a candidate afterward. During +this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield +to practise it. In 1846 I was once elected to the lower House of +Congress. Was not a candidate for re-election. From 1849 to 1854, +both inclusive, practised law more assiduously than ever before. +Always a Whig in politics; and generally on the Whig electoral tickets, +making active canvasses. I was losing interest in politics when the +repeal of the Missouri Compromise aroused me again. What I have done +since then is pretty well known. + +If any personal description of me is thought desirable, it may be said +I am, in height, six feet four inches, nearly; lean, in flesh, weighing +on an average one hundred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with +coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks or brands recollected. + + + + +NOTES + + +COMMUNICATION TO THE PEOPLE OF SANGAMON COUNTY + +This announcement of political principles appeared in the Sangamon +_Journal_, at that time the only newspaper published in Springfield. +The present text, which differs in some details from that found in the +various editions of Lincoln's works, follows the original, except in +changing the spelling of Sangamo to Sangamon. + + + +PERPETUATION OF OUR POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. + +On the close of the address resolutions were passed requesting the +author to furnish a copy to the press, but for some unexplained reason +it was not published until a year later. The present text is taken +from the Sangamon Journal. Lincoln was one of the organizers of the +Lyceum. + +All through his life Lincoln showed a marked respect for the law, and +the present warning against the consequences of lawlessness, so +rhetorically sounded by the young orator of twenty-eight, was a +perfectly sincere expression of a profound conviction. + +"_The gates of hell_." Matthew xvi. 18. This quotation was repeated +in a speech delivered at Indianapolis twenty-four years later, when +civil war was threatening. + + + +THE SPRINGFIELD SPEECH + +During the summer of 1858 Lincoln delivered two important anti-slavery +speeches at Springfield. The first and more important of these was +made June 16,[*] at the close of the Republican State Convention, at +which Lincoln was declared the party candidate for the United States +Senate. The second, delivered a month later, is in part a defence and +explanation of the earlier speech, which had been severely criticised +by Lincoln's old opponent Judge Douglas. The first Springfield speech +was very carefully prepared and the MS. was submitted to several of +Lincoln's friends, all of whom objected to the opening statement as +being impolitic and sure to lose the speaker the position for which he +was a candidate. Lincoln refused to make any change, however, saying +that he preferred to go down linked with truth, if that was necessary. + +[*]By Herndon the date is given as June 17. + +"_A house divided against itself_." Suggested by Matthew xii. 25, and +Mark iii. 25. This quotation had already been used in 1843 in a Whig +circular signed by Lincoln and two others, and in a letter written in +1863 Lincoln speaks of the government as a house divided against itself. + +_Nebraska doctrine_. The doctrine of "squatter sovereignty" was +recognized in the bill, introduced in the Senate January 4, 1854, by +Douglas, to give territorial government to the district west of +Missouri and Iowa known as Nebraska. A similar bill had been +introduced the year before by Douglas. In its original form the bill +contained no reference to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, but in +the form in which it was passed it declared the Missouri Compromise to +be null and void. Under the terms of this compromise slavery had been +restricted to the territory south of 36 degrees 30 minutes. + +_Dred Scott decision_. This decision was rendered March 6, 1857. + +_Silliman letter_. A statement on the situation in Kansas by the +electors of Connecticut, which received its name from Professor +Silliman of Yale College, by whom it was in the main drawn up. + +_Lecompton Constitution_. In 1857 a convention was held at Lecompton, +Kan., to draw up a state constitution. In this convention the +advocates of slavery were in the majority and the instrument was so +prepared as not to interfere with slavery wherever it already existed +in the territory. The free-soil advocates refused to accept this +constitution. When the question of admitting Kansas under the +Lecompton Constitution was presented before Congress, Douglas, in +accordance with his principles of popular sovereignty, broke with his +party and opposed the effort. From our present point of view Lincoln +does not seem to do Douglas justice. + +_Stephen, Franklin, etc._ The reference is to Stephen A. Douglas, +President Franklin Pierce, Chief Justice Roger B. Taney, and James +Buchanan. Lincoln's perfectly sincere belief in a deliberate +conspiracy among these men to perpetuate slavery, which was shared by +many Republicans of that time, is not sustained by the impartial +investigations of later historians. + +_McLean or Curtis_. John McLean and Benjamin R. Curtis were the only +justices who were strongly opposed to the Dred Scott decision. Curtis, +who was a Whig from Massachusetts and who resigned the same year, wrote +a minority decision. + +_Chase and Mace_. Salmon P. Chase was at that time Senator from Ohio. +Daniel Mace was a Democrat representative, who was opposed to the +Nebraska Bill. + +_Judge Nelson_. Samuel Nelson, a justice of the Supreme Court. + +"_A living dog is better than a dead lion_." Ecclesiastes ix. 4. + + + +THE FREEPORT DEBATE. + +The Lincoln-Douglas Joint Debates took place in seven towns in various +parts of Illinois between August 21 and October 15, 1858. The proposal +for these meetings was made by Lincoln in a note addressed to Douglas. +The length of each debate and the division of time between the speakers +are stated in the opening sentence of the speech given in the text. +The speeches, which were all extempore, as far as the actual form is +concerned, were later collected from the newspaper reports, and after +some slight revision by the authors were published in 1860 in Columbus, +Ohio. This volume, from which the present text is taken, contained in +addition a number of speeches delivered by Lincoln and Douglas earlier +in 1858 and two speeches made by Lincoln in Ohio in 1859. Lincoln's +statement at the close of a letter to the publishers, accompanying the +copy for the book, is characteristic and interesting: "I wish the +reprint to be precisely as the copies I send, without any comment +whatever." This Columbus issue was used as a Republican campaign +document and large numbers were sold. + +The Freeport Debate, the second in the series, was held on the +afternoon of August 27. With the exception of the Galesburg Debate, it +was the most largely attended of the seven meetings, and in its effect +upon the campaign it is now regarded as the most important. + +_Judge Douglas and myself_. In the informal speeches Lincoln +frequently committed errors of speech like this. Even during the +presidential period he shows a marked tendency to use the cleft +infinitive. But in the carefully written addresses the language is +almost always correct. + +_Fugitive Slave law_. This statute was passed in 1850 for the stricter +regulation of the return of escaped slaves to their owners. In his +answer to this question Lincoln showed clearly that he was not an +Abolitionist, as that term was then understood. + +_Question 2_. Douglas' reply to this question was as follows: "I +answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times +from every stump in Illinois that in my opinion the people of a +territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior +to the formation of a State Constitution." It is claimed that this +question was put by Lincoln in spite of the protests of several of his +friends, who believed that it would give Douglas an advantage. But +here, as in the equally feared Springfield Speech, Lincoln proved his +superior sagacity. Douglas' affirmative answer probably gained him the +senatorship, but it certainly lost him the presidency two years later. + +_First Republican State Convention_. The reference is to a meeting +held in Springfield, which was addressed by Owen Lovejoy. Lincoln was +not present on this occasion. Recent investigation seems to show that +there was no foundation for the charge that this was exclusively a +meeting of Abolitionists, but that it included many men who held the +same political views as Lincoln. Douglas honestly believed that the +resolutions read by him at the Ottawa meeting were genuine and he was +greatly chagrined at the mistake. + +_By an amendment_. This amendment was offered by Douglas. + + + +THE COOPER INSTITUTE ADDRESS. + +This address, Lincoln's first important direct message to the people of +the East, was very carefully prepared. The text in this volume is +taken from _The Tribune Tract_, issued as a campaign document. + +The Northwestern Territory. The district comprising the present States +of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been ceded to +the national government by the original States. + +"_Black Republicans_." Douglas constantly referred to his opponents +under this title. In the Ottawa Debate he affirmed that in 1854 +Lincoln and Trumbull had arranged to form "an Abolition party, under +the name and disguise of a Republican party." + +"_Popular sovereignty_." This principle is defined by Douglas as +follows: "My principle is to recognize each State of the Union as +independent, sovereign, and equal in its sovereignty." + +_Harper's Ferry! John Brown!_ John Brown was a New Englander, who had +taken an active part in the Kansas disorders in 1856. During the +summer of 1859 he engaged in an attempt to free the slaves of Virginia. +After capturing the Arsenal at Harper's Ferry, he was overpowered by a +body of marines and with the survivors of his "army," was hanged. By +the extreme anti-slavery people he was regarded as a martyr, the best +expression of this spirit being given by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's "Battle +Hymn of the Republic." In a speech in Congress of January 16, 1860, +Senator Douglas had stated his "firm and deliberate conviction that the +Harper's Ferry crime was the natural, logical, inevitable result of the +doctrines and teachings of the Republican party." + +_The Southampton insurrection_. The reference is to a slave +insurrection which occurred in 1831 in Southampton, Va. + +_Helper's Book_. Hinton P. Helper, a North Carolinian of the so-called +poor white class, was the author of a book on the effects of slavery, +entitled _The Impending Crisis in the South_. The special reference is +to the recent agreement among sixty-four Republican representatives to +publish a compendium of the book for circulation in doubtful States. + + + +THE FAREWELL SPEECH. + +This beautiful little address was delivered from the platform of the +car that bore the President-elect away from his old home. It has been +preserved in two slightly differing versions, neither of which probably +exactly reproduces the words used. The Springfield papers, which were +followed by Herndon, gave an inaccurate report that robbed the speech +of much of its rare beauty. + + + +THE FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +The First Inaugural was carefully written in Springfield a month before +its delivery. Contrary to his usual practice in public speaking, +Lincoln read from the MS. The address was enthusiastically received by +an immense audience assembled front of the Capitol and the general +impression produced at the North was favorable. By the Southern and +the Abolition press it was severely criticised, both with regard to its +form and its content. + +_The mystic chords of memory_. This passage was suggested by Mr. +Seward, to whom the address had been submitted for criticism. The +customary usury of genius was paid for the verbal loan. + + + +RESPONSE TO SERENADE. + +This speech was delivered before a delegation of New Yorkers, who +called at the White House on the evening of March 4. Two other similar +responses have been preserved from the same day. The present address +is reprinted here for the first time, from the New York _Times_. + + + +LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY. + +Greeley's letter of August 19, which was headed "The Prayer of Twenty +Millions," began as follows: "I do not intrude to tell you--for you +must know already--that a great proportion of those who triumphed in +your election, and of all who desire the unqualified suppression of the +Rebellion now desolating our country, are sorely disappointed and +deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing." That Lincoln had +good reason to complain of "an impatient and dictatorial tone" is +sufficiently shown by the closing sentence, "I entreat you to render +hearty and unequivocal obedience to the laws of the land." The +following issue of the _Tribune_ contained a long editorial on the same +subject. The influence of the _Tribune_ in the Northern States was +immense, and Lincoln realized the importance of making a clear +statement of his policy to its readers. + + + +SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS. + +After a long statement about the conditions of the finances and of the +different departments, the President devoted the remainder of the space +to the discussion of compensated emancipation, on which he had already +made a recommendation earlier in the year in a special message to +Congress. The concluding paragraph is in the elevated style of the +Inaugurals. + + + +THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION. + +The first draft of the Proclamation was submitted to the Cabinet in the +preceding July, with the remark that he had fully determined to issue +it immediately. Secretary Seward suggested that its issue be postponed +until it could be given to the country supported by some military +success. The President saw the force of the suggestion and waited +until after the battle of Antietam. The Preliminary Proclamation was +dated September 22, 1862. In a reply to a serenade two days later the +President said: "I can only trust in God I have made no mistake." + +_Upon military necessity_. This phrase was inserted in the concluding +sentence, which had been suggested by Secretary Chase, as furnishing +the only authority by which the President felt that he could free the +slaves of the enemy. The Proclamation did not refer to those slaves +held by persons who were not in rebellion. + + + +LETTER TO J. C. CONKLING. + +Mr. Conkling was a personal friend of the President, and the formal +letter was accompanied by the following note: + +"MY DEAR CONKLING: + +"I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You are one +of the best public readers. I have but one request--read it very +slowly and now God bless you, and all good Union men." + +In spite of precautions, the letter was published in the New York +_Evening Post_ several days before the meeting. + +I know as fully as one can know. The portion of the paragraph from +these words to the end was not in the original letter, but was added by +telegraph. + + + +THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS. + +The standard text of the address does not agree exactly either with the +original written form or with the form in which it was delivered, but +it is a combination of these, made by Lincoln a few days later. In the +contemporary newspaper reports it was variously referred to as an +address, a speech, and remarks. + +_Government of the people_. The thought contained in this sentence was +not original with Lincoln, but it has been traced back through several +centuries. It was probably suggested to Lincoln by the following +passage in an address by Theodore Parker, which he is known to have +read: "Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, for all +the people, by all the people." + + + +THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + +This address is in marked contrast, both in length and character, to +President Lincoln's first official communication. Some of the main +thoughts and two of the Biblical quotations occur in a letter written +May 30, 1864. + +_Let us judge not, that we be not judged_. Adapted from Matthew vii. 1. + +"_Woe unto the world_." Matthew xviii. 7. + +_Fondly do we hope_. The accidental rhyme in this passage is the only +blemish that has been objected to in the address, and it is not serious. + +"_The judgments of the Lord_." Psalms xix. 9. The opening words of +the last paragraph are the best expression ever given of the spirit of +Lincoln, who on another occasion said, "I have never willingly planted +a thorn in any man's bosom." + + + +THE LAST SPEECH. + +This address, the longest of the presidential period with the exception +of the First Inaugural, was delivered before a great crowd gathered in +front of the White House, four days before Lincoln's assassination. +The evening before, on a similar occasion, he had requested the people +to wait until he could prepare his remarks, adding that he wished to be +careful, as everything he said got into print. The newspaper reports +of the following day state that it was received with great enthusiasm. +The address is of special interest as indicating the attitude of the +President toward the difficult question of Reconstruction. + +_The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond_. April 2 and 3 +respectively. General Lee surrendered April 9. + +_The new constitution of Louisiana_. The constitution was adopted +September 5, 1861. + +_The proposed amendment_. The thirteenth amendment, abolishing slavery +throughout the United States, was proposed in 1864, but failed to +receive the necessary two-thirds vote in the House of Representatives. +It was passed in 1865, and after receiving the endorsement of the +necessary number of States went into effect December 15 of the same +year. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and +Letters (Selections), by Abraham Lincoln + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LINCOLN'S INAUGURALS, *** + +***** This file should be named 14274.txt or 14274.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/4/2/7/14274/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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