»SKKSCiSf?WIS»«Wm»«?S5««i««»a««««^ SEI4CTED WRITINGS StMBMMt^MWtfWl HART S I / :/ i \:l i! LIVING literature: ^n RICHARD BURTON ^,,^ ins Chief Class Book. Lasi Copyright N? CH}lE£RIGI£r OEFOS ^ LIVING LITERATURE SERIES L^T Richard Burton, Ph.D.. Editor-in-Chief V^^ SELECTED WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN EDITED BY ALBERT BUSHNELLHART:LL.D.,Litt.D. PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT HARVARD UNIVERSITY THE GREGG PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK— CHICAGO— BOSTON— SAN FRANCISCO LIVERPOOL COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY THE GREGG PUBUSmNG COMPANY . ^^^ E 5a ^ g)CLA604348 ^^^ t^OK 1=0 1920 K A^t'^- PREFACE The literature that lives has nothing to do with Time. It may be a farce by Aristophanes, a speech of Cicero's, a canto of Dante's song, or a story by O. Henry; it is always a question of vitality. On the contrary, a piece of writing that lacks this precious, preservative quality dies the day it is born. The idea that because a poem, a tale, a play, or an essay was written a hundred or a thousand years ago, it must necessarily be dead, is quite false. Al- ways the question is : Has it charm, beauty, power, human meaning? If it has it will survive; if it is without these saving graces, it not only will not last, but never was alive. We speak of the "dead languages," and the familiar phrase is right in the sense that the tongues themselves in the form they once took are no longer vital on the lips of men. But the thought and feeling embodied in the words of great writers during the so-called classic days of Greece and Eome are truly and splendidly alive to-day, for the simple reason that they were alive then; and are so true to the unive^sal^ experience of mankind, and so beautiful in their expression, that Time cannot touch them nor age wither their "infinite variety." The books of the present series are vital for this reason and in this sense. They belong, to be sure, to the modern period and do not go further back than the eighteenth 3 4 PEEFACE century ; most of them fall in the nineteenth or the twenti- eth century. But they are selected not because they are of this or that period, but primarily for the reason that they are fine examples of the art of letters, and illustrate what living literature is and always will be, so long as men can read and think and feel the force and attraction of winged words, couched in the noble tongue which was native to those who use it, and is the priceless heritage and possession of all who communicate their thought in Eng- lish speech. The first half-dozen volumes of the series offer authors, British or American, who are strictly contemporary. In- terest in writers of our own day naturally precedes interest in the older, even standard writers. So far as appeal is concerned, literature, like charity, begins at home, both as to time and place. Later, some of the elder master- pieces will be offered, like a novel of Scott's, or George Eliot's, or a play by Sheridan or Goldsmith. But it should be realized and recognized that the work of mod- ern men such as Stevenson, or Huxley, can lay claim to equal consideration so long as it is sound as art and sane and tonic in the representation of life. An author of to-day is not of necessity to be treated as a suspect, although he has not so long been tested by critical opinion. It is believed that the contemporary writers included here have produced masterpieces deserving inclusion in any fair, broadminded, and enjoyable study of the native letters. That is why they are presented herewith, and given prominence. B. B. CONTENTS An asteriak [*] denotes pieces printed in full. Omissions indicated in all other texts by dashes [ ] INTRODUCTION I. AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 1. 1858, June *Autobiographical Sketch Pre- pared FOR THE Dictionary of Congress 2. 1859, Dec. 20 *Brief Autobiography Prepared FOR J. W. Fell 3. 1860, June 1 *Short Autobiography Prepared FOR a Popular Campaign . 4. 1860, June 14 *Memorandum Given to the Artist Hicks PAGE 11 26 26 29 40 6. 7. 8. 3. 10. 11. 12. II. 1836-1853 5. 1836, June 13 Early Principles of Popular Gov- ernment 1837, Jan. 27 Reverence for Law 1839, Dec. 26 On the Stump .... 1841, Sept. 27 *A Near View of Slavery 1845, Oct. 3 *Opinions on Texas . 1847, Dec. 22 *Against the Mexican War 1850, July *Self-Advice for a Lawyer 1851, Jan. 2 * Ad vice to a Slack Man . 5 41 42 48 49 50 53 55 57 6 CONTENTS III. 1854-1860 1854 PAGE 13. 1854, May 29 " Lost Speech " on Slavery . . . 60 1855 14. 1855, Aug. 24 *The Slavery Crisis 64 15. 1855, Aug. 15 Origin of the Idea of Half Slave AND Half Free 70 1856 16. 1856 Equality the Central Idea . . 71 17. 1856 No Dissolution of the Union . 73 1857 18. 1857, June 26 Dred Scott Decision .... 75 1858 19. 1858, June 16 *"A House Divided 4gainst Itself Cannot Stand" 78 20. 1858, July 10 Popular Sovereignty .... 88 21. 1858, July 10 Essence of the Declaration of Independence 91 22. 1858, Aug. 27 The Freeport Doctrine ... 93 23. 1858, Aug. 1 [?] *Definition of Democracy ... 98 24. 1858, Sept. 13 Our Defense Is the Spirit of Liberty 98 25. 1858, Aug. 17 Come Back to the Declaration of Independence 99 1859 26. 1859, Apr. 6 *The Principles of Jefferson . . 102 27. 1859, Sept. 17 Capital and Labor 104 1860 28. 1860, Feb. 27 An Appeal to the South at Cooper Institute 109 CONTENTS 7 PAGE 29. 1860, Labor's Interest Against Slavery 125 30. 1860, July 21 *Knownothingi8M 127 31. 1860, Nov. 20- Dec. 13 *Elected President 129 32. 1860, Dec. 17 *To Run the Machine as It Is. . 130 33. 1860, Dec. 22 *The Basis of Compromise ... 131 IV. 1861-1865 1861 34. 1861, Feb. 11- Feb. 22 *The State of the Union . . . 132 35. 1861, Mar. 4 *The First Inaugural . , . 36. 1861, Mar. 16 *Asking Advice of the Senate 37. 1861, Apr. 1 *The President Is President . 38. 1861, May 25 *Loss of a Noble Soldier 39. 1861, Apr. 15 *The Call to Arms . . . . 40. 1861, July 4 *The War Message . . . . 41. 1861, Oct. 17 *"Wanting to Work" . . . 42. 1861, Dec. 3 The Nation and the War 147 159 162 163 164 166 188 188 43. 1862, Jan. 10 A Message to English Working Men 200 44. 1862, Feb. 14 *Executive Order on Political Prisoners 202 45. 1862, Mar. 4 *Friendship with Other Nations . 206 46. 1862, Mar. 10 *Advice to the Border States . , 206 47. 1862, Apr. 10 *Proclamation op Thanksgiving for Victories 213 48. 1862, May 15- Dec. 23 Thanks to the Soldiers . . . 214 49. 1862, May 26 *The Broader Powers of the Con- stitution 218 8 CONTENTS PAOB 50. 1862, July 28 *The Army and Fugitive Slaves 222 51. 1862, July 21 *DuTY OF Aliens 225 52. 1862, Aug. 22 ♦Answer to the " Prayer of Twenty Millions" 226 53. 1862, Aug. 14 ♦Colonization of Negroes . 227 54. 1862, Sept. 13 *Delay in Emancipation 234 55. 1862, >Sept. 22 ♦Preliminary Emancipation Procla MATION 238 56. 1862, Sept. 24 *The Judgment of the Country . 242 57. 1862, Nov. 4 ♦The Slowness op the War 243 58. 1862, Dec. 12 ♦Hopes of Peace 245 1863 59. 1863, 1863, 1863, Jan. 1 Jan. 22- Oct. 4 Jan. 2 ♦Final Proclamation of Emancipa TION 946 30. The Commander-in-Chief to the Generals 249 61. ♦War on the Ministers . . 259 62. 1863, Jan. 5 ♦Prayers of God's People . . 261 63. 1863, Feb. 22 ♦The Long-Enduring Consequences 262 64. 1863, 1863, Mar. 10 Mays ♦Recalling Soldiers to Their Regiments 263 65. ♦Military Service of Aliens 264 66. 1863, June 29 ♦The Constitution in War . 267 67. 1863, July 4 ♦Victory at Gettysburg 274 68. 1863, July 7 ♦"The Fourth of July" . . 274 69. 1863, Aug. 26 ♦Effect of Emancipation . 276 70. 1863, Nov. 19 ♦Gettysburg Address . . 281 71. 1863, Dec. 8 ♦Proclamation of Amnesty Reconstruction . . . ani 282 72. 1863 Dec. 8 Review of the War 286 CONTENTS 9 1864 PAOE 73. 1864, Jan. 7 *" Trying to Evade the Butchering Business" 294 74. 1864, Mar. 1 *A Positive Direction .... 295 75. 1864, Mar. 9- Apr. 30 Lincoln and Grant 295 76. 1864, Mar. 21 *Capital and Labor 296 77. 1864, Apr. 4 *The Case Against Slavery . . 300 78. 1864, Apr. 18 *What Is Liberty? 303 79. 1864, May 14 *Honor to the Churches . . . 306 80. 1864, June 16 *Sticking to the War .... 307 81. 1864, Aug. 15 *Abiding the Issue 309 82. 1864, Aug. 18- Aug. 22 What Is Involved in This Contest 311 83. 1864, Sept. 4 *The Purposes of the Almighty . 313 84. 1864, Oct. 19 *The Constitution the Ultimate Law 314 85. 1864, Nov. 9 *No Free Government Without Elections 316 86. 1864, Nov. 17 *Victory, Not Triumph .... 317 87. 1864, Dec. 6 The Anti-Slavery Amendment to the Constitution 318 88. 1864, Dec. 16 *Origin op the Greenbacks . . 324 89. 1864, Nov. 21 *To the Mother of Five Heroes . 325 90. 1864, May 9- Nov. 10 Response to Serenades . . . 326 91. 1864, Aug. 3 Following to the Death . . . 329 1865 92. 1865, Mar. 4 *" With Malice Toward None, with Charity for All" .... 329 93. 1865, Apr. 11 *Last Public Address .... 332 Lincoln Chronology .... 339 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I. Choice of Material The written and spoken words of Abraham Lincoln are the precious heritage of the American people, both for their noble sentiments upon the duties and opportunities of America, and for their significance as an essential part of the English tongue. A poor boy, a hard-working youth and long an obscure lawyer, Abraham Lincoln be- came the leader of the nation in a time of crisis. A painfully self-educated youth, he nevertheless placed him- self among the immortals by his splendid thoughts and almost unapproachable powers of expression. For these reasons, the works of Abraham Lincoln are a treasurehouse for the people of the United States; and their study should be a part of the education of every boy and girl. He was the cleanest, most effective, and most widely read author of his times. He wrote in many fields and in many moods. Sometimes he was exact, sometimes rhetorical, but always clear, to the farthest possibility of human speech. He could be calm; he could be gay; he could be stern; he could be passionate. He made the English language fit itself to his thoughts. Like Dante, he might have boasted that he never wan- dered in search of a word, but that he had made words speak for him more than any other man. 11 12 ABKAHAM LINCOLN In making up a proper selection for the use of schools and readers, the first difl&culty has been to choose; for few great writers have provided so small a proportion that can be disregarded. The editor's duty has been to find the text of the speeches and state papers which by- common consent are among his greatest works, especially the '^House Divided Against Itself," the two inaugurals, the war message of July, 1861, the "Answer to the Prayer of Twenty Millions," and that climax of skill and soul, 'The Gettysburg Address." The editions of Lincoln's works which have been searched in making up these selections, contain scores of extracts little below those masterpieces. There has been no difficulty in finding other materials; the editor's task has been to decide what speeches could be omitted or shortened so as to bring the whole within the limits of this volume. No collection represents the greatness of Lincoln which does not reproduce the whole of some of the large pieces and many of the short ones, because they are units, every word necessary to bring out the fullness of Lincoln's mind, and the wonderful capacity of revealing himself in what he wrote. Hence the whole of several of the speeches on the slavery question from 1854 to 1860 are included, as well as the two inaugurals, the first war message, and the letter here entitled the "Constitutional War" (June, 1863). On the other hand in many of the political speeches, especially before his election as president, he devoted much space to complicated questions, then before the country, which have long since been adjusted and put CHOICE OF MATEKIAL 13 away. For instance the student of history is concerned with the exact issues in the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Dred Scott Decision, and the Lecompton Constitution, while the student litera- ture is chiefly interested in Lincoln as a master of statecraft and of oratory. Hence in such controversies as that with Douglas in 1858, and in the Cooper Institute speech the details of the politics of the time have been left out, in order to bring into relief the essential principles which have no limit of time. Some writers must be judged by elaborate works. You must read the whole of an essay of Emerson or a tale of Poe or a novel of Hawthorne to understand those authors at all. No such works were ever written by Abraham Lincoln. His longest public speech would not occupy more than about thirty pages of this book. The spirit, the humor, the grasp of the man are perhaps best revealed in short, pithy memoranda and letters which at the same time carry the reader back to the epoch in which Lincoln was the greatest figure. Hence the large number of short extracts in this work ranging from forty words upwards. In two pieces, "Thanks to the Soldier" (1862), and the ''Commander-in-Chief (1863), extracts have been assembled from kindred letters, tele- grams, and off-hand addresses scattered through many months, all bearing upon his point of view totward the soldier and the officer. It has not been part of the editor's intent to prepare an historical book, though Lincoln's writings necessarily give point to the study of United States history. Lincoln 14 ABKAHAM LINCOLN was a public man from his early manhood. He thought in terms of politics and government. Above all he had a natural sense of human freedom, an indestructible love for, belief in, and championship of, liberty. He was an anti-slavery man by origin, because more clearly than any other man of his time he saw that slavery of the negro tended to degrade the white man. He saw it the more plainly because he was a Southern man by birth. Throughout his life he was intimately associated with slave holders and supporters of slavery. He never hated them; he always hated the system, which as he once said, "has and continuously exercises the power of making me miserable." II. Classification of Material The extracts in this volume appear in their chrono- logical sequence. They might easily be classified, accord- ing to subject, the first department being the brief auto- biographies which appear at the beginning. Little of the familiar personal correspondence with friends and kin appears here; but it would be impossible to omit such pieces as a "Near View of Slavery," "Advice to a Slack Man," "To Kun the Machine as It Is"; and above all, those lofty letters to the kindred of dead soldiers, here printed under the titles ^'Loss of a Noble Soldier," and "To the Mother of Five Heroes," which almost equal the Gettysburg Address in power and perhaps surpass it in the direct touch of humanity. Akin to these are the numerous brief speeches and letters, especially toward the end of the Civil War, which CLASSIFICATION OF MATERIAL 15 in Lincoln's hands were cut jewels of expression, and infused with the noblest ideals. Any regiment marching up to the White House, might call out from the Presi- dent a few words, which, if he had spoken no others, would place him at the head of American oratory. Before his actual entering into public life Lincoln began to frame carefully-wrought speeches, which soon turned in the direction of a crusade against slavery. From 1845 to 1865 there was hardly a formal public speech or message which did not contain his simple doc- trine that a government of the people meant government for all the people; that to exclude one race from the rights of man, would in the end logically and certainly lead to the attempt of one part of the privileged class to shut out another part — till free government perished. The abolitionist hated slavery and declaimed against it. Lincoln was the one man of his time who, though not an abolitionist, foresaw the inevitable effect upon the community of the advance of slave power. In the great struggle of the fifties, he was the one man that never gave up the principle that no more slave states must be ad- mitted, that no privileges must be given to slavery in the territories. He followed in and out through the windings of Douglas' time-serving logic in imperishable speeches. As chief executive of the nation in the troublous times of the Civil War, Lincoln wrote elaborate state papers, which bring to the light his human and adroit way of dealing with individuals. Witness his rebuke to Seward in the "President is President" (1861), his inaugurals and annual messages, his proclamations, especially the two bearing on the emancipation of the slaves and his "Last 16 " ABRAHAM LINCOLN Public Address," all significant examples of the brilliant and close-knit arguments of a luminous mind. The study of Lincoln is necessary both for the politi- cian and the writer. No man better understood the arts of politics, the kind of appeal that reaches legislators and political leaders and, — still more important, — which works its way into the mind of the voter. Lincoln was not always successful with Congress. He could not induce the two houses to grant general compensated emancipa^ tion, nor to provide for colonizing the negroes, but he did convince the country that he was honest and sincere, and that he had put up a good and honest argument. He made the people see. On the other hand, since the object of both the spoken and written word is to convince, Lincoln should be the model and the study of the would-be journalist, lawyer, minister, teacher, and public man; for his works are a storehouse of limpid thoughts, expressed in cogent words, set into logical and powerful sentences and combined into arguments of mighty power. Lincoln's sternest re- bukes and his most humorous sallies are alike models of the right way to reach the minds of other people, to make them listen to you, to set them aflame with your own generous enthusiasms. III. The Many-Sided Lincoln Lincoln was able to make the world hear him because he knew the world. Amazing that this backswoodsman, this awkward civilian, this country member of Congress, this ambitious speech-making lawyer, should be as big THE MANY-SIDED LINCOLN 17 and as many sided as the g.reat Intellectuals of the Renaissance. Lincoln is our Michael Angelo. In the first place he was a man of the woods. He knew the frontier from camp-fire to court-house. He was one of the first group of national statesmen who owed their training and opportunity to the West. That frontier life was hard, coarse, and material, Lincoln began at the very bottom of a low stage of society. Yet from the beginning he showed that desire to know what was going on in the world, which finally filled his memory with the thoughts of the few books and the many men that he had known. To the end of his life he kept some of the backwoods habits — awkward motions, love of a boisterous joke, stories, in which he was a master. He kept also the primitive sense of man-for-man life amid an un- broken country and savage enemies. He never lost that genuine warm interest in men and women, boys and girls, and babies. He felt it as Henry Clay felt it, and Theodore Roosevelt. Reading about Lincoln is reading about mankind, and especially about Americans. His very personality made friends for him. That tall, angular, ungraceful man, with little knowledge of the refined literary circle which was so powerful in his time, somehow could make friends with all sorts of people. He could appreciate the best that was in his neighbor the poor white, Jack Armstrong, one of the Clary Grove gang at New Salem; and he liked and understood that high-bred gentleman, William H. Seward. He was not averse to a wrestling match with the one and a paper and ink contest with the other — and was victorious in both. 18 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Fortunate the statesman who gets such affectionate nick- names as ''Old Abe," "Honest Old Abe," and "Father Abraham"! Even Southern men who understood the times best had a personal liking for Lincoln and sorrow- fully understood that when he was taken away in 1865, the South lost more than the North, because they more needed an understanding friend. IV. Lincoln the Lawyer Lincoln was by profession and by temperament a law- yer, for he had the qualities that meant success in law in his time, and would make him a great legal light to-day. Law was a rather simple matter on the frontier a cen- tury ago. Every ambitious youngster read Blackstone; every law student drew deeds and did other clerical work in the law office of an older man; everybody set up for himself as soon as he could, and joined in the elbow push for business. The judges were taken out of the working bar and knew little more law than those who pleaded before them. The truly successful lawyer was, therefore, the man who could carry a jury ; that is the man who understood human nature. In this personal hammer-and-tongs kind of law Lincoln was very successful; for he had the humor and the power to put on the kind of oratory that juries liked ; and at the same time he had two great advantages over many of his fellow members of the bar. The first was that his mind went right into the heart of his case. He had the rare skill to see what the whole thing is about, what the real issue is, which later made him a great UNCOLN THE LAWYEK 19 president. At the same time he had a reputation for personal integrity. There were cases he would not take; there were cases he would not argue. Hence, when he took and argued a case, there was a presumption that he was right; and every client knew that his advocate was certain to give him his Jue. His great cases were few but honorable. He was a safe and trusted man. So far as we have a record of his legal arguments, they show the same insight, the same ability to seize on the critical issue, that he showed in politics and as president. In the West most successful lawyers went into politics, and most of the successful politicians were lawyers. This was partly because arguments at the bar were very like speeches on the stump, and also because those new communities needed men who could frame constitutions and statutes. Erom 1837 to 1849 Abraham Lincoln was in the battle front of the lively political struggles of the time. He was an ardent Whig, a supporter of Henry Clay, and early in life entered into rivalry with Stephen A. Douglas, a Vermont boy who came early to the West and took the Democratic side in politics. Nobody understood the game of politics better than Abraham Lincoln. He was a master hand in conventions and campaigning. He especially liked to drag an oppo- nent out of his retirement and show his inconsistencies. He was afraid of nobody, was physically able to protect himself in the rough and tumble difficulties of the fron- tier, and on one occasion even took part in the prepara- tion for a grotesque duel with a fellow politician. He was famed for his skill in interpreting election returns; that is, for a power of generalization based on an in- 20 ABEAHAM LINCOLN stinctive knowledge of human nature. He was an excel- lent campaigner, as was shown particularly in his great debates with Douglas. y. Lincoln the Orator Speaking is one thing, oratory is another. In his earli- est formal address, that of 1837, Lincoln shows many of the marks of his wondrous skill as a public speaker. He was influenced by the wordy tradition of his time, but he shows that persistent search for the main question was the foundation stone of his success. In Congress his speeches, as reported by the official stenographer, are below his average; his humor in them is rough and per- sonal. After he retired in 1849, for five years he took little part in public affairs. He was roused by the Kansas- Nebraska bill of 1854, which he justly looked upon as an attempt by Douglas to gain influence as "a Northern man with Southern principles." In his famous "Lost Speech" of 1854, parts of which appear in this volume, he used a fiercer attack than was his custom. As early as 1855, he thought out and put in writing the tremendous truth, hardly perceived by any one else at that time, that the Union could not endure "half slave and half free." In 1856 he stood forward as the champion of freedom against Douglas. In 1858, in one of the most courageous mo- ments of his life, he challenged the mighty Douglas, the quickest, boldest, and unfairest of debaters, to a series of seven joint debates, in which he showed himself the profoundest thinker, the highest orator, and the bravest champion of his time. LINCOLN THE OKATOR 21 There is not room in this work for even one full speech out of the seven. Much of the argument on both sides was transient; enough appears here, however, to show both the weight of Lincoln's matter and the keenness of his retort. Douglas throughout was trying to put Lincoln in a hole, to expose him to public odium for opinions which he never held, to belittle him personally, to bring the discussion down to Abraham Lincoln, instead of Abraham Lincoln's principles. Throughout, Lincoln showed the skill of the gladiator, the nerve of the matador. In the adroit Freeport speech he compelled Douglas to accept defeat or to ^'pander to the better elements" by admitting that slavery could be prevented in the territories by someone. Tradition has it that when Lincoln announced that he meant to put the test question to the "Little Giant" his friends remon- strated with him, declaring that Douglas would answer it in only one way and that would make him senator, to which Lincoln replied, "Yes, and it will make me presi- dent." Whether he said just that or not, the debates did make him president; for they put him in relief as the strongest opponent of slavery and of the proslavery party which the southern Democrats were building up. The speech at Cooper Union in New York early in 1860 (a consider- able part of it here reprinted), was another vital state- ment of the eternal principles for which he stood. That and a series of later speeches in New England, for which there is not room here, made friends for him in the East. It was oratory that made Lincoln first a possible, and then a sure candidate ; but not the oratory of a John Randolph, 22 ABKAHAM LINCOLN biting and destructive. Lincoln had the majesty of Web- ster in spite of his ungainly person. He had the logic of Calhoun, the diction of Edward Everett, and the tre- mendous emphasis of Wendell Phillips. Above all he had simplicity, the straightforwardness, the tremendous moral conviction of Abraham Lincoln. As president, Lincoln made not a single long or care- fully prepared public address except his two official in- augurals. He stated his policy in five long messages to Congress, portions of which are included in this collec- tion; but he attended no dinners, was present at no mass meetings. His oratory found its most perfect fruit in brief impromptu addresses, such as those at the sanitary fairs, and from the balcony of the White House to visiting regiments. These are the gems of Lincoln's works, and they are well represented below. Akin to them, yet above them all, was the Gettysburg Address, which was a dis- appointment to an audience that expected a long speech. It was instantly taken up as one of the fullest and noblest appeals ever made by man to fellow men. "Gov- ernment of the people, by the people, for the people" is a political Bible text for the nation. yi. Lincoln the Writer Oratory and literature do not necessarily fit together. Patrick Henry, Daniel Webster, Kobert C. Winthrop were renowned orators, yet left nothing remarkable in un- spoken writings. Hawthorne, Whittier, and Longfellow had no gift of compelling public speech. Abraham Lincoln, however, was in the front rank both of orators LIISrCOLN THE WRITEK 23 and writers. Here is the miracle of Lincoln : his boyhood was so crude, his education so fragmentary, his acquaint- ance with literature so small; and yet he is one of those who in his written thoughts *'shall stand among princes, he shall not stand among mean men." Recent researches have shown that Lincoln was a man of few books — among them the Bible, Shakespeare, Black- stone, Weem's Washington. He knew no language except English, although late in life he painfully set himself to learn German. Yet hardly any writer of the English ever had such skill in using mainly Anglo-Saxon words in just the right meaning. The truth is that Lincoln was a natural poet; not a versifier, for the specimens of his early attempts to write in rhymes are mournful in tone and lifeless in execution. He wrote a few lectures and essays; but outside of his speeches he expressed himself best in his letters. As a boy he wrote with the moonstruck spirit of callow youth. Yet his earliest preserved letters are full of pith and of humor; he sometimes wrote a speech in letter form. It was during the Civil War, in the midst of the overwhelm- ing pressure of a Nation's cares, that his literary tongue rose to his highest quality. The extracts from his let- ters and telegrams to generals in the field show the native hard common sense o'f the man and his power to put a general order into a phrase. "Fight him too, when oppor- tunity offers. If he stay where he is fret him and fret him." "Hold him with a bulldog grip and chew and choke as much as possible!" Such phrases go along with Wellington's "Up guards and at them." And the letters to the fathers and mothers of soldiers, 24 ABKAHAM LINCOLN to the Ellsworths, to Mrs. Gurney, to Mrs. Bixby, — in them you find the flower of Lincoln's style. Heart speaks to heart. The great man feels himself a brother to the obscure. The head of the nation is beaten down by the woes of every individual. That is the consummate art of the artless man, who never dreamed that his words would live for ages after him; who never imagined that he was placing himseK among the immortals. YII. Lincoln the Interpreter Not every one, not any one, can be an Abraham Lincoln, for such men come only once in a thousand years. Every one however can take a mental impetus from his written and spoken words. Whoever wants to think clearly and write clearly should study Lincoln, of whom exact and unmistakable statement was an inseparable part. Who- ever cherishes high thoughts, noble purposes and a grand belief in the destiny of his country, must read Lincoln, who is the interpreter of his generation. What made him great in so many fields? He could not have told you. To his mind he had simply gone on from year to year doing what came to him to do, in the fear of the Lord. He was not free from faults and errors. He says in one of the telegrams to his generals, 'T frequently make mistakes myself." His surpassing power was kis instinctive knowledge of the minds of his country- men. He applied to the great questions of the day the same simple principles of justice between man and man that he practiced among his neighbors. What set him apart from millions of equally honest and well-meaning LINCOLN THE INTEKPKETER 25 men, was that somehow he knew what other people were thinking and what they could and would do. To him may be applied the verse of Homer when he describes Nausi- caa's shy request to king Alcinous, *'And her father smiled for he knows everything." A. B. K SELECTED WRITINGS OF LINCOLN AUTOBIOGRAPHIES Autobiographical Sketch Prepared for the Dictionary of Congress (June, 1858) Born, February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. Education defective. Profession, a lawyer. Have been a captain of volunteers in Black Hawk war. Postmaster at a very small office. Four times a member of the Illinois legislature, and was a member of the lower house of Congress. Yours, etc., Brief Autobiography Prepared for J. W. Fell (Decem- ber 20, 1859) My Dear Sir: Herewith is a little sketch, as you re- quested. There is not much of it, for the reason, I suppose, that there is not much of me. If anything be made out of it, I wish it to be modest, and not to go beyond the material. If it were thought necessary to incorporate anything from any of my speeches I suppose 26 AUTOBIOGKAPHIES 27 there would be no objection. Of course it must not appear to have been written by myself. Yours very truly, A. Lincoln.^ I was born February 12, 1809, in Hardin County, Kentucky. My parents were both 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, Hlinois. 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, Penn- sylvania. An effort to identify them with the New Eng- land family of the same name ended in nothing more definite than a similarity of Christian names in both fam- ilies, 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 that 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 ^The Collection of Mrs. Hester V. Fell, of Normal, 111. 28 ABKAHAM LINCOLN required of a teacher beyond "readin', writin', anc cipherin'" to the Eule of Three, If a straggler sup- posed 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 1 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 into 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 afterwai-d. During this legislative period I had studied law, and removed to Springfield to practice 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 in- clusive, practiced 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 Com- AUT0BI0GKAPHIE3 29 promise 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 hun- dred and eighty pounds; dark complexion, with coarse black hair and gray eyes. No other marks, or brands recollected. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. Prejjarsd for a Popular Campaign Biography (June, 1860) Abraham Lincoln was born February 12, 1809, then in Hardin, now in the more recently formed county of La Rue, Kentucky. His father, Thomas, and grandfather, Abraham, were born in Rockingham County, Virginia, whither their ancestors had come from Berks County, Pennsylvania. His lineage has been traced no farther back than this. The family were originally Quakers, though in later times they have fallen away from the peculiar habits of that people. The grandfather, Abra- ham, had four brothers— Isaac, Jacob, John, and Thomas. So far as known, the descendants of Jacob and John are still in Virginia. Isaac went to a place near where Vir- ginia, North Carolina, and Tennessee join; and his de- scendants are in that region. Thomas came to Kentucky, and after many years died there, whence his descendants went to Missouri. Abraham, grandfather of the subject of this sketch, came to Kentucky, and was killed by In- dians about the year 1784. He left a widow, three sons, and two daughters. The eldest son, Mordecai, remained 30 ABRAHAM LINCOLN in Kentucky till late in life, when he removed to Hancock County, Illinois, where soon after he died, and where several of his descendants still remain. The second son, Josiah, removed at an early day to a place on Blue River, now within Hancock County, Indiana, but no recent in- formation of him or his family has been obtained. The eldest sister, Mary, married Ralph Crume, and some of her descendants are now known to be in Breckenridge County, Kentucky. The second sister, Nancy, married William Brumfield, and her family are not known to have left Kentucky, but there is no recent information from them. Thomas, the youngest son, and father of the present subject, by the early death of his father, and very narrow circumstances of his mother, even in child- hood was a wandering laboring boy, and grew up literally without education. He never did more in the way of writing than to bunglingly write his own name. Before he was grown he passed one year as a hired hand with his uncle Isaac on Watauga, a branch of the Holston River. Getting back into Kentucky, and having reached his twenty-eighth year, he married Nancy Hanks — mother of the present subject — in the year 1806. She also was born in Virginia; and relatives of hers of the name of Hanks, and of other names, now reside in Coles, in Macon, and in Adams counties, Illinois, and also in Iowa. The present subject has no brother or sister of the whole or half blood. He had a sister, older than himself, who was grown and married, but died many years ago, leaving no child; also a brother, younger than himself, who died in infancy. Before leaving Kentucky, he and his sister were sent, for short periods, to A B C schools, the first AUTOBIOGKAPHIES 31 kept by Zachariah Riney, and the second by Caleb Hazel. At this time his father resided on Knob Creek, on the road from Bardstown, Kentucky, to Nashville, Tennessee, at a point three or three and a half miles south or south- west of Atherton's Ferry, on the Rolling Fork. From this place he removed to what is now Spencer County, Indiana, in the autumn of 1816, Abraham then being in his eighth year. This removal was partly on account of slavery, but chiefly on account of the difficulty in land titles in Kentucky. He settled in an unbroken forest, and the clearing away of surplus wood was the great task ahead. Abraham, though very young, was large for his age, and had an ax put into his hands at once; and from that till within his twenty-third year he was almost constantly handling that most useful instrument — less, of course, in plowing and harvesting seasons. At this place Abraham took an early start as a hunter, which was never much improved afterward. A few days before the completion of his eighth year, in the absence of his father, a flock of wild turkeys approached the new log cabin, and Abraham with a rifle-gun, standing inside, shot through a crack and killed one of them. He has never since pulled a trigger on any larger game. In the autumn of 1818 his mother died; and a year afterward his father married Mrs. Sally Johnston, at Elizabethtown, Ken- tucky, a widow with three children of her first marriage. She proved a good and kind mother to Abraham, and is still living in Coles County, Illinois. There were no children of this second marriage. His father's residence continued at the same place in Indiana till 1830. While here Abraham went to A B C schools by littles, kept 32 ABKAHAM LINCOLN successively by Andrew Crawford, Sweeney, and Azel W. Dorsey. He does not remember any other. The family of Mr. Dorsey now resides in Schuyler County, Illinois. Abraham now thinks that the aggregate of all his schooling did not amount to one year. He was never in a college or academy as a student, and never inside of a college or academy building till since he had a law license. What he has in the way of education he has picked up. After he was twenty-three and had separated from his father, he studied English grammar — imperfectly, of course, but so as to speak and write as well as he now does. He studied and nearly mastered the six books of Euclid since he was a member of Congress. He regrets his want of education, and does what he can to supply the want. In his tenth year he was kicked by a horse, and apparently killed for a time. When he was nine- teen, still residing in Indiana, he made his first trip upon a flatboat to New Orleans. He was a hired hand merely, and he and a son of the owner, without other assistance, made the trip. The nature of part of the "cargo-load," as it was called, made it necessary for them to linger and trade along the sugar-coast; and one night they were at- tacked by seven negroes with intent to kill and rob them. They were hurt some in the melee, but succeeded in driving the negroes from the boat, and then "cut cable," "weighed anchor," and left. March 1, 1830, Abraham having just completed his twenty-first year, his father and family, with the families of the two daughters and sons-in-law of his stepmother, left the old homestead in Indiana and came to Illinois. Their mode of conveyance was wagons drawn by ox teams, AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 33 and Abraham drove one of the teams. They reached the county of Macon, and stopped there some time within the same month of March. His father and family settled a new place on the north side of the Sangamon Kiver, at the junction of the timberland and prairie, about ten miles westerly from Decatur. Here they built a log cabin, into which they removed, and made sufficient of rails to fence ten acres of ground, fenced and broke the ground, and raised a crop of sown corn upon it. the same year. These are, or are supposed to be, the rails about which so much is being said just now, though these are far from being the first or only rails ever made by Abraham. The sons-in-law were temporarily settled in other places in the county. In the autumn all hands were greatly afflicted with ague and fever, to which they had not been used, and by which they were greatly discouraged, so much so that they determined on leaving the county. They remained, however, through the succeeding winter, which was the winter of the very celebrated "deep snow" of Illinois. During that winter Abraham, together with his stepmother's son, John D. Johnston, and John Hanks, yet residing in Macon County, hired themselves to Denton Offutt to take a flatboat from Beardstown, Illinois, to New Orleans; and for that purpose were to join him — Offutt — at Springfield, Illinois, so soon as the snow should go off. When it did go off, which was about the first of March, 1831, the county was so flooded as to make travel- ing by land impracticable ; to obviate which difficulty they purchased a large canoe, and came down the Sangamon River in it. This is the time and the manner of Abra- 34 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ham's first entrance into Sangamon County. They found Offutt at Springfield, but learned from him that he had failed in getting a boat at Beardstown. This led to their hiring themselves to him for twelve dollars per month each, and getting the timber out of the trees and building a boat at Old Sangamon town on the Sangamon River, seven miles northwest of Springfield, which boat they took to New Orleans, substantially upon the old contract. During this Boat-enterprise acquaintance with Offutt, who was previously an entire stranger, he conceived a liking for Abraham, and believing he could turn him to account, he contracted with him to act as clerk for him, on his return from New Orleans, in charge of a store and mill at New Salem, then in Sangamon, now in Menard County. Hanks had not gone to New Orleans, but hav- ing a family, and being likely to be detained from home longer than at first expected, had turned back from St. Louis. He is the same John Hanks who now engineers the "rail enterprise" at Decatur, and is a first cousin to Abraham's mother. Abraham's- father, with his own fam- ily and others mentioned, had, in pursuance of their in- tention, removed from Macon to Coles County. John D. Johnston, the stepmother's son, went to them, and Abra- ham stopped indefinitely and for the first time, as it were, by himself at New Salem, before mentioned. This was in July, 1831. Here he rapidly made acquaintances and friends. In less than a year Offutt's business was failing — had almost failed — when the Black Hawk war of 1832 broke out. Abraham joined a volunteer company, and, to his own AUTOBIOGKAPHIES 35 surprise, was elected captain of it. He says he has not since had any success in life which gave him so much satisfaction. He went to the campaign, served near three months, met the ordinary hardships of such an expedition, but was in no battle. He now owns, in Iowa, the land upon which his own warrants for the service were located. Returning from the campaign, and encouraged by his great popularity among his immediate neighbors, he the same year ran for the legislature, and was beaten, — his own precinct, however, casting its votes 277 for and 7 against him — and that, too, while he was an avowed Clay man, and the precinct the autumn afterward giving a majority of 115 to General Jackson over Mr. Clay. This was the only time Abraham was ever beaten on a direct vote of the people. He was now without means and out of business, but was anxious to remain with his friends who had treated him with so much generosity, especially as he had nothing elsewhere to go to. He studied what he should do — thought of learning the blacksmith trade — thought of trying to study law — rather thought he could not succeed at that without a better education. Before long, strangely enough, a man offered to sell, and did sell, to Abraham and another as poor as himself, an old stock of goods, upon credit. They opened as merchants; and he says that was the store. Of course they did nothing but get deeper and deeper in debt. He was appointed postmaster at New Salem — the office being too insignifi- cant to make his politics an objection. The store winked out. The surveyor of Sangamon of- fered to depute to Abraham that portion of his work which was within his part of the county. He accepted. 36 ABRAHAM LINCOLN procured a compass, and chain, studied Flint and Gibson a little, and went at it. This procured bread, and kept soul and body together. The election of 1834 came, and he was then elected to the legislature by the high- est vote cast for any candidate. Major John T. Stuart, then in full practice of the law, was also elected. Dur- ing the canvass, in a private conversation he encouraged Abraham [to] study law. After the election he borrowed books of Stuart, took them home with him, and went at it in good earnest. He studied with nobody. He still mixed in the surveying to pay board and clothing bills. When the legislature met, the law-books were dropped, but were taken up again at the end of the session. He was reelected in 1836, 1838, and 1840. In the autumn of 1836 he obtained a law license; and on April 15, 1837, removed to Springfield, and commenced the practice — his old friend Stuart taking him into partnership. March 3, 1837, by a protest entered upon the ^^Illinois House Journal" of that date, at pages 817 and 818, Abraham, with Dan Stone, another repre- sentative of Sangamon, briefly defined his position on the slavery question; and so far as it goes, it was then the same that it is now. The protest is as follows: Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having passed both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy, but that the promulgation of Abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than abate its evils. AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 37 They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power under the Constitution to interfere with the institu- tion of slavery in the different States. They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the Constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but that the power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of the District. The difference between these opinions and those contained in the above resolutions is their reason for entering this protest. Dan" Stone, A. Lincoln, Representatives from the County of Sangamon. In 1838 and 1840, Mr. Lincoln's party voted for him as Speaker, but being in the minority he was not elected. After 1840 he declined a reelection to the legislature. He was on the Harrison electoral ticket in 1840, and on that of Clay in 1844, and spent much time and labor in both those canvasses. In November, 1842, he was married to Mary, daughter of Robert S. Todd, of Lexington, Ken- tucky. They have three living children, all sons, one born in 1843, one in 1850, and one in 1853. They lost one, who was born in 1846. In 1846 he was elected to the lower House of Con- gress, and served one term only, commencing in Decem- ber, 1847, and ending with the inauguration of General Taylor, in March, 1849. All the battles of the Mexican war had been fought before Mr. Lincoln took his seat in Congress, but the American army was still in Mexico, and the treaty of peace was not fully and formally rati- fied till the June afterward. Much has been said of his 38 ABKAHAM LINCOLN course in Congress in regard to this war. A careful ex- amination of the "Journal" and "Congressional Globe" shows that he voted for all the supply measures that came up, and for all the measures in any way favorable to the officers, soldiers, and their families, who conducted the war through : with the exception that some of these meas- ures passed without yeas and nays, leaving no record as to how particular men voted. The "Journal" and *'Globe" also show him voting that the war was unneces- sarily and unconstitutionally begun by the President of the United States. This is the language of Mr. Ashmun's amendment, for which Mr. Lincoln and nearly or quite all other Whigs of the House of Representatives voted. Mr. Lincoln^s reasons for the opinion expressed by this vote were briefly that the President had sent General Taylor into an inhabited part of the country belonging to Mexico, and not to the United States, and thereby had provoked the first act of hostility, in fact the commence- ment of the war ; that the place, being the country border- ing on the east bank of the Rio Grande, was inhabited by native Mexicans, born there under the Mexican gov- ernment, and had never submitted to, nor been conquered by, Texas or the United States, nor transferred to either by treaty ; that although Texas claimed the Rio Grande as her boundary, Mexico had never recognized it, and neither Texas nor the United States had ever enforced it; that there was a broad desert between that and the country over which Texas had actual control; that the country where hostilities commenced, having once belonged to Mexico, must remain so until it was somehow legally transferred, which had never been done. AUTOBIOGRAPHIES 39 Mr. Lincoln thought the act of sending an armed force among the Mexicans was unnecessary, inasmuch as Mex- ico was in no way molesting or menacing the United States or the people thereof; and that it was unconsti- tutional, because the power of levying war is vested in Congress, and not in the President. He thought the principal motive for the act was to divert public atten- tion from the surrender of "Fifty-four, forty, or fight" to Great Britain, on the Oregon boundary question. Mr. Lincoln was not a candidate for reelection. This was determined upon and declared before he went to Wash- ington, in accordance with an understanding among Whig friends, by which Colonel Hardin and Colonel Baker had each previously served a single term in this same district. In 1848, during his term in Congress, he advocated General Taylor's nomination for the presidency, in op- position to all others, and also took an active part for his election after his nomination, speaking a few times in Maryland, near Washington, several times in Massa- chusetts, and canvassing quite fully his own district in Illinois, which was followed by a majority in the district of over 1500 for General Taylor. Upon his return from Congress he went to the practice of the law with greater earnestness than ever before. In 1852 he was upon the Scott electoral ticket, and did some- thing in the way of canvassing, but owing to the hope- lessness of the cause in Illinois, he did less than in pre- vious presidential canvasses. In 1854 his profession had almost superseded the thought of politics in his mind, when the repeal of the 40 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Missouri Compromise aroused him as he had never been before. In the autumn of that year he took the stump with no broader practical aim or object than to secure, if pos- sible, the reelection of Hon. Richard Yates to Congress. His speeches at once attracted a more marked attention than they had ever before done. As the canvass pro- ceeded he was drawn to different parts of the State out- side of Mr. Yates's district. He did not abandon the law, but gave his attention by turns to that and politics. The State agricultural fair was at Springfield that year, and Douglas was announced to speak there. In the canvass of 1856 Mr. Lincoln made over fifty speeches, no one of which, so far as he remembers, was put in print. One of them was made at Galena, but Mr. Lincoln has no recollection of any part of it being printed ; nor does he remember whether in that speech he said any- thing about a Supreme Court decision. He may have spoken upon that subject, and some of the newspapers may have reported him as saying what is now ascribed to him; but he thinks he could not have expressed himself as represented. Memorandum Given to the Artist Hicks (June 14, 1860) I was born February 12, 1809, in then Hardin County, Kentucky, at a point within the now county of La Rue, a mile, or a mile and a half, from where Hodgen's mill now is. My parents being dead, and my own memory not serving, I know no means of identifying the precise lo- cality. It was on Nolin Creek. n 1836-1853 Early Principles of Popular Government (June 13, 1836) To the Editor of the Journal: — In your paper of last Saturday I see a communication, over the signature of "Many Voters," in which the candidates who are an- nounced in the Journal are called upon to "show their hands." Agreed. Here's mine. I go for all sharing the privileges of the government who assist in bearing its burdens. Consequently, I go for admitting all whites to the right of suffrage who pay taxes or bears arms (by no means excluding females). If elected, I shall consider the whole people of San- gamon my constituents, as well those that oppose as those that support me. While acting as their representative, I shall be gov- erned by their will on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is ; and upon all others I shall do what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the several States, to enable our State, in com- mon with others, to dig canals and construct railroads vithout borrowing money and paying the interest on it 41 42 ABKAHAM LINCOLN If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White for President. Reverence for Law (January 27, 1837) As a subject for the remarks of the evening, "The Per- petuation of our Political Institutions" is selected. 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 our- selves under the government of a system of political in- stitutions 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 la- mented 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 per- mit the world to know. This task gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our 1836-1853 43 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 transatlan- tic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Eidge 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 destruc- tion be our lot we must ourselves be its author and fin- isher. 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 furi- ous 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 grat- ing to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth and an insult to our intelligence to deny. Ac- counts 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 pe- 44 ABRAHAM LINCOLN culiar 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 or- der-loving citizens of the land of steady habits. What- ever then their cause may be, it is common to the whole country. 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 conse- quences 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. . . . But the example in either case was fearful. When men take it in their heads to-day to hang gamblers or born murderers, they should recollect that in the confusion usually attend- ing 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 theih 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. . . . Thus, then, by the op- eration of this mobocratic spirit which all must admit is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any 1836-1853 45 government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed — I mean the attachment of the people. ... 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 has been the fondest hope of the lov- ers of freedom throughout the world. . . . Here, then, is one point at which danger may be ex- pected. The question recurs. How shall we fortify against it? The answer is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well-wisher to his posterity swear by the blood of the Kevolution 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 rever- ence 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 writ- ten 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 46 ABRAHAM LINCOLN and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and con- ditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. . . . 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 po- litical institutions ? Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we not for fifty times as long? We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all danger may be overcome; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise would itself be extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dan- gerous in their tendency, which have not existed hereto- fore, and which are not too insignificant to merit atten- tion. . . . 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 inac- 1836-1853 47 tive, 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 circum- stances, 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 es- tablishing and maintaining civil and religious liberty. But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with the circumstances that produced it. . . . They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they have crumbled away that temple must fall un- less we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason. Pas- sion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in fu- ture be our enemy. Keason — cold, calculating, unimpas- sioned reason — must furnish all the materials for our fu- ture support and defence. Let those materials be moulded into general intelligence, sound morality, and in particu- lar, 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 dese- crate 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 pre- vail against it." 48 ABEAHAM LINCOLN On the Stump (December 26, 1839) I shall advert to but one more point. Mr. Lamborn refers to the late elections in the States, and from their results confidently predicts that every State in the Union will vote for Mr. Van Buren at the next Presidential elec- tion. Address that argument to cowards and to knaves; with the free and the brave it will effect nothing. It may be true ; if it must, let it. Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers ; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her. I know that the great vol- cano at Washington, aroused and directed by the evil Spirit that reigns there, is belching forth the lava of po- litical corruption in a current broad and deep, which is sweeping with frightful velocity over the whole length and breadth of the land, bidding fair to leave unscathed no green spot or living thing; while on its bosom are rid- ing, like demons on the waves of hell, the imps of that evil spirit, and fiendishly taunting all those who dare re- sist its destroying course with the hopelessness of their effort; and, knowing this, I cannot deny that all may be swept away. Broken by it I, too, may be; bow to it I never will. The probability that we may fall in the strug- gle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me. If ever I feel the soul within me elevate and expand to those dimen- sions not wholly unworthy of its almighty Architect, it is when I contemplate the cause of my country deserted by all the world beside, and I standing up boldly and alone, and hurling defiance at her victorious oppressors. Here, . 1836-1853 49 without contemplating consequences, before high heaven and in the face of the world, I swear eternal fidelity to the just cause, as I deem it, of the land of my life, my lib- erty, and my love. And who that thinks with me will not fearlessly adopt the oath that I take? Let none fal- ter who thinks he is right, and we may succeed. But if, after all, we shall fail, be it so. We still shall have the proud consolation of saying to our consciences, and to the departed shade of our country's freedom, that the cause approved of our judgment, and adored of our hearts, in disaster, in chains, in torture, in death, we never fal- tered in defending. A Near View of Slavery (September 27, 1841) Miss Mary Speed, Louisville, Ky. My Friend: ***** -x- * By the way, a fine example was presented on board the boat for contemplating the effect of condition upon hu- man happiness. A gentleman had purchased twelve ne- groes in different parts of Kentucky, and was taking them to a farm in the South. They were chained six and six together. A small iron clevis was around the left wrist of each, and this fastened to the main chain by a shorter one, at a convenient distance from the others, so that the negroes were strung together precisely like so many fish upon a trot-line. In this condition they were being separated forever from the scenes of their childhood, their friends, their fathers and mothers, and brothers 50 ABKAHAM LINCOLN and sisters, and many of them from their wives and children, and going into perpetual slavery where the lash of the master is proverbially more ruthless and un- relenting than any other where; and yet amid all these distressing circumstances, as we would think them, they were the most cheerful and apparently happy creatures on board. One, whose offence for which he had been sold was an overfondness for his wife, played the fiddle almost continually, and the others danced, sang, cracked jokes, and played various games with cards from day to day. How true it is that "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," or in other words, that he renders the worst of human conditions tolerable, while he permits the best to be nothing better than tolerable. To return to the nar- rative: When we reached Springfield I stayed but one day, when I started on this tedious circuit where I now am. Do you remember my going to the city, while I was in Kentucky, to have a tooth extracted, and making a failure of it? Well, that same old tooth got to paining me so much that about a week since I had it torn out, bringing with it a bit of the jawbone, the consequence of which is that my mouth is now so sore that I can neither talk nor eat. . . . Opinions on Texas (October 3, 1845) When I saw you at home, it was agreed that I should write to you and your brother Madison. Until I then saw you I was not aware of your being what is generally called an Abolitionist, or, as you call yourself, a Liberty 1836-1853 51 man, though I well knew there were many such in your country. I was glad to hear that you intended to attempt to bring about, at the next election in Putnam, a union of the Whigs proper and such of the Liberty men as are Whigs in principle on all questions save only that of slavery. So far as I can perceive, by such union neither party need yield anything on the point in difference be- tween them. If the Whig abolitionists of New York had voted with us last fall, Mr. Clay would now be President. Whig principles in the ascendant, and Texas not annexed ; whereas, by the division, all that either had at stake in the contest was lost. And, indeed, it was extremely prob- able, beforehand, that such would be the result. As I always understood, the Liberty men deprecated the an- nexation of Texas extremely; and this being so, why they should refuse to cast their votes (so) as to prevent it, even to me seemed wonderful. What was their process of rea- soning, I can only judge from what a single one of them told me. It was this: ^'We are not to do evil that good may come." This general proposition is doubtless cor- rect; but did it apply? If by your votes you could have prevented the extension, etc., of slavery, would it not have been good, and not evil, so to have used your votes, even though it involved the casting of them for a slave-holder? By the fruit the tree is to be known. An evil tree can- not bring forth good fruit. If the fruit of electing Mr. Clay would have been to prevent the extension of slavery, could the act of electing have been evil ? But I will not argue further. I perhaps ought to say that individually I never was much interested in the 52 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Texas question. I never could see much good to come of annexation, inasmuch as they were already a free re- publican people on our own model. On the other hand, I never could very clearly see how the annexation would augment the evil of slavery. It always seemed to me that slaves would be taken there in about equal numbers, with or without annexation. And if more were taken because of annexation, still there would be just so many the fewer left where they were taken from. It is possibly true, to some extent, that, with annexation, some slaves may be sent to Texas and continued in slavery that otherwise might have been liberated. To whatever extent this may be true, I think annexation an evil. I hold it to be a paramount duty of us in the free States, due to the Union of the States, and perhaps to liberty itself (paradox though it may seem), to let the slavery of the other States alone; while, on the other hand, I hold it to be equally clear that we should never knowingly lend ourselves, directly or in- directly, to prevent that slavery from dying a natural death — to find new places for it to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old. Of course I am not now consid- ering what would be our duty in cases of insurrection among the slaves. To recur to the Texas question, I un- derstand the Liberty men to have viewed annexation as a much greater evil than ever I did; and I would like to convince you, if I could, that they could have prevented it, if they had chosen. I intend this letter for you and Madison together; and if you and he or either shall think fit to drop me a line, I shall be pleased. 1836-1853 63 Against the Mexican War (December 22, 1847) RESOLUTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OP REPRESENTATIVES Whereas, The President of the United States, in his message of May 11, 1846, has declared that *^the Mexican Government not only refused to receive him [the envoy of the United States], or to listen to his propositions, but, after a long-continued series of menaces, has at last in- vaded our territory and shed the blood of our lellow- citizens on our own soil"; And again, in his message of December 8, 1846, that "we had ample cause of war against Mexico long before the breaking out of hostilities; but even then we forbore to take redress -nto our own hands until Mexico herself became the aggressor, by invading our soil in hostile ar- ray, and shedding the blood of our citizens" ; And yet again, in his message of December 7, 1847, that "the Mexican Government refused even to hear the terms of adjustment which he [our minister of peace] was authorized to propos3, and finally, under wholly un- justifiable pretexts, involved the two countries in war, by invading the territory of the State of Texas, striking the first blow, and shedding the blood of our citizens on our own soil"; And whereas, This House is desirous to obtain a full knowledge of all the facts which go to establish whether the particular spot on which the blood of our citizens was so shed was or was not at that time our own soil: ther*^- fore, 54 ABKAHAM LINCOLN Resolved, By the House of Representatives, that the President of the United States be respectfully requested to inform this House — First. Whether the spot on which the blood of our citizens was shed, as in his message declared, was or was not within the territory of Spain, at least after the treaty of 1819, until the Mexican revolution. Second. Whether that spot is or is not within the territory which was wrested from Spain by the revolu- tionary government of Mexico. Third. Whether that spot is or is not within a set- tlement of people, which settlement has existed ever since long before the Texas revolution, and until its inhabitants fled before the approach of the United States army. Fourth. Whether that settlement is or is not isolated from any and all other settlements by the Gulf and the Rio Grande on the south and west, and by wide uninhab- ited regions on the north and east. Fifth. Whetlier the people of that settlement, or a ma- jority of them, or any of them, have ever submitted them- selves to the government or laws of Texas or of the United States, by consent or by compulsion, either by accepting office, or voting at elections, or paying tax, or serving on juries, or having process served upon them, or in any other way. Sixth. Whether the people of that settlement did or did not flee from the approach of the United States army, leaving unprotected their homes and their growing crops, before the blood was shed, as in the message stated; and whether the first blood, so shed, was or was not shed within 1836-1853 55 the inclosure of one of the people who had thus fled from it. Seventh. Whether our citizens, whose blood was shed, as in his message declared, were or were not, at that time, armed officers and soldiers, sent into that settlement by the military order of the President, through the Secre- tary of War. Eighth. Whether the military force of the United States was or was not so sent into that settlement after General Taylor had more than once intimated to the War Department that, in his opinion, no such movement was necessary to the defence or protection of Texas. Self -Advice for a Lawyer (July, 1850) I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite as much material for a lecture in those points wherein I have failed, as in those wherein I have been moderately suc- cessful. The leading rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor per- taining to it which can then be done. When you bring a common-law suit, if you have the facts for doing so, write the declaration at once. If a law point be involved, examine the books, and note the authority you rely on upon the declaration itself, where you are sure to find it when wanted. The same of defenses and pleas. In busi- ness not likely to be litigated, — ordinary collection cases, foreclosures, partitions, and the like, — make all exam- 56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN inations of titles, and note them, and even draft orders and decrees in advance. This course has a triple advan- tage; it avoids omissions and neglect, saves your labor when once done, performs the labor out of court when you have leisure, rather than in court when you have not. Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and culti- vated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. How- ever able and faithful he may be in other respects, peo- ple are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, upon his rare powers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the drudgery of the law, his case is a failure in advance. Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nominal winner is often a real loser — in fees, ex- penses, and waste of time. As a peace-maker the lawyer has a superior opportunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket ? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it. The matter of fees is important, far beyond the mere question of bread and butter involved. Properly attended to, fuller justice is done to both lawyer and client. An exorbitant fee should never be claimed. As a general rule 1836-1853 57 never take your whole fee in advance, nor any more than a small retainer. When fully paid beforehand, you are more than a common mortal if you can feel the same in- terest in the case, as if something was still in prospect for you, as well as for your client. And when you lack interest in the case the job will very likely lack skill and diligence in the performance. Settle the amount of fee and take a note in advance. Then you will feel that you are working for something, and you are sure to do your work faithfully and well. Never sell a fee note — at least not before the consideration service is performed. It leads to negligence and dishonesty — negligence by losing interest in the case, and dishonesty in refusing to refund when you have allowed the consideration to fail. r~ There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are neces- sarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improb- able that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost univer- sal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popular belief — resolve to be honest at all events; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation, rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave. ~J Advice to a Slack Man (January 2, 1851) Dear Johnston : — Your request for eighty dollars I do not think it best to comply with now. At the various 58 ABRAHAM LINCOLN times when I have helped you a little you have said to me, "We can get along very well now"; but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now, this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether, since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time is the whole difficulty ; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break the habit. It is more important to them, because they have longer to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in. You are now in need of some money; and what I pro- pose is, that you shall go to work, * 'tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it. Let father and your boys take charge of your things at home, pre- pare for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get; and, to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you, that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor, either in money or as your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this I do not mean you shall go off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines in California, 1836-1853 69 but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can get close to home in Coles County. Now, if you will do this, you will be soon out of debt, and, what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But, if I should now clear you out of debt, next year you would be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in heaven for seventy or eighty dollars. Then you value your place in heaven very cheap, for I am sure you can, with the offer I make, get the seventy or eighty dollars for four or five months* work. You say if I will furnish you the money you will deed me the land, and, if you don't pay the money back, you will deliver possession. Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will but fol- low my advice, you will find it worth more than eighty times eighty dollars to you. Affectionately your brother. in 1854-1860 1854 •'Lost Speech*' on Slavery (May 29, 1854) From the Beport hy William C. Whitney. * * * * * * * We are here to stand firmly for a principle — ^to stand firmly for a right. We know that great political and moral wrongs are done, and outrages committed, and we denounce those wrongs and outrages, although we cannot, at present, do much more. But we desire to reach out be- yond those personal outrages and establish a rule that will apply to all, and so prevent any future outrages. We have seen to-day that every shade of popular opin- ion is represented here, with Freedom, or rather Free Soil, as the basis. We have come together as in some sort representatives of popular opinion against the extension of slavery into territory now free in fact as well as by law, and the pledged word of the statesmen of the nation who are now no more. We come — we are here assem- bled together — to protest as well as we can against a great wrong, and to take measures, as well as we now can, to make that wrong right; to place the nation, as far as it 60 1854-1860 61 may be possible now, as it was before the repeal of the Missouri Compromise; and the plain way to do this is to restore the Compromise, and to demand and determine that Kansas shall he free! . . . There is one desire which is uppermost in the mind, one wish common to us all, to which no dissent will be made; and I counsel you ear- nestly to bury all resentment, to sink all personal feel- ing, make all things work to a common purpose in which we are united and agreed about, and which all present will agree is absolutely necessary — which must be done by any rightful mode if there be such: Slavery must he kept out of Kansas! The test — the pinch — is right. there. If we lose Kansas to freedom, an example will be set which will prove fatal to freedom in the end. We, there- fore, in the language of the Bible, must "lay the axe to the root of the tree." Temporizing will not do longer; now is the time for decision — for firm, persistent, reso- lute action. . . . . . . Here is where the greatest danger lies — that, while we profess to be a government of law and reason, law will give way to violence on demand of this awful and crushing power. Like the great Juggernaut — I think that is the name — the great idol, it crushes everything that comes in its way, and makes a — or, as I read once, in a blackletter law book, "a slave is a human being who is legally not a person but a thing/' And if the safeguards to liberty are broken down, as is now attempted, when they have made things of all the free negroes, how long, think you, before they will begin to make things of poor white men? Be not deceived. Eevolutions do not go backward. The founder of the Democratic party de- 62 ABRAHAM LINCOLN clared that all men were created equal. His successor in the leadership has written the word "white" before men, making it read "all white men are created equal." Pray, will or may not the Know-Nothings, if they should get in power, add the word "Protestant," making it read ''all Protestant white men'? . . . We grant a fugitive slave law because it is so "nomi- nated in the bond"; because our fathers so stipulated — had to — and we are bound to carry out this agreement. But they did not agree to introduce slavery in regions where it did not previously exist. On the contrary, they said by their example and teachings that they did not deem it expedient — did not consider it right — to do so; and it is wise and right to do just as they did about it. And that is what we propose — not to interfere with slavery where it exists (we have never tried to do it), and to give them a reasonable and efficient fugitive slave law. I say YES ! It was part of the bargain, and I'm for living up to it; but I go no further; I'm not bound to do more and I won't agree any further. * * * We have made a good beginning here to-day. As our Methodist friends would say, "I feel it is good to be here." While extremists may find some fault with the moderation of our platform, they should recollect that "the battle is not always to the strong, nor the race to the swift." In grave emergencies, moderation is generally safer than rad- icalism ; and as this struggle is likely to be long and ear- nest, we must not, by our action, repel any who are in sym- pathy with us in the main, but rather win all that we can to our standard. We must not belittle nor overlook the facts of our condition — that we are new and comparative- 1854-1860 63 ]y weak, while our enemies are entrenched and relatively strong-. They have the administration and the political power ; and, right or wrong, at present they have the num- bers. Our friends who urge an appeal to arms with so much force and eloquence should recollect that the gov- ernment is arrayed against us, and that the numbers are now arrayed against us as well ; or, to state it nearer to the truth, they are not yet expressly and affirmatively for us; and we should repel friends rather than gain them by anything savoring of revolutionary methods. As it now stands, we must appeal to the sober sense and patriotism of the people. We will make converts day by day ; we will grow strong by calmness and moderation; we will grow strong by the violence and injustice of our adversaries. And, unless truth be a mockery and justice a hollow lie, we will be in the majority after a while, and then the revolution which we will accomplish will be none the less radical from being the result of pacific measures. The battle of freedom is to be fought out on principle. Slavery is a violation of the eternal right. We have temporized with it from the necessities of our condition; but as sure as God reigns and school children read, THAT BLACK FOUL LIE CAN NEVER BE CONSECRATED INTO GOD'S HALLOWED TRUTH! * * * Once let slavery get planted in a locality, by ever so weak or doubtful a title, and in ever so small numbers, and it is like the Canada thistle or Bermuda grass — you can't root it out. You yourself may detest slavery; but your neighbor has five or six slaves, and he is an excellent neighbor, or your son has married his daughter, and they beg you to help save their property, and you vote against 64 ABKAHAM LINCOLN your interests and principle to accommodate a neighbor, hoping that your vote will be on the losing side. And others do the same; and in those ways slavery gets a sure foothold. And when that is done the whole mighty Union — ^the force of the nation — is committed to its sup- port. * * * But in seeking to attain these results — so indispensable if the liberty which is our pride and boast shall endure — we will be loyal to the Constitution and to the "flag of our Union," and no matter what our grievance — even though Kansas shall come in as a slave State; and no matter what theirs — even if we shall restore the compro- mis^-WE WILL SAY TO THE SOUTHEBN DIS- UNIONISTS, WE WON'T GO OUT OF THE UNION, AND YOU SHAN'T! * * * But let us, meanwhile, appeal to the sense and patriot- ism of the people, and not to their prejudices; let us spread the floods of enthusiasm here aroused all over these vast prairies, so suggestive of freedom. * * * There is both a power and a magic in popular opinion. To that let us now appeal; and while, in all probability, no resort to force will be needed, our moderation and forbearance will stand us in good stead when, if ever, WE MUST MAKE AN APPEAL TO BATTLE AND TO THE GOD OF HOSTS! 1855 The Slavery Crisis (August 24, 1855) Dear Speed: You know what a poor correspondent I am. Ever since I received your very agreeable letter of 1854-1860 65 the 22d of May I have been intending to -write you an answer to it. You suggest that in political action, now, you and I would differ. I suppose we would ; not quite as much, however, as you may think. You know I dislike slavery, and you fully admit the abstract wrong of it. So far there is no cause of difference. But you say that sooner than yield your legal right to the slave, especially at the bidding of those who are not themselves interested, you would see the Union dissolved. I am not aware that any one is bidding you yield that right; very certainly I am not. I leave that matter entirely to yourself. I also acknowledge your rights and my obligations under the Constitution in regard to your slaves. I confess I hate to see the poor creatures hunted down and caught and car- ried back to their stripes and unrequited toil; but I bite my lips and keep quiet. In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip on a steamboat from Louisville to St. Louis. You may remember, as I well do, that from Louisville to the mouth of the Ohio there were on board ten or a dezen slaves shackled together with irons. That sight was a continued torment to me, and I see some- thing like it every time I touch the Ohio or any other slave border. It is not fair for you to assume that I have no interest in a thing which has, and continually exer- cises, the power of making me miserable. You ought rather to appreciate how much the great body of the Northern people do crucify their feelings, in order to maintain their loyalty to the Constitution and the Union. I do oppose the extension of slavery because my judgment and feeling so prompt me, and I am under no obliga- tions to the contrary. If for this you and I must differ, 66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN differ we must. You say, if you were President, you would send an army and hang the leaders of the Missouri outrages upon the Kansas elections ; still, if Kansas fairly votes herself a slave State she must be admitted, or the Union must be dissolved. But how if she votes herself a slave State unfairly, that is, by the very means for which you say you would hang men? Must she still be ad- mitted, or the Union dissolved? That will be the phase of the question when it first becomes a practical one. In your assumption that there may be a fair decision of the slavery question in Kansas, I plainly see you and I would differ about the Nebraska law. I look upon that enact- ment not as a law, but as a violence from the beginning. It was conceived in violence, is maintained in violence, and is being executed in violence. I say it was conceived in violence, because the destruction of the Missouri Com- promise, under the circumstances, was nothing less than violence. It was passed in violence, because it could not have passed at all but for the votes of many members in violence of the known will of their constituents. It is maintained in violence, because the elections since clearly demand its repeal; and the demand is openly disregarded. You say men ought to be hung for the way they are executing the law; I say the way it is being executed is quite as good as any of its antecedents. It is being exe- cuted in the precise way which was intended from the first, else why does no Nebraska man express astonish- ment or condemnation? Poor Reeder is the only public man who has been silly enough to believe that anything like fairness was ever intended, and he has been bravely undeceived. 1854-1860 67 That Kansas will form a slave constitution, and with it will ask to be admitted into the Union, I take to be already a settled question, and so settled by the very means you so pointedly condemn. By every principle of law ever held by any court North or South, every negro taken to Kansas is free; yet, in utter disregard of this, — in the spirit of violence merely, — that beautiful legisla- ture gravely passes a law to hang any man who shall ven- ture to inform a negro of his legal rights. This is the subject and real object of the law. If, like Haman, they should hang upon the gallows of their own building, I shall not be among the mourners for their fate. In my humble sphere, I shall advocate the restoration of the Mis- souri Compromise so long as Kansas remains a Territory, and when, by all these foul means, it seeks to come into the Union as a slave State, I shall oppose it. I am very loath in any case to withhold my assent to the enjoyment of property acquired or located in good faith; but I do not admit that good faith in taking a negro to Kansas to be held in slavery is a probability with any man. Any man who has sense enough to be the controller of his own property has too much sense to misunderstand the out- rageous character of the whole Nebraska business. But I digress. In my opposition to the admission of Kansas I shall have some company, but we may be beaten. If we are, I shall not on that account attempt to dissolve the Union. I think it probable, however, we shall be beaten. Standing as a unit among yourselves, you can, directly and indirectly, bribe enough of our men to carry the day, as you could on the open proposition to establish a mon- archy. Get hold of some man in the North whose posi- 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN tion and ability is such that he can make the support of your measure, whatever it may be, a Democratic party necessity, and the thing is done. Apropos of this, let me tell you an anecdote. Douglas introduced the Nebraska bill in January. In February afterward there was a called session of the Illinois legislature. Of the one hundred members composing the two branches of that body, about seventy were Democrats. These latter held a caucus, in which the Nebraska bill was talked of, if not formally dis- cussed. It was thereby discovered that just three, and no more, were in favor of the measure. In a day or two Douglas's orders came on to have resolutions passed ap- proving the bill; and they were passed by large majori- ties! I ! The truth of this is vouched for by a bolting Democratic member. The masses, too. Democratic as well as Whig, were even nearer unanimous against it; but, as soon as the party necessity of supporting it became ap- parent, the way the Democrats began to see the wisdom and justice of it was perfectly astonishing. You say that if Kansas fairly votes herself a free State, as a Christian you will rejoice at it. All decent slave- holders talk that way, and I do not doubt their candor. But they never vote that way. Although in a private let- ter or conversation you will express your preference that Kansas shall be free, you would vote for no man for Con- gress who would say the same thing publicly. No such man could be elected from any district in a slave State. You think Stringfellow and company ought to be hung; and yet at the next presidential election you will vote for the exact type and representative of Stringfellow. The 1854-1860 69 slave-breeders and slave-traders are a small, odious, and detested class among you ; and yet in politics they dictate the course of all of you, and are as completely your mas- ters as you are the master of your own negroes. You in- quire where I now stand. That is a disputed point. I think I am a Whig; but others say there are no Whigs, and that I am an Abolitionist. When I was at Wash- ington, I voted for the Wilmot proviso as good as forty times ; and I never heard of any one attempting to unwhig me for that. I now do no more than oppose the exten- sion of slavery. I am not a Know-nothing; that is cer- tain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes be in favor of degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation we began by declaring that "all men are created equal." We now practically read it ''all men are created equal, except negroes." When the Know-nothings get control, it will read "all men are created equal, except negroes and foreigners and Catholics." When it comes to this, I shall prefer emi- grating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty, — to Russia, for instance, where despot- ism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hy- pocrisy. Mary will probably pass a day or two in Louisville in October. My kindest regards to Mrs. Speed. On the leading subject of this letter, I have more of her sympathy than I have of yours; and yet let me say I am Your friend forever. 70 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Origin of Idea of "Half Slave and Half Free" (August 15, 1855) HON. GEORGE ROBERTSON, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY My dear Sir : The volume you left for me has been re- ceived. I am really grateful for the honor of your kind remembrance, as well as for the book. The partial read- ing I have already given it has afforded me much of both pleasure and instruction. It was new to me that the ex- act question which led to the Missouri Compromise had arisen before it arose in regard to Missouri, and that you had taken so prominent a part in it. Your short but able and patriotic speech upon that occasion has not been im- proved upon since by those holding the same views, and, with all the lights you then had, the views you took ap- pear to me as very reasonable. You are not a friend to slavery in the abstract. In that speech you spoke of "the peaceful extinction of slavery," and used other expressions indicating your belief that the thing was at some time to have an end. Since then we have had thirty-six years of experience; and this experi- ence has demonstrated, I think, that there is no peaceful extinction of slavery in prospect for us. The signal fail- ure of Henry Clay and other good and great men, in 1849, to effect anything in favor of gradual emancipation in Kentucky, together with a thousand other signs, extin- guished that hope utterly. On the question of liberty as a principle, we are not what we have been. When we were the political slaves of King George, and wanted to be free, we called the maxim that "all men were created equal" a 1854-1860 71 self-evident truth, but now when we have grown fat, and have lost all dread of being slaves ourselves, we have be- come so greedy to be masters that we call the same maxim "a self-evident lie." The Fourth of July has not quite dwindled away; it is still a great day — for burning fire- crackers 1 1 1 That spirit which desired the peaceful extinction of slavery has itself become extinct with the occasion and the men of the Kevolution. Under the impulse of that occasion, nearly half the States adopted systems of eman- cipation at once, and it is a significant fact that not a single State has done the like since. So far as peaceful voluntary emancipation is concerned, the condition of the negro slave in America, scarcely less terrible to the con- templation of a free mind, is now as fixed and hopeless of change for the better as that of the lost souls of the finally impenitent. The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown and proclaim his subjects free republi- cans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves. Our political problem now is, "Can we as a nation con- tinue together permanently — forever — half slave and half free?" The problem is too mighty for me — may God, in his mercy, superintend the solution. Your much obliged friend and humble servant, 1856 Equality the Central Idea ( , 1856) Our government rests in public opinion. Whoever can change public opinion can change the government prac- 72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN tically just so much. Public opinion, on any subject, al- ways has a "central idea," from which all its minor thoughts radiate. That "central idea" in our political public opinion at the beginning was, and until recently has continued to be, "the equality of men." And al- though it has always submitted patiently to whatever of inequality there seemed to be as matter of actual neces- sity, its constant working has been a steady progress to- ward the practical equality of all men. The late presi- dential election was a struggle by one party to discard that central idea and to substitute for it the opposite idea that slavery is right in the abstract, the workings of which as a central idea may be the perpetuity of human slavery and its extension to all countries and colors. Less than a year ago the Richmond Enquirer, an avowed advocate of slavery, regardless of color, in order to favor his views, invented the phrase "State equality," and now the Presi- dent, in his message, adopts the Enquirers catch-phrase, telling us the people "have asserted the constitutional equality of each and all of the States of the Union as States." The President flatters himself that the new central idea is completely inaugurated; and so indeed it is, so far as the mere fact of a presidential election can inaugurate it. To us it is left to know that the majority of the people have not yet declared for it, and to hope that they never will. All of us who did not vote for Mr. Buchanan, taken together, are a majority of four hundred thousand. But in the late contest we were divided between Fremont and Fillmore. Can we not come together for the future? Let every one who really believes, and is re- solved, that free society is not and shall not be a failure, 1854-1860 73 and who can conscientiously declare that in the past con- test he has done only what he thought best — let every such one have charity to believe that every other one can say as much. Thus let bygones be bygones; let past differ- ences as nothing be; and with steady eye on the real issue, let us reinaugurate the good old "central ideas" of the republic. We can do it. The human heart is with us; God is with us. We shall again be able not to declare that *'all States as States are equal," nor yet that "all citi- zens as citizens are equal," but to renew the broader, better declaration, including both these and much more, that "all men are created equal." No Dissolution of the Union ( , 1856) You further charge us with being disunionists. If you mean that it is our aim to dissolve the Union, I^for my- self answer that it is untrue; for those who act with me I answer that it is untrue. Have you heard us assert that as our aim ? Do you really believe that such is our aim ? Do you find it in our platform, our speeches, our conven- tions, or anywhere? If not, withdraw the charge. But you may say that though it is not our aim, it will be the result, if we succeed, and that we are therefore dis- unionists in fact. This is a grave charge you make against us, and we certainly have a right to demand that you specify in what way we are to dissolve the Union. How are we to effect this? The only specification offered is volunteered by Mr. Fillmore in his Albany speech. His charge is that if we elect a President and Vice-President both from the free 74 ABRAHAM LINCOLN States it will dissolve the Union. This is open folly. You do not pretend that it ought to dissolve the Union, and the facts show that it won't; therefore the charge may be dismissed without further consideration. No other specification is made, and the only one that could be made is, that the restoration of the restriction of 1820 making the United States territory free territory would dissolve the Union. Gentlemen, it will require a decided majority to pass suc£ an act. We, the majority, being able constitutionally to do all that we purpose, would have no desire to dissolve the Union. Do you say that such restriction of slavery would be unconstitutional, and that some of the States would not submit to its en- forcement? I grant you that an unconstitutional act is not a law ; but I do not ask and will not take your con- struction of the Constitution. The Supreme Court of the United States is the tribunal to decide such a question, and we will submit to its decisions; and if you do also, there will be an end of the matter. Will you? If not, who are the disunionists, you or we? We, the majority, would not strive to dissolve the Union ; and if any attempt is made it must be by you, who so loudly stigmatize us as disunionists. But the Union, in any event, will not be dissolved. We don't want to dissolve it, and if you attempt it we won't let you. With the purse and sword, the army and navy and treasury in our hands and at our command, you could not do it. This government would be very weak indeed if a majority with a disciplined army and navy and a well- filled treasury could not preserve itself, when attacked by an unarmed, undisciplined, unorganized minority. All LINCOLN IN 1857 1854-1860 75 this talk about the dissolution of the Union is humbug, nothing but folly. We do not want to dissolve the Union ; you shall not. 1857 Dred Scott Decision (June 26, 1857) And now as to the Dred Scott decision. That decision declares two propositions — first, that a negro cannot sue in the United States courts; and secondly, that Congress cannot prohibit slavery in the Territories. It was made by a divided court — dividing differently on the different points. Judge Douglas does not discuss the merits of the decision, and in that respect I shall follow his example, believing I could no more improve on McLean and Cur- tis than he could on Taney. He denounces all who question the correctness of that decision, as offering violent resistance to it. But who re- sists it? Who has, in spite of the decision, declared Dred Scott free, and resisted the authority of his master over him? Judicial decisions have two uses — first, to absolutely de- termine the case decided, and secondly, to indicate to the public how other similar cases will be decided when they arise. For the latter use, they are called "precedents" and "authorities." We believe as much as Judge Douglas (perhaps more) in obedience to, and respect for, the judicial department of government. We think its decisions on constitutional questions, when fully settled, should control not only the particular cases decided, but the general policy of the 76 ABRAHAM LINCOLN country, subject to be disturbed only by amendments of the Constitution as provided in that instrument itself. More than this would be revolution. But we think the Dred Scott decision is erroneous. We know the court that made it has often overruled its own decisions, and we shall do what we can to have it to overrule this. We offer no resistance to it. Judicial decisions are of greater or less authority as precedents according to circumstances. That this should be so accords both with common sense and the customary understanding of the legal profession. If this important decision had been made by the unani- mous concurrence of the judges, and without any appar- ent partisan bias, and in accordance with legal public ex- pectation and with the steady practice of the departments throughout our history, and had been in no part based on assumed historical facts which are not really true; or, if wanting in some of these, it had been before the court more than once, and had there been affirmed and reaffirmed through a course of years, it then might be, perhaps would be, factious, nay, even revolutionary, not to acquiesce in it as a precedent. But when, as is true, we find it wanting in all these claims to the public confidence, it is not resistance, it is not factious, it is not even disrespectful, to treat it as not having yet quite established a settled doctrine for the country. * * * There is a natural disgust in the minds of nearly all white people at the idea of an indiscriminate amalgama- tion of the white and black races; and Judge Douglas evidently is basing his chief hope upon the chances of 1854-1860 77 his being able to appropriate the benefit of this disgust to himself. If he can, by much drumming and repeat- ing, fasten the odium of that idea upon his adversaries, he thinks he can struggle through the storm. He» there- fore clings to this hope, as a drowning man to the. last plank. He makes an occasion for lugging it in from the opposition to the Dred Scott decision. He finds the Re- publicans insisting that the Declaration of Independence includes all men, black as well as white, and forthwith he boldly denies that it includes negroes at all, and pro- ceeds to argue gravely that all who contend it does, do so only because they want to vote, and eat, and sleep, and marry with negroes ! He will have it that they cannot be consistent else. Now I protest against the counterfeit logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for either. I can just leave her alone. In some respects she certainly is not my equal ; but in her natural right to eat the bread she earns with her own hands, without asking leave of any one else, she is my equal and the equal of all others. Chief Justice Taney, in his opinion in the Dred Scott case, admits that the language of the Declaration is broad enough to include the whole human family, but he and Judge Douglas argue that the authors of that instrument did not intend to include negroes, by the fact that they did not at once actually place them on an equality with the whites. Now this grave argument comes to just nothing at all, by the other fact that they did not at once, or ever afterward, actually place all white people on an equality with one another. And this is the staple argument of 78 ABEAHAM LINCOLN both the Chief Justice and the Senator for doing this obvious violence to the plain, unmistakable language of the Declaration. I think the authors of that notable instrument intend- ed to include all men, but they did not intend to declare all men equal in all respects. They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity. They defined with tolerable distinct- ness in what respects they did consider all men created equal — equal with "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'' This they said, and this they meant. They did not mean to assert the obvious untruth that all were then actually enjoying that equality, nor yet that they were about to confer it immediately upon them. In fact, they had no power to confer such a boon. They meant simply to de- clare the right, so that enforcement of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit. 1858 *'A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand" (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 tlie avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the opera- tion of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, 1854-1860 79 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 1 do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will an-est 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 construc- tion, 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 prohibi- tion. 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 indorse- 80 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ment by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained and give chance for more. This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argu- ment of "squatter sovereignty," otherwise called "sacred right of self-government," which latter phrase, though ex- pressive 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 lan- guage which follows : "It being the true intent and mean- ing 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 sov- ereignty" 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 meas- ure; 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 Ne- braska bill and lawsuit were brought to a decision in the 1854-1860 81 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 elec- tion, 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 elec- tion, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, re- quested the leading advocate of the Nebraska bill to state his opinion whether the people of a Territory can consti- tutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the lat- ter answered: "That is a question for the Supreme Court." The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it was, secured. That was the sec- ond point gained. The indorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred thou- sand votes, and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly re- liable and satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the in- dorsement. The Supreme Court met again; did not an- nounce 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 forth- coming 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 indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all oppo- sition to it. The new President, too, seizes the early occa- 82 ABKAHAM LINCOLN sion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly con- strue 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 mold at the foundry, served through one blast and :fell back into loose sand, — helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Republicans against the Lecompton 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 connec- tion with Senator Douglas's "care not" policy, constitute the piece of machinery in its present state of advancement. 1854-1860 83 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 Con- stitution of the United States. This point is made in or- der to deprive the negro in every possible event of the benefit of that provision of the United States Consti- tution which declares that "the citizens of each State shall be entitled to all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States." (2) That, "subject to the Constitution of the United States," neither Congress nor a territorial legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the future. (3) That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free State makes him free as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made not to be pressed immediately, but, if acquiesced in for a while, and apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the logical conclusion that what Dred Scott's master might lawfully do with Dred Scott in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one or one thousand slaves in Illinois or in any other free State. Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with 84 ABRAHAM LINCOLN it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to edu- cate and mold public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are, and partially, also, whither we are tending. It will throw additional light on the latter, to go back and run the mind over the string of historical facts 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 sen- ator's individual opinion withheld till after the presiden- tial 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 ? 1854-1860 85 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 to- gether, 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 declara- tion, 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 de- claring the power of a State over slavery is made by Judge Nelson. He approaches it more than once, using the precise idea, and almost the language too, of the Nebraska act. On one occasion his exact language is; 86 ABEAHAM LINCOLN "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 jurisdic- tion." In what cases the power of the States is so re- strained 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 per- mit 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 pre- vent that consununation. 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 ob- 1854-1860 87 ject. They wish us to infer all from the fact that he now has a litle 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 unques- tionably 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 prop- erty; 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 88 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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? Popular Sovereignty (July 10, 1858) . . . Popular sovereignty ! everlasting popular sovereign- ty ! Let us for a moment inquire into this vast matter of popular sovereignty. What is popular sovereignty? We recollect that at an early period in the history of this struggle there was another name for the same thing, — "squatter sovereignty." It was not exactly popular sov- ereignty, but squatter sovereignty. What do those terms mean ? What do those terms mean when used now ? And vast credit is taken by our friend the Judge in regard to his support of it, when he declares the last years of his life have been, and all the future years of his life shall be, devoted to this matter of popular sovereignty. What is it? Why, it is the sovereignty of the people! What was squatter sovereignty? I suppose, if it had any sig- nificance at all, it was the right of the people to govern themselves, to be sovereign in their own affairs while they were squatted down in a country not their own, while they had squatted on a Territory that did not belong to them, in the sense that a State belongs to the people who inhabit it, — when it belonged to the nation; such right to govern themselves was called "squatter sov- ereignty." Now, I wish you to mark: What has become of that 1854-1860 89 squatter sovereignty? What has become of it? Can you get anybody to tell you now that the people of a Terri- tory have any authority to govern themselves, in regard to this mooted question of slavery, before they form a State constitution? No such thing at all; although there is a general running fire, and although there has been a hurrah made in every speech on that side, assuming that policy had given the people of a Territory the right to govern themselves upon this question, yet the point is dodged. To-day it has been decided— no more than a year ago it was decided — by the Supreme Court of the United States, and is insisted upon to-day that the people of a Territory have no right to exclude slavery from a Territory; that if any one man chooses to take slaves into a Territory, all the rest of the people have no right to keep them out. This being so, and this decision being made one of the points that the Judge approved, and one in the approval of which he says he means to keep me down, — put me down I should not say, for I have never been up, — he says he is in favor of it, and sticks to it, and expects to win his battle on that decision, which says that there is no such thing as squatter sovereignty, but that any one man may take slaves into a Territory, and all the other men in the Territory may be opposed to it, and yet by reason of the Constitution they cannot pro- hibit it. When that is so, how much is left of this vast matter of squatter sovereignty, I should like to know? When we get back, we get to the point of the right of the people to make a constitution. Kansas was settled, for example, in 1854. It was a Territory yet, without having formed a constitution, in a very regular way, for 90 ABRAHAM LINCOLN three years. All this time negro slavery could be taken in by any few individuals, and by that decision of the Su- preme Court, which the Judge approves, all the rest of the people cannot keep it out; but when they come to make a constitution, they may say they will not have slavery. But it is there; they are obliged to tolerate it some way, and all experience shows it will be so, for they will not take the negro slaves and absolutely deprive the owners of them. All experience shows this to be so. All that space of time that runs from the beginning of the settlement of the Territory until there is sufficiency of people to make a State constitution, — all that portion of time popular sovereignty is given up. The seal is ab- solutely put down upon it by the court decision, and Judge Douglas puts his own upon the top of that; yet he is appealing to the people to give him vast credit for his devotion to popular sovereignty. Again, when we get to the question of the right of the people to form a State constitution as they please, to form it with slavery or without slavery, — if that is any- thing new, I confess I don't know it. Has there ever been a time when anybody said that any other than the people of a Territory itself should form a constitution? What is now in it that Judge Douglas should have fought several years of his life, and pledge himself to fight all the remaining years of his life for ? Can Judge Douglas find anybody on earth that said that anybody else should form a constitution for a people? [A voice, "Yes."] Well, I should like you to name him; I should like to know who he was. [Same voice, "John Calhoun."] Mr. Lincoln: No, sir, I never heard of even John 1854-1860 91 Calhoun saying such a thing. He insisted on the same principle as Judge Douglas; but his mode of applying it, in fact, was wrong. It is enough for my purpose to ask this crowd whenever a Republican said anything against it. They never said anything against it, but they have constantly spoken for it; and whoever will undertake to examine the platform, and the speeches o'f responsible men of the party, and of irresponsible men, too, if you please, will be unable to find one word from anybody in the Republican ranks opposed to that popular sover- eignty which Judge Douglas thinks that he has invented. I suppose that Judge Douglas will claim, in a little while, that he is the inventor of the idea that the people should govern themselves; that nobody ever thought of such a thing until he brought it forward. We do not remember that in that old Declaration of Independence it is said that *'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." There is the origin of popular sovereignty. Who, then, shall come in at this day and claim that he invented it? Essence of the Beclaration of Independence (July 10, 1858) Now, it happens that we meet together once every year, sometimes about the 4th of July, for some reason or 92 ABRAHAM LINCOLN other. These 4th of July gatherings I suppose have their uses. If you will indulge me, I will state what I suppose to be some of them. We are now a mighty nation; we are thirty or about thirty millions of people, and we own and inhabit about one fifteenth part of the dry land of the whole earth. We run our memory back over the pages of history for about eighty-two years, and we discover that we were then a very small people in point of numbers, vastly inferior to what we are now, with a vastly less extent of country, with vastly less of everything we deem desirable among men; we look upon the change as exceedingly advantageous to us and to our posterity, and we fix upon something that happened away back, as in some way or other being con- nected with this rise of prosperity. We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim as our fathers and grandfathers; they were iron men; they fought for the principle that they were contending for; and we understood that by what they then did it has followed that the degree of prosperity which we now enjoy has come to us. We hold this annual celebration to remind our- selves of all the good done in this process of time, of how it was done and who did it, and how we are historically connected with it; and we go from these meetings in better humor with ourselves, we feel more attached the one to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit. In every way we are better men in the age and race and country in which we live, for these cele- brations. But after we have done all this we have not yet reached the whole. There is something else connected with it. We have — ^besides these, men descended by blood 1854-1860 93 from our ancestors — among us perhaps half our people who are not descendants at all of these men; they are men who have come from Europe, — German, Irish, French, and Scandinavian, — men that have come from Europe themselves, or whose ancestors have come hither and settled here, finding themselves our equals in all things. If they look back through this history to trace their connection with those days by blood, they find they have none, they cannot carry themselves back into that glorious epoch and make themselves feel that they are part of us; but when they look through tliat old Declara- tion of Independence, they find that those old men say that "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal"; and then they feel that that moral sentiment, taught in that day, evidences their relation to those men, that it is the father of all moral principle in them, and that they have a right to claim it as though they were blood of the blood, and flesh of the flesh, of the men who wrote that Declaration; and so they are. That is the electric cord in that Declaration that links the hearts of patriotic and liberty-loving men together, that will link those patriotic hearts as long as the love of free- dom exists in the minds of men throughout the world.; I The Freeport Doctrine (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 94 ABKAHAM LINCOLN for half an hour. I propose to devote myself during the first hour to the scope ot what has brought within the range of his half-hour speech at Ottawa. Of course there was brought within the scope in 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, 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 condi- tion that he will answei 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 1854-1860 95 may be no mistake about it, I have copied the interroga- tories in writing, and also my answers to them. The first one of these interrogatories is in these words : Question 1. "I desire to know whether Lincoln to-day stands, as he did in 1854, in favor of the 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. 96 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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. . . . I now proceed to propound to the Judge the interroga- tories, so far as I have framed them. I will bring for- ward a new installment when I get them ready. I will bring them forward now only reaching to number four. The first one is: Question 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means entirely unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State constitution, and ask admission into the Union under it, before they have the requisite number of in- habitants according to the English bill, — some ninety- three thousand, — will you vote to admit them? Q. 2. Can the people of a United States Territory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the 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 1854-1860 97 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 terri- tory, in disregard of how such acquisition may affect the nation on the slavery question? Douglas. The next question propounded to me by Mr. Lincoln is. Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, against the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitution? I answer emphat- ically, 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. Mr. Lincoln knew that I had answered that question over and over again. He heard me argue the Nebraska Bill on that principle all over the State in 1854, in 1855, and in 1856, and he has no excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Constitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery cannot exist a day or an hour anywhere, unless it is supported by local police regulations. Those police regulations can only be established by the local legislature; and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legislation effectually 98 ABKAHAM LINCOLN prevent the introduction of it into their midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, still the right of the people to make a slave Territory or a free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska Bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on that point. Definition of Democracy (August 1, [?] 1858) As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy. Our Defense is the Spirit of Liberty (September 13, 1858) My friends, I have endeavored to show you the logical consequences of the Dred Scott decision, which holds that the people of a Territory cannot prevent the establish- ment of slavery in their midst. I have stated, which can- not be gainsaid, that the grounds upon which this decision is made are equally applicable to the free States as to the free Territories, and that the peculiar reasons put forth by Judge Douglas for indorsing this decision com- mit him, in advance, to the next decision and to all other decisions coming from the same source. And when, by all these means, you have succeeded in dehumanizing the negro; when you have put him down and made it impos- sible for him to be but as the beasts of the field; when you have extinguished his soul in this world and placed 1854 1860 99 him where the ray of hope is blown out as in the dark- ness of the damned, are you quite sure that the demon you have roused will not turn and rend you ? What con- stitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence ? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts, our army and our navy. These are not our reliance against tyranny. AH ol those may be turned against us without making us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism at your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage and you prepare your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of others, you have lost the genius of your own independence and become the lit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises among you. And let me tell you, that all these things are prepared for you by the teachings of history, if the elec- tions shall promise that the next Dred Scott decision and all future decisions will be quietly acquiesced in by the people. Come Back to the Declaration of Independence (August 17, 1858) The Declaration of Independence was formed by the representatives of American liberty from thirteen States of the Confederacy, twelve of which were slave-holding communities. We need not discuss the way or the reason of their becoming slave-holding communities. It is suffi- 100 ABRAHAM LINCOLN cient for our purpose that all of them greatly deplored the evil and that they placed a provision in the Consti- tution which they supposed would gradually remove the disease by cutting off its source. This was the abolition of the slave trade. So general was the conviction, the public determination, to abolish the African slave trade, that the provision which I have referred to as being placed in the Constitution declared that it should not be abolished prior to the year 1808. A constitutional pro- vision was necessary to prevent the people, through Con- gress, from putting a stop to the traffic immediately at the close of the war. Now if slavery had been a good thing, would the fathers of the republic have taken a step cal- culated to diminish its beneficent influences among them- selves, and snatch the boon wholly from their posterity? These communities, by their representatives in old Inde- pendence Hall, said to the whole world of men : *'We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with cer- tain inalienable rights; that among these are life, lib- erty, and the pursuit of happiness." This was their majestic interpretation of the economy of the Universe. This was their lofty, and wise, and noble understanding of the justice of the Creator to his creatures. Yes, gentlemen, to all his creatures, to the whole great family of man. In their enlightened belief, nothing stamped with the Divine image and likeness was sent into the world to be trodden on and degraded and imbruted by its fellows. They grasped not only the whole race of man then living, but they reached forward and seized upon the farthest posterity. They erected a beacon to guide their children, and their 1854-1860 101 children's children, and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages. Wise statesmen as they were, they knew the tendency of prosperity to breed ty- rants, and so they established these great self-evident truths, that when in the distant future some man, some faction, some interest, should set up the doctrine that none but rich men, or none but white men, or none but Anglo-Saxon white men, were entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, their posterity might look up again to the Declaration of Independence and take courage to renew the battle which their fathers began, so that truth and justice and mercy and all the humane and Christian virtues might not be extinguished from the land; so that no man would hereafter dare to limit and circumscribe the great principles on which the temple of liberty was being built. Now, rny countrymen, if you have been taught doctrines conflicting with the great landmarks of the Declaration of Independence; if you have listened to suggestions which would take away from its grandeur and mutilate the fair symmetry of its proportions; if you have been inclined to believe that all men are not created equal in those inalienable rights enumerated by our chart of liberty, let me entreat you to come back. Keturn to the fountain whose waters spring close by the blood of the revolution. Think nothing of me — take no thought for the political fate of any man whomsoever — but come back to the truths that are in the Declaration of Independence. You may do anything with me you choose, if you will but heed these sacred principles. You may not only defeat me for the Senate, but you may take me and put me to 102 ABRAHAM LINCOLN death. While pretending no indifference to earthly honors, I do claim to be actuated in this contest by some- thing higher than an anxiety for office. I charge you to drop every paltry and insignificant thought for any man's success. It is nothing; I am nothing; Judge Douglas is nothing. But do not destroy that immortal emblem of Humanity — the Declaration of American Independence. 1859 The Principles of Jefferson (April 6, 1859) . . . Bearing in mind that about seventy years ago two great political parties were first formed in this country, that Thomas Jefferson was the head of one of them and Boston the headquarters of the other, it is both curious and interesting that those supposed to descend politically from the party opposed to Jefferson should now be cele- brating his birthday in their own original seat of empire, while those claiming political descent from him have nearly ceased to breathe his name everywhere. Remembering, too, that the Jefferson party was formed upon its supposed superior devotion to the personal rights of men, holding the rights of property to be secondary only, and greatly inferior, and assuming that the so-called Democracy of to-day are the Jefferson, and their oppo- nents the anti-Jefferson, party, it will be equally interest- ing to note how completely the two have changed hands as to the principle upon which they were originally sup- posed to be divided. The Democracy of to-day hold the liberty of one man to be absolutely nothing, when in LINCOLN IN 1859 1854-1860 103 conflict with another man's right of property; Repub- licans, on the contrary, are for both the man and the dollar, but in case of conflict the man before the dollar. I remember being once much amused at seeing two partially intoxicated men engaged in a fight with their great-coats on, which fight, after a long and rather harm- less contest, ended in each having fought himself out of his own coat and into that of the other. If the two lead- ing parties of this day are really identical with the two in the days of Jefferson and Adams, they have performed the same feat as the two drunken men. But soberly, it is now no child's play to save the prin- ciples of Jefferson from total overthrow in this nation. One would state with great confidence that he could convince any sane child that the simpler propositions of Euclid are true; but nevertheless he would fail, utterly, with one who should deny the definitions and axioms. The principles of Jefferson are the definitions and axioms of free society. And yet they are denied aiid evaded, with no small show of success. One dashingly calls them "glit- tering generalities." Another bluntly calls them "self- evident lies." And others insidiously argue that they apply to ^'superior races." These expressions, differing in form, are identical in object and effect — the supplanting the principles of free government, and re- storing those of classification, caste, and legitimacy. They would delight a convocation of crowned heads plot- ting against the people. They are the vanguard, the miners and sappers, of returning despotism. We must re- pulse them, or they will subjugate us. This is a world of compensation; and he who would be no slave must 104 ABRAHAM LINCOLN consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it. All honor to Jefferson — to the man who, in the concrete pressure of a struggle for national independence by a single people, had the cool- ness, forecast, and capacity to introduce into a mere revo- lutionary document an abstract truth, applicable to all men and all times, and so to embalm it there that to-day and in all coming days it shall be a rebuke and a stum- bling block to the very harbingers of reappearing tyranny and oppression. Your obedient servant. Capital and Labor (September 17, 1859) . . . Labor is the great source from which nearly all, if not all, human comforts and necessities are drawn. There is a difference in opinion about the elements of labor in society. Some men assume that there is necessary con- nection between capital and labor, and that connection draws within it the whole of the labor of the community. They assume that nobody works unless capital excites them to work. They begin next to consider what is the best way. They say there are but two ways: one is to hire men, and to allure them to labor by their consent; the other is to buy the men, and drive them to it, and that is slavery. Having assumed that, they proceed to discuss the question of whether the laborers themselves are better off in the condition of slaves or of hired labor- ers, and they usually decide that they are better off in the condition of slaves. 1854-1860 105 In the first place, I say that the whole thing is a mis- take. That there is a certain relation between capital and labor, I admit. That it does exist, and rightfully exists, I think is true. That men who are industrious and sober, and honest in the pursuit of their own interests should after a while accumulate capital, and after that should be allowed to enjoy it in peace, and also if they should choose, when they have accumulated it, to use it to save themselves from actual labor, and hire other people to labor for them, is right. In doing so they do not wrong the man they employ, for they find men who have not of their own land to work upon, or shops to work in, and who are benefited by working for others, hired laborers, receiving their capital for it. Thus a few men, that own capital, hire a few others, and these establish the relation of capital and labor rightfully, a relation of which I make no complaint. But I insist that that rela- tion, after all, does not embrace more than one eighth of the labor of the country. [The speaker proceeded to argue that the hired laborer, with his ability to become an employer, must have every precedence over him who labors under the inducement of force. He continued:] I have taken upon myself in the name of some of you to say that we expect upon these principles to ultimately beat them. In order to do so, I think we want and must have a national policy in regard to the institution of slavery that acknowledges and deals with that institution as being wrong. Whoever desires the prevention of the spread of slavery and the nationalization of that institu- 106 ABRAHAM LINCOLN tion yields all when he yields to any policy that either recognizes slavery as being right or as being an indifferent thing. Nothing will make you successful but setting up a policy which shall treat the thing as being wrong. When I say this I do not mean to say that this General Government is charged with the duty of redressing or preventing all the wrongs in the world, but I do think that it is charged with preventing and redressing all wrongs which are wrongs to itself. This Government is expressly charged with the duty of providing for the gen- eral welfare. We believe that the spreading out and per- petuity of the institution of slavery impairs the general welfare. We believe — ^nay, we know — that that is the only thing that has ever threatened the perpetuity of the Union itself. The only thing which Eas ever menaced the destruction of the government under which we live is this very thing. To repress this thing, we think, is providing for the general welfare. Our friends in Kentucky differ from us. We need not make our argument for them, but we who think it is wrong in all its relations, or in some of them at least, must decide as to our own actions and our own course, upon our own judgment. I say that we must not interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists, because the Con- stitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so. We must not withhold an efficient Fugitive Slave law, because the Constitution requires us, as I understand it, not to withhold such a law. But we must prevent the outspreading of the institution, because neither the Constitution nor general welfare requires us to extend it. We must prevent the revival of the African 1854-1860 107 slave trade, and the enacting by Congress of a Territorial slave code. We must prevent each of these things being done by either Congresses or courts. The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Con- gresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution. To do these things we must employ instrumentalities. We must hold conventions; we must adopt platforms, if we conform to ordinary custom ; we must nominate candi- dates; and we must carry elections. In all these things, I think that we ought to keep in view our real purpose, and in none do anything that stands adverse to our pur- pose. If we shall adopt a platform that fails to recognize or express our purpose, or elect a man that declares him- self inimical to our purpose, we not only take nothing by our success, but we tacitly admit that we act upon no other principle than a desire to have "the loaves and fishes," by which, in the end, our apparent success is really an injury to us. I know that this is very desirable with me, as with everybody else, that all the elements of the opposition shall unite in the next Presidential election and in all future time. I am anxious that that should be; but there are things seriously to be considered in relation ^to that matter. If the terms can be arranged, I am in favor of the union. But suppose we shall take up some man, and put him upon one end or the other of the ticket, who declares himself against us in regard to the prevention of the spread of slavery, who turns up his nose and says he is tired of hearing anything more about it, who is more against us than against the enemy, what will be the 108 ABRAHAM LINCOLN issue ? Why, he will get no slave States, after all, — he has tried that already until being beat is the rule for him. If we nominate him upon that ground, he will not carry a slave State; and not only so, but that portion of our men who are high-strung upon the principle we really fight for will not go for him, and he won't get a single electoral vote anywhere, except, perhaps, in the State of Maryland. There is no use in saying to us that we are stubborn and obstinate because we won't do some such thing as this. We cannot do it. We cannot get our men to vote it. I speak by the card, that we cannot give the State of Illinois in such case by fifty thousand. We would be flatter down than the "Negro Democracy" them- selves have the heart to wish to see us. After saying this much let me say a little on the other side. There are plenty of men in the slave States that are altogether good enough for me to be either President or Vice-President, provided they will profess their sym- pathy with our purpose, and will place themselves on the ground that our men, upon principle, can vote for them. There are scores of them, good men in their character for intelligence and talent and integrity. If such a one wiU place himself upon the right ground, I am for his occupying one place upon the next Republican or opposi- tion ticket. I will heartily go for him. But unless he does so place himself, I think it a matter of perfect non- sense to attempt to bring about a union upon any other basis; that if a union be made, the elements will scatter so that there can be no success for such a ticket, nor any- thing like success. The good old maxims of the Bible are applicable, and truly applicable, to human affairs, and in 1854-1860 109 this, as in other things, we may say here that he who is not for us is against us; he who gathereth not with us, scattereth. I should be glad to have some of the many good and able and noble men of the South to place them- selves where we can confer upon them the high honor of an election upon one or the other end of our ticket. It would do my soul good to do that thing. It would enable us to teach them that, inasmuch as we select one of their own number to carry out our principles, we are free from the charge that we mean more than we say. But, my friends, I have detained you much longer than I expected to do. I believe I may do myself the compli- ment to say that you have stayed and heard me with great patience, for which I return you my most sincere thanks. 1860 An Appeal to the South (Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860) . . . 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 reason- able 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 rep- tiles, 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 110 ABEAHAM LINCOLN 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 prin- ciple or practice. If we do repel you by any wrong prin- ciple or practice, the fault is ours; but this brings you to where you ought to have started — to a discussion of the right or wrong of our principle. If our principle, put 1854-1860 111 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 de- nounced 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 some- thing may be said on our side. Do you accept the chal- lenge? 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 Wash- ington 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 Govern- ment upon that subject up to, and at, the very moment he penned that warning; and about one year after he penned it, he wrote La Fayette that he considered that prohibition a wise measure, expressing in the same con- nection 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, 112 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 conserva- tive — while we are revolutionary, destructive, or some- thing of the sort. What is conservatism? Is it not ad- herence to the old and tried, against a 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 sub- stitute shall be. You are divided on new propositions and plans, but you are unanimous in rejecting and de- nouncing the old policy of the fathers. Some of you are for reviving the foreign slave trade; some for a Congres- sional 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 '%ur-reat pur-rinci- ple" that "if one man would enslave another, no third man should object," fantastically called ^'popular sover- eignty" ; but never a man among you in favor of Federal prohibition of slavery in Federal Territories, according to the practice of "our fathers who framed the Govern- ment 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. Cpnsider, then, whether your claim of conservatism for yourselves, and 1854-1860 113 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 gack 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 Bepublican 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 for asserting it, and especially for persisting in the assertion after you have tried and failed to make the proof. You need not be told that persisting in a charge which one does not know to be true is simply malicious slander. Some of you admit that no Republican designedly aided or encouraged the Harper's Ferry affair, but still insist that our doctrines and declarations necessarily lead to such results. We do not believe it. We know we hold to no doctrine, and make no declaration, which were not 114 ABRAHAM LINCOLN held to and made by "our fathers who framed the Gov- ernment 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 continued protest against any inter- ference 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 any thing 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 Republican- ism; and then, to give point to the charge, defines Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, and thun- der 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 1854-1860 115 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 attained. 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 con- necting 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 gun- powder 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. Occa- sional 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. Who- ever much fears or much hopes for such an event will be alike disappointed. In the language of Mr. Jefferson, uttered many years 116 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 ofi 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 emancipa- tion, I speak of the slaveholding States only. The Fed- eral 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 commis- sioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than his own execution. O.rsini's attempt on Louis Napoleon and John Brown's attempt at Harper's Ferry were, in their philosophy, pre- cisely the same. The eagerness to cast blame on old Eng- land 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 1854-1860 117 the use of Jolin 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 or- ganization 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 spe- cific and well-understood allusion to an assumed consti- tutional 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 ex- istence in the Constitution, even by implication. Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will 118 ABEAHAM LINCOLN destroy the Government unless you be allowed to construe and enforce 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 con- stitutional question in your favor. Not quite so. But, waiving the lawyer^s distinction between dictum and de- cision, the court have decided the question for you in a sort of a way. The court have 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 ex- pressly affirmed in the Constitution." An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave is not "distinctly and ex- pressly 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 verac- ity 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. 1854-1860 119 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 con- temporaneous 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 re- consider 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 constitu- tional question in our favor, long ago; decided it without division among themselves, when making the decision, without division among themselves about the meaning of it after it was made, and, so far as any evidence is left, without basing it upon any mistaken statement of facts. Under all these circumstances, do you really feel your- selves justified to break up this Government unless such a court decision as yours is shall be at once submitted 120 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 de- stroyed 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 kiU 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 he at peace and in harmony one with another. Let us Re- publicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill tem- per. Even though the Southern people will not so much as listen to u^, 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 uncondi- tionally surrendered to them? We know they will not. In all their present complaints against us, the Terri- tories are scarcely mentioned. Invasions and insurrec- tions are the rage now. Will it satisfy them if, in the future, we have nothing to do with invasions and insur- 1854-1860 121 rections? 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 ex- empt 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, some- how, 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 plat- forms 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 fail- ing, 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 pleas- ure. We must pull down our free State constitutions. The wholo 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 122 ABEAHAM LINCOLN us alone, do nothing to us, and say what you please about slavery." But we do let them alone — have never dis- turbed 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, de- manded the overthrow of our free State constitutions. Yet those constitutions declare the wrong of slavery, with more solemn emphasis than do all other sayings against it; and when all these other sayings shall have been silenced, the overthrow of these constitutions will be demanded, and nothing be left to resist the demand. It is nothing to the contrary, that they do not demand the whole of this just now. Demanding what they do, and for the reason they do, they can voluntarily stop nowhere short of this consummation. Holding, as they do, that slavery is morally right, and socially elevating, they can- not 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 nation- ality — 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. 1854-1860 123 Thinking it right, as they do, they are not to blame for desiring its full recognition, as being right; but think- ing 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 effec- tively. 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 ques- tion about which all true men do care — such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunion- ists, 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 our- selves. 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. 124 ABEAHAM LINCOLN Labor's Interest Against Slavery ( — , 1860) . . . Another specimen of this bushwhacking, that "shoe strike." Now be it understood that I do not pretend to know all about the matter. I am merely going to specu- late a little about some of its phases. And at the outset, I am glad to see that a system of lahor prevails in New England under which laborers can strike when they want to, where they are not obliged to work under all circum- stances, and are not tied down and obliged to labor whether you pay them or not! I lihe the system which lets a man quit when he wants to, and wish it might prevail everywhere. One of the reasons why I am opposed to slavery is just here. What is the true condition of the laborer? I take it that it is best for all to leave each man free to acquire property as fast as he can. Some will get wealthy. I don't believe in a law to prevent a man from getting rich; it would do more harm than good. So, while we do not propose any war upon capital, we do wish to allow the humblest man an equal chance to get rich with everybody else. When one starts poor, as most do in the race of life, free society is such that he knows he can better his condition ; he knows that there is no fixed condition of labor for his whole life. I am not ashamed to confess that twenty-five years ago I was a hired laborer, mauling rails, at work on a flatboat — ^just what might happen to any poor man's son ! I want every man to have a chance — and I believe a black man is entitled to it — in which he can better his condition ; when he may look forward and hope to be a hired laborer this year and the next, work for himself afterward, and finally 1854-18(30 125 to hire men to work for him! That is the true system. Up here in New England, you have a soil that scarcely sprouts black-eyed beans, and yet where will you find wealthy men so wealthy, and poverty so rarely in extrem- ity? There is not another such place on earth! I desire that if you get too thick here, and find it hard to better your condition on this soil, you may have a chance to strike and go somewhere else, where you may not be de- graded, nor have your families corrupted, by forced riv- alry with negro slaves. I want you to have a clean bed and no snakes in it! Then you can better your condi- tion, and so it may go on and on in one ceaseless round so long as man exists on the face of the earth ! Now, to come back to this shoe strike, — if, as the sen- ator from Illinois asserts, this is caused by withdrawal of Southern votes, consider briefly how you will meet the difficulty. You have done nothing, and have protested that you have done nothing, to injure the South. And yet, to get back the shoe trade, you must leave off doing something which you are now doing. What is it? You must stop thinking slavery wrong! Let your institutions be wholly changed; let your State constitutions be sub- verted; glorify slavery, and so you will get back the shoe trade — for what? You have brought owned labor with it, to compete with your own labor, to underwork you, and to degrade you ! Are you ready to get back the trade on those terms? But the statement is not correct. You have not lost that trade; orders were never better than now! Senator Mason, a Democrat, comes into the Senate in homespun, a proof thnt the dissolution of the Union has actually 126 ABEAHAM LINCOLN begun! but orders are the same. Your factories have not struck work, neither those where they make anything for coats, nor for pants, nor for shirts, nor for ladies' dresses. Mr. Mason has not reached the manufacturers who ought to have made him a coat and pants ! To make his proof good for anything he should have come into the Senate barefoot! Another bushwhacking contrivance; simply that, noth- ing else! I find a good many people who are very much concerned about the loss of Southern trade. Now either these people are sincere or they are not. I will speculate a little about that. If they are sincere, and are moved by any real danger of the loss of Southern trade, they will simply get their names on the white list, and then, instead of persuading Eepublicans to do likewise, they will be glad to keep you away! Don't you see that they cut oS competition? They would not be whispering around to Republicans to come in and share the profits with them. But if they are not sincere, and are merely trying to fool Eepublicans out of their votes, they will grow very anxious about your pecuniary prospects; they are afraid you are going to get broken up and ruined; they do not care about Democratic votes, oh, no, no, no! You must judge which class those belong to whom you meet : I leave it to you to determine from the facts. Knownothingism (July 21, 1860) My dear Sir: — Yours of the 20th is received. I sup- pose as good or even better men than I may have been in American or Know-Nothing lodges ; but in point of 1854-1860 127 fact, I never was in one at Quincy or elsewhere. I was never in Quincy but one day and two nights while Know- Nothing lodges were in existence, and you were with me that day and both those nights. I had never been there before in my life, and never afterwards, till the joint debate with Douglas in 1858. It was in 1854 when I spoke in some hall there, and after the speaking, you, with others, took me to an oyster-saloon, passed an hour there, and you walked with me to, and parted with me at, the Quincy House, quite late at night. I left by stage for Naples before daylight in the morning, having come in by the same route after dark the evening previous to the speaking, when I found you waiting at the Quincy House to meet me. A few days after I was there, Richardson, as I understood, started this same story about my having been in a Know-Nothing lodge. When I heard of the charge, as I did soon after, I taxed my recollection for some incident which could have suggested it; and I re- membered that on parting with you the last night I went to the office of the hotel to take my stage-passage for the morning, was told that no stage-office for that line was kept there, and that I must see the driver before retiring, to insure his calling for me in the morning; and a servant was sent with me to find the driver, who, after taking me a square or two, stopped me, and stepped perhaps a dozen steps farther, and in my hearing called to some one, who answered him, apparently from the upper part of a building, and promised to call with the stage for me at the Quincy House. I returned, and went to bed, and before day the stage called and took me. This is all. 128 ABKAHAM LINCOLN That I never was in a Know-Nothing lodge in Quiney, I should expect could be easily proved by respectable men who were always in the lodges and never saw me there. An affidavit of one or two such would put the matter at rest. And now a word of caution. Our adversaries think they can gain a point if they could force me to openly deny the charge, by which some degree of offence would be given to the Americans. For this reason it must not publicly appear that I am paying any attention to the charge. Elected President To the Springfield Meeting (November 20, 1860) Friends and Fellow-citizens : Please excuse me on this occasion from making a speech. I thank you in common with all those who have thought fit by their votes to in- dorse the Republican cause. I rejoice with you in the suc- cess which has thus far attended that cause. Yet in all our rejoicings let us neither express nor cherish any hard feelings toward any citizen who by his vote has differed with us. Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling. Let me again beg you to accept my thanks, and to excuse me from further speaking at this time. To Washhurne (December 13, 1860) My Dear Sir: Your long letter received. Prevent, as far as possible, any of our friends from demoralizing 1854-1860 129 themselves and our cause by entertaining propositions for compromise of any sort on "Slavery extension." There is no possible compromise upon it but which puts us under again, and leaves all our work to do over again. Whether it be a Missouri line or Eli Thayer's popular sovereignty, it is all the same. Let either be done, and immediately filibustering and extending slavery recom- mences. On that point hold firm, as with a chain of steel. To Run the Machine as It is (December 17, 1860) To Weed My Dear Sir: Yours of the 11th was received two days ago. Should the convocation of governors of which you speak seem desirous to know my views on the present aspect of things, to tell them you judge from my speeches that I will be inflexible on the territorial question; but I probably think either the Missouri line extended, or Douglas's and Eli Thayer's popular sovereignty would lose us everything we gain by the election ; that filibuster- ing for all south of us and making slave States of it would follow in spite of us, in either case; also that I probably think all opposition, real and apparent, to the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution ought to be withdrawn. I believe you can pretend to find but little, if anything, in my speeches about secession. But my opinion is that no State can in any way lawfully get out of the Union without the consent of the others ; and that it is the duty of the President and other government functionaries to run the machine as it is. 130 ABKAHAM LINCOLN The Basis of Compromise (December 22, 1860) Memorandum Resolved: That the fugitive slave clause of the Constitution ought to be enforced by a law of Congress, with efficient pro- visions for that object, not obliging private persons to assist in its execution, but punishing all who resist it, and with the usual safeguards to liberty, securing free men against being surrendered as slaves. That all State laws, if there be such, really or appar- ently in conflict with such law of Congress, ought to be repealed; and no opposition to the execution of such law of Congress ought to be made. That the Federal Union must be preserved. IV 1861-1865 1861 The State of the Union (February 11, 22, 1861) {Springfield, February 11) My Friends : One who has never been placed in a like position cannot understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at this parting. For more than twenty-five years I have lived among you, and during all that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands. Here the most cherished ties of earth were assumed. Here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. To you, my friends, I owe all that I have — all that I am. All the strange checkered past seems to crowd upon my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than that which devolved upon General Washington. Unless the great God who assisted him shall be with and aid me I cannot prevail; but if the same almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me I shall not fail; I shall suc- ceed. Let us pray that the God of our fathers may not forsake us now. To Him I commend you all. Permit me 131 132 ABKAHAM LINCOLN to ask that with equal sincerity and faith you will all in- voke His wisdom and goodness for me. With these words I must leave you; for how long I know not. Friends, one and all, I must now wish you an affectionate farewell. (Indianapolis, February 11) Most heartily do I thank you for this magnificent recep- tion, and while I cannot take to myself any share of the compliment thus paid, more than that which pertains to a mere instrument, an accidental instrument, perhaps I should say, of a great cause, I yet must look upon it as a most magnificent reception and as such most heartily do thank you for it. You have been pleased to address yourself to me chiefly in behalf of this glorious Union in which we live, in all of which you have my hearty sym- pathy, and, as far as may be within my power, will have, one and inseparable, my hearty consideration. While I do not expect, upon this occasion, or until I get to Wash- ington, to attempt any lengthy speech, I will only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but one single thing — the hearts of a people like yours. The people — when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the liberties of their country, truly may it be said, "The gates of hell cannot prevail against them." In all trying positions in which I shall be placed — and, doubt- less, I shall be placed in many such — my reliance will be placed upon you and the people of the United States; and I wish you to remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine; that if the union of these 1861-1865 133 States and the liberties of this people shall be lost, it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and to their posterity, in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me. I desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as already intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but a limited time; and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with office-seekers, but with you is the question. Shall the Union and shall the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations ? (Indianapolis, February 12) . . . Solomon says there is "a time to keep silence," and when men wrangle by the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing while using the same word, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence. The words "coercion" and "invasion" are much used in these days, and often with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, the meaning of those who use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words, not from dictionaries, but from the men them- selves, who certainly deprecate the things they would rep- resent by the use of the words. What, then, is coercion? What is invasion? Would the marching of an army into South Carolina, without the consent of her people, and with hostile intent toward 134 ABEAHAM LINCOLN them, be invasion? I certainly think it would, and it would be coercion also, if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if the United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and other property, and col- lect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold the mails from places where they were habitually vio- lated, would any or all or these things be invasion or co- ercion ? Do our professed lovers of the Union, who spite- fully resolve that they will resist coercion and invasion, understand that such things as these, on the part of the United States, would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so, their idea of means to preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homceopathist would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a family relation, would seem to be no regu- lar marriage, but rather a sort of "free-love" arrange- ment, to be maintained on passional attraction. By the way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State? I speak not of the position assigned to a State in the Union by the Constitution, for that is a bond we all recognize. That position, however, a State cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that assumed primary right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and to ruin all which is larger than itself. If a State and a county, in a given case, should be equal in number of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of princi- ple, is the State better than the county? Would an exchange of name be an exchange of rights ? Upon what principle, upon what rightful principle, may a State, be- ing no more than one fiftieth part of the nation in soil 1861-1865 135 and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a proportionably large subdivision of itself in the most arbi- trary way? What mysterious right to play tyrant is con- ferred on a district of country, with its people, by merely calling it a State? Fellow-citizens, I am not asserting anything. I am merely asking questions for you to con- sider. And now allow me to bid you farewell. . . . Cincinnati (Fehruary 12) I deem it my dutj^ — a duty which I owe to my con- stituents — to you, gentlemen, that I should wait until the last moment for a development of the present national difficulties before I express myself decidedly as to what course I shall pursue. I hope, then, not to be false to any- thing that you have expected of me. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, that the working men are the basis of all governments, for the plain rea- son that they are all the more numerous, and as you added that those were the sentiments of the gentlemen present, representing not only the working class, but citizens of other callings than those of the mechanic, I am happy to concur with you in these sentiments, not only of the na- tive-bom citizens, but also of the Germans and foreigners from other countries. Mr. Chairman, I hold that while man exists it is his duty to improve not only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating the condition of mankind; and therefore, without entering upon the details of the question, I will simply say that I am for those means which will give the greatest good to the greatest number. 136 ABKAHAM LINCOLN In regard to the Homestead law, I have to say that, in so far as the government lands can be disposed of, I am in favor of cutting np the wild lands into parcels, so that every poor man may have a home. In regard to the Germans and foreigners, I esteem them no better than other people, nor any worse. It is not my nature, when I see a people borne down by the weight of their shackles — the oppression of tyranny — to make their life more bitter by heaping upon them greater bur- dens; but rather would I do all in my power to raise the yoke than to add anything that would tend to crush them. Inasmuch as our own country is extensive and new, and the countries of Europe are densely populated, if there are any abroad who desire to make this the land of their adoption, it is not in my heart to throw aught in their way to prevent them from coming to the United States. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I will bid you an affec- tionate farewell. Columbus {Fehruxiry IS) ... I am deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but know what you all know, that without a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his Country ; and so feeling, I can turn and look for that support without which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I turn, then, and look to the American people and to that God who has never forsaken them. ... 1861-1865 137 Steuhenville {February 11^) I fear that the great confidence placed in my ability is "unfounded. Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast difficulties as I am, nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by God and the American people. I believe the devotion to the Constitution is equally great on both sides of the river. It is only the different un- derstanding of that instrument that causes difficulty. The only dispute on both sides is, *What are their rights?" If the majority should not rule, who would be the judge? Where is such a judge to be found? We should all be bound by the majority of the American people; if not, then the minority must control. Would that be right? Would it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiter- ate that the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for condemnation will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out, and a bet- ter man with better views put in my place. Pittsburgh {February 16) . . . Allusion has been made to the present distracted condition of the country. It is natural to expect that I should say something on this subject; but to touch upon it at all would involve an elaborate discussion of a great many questions and circumstances, requiring more time than I can at present command, and would, perhaps, un- necessarily commit me upon matters which have not yet fully developed themselves. The condition of the country 138 ABEAHAM LINCOLN is an extraordinary one, and fills the mind of every pa- triot with anxiety. It is my intention to give this sub- ject all the consideration I possibly can before specially deciding in regard to it, so that when I do speak it may be as nearly right as possible. When I do speak I hope I may say nothing in opposition to the spirit of the Con- stitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union, or which will prove inimical to the liberties of the people, or to the peace of the whole country. And furthermore, when the time arrives for me to speak on this great subject, I hope I may say nothing to disappoint the people gener- ally throughout the country, especially if the expectation has been based upon anything which I may have hereto- fore said. Notwithstanding the troubles across the river (the speaker pointing southwardly across the Mononga- hela, and smiling), there is no crisis but an artificial one. What is there now to warrant the condition of affairs pre- sented by our friends over the river? Take even their own view of the questions involved, and there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. I repeat, then, there is no crisis, excepting such a one as may be gotten up at 'any time by turbulent men aided by designing poli- ticians. My advice to them, under such circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great American people only keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled, just as surely as all other diffi- culties of a like character which have originated in this Government have been adjusted. Let the people on both sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared away in due time, so will this great nation 1S61-1«G5 139 continue to prosper as heretofore. But, fellow-citizens, I liave spoken longer on this subject than I intended at the outset. It is often said that the tariff is the specialty of Penn- sylvania. Assuming that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the tariff question must be as durable as the Government itself. It is a question of national house- keeping. It is to the Government what replenishing the meal-tub is to the family. Ever-varying circumstances will require frequent modifications as to the amount needed and the sources of supply. So far there is little difference of opinion among the people. It is as to whether, and how far, duties on imports shall be ad- justed to favor home production in the home market, that controversy begins. One party insists that such ad- justment oppresses one class for the advantage of an- other; while the other party argues that, with all its in- cidents, in the long run all classes are benefited. In the Chicago platform there is a plank upon this subject which should be a general law to the incoming administration. We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason to believe we would when they gave us their votes. ... I have by no means a thoroughly ma- tured judgment upon this subject, especially as to de- tails; some general ideas are about all. I have long thought it would be to our advantage to produce any necessary article at home which can be made of as good quality and with as little labor at home as abroad, at least by the difference of the carrying from abroad. In such case the carrying is demonstrably a dead loss of labor. For instance, labor being the true standard of value, is it 140 ABEAHAM LINCOLN not plain that if equal labor get a bar of railroad iron out of a mine in England and another out of a mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down in a track at home cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least by the carriage? If there be a present cause why one can be both made and carried cheaper in money price than the other can be made without carrying, that cause is an unnatural and injurious one, and ought gradually, if not rapidly, to be removed. The condition of the treas- ury at this time would seem to render an early revision of the tariff indispensable. The Morrill (tariff) bill, now pending before Congress, may or may not become a law. I am not posted as to its particular provisions, but if they are generally satisfactory, and the bill shall now pass, there will be an end for the present. If, however, it shall not pass, I suppose the whole subject will be one of the most pressing and important for the next Congress. By the Constitution, the executive may recommend measures which he may think proper, and he may veto those he thinks improper, and it is supposed that he may add to these certain indirect influences to affect the action of Congress. My political education strongly inclines me against a very free use of any of these means by the executive to control the legislation of the country. As a rule, I think it better that Congress should originate as well as perfect its measures without external bias. I therefore would rather recommend to every gentleman who knows he is to be a member of the next Congress to take an enlarged view, and post himself thoroughly, so as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the tariff as shall produce a sufficient revenue, and in its 1S61-1865 141 other bearings, so far as possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country and classes of the people. Buffalo (Fehruury 16) . . . Your worthy mayor has thought fit to express the hope that I may be able to relieve the country from the present, or, I should say, the threatened difficulties. I am sure I bring a heart true to the work. For the ability to perform it, I must trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored land, through the instru- mentality of this great and intelligent people. Without that assistance I shall surely fail; with it, I cannot fail. When we speak of threatened difficulties to the country, it is natural that it should be expected that something should be said by myself with regard to particular meas- ures. Upon more mature reflection, however, others will agree with me that, when it is considered that these dif- ficulties are without precedent, and have never been acted upon by any individual situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and see the development, and get all the light possible, so that when I do .speak authoritatively, I may be as near right as possible. When I shall speak authoritatively, I hope to say nothing inconsistent with the Constitution, the Union, the rights of all the States, of each State, and of each section of the country, and not to disappoint the reasonable expectations of those who have confided to me their votes. In this connection allow me to say that you, as a portion of the great American people, need only to maintain your composure, stand up 142 ABEAHAM LINCOLN to your sober convictions of right, to your obligations to the Constitution. Albany {February 18) ... I am notified by your governor that this reception is tendered by citizens without distinction of party. Be- cause of this I accept it the more gladly. In this coun- try, and in any country where freedom of thought is tol- erated, citizens attach themselves to political parties. It is but an ordinary degree of charity to attribute this act to the supposition that, in thus attaching themselves to the various parties, each man in his own judgment sup- poses he thereby best advances the interests of the whole country. And when an election is past, it is altogether befitting a free people, as I suppose, that, until the next election, they should be one people. The reception you have extended me to-day is not given to me personally, — it should not be so, — ^but as the representative, for the time being, of the majority of the nation. If the election had fallen to any of the more distinguished citizens who received the support of the people, this same honor should have greeted him that greets me this day, in testimony of the universal, unanimous devotion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and to the perpetual lib- erties of succeeding generations in this country. I have neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater length. I beg you will therefore ac- cept my most grateful thanks for this manifest devotion — ^not to me, but the institutions of this great and glori- ous country. . . . 1861-1865 143 Trenton {February 21) ... I cannot but remember the place that New Jersey holds in our early history. In the Eevolutionary strug- gle few of the States among the Old Thirteen had more of the battle-fields of the country within their limits than New Jersey. May I be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I mention that away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen — Weems's ^'Life of Washington." I remember all the accounts there given of the battle-fields and strug- gles for the liberties of the country, and none fixed them- selves upon my imagination so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of the river, the contest with the Hessians, the great hardships en- dured at that time, all fixed themselves on my memoiy more than any single Revolutionary event; and you all know, for you have all been boys, how these early impres- sions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that that thing — that something even more than national independence, that something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to all time to come — I am exceedingly anx- ious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which that struggle was made; and I shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instru- ment in the hands of the Almighty, and of this his al- 144 ABEAHAM LINCOLN most chosen people, for perpetuating the object of that great struggle. You give me this reception, as I under- stand, without distinction of party. I learn that this body is composed of a majority of gentlemen who, in the ex- ercise of their best judgment in the choice of a chief mag- istrate, did not think I was the man. I understand, nevertheless, that they come forward here to greet me as the constitutionally elected President of the United States — as citizens of the United States to meet the man who, for the time being, is the representative of the maj- esty of the nation — united by the single purpose to per- petuate the Constitution, the Union, and the liberties of the people. As such, I accept this reception more grate- fully than I could do did I believe it were tendered to me as an individual. Hall of Independence, Philadelphia {Fehruary 22) I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself stand- ing here, in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we live. You have kindly sug- gested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to the present distracted condition of the 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 and were given to the world from this hall. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the senti- ments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred 1861-1865 145 by the men who assembled here and framed and adopted that Declaration of Independence. 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 the confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of colonies from the mother- land, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independ- ence which gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of In- dependence. Now, my friends, can the country be saved upon 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 with- out 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 need be no bloodshed or 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, and then it will be com- pelled to act in self-defence. My friends, this is wholly an unexpected speech, and I did not expect to be called upon to say a word when I came here. I supposed it was merely to do something toward raising the flag. I may, therefore, have said some- thing indiscreet. I have said nothing but what I am 146 ABRAHAM LINCOLN willing to live by and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty- God, die by. The First Inaugural (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 en- ters 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 per- sonal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension. In- deed, 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 1861-1865 147 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 amongst 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 prop- erty, 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 cheer- fully 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." 148 ABRAHAM LINCOLN It is scarcely questioned that this provision was in- tended 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 de- livered 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 differences 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 conse- quence to him or to others by which authority it is done. And should anyone 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 juris- prudence 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 enforce- ment of that clause in the Constitution which guarantees that *'the citizens 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 reserva- tions, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws by any hypercritical rules. And, while I do not 1861-1865 149 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 con- form to and abide by all those acts which stand unre- pealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find im- punity 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 Fed- eral 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 instru- ment 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 con- 150 ABEAHAM LINCOLN tract 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 per- petual, 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 In- dependence 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 State 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 re- solves 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 per- form it so far as practicable, unless my rightful masters. 1861-1865 151 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 consti- tutionally defend and maintain itself. In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or vio- lence; 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 peace- 152 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ful 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 de- struction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from have no real 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 constitu- tional 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 con- stituted 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 ma- jority 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, guaranties and pro- 1861-1865 153 hibitions, 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 reason- able length contain, express provisions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority? The Constitution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the Territories? The Constitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class spring all our constitu- tional controversies, and we divide upon them into ma- jorities and minorities. If the minority will not acqui- esce, the majority must, or the Government must cease. There is no other alternative; for continuing the Govern- ment is acquiescence on one side or the other. If a minority in such case will secede rather than ac- quiesce, 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 por- tion of a new confederacy a year or two hence arbi- trarily 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? 154 ABKAHAM LINCOLN 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 re- jects 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 bind- ing, in any case, upon the parties to a suit, as to the ob- ject 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 obvi- ously 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 con- fess that if the policy of the Government, upon vital ques- tions affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigatTon between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rul- ers, having to that extent practically resigned their gov- ernment into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there in this view any assault upon the court or the 1861-1865 155 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 substan- tial dispute. The fugitive slave clause of the Constitu- tion 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 peo- ple 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, can- not be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sections than before. The for- eign 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 fo 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 faith- 156 ABKAHAM LINCOLN fully enforced between aliens than laws can among friends? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight al- ways; and when, after much loss on both sides, and no gain on either, you cease fighting, the identical old ques- tions as to terms of intercourse are again upon you. This country, with its institutions, belongs to the peo- ple who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their consti- tutional 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 de- sirous 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 pre- scribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under ex- isting circumstances, favor rather than oppose a fair op- portunity 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 Con- stitution — which amendment, however, I have not seen — has passed Congress, to the effect that the Federal Gov- ernment shall never interfere with the domestic insti- tutions 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 1861-1865 157 amendments so far as to say that, holding such a pro- vision 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 them- selves can do this also if they choose; but the executive, as such, has nothing to do with it. His duty is to ad- minister 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 diiTerences 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 wis- dom, 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 ex- treme 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 delib- erately, that object will be frustrated by taking time; but 158 ABEAHAM LINCOLN no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied still have the old Constitution unim- paired, 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, Christian- ity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet for- saken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no con- flict 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, pro- tect, 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 hearth- stone 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. Asking Advice of the Senate (March 16, 1861) To the Senate of the United States: The Senate has transmitted to me a copy of the message sent by my 1861-1865 159 predecessor to that body on the 21st of February last, proposing to take its advice on the subject of a proposition made by the British Government through its minister here to refer the matter in controversy between that govern- ment and the Government of the United States to the arbitrament of the King of Sweden and Norway, the King of the Netherlands, or the Eepublic of the Swiss Confederation. In that message my predecessor stated that he wished to present to the Senate the precise questions following, namely: "Will the Senate approve a treaty referring to either of the sovereign powers above named the dispute now existing between the governments of the United States and Great Britain concerning the boundary line between Vancouver's Island and the American continent? In case the referee shall find himself unable to decide where the line is by the description in the treaty of June 15, 1846, shall he be authorized to establish a line accord- ing to the treaty as nearly as possible? Which of the three powers named by Great Britain as an arbiter shall be chosen by the United States?" I find no reason to disapprove of the course of my predecessor in this important matter; but, on the con- trary, I not only shall receive the advice of the Senate thereon cheerfully, but I respectfully ask the Senate for their advice on the three questions before recited. To Secretary Seward {March 18, 1861) My Dear Sir: I believe it is a necessity with us to make the appointments I mentioned last night — that is, 160 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Charles F. Adams to England, William L. Dayton to France, George P. Marsh to Sardinia, and Anson Bur- lingame to Austria. These gentlemen all have my high- est esteem, but no one of them is originally suggested by me except Mr. Dayton. Mr. Adams I take because you suggested him, coupled with his eminent fitness for the place. Mr. Marsh and Mr. Burlingame I take be- cause of the intense pressure of their respective States, and their fitness also. The objection to this card is that locally they are so huddled up — three being in New England and two from a single State. I have considered this, and will not shrink from the responsibility. This, being done, leaves but five full missions undisposed of — Rome, China, Brazil, Peru, and Chili. And then what about Carl Schurz ; or, in other words, what about our German friends ? Shall we put the card through, and arrange the rest afterward? What say you? Your obedient servant, A. Lincoln. To Stuart QIarch SO) Dear Stuart: Cousin Lizzie shows me your letter of the 27th. The question of giving her the Springfield post-office troubles me. You see I have already appointed William Jayne a Territorial governor and Judge Trumbull's brother to a land-office. Will it do for me to go on and justify the declaration that Trumbull and I have divided out all 1861-1865 161 the offices among our relatives? Dr. Wallace, you know, is needy, and looks to me; and I personally owe him much. I see by the papers, a vote is to be taken as to the post-office. Could you not set up Lizzie and beat them all? She, being here, need know nothing of it, so there- fore there would be no indelicacy on her part. The President is President (April 1, 1861) Hon. W. H. Seward. My Dear Sir: Since parting with you I have been considering your paper dated this day, and entitled "Some Thoughts for the President's Consideration." The first proposition in it is, "^ First, We are at the end of a month's administration, and yet without a policy either domestic or foreign." At the beginning of that month, in the inaugural, I said: "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." This had your distinct approval at the time ; and, taken in connection with the order I immediately gave General Scott, directing him to employ every means in his power to strengthen and hold the forts, comprises the exact do- mestic policy you now urge, with the single exception that it does not propose to abandon Fort Sumter. Again, I do not perceive how the reinforcement of Fort Sumter would be done on a slavery or a party issue, while that of Fort Pickens would be on a more national and patriotic one. 162 ABKAHAM LINCOLN The news received yesterday in regard to St. Domingo certainly brings a new item within the range of our for- eign policy; but up to that time we have been preparing circulars and instructions to ministers and the like, all in perfect harmony, without even a suggestion that we had no foreign policy. Upon your closing propositions — that "whatever policy we adopt, there must be an energetic prosecution of it. "For this purpose it must be somebody's business to pursue and direct it incessantly. "Either the President must do it himself, and be all the while active in it, or devolve it on some member of his Cabinet. Once adopted, debates on it must end, and all agree and abide" — I remark that if this must be done, I must do it. When a general line of policy is adopted, I apprehend there is no danger of its being changed with- out good reason, or continuing to be a subject of unnec- essary debate; still, upon points arising in its progress I wish, and suppose I am entitled to have, the advice of all the Cabinet. Your obedient servant. Loss of a Noble Soldier (May 25, 1861) To the Father and Mother of Col. Elmer, E. Ellsworth. My Dear Sir and Madame: 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 never been so suddenly dashed as in his falL In 1861-1865 163 size, in years, and in youthful appearance a boy only, his power to command men was surpassingly great. This power, combined with a fine intellectual and indomitable energy, and a taste altogether military, constituted in him, as seemed to me, the best natural talent in that depart- ment 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 lat- ter half of the intervening period, it was as intense as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing engagements would permit. To me he appeared to have no indul- gences or pastimes, and I never heard him utter a pro- fane 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 sa- credness of your sorrow, I have ventured to address you this tribute to the memory of my young friend and your brave and early fallen son. May God give you the consolation which is beyond all earthly power. Sincerely your friend in common af- fliction. The CaU to Arms (April 15, 1861) Whereas the laws of the United States have been for some time past and now are opposed, and the execution thereof obstructed, in the States of South Carolina, Geor- gia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the or- 164 ABRAHAM LINCOLN dinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by law: Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, in virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution and the laws, have thought it fit to call forth, and hereby do call forth the militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, in order to suppress said combinations, and to cause the laws to be duly executed. The details for this object will be immediately com- municated to the State authorities through the War De- partment. I appeal to all loyal citizens to favor, facilitate, and aid this effort to maintain the honor, the integrity, and the existence of our National Union, and the perpetuity of popular government; and to redress wrongs already long enough endured. I deem it proper to say that the first service assigned to the forces hereby called forth will probably be to re- possess the forts, places, and property which have been seized from the Union; and in every event the utmost care will be observed, consistently with the objects afore- said, to avoid any devastation, and destruction, of or in- terference with property, or any disturbance of peace- ful citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby command the persons composing the com- binations aforesaid to disperse and retire peacefully to their respective abodes within twenty days from date. Deeming that the present condition of public affairs presents an extraordinary occasion, I do hereby, in vir- tue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, con- 1861-1865 165 vene both Houses of Congress. Senators and Representa- tives are therefore summoned to assemble at their re- spective chambers at twelve o'clock, noon, on Thursday, the fourth day of July next, then and there to consider and determine such measures as, in their wisdom, the public safety and interest may seem to demand. The War Message (July 4, 1861) FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES : Having been con- vened on an extraordinary occasion, as authorized by the Constitution, your attention is not called to any ordi- nary subject of legislation. At the beginning of the present Presidential term, four months ago, the functions of the Federal Government were found to be generally suspended within the several States of South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisi- ana, and Florida, excepting only those of the Post-office Department. Within these States all the forts, arsenals, dock-yards, custom-houses, and the like, including the movable and stationary property in and about them, had been seized, and were held in open hostility to this government, ex- cepting only Forts Pickens, Taylor, and Jefferson, on and near the Florida coast, and Fort Sumter, in Charles- ton Harbor, South Carolina. The forts thus seized had been put in improved condition, new ones had been built, and armed forces had been organized and were or- ganizing, all avowedly with the same hostile purpose. The forts remaining in the possession of the Federal 166 ABKAHAM LINCOLN Government in and near these States were either be- sieged or menaced by warlike preparations, and espe- cially Fort Sumter was nearly surrounded by well-pro- tected hostile batteries, with guns equal in quality to the best of its own, and outnumbering the latter as per- haps ten to one. A disproportionate share of the Fed- eral muskets and rifles had somehow found their way into these States, and had been seized to be used against the government. Accumulations of the public revenue lying within them had been seized for the same object. The navy was scattered in distant seas, leaving but a very small part of it within the immediate reach of the gov- ernment. Officers of the Federal army and navy had re- signed in great numbers; and of those resigning a large proportion had taken up arms against the government. Simultaneously, and in connection with all this, the pur- pose to sever the Federal Union was openly avowed. In accordance with this purpose, an ordinance had been adopted in each of these States, declaring the States re- spectively to be separated from the national Union. A formula for instituting a combined government of these States had been promulgated; and this illegal organiza- tion, in the character of confederate States, was already invoking recognition, aid, and intervention from foreign powers. Finding this condition of things, and believing it to be an imperative duty upon the incoming executive to pre- vent, if possible, the consummation of such attempt to destroy the Federal Union, a choice of means to that end became indispensable. This choice was made and was declared in the inaugural address. The policy chosen 1861-1865 167 looked to the exhaustion of all peaceful measures before a resort to any stronger ones. It sought only to hold the public places and property not already wrested from the government, and to collect the revenue, relying for the rest on time, discussion, and the ballot-box. It prom- ised a continuance of the mails, at government expense, to the very people who were resisting the government; and it gave repeated pledges against any disturbance to any of the people, or any of their rights. Of all that which a President might constitutionally and justifiably do in such a case, everything was forborne without which it was believed possible to keep the government on foot. On the 5th of March (the present incumbent's first full day in office), a letter of Major Anderson, command- ing at Fort Sumter, written on the 28th of February and received at the War Department on the 4th of March, was by that department placed in his hands. This let- ter expressed the professional opinion of the writer that reinforcements could not be thrown into that fort within the time for his relief, rendered necessarry by the lim- ited supply of provisions, and with a view of holding pos- session of the same, with a force of less than twenty thousand good and well-disciplined men. This opinion was concurred in by all the officers of his command, and their memoranda on the subject were made inclosures of Major Anderson's letter. The whole was immediately laid before Lieutenant-General Scott, who at once con- curred with Major Anderson in opinion. On reflection, however, he took full time, consulting with other officers, both of the army and the navy, and at the end of four days came reluctantly but decidedly to the same conclu- 168 ABKAHAM LINCOLN sion as before. He also stated at the same time that no such sufficient force was then at the 'control of the government, or could be raised and brought to the ground within the time when the provisions in the fort would be exhausted. In a purely military point of view, this re- duced the duty of the administration in the case to the mere matter of getting the garrison safely out of the fort. It was believed, however, that to so abandon that posi- tion, under the circumstances, would be utterly ruinous; that the necessity under which it was to be done would not be fully understood; that by many it would be con- strued as a part of a voluntary policy; that at home it would discourage the friends of the Union, embolden its adversaries, and go far to insure to the latter a recogni- tion abroad; that, in fact, it would be our national de- struction consummated. This could not be allowed. Starvation was not yet upon the garrison, and ere it would be reached Fort Pickens might be reinforced. This last would be a clear indication of policy, and would better enable the country to accept the evacuation of Fort Sum- ter as a military necessity. An order was at once di- rected to be sent for the landing of the troops from the steamship Brooklyn into Fort Pickens. This order could not go by land, but must make the longer and slower route by sea. The first return news from the order was received just one week before the fall of Fort Sumter. The news itself was that the officer commanding the Sa- hine, to which vessel the troops had been transferred from the Brooklyn, acting upon some quasi armistice of the late administration (and of the existence of which' 1861-1865 169 the present administration, up to the time the order was despatched, had only too vague and uncertain rumors to fix attention), had refused to land the troops. To now reinforce Fort Pickens before a crisis would be reached at Fort Sumter was impossible — rendered so by the near exhaustion of provisions in the latter-named fort. In precaution against such a conjuncture, the i government had, a few days before, commenced preparing an expedi- tion as well adapted as might be to relieve Fort Sumter, which expedition was intended to be ultimately used, or not, according to circumstances. The strongest antici- pated case for using it was now presented, and it was resolved to send it forward. As had been intended in this contingency, it was also resolved to notify the governor of South Carolina that he might expect an attempt would be made to provision the fort; and that, if the attempt should not be resisted, there would be no effort to throw on men, arms, or ammunition, without further notice, or in case of an attack upon the fort. This notice was ac- cordingly given; whereupon the fort was attacked and bombarded to its fall, without even awaiting the arrival of the provisioning expedition. It is thus seen that the assault upon and reduction of Fort Sumter was in no sense a matter of self-defense on the part of the assailants. They well knew that the garrison in the fort could by no possibility commit ag- gression upon them. They knew — they were expressly notified — that the giving of bread to the few brave and hungry men of the garrison was all which would on that occasion be attempted, unless themselves, by resisting so much, should provoke more. They knew that this gov- 170 ABRAHAM LIISrCOLK ernment desired to keep the garrison in the fort, not to assail them, but merely to maintain visible possession, and thus to preserve the Union from actual and immedi- ate dissolution — ^trusting, as hereinbefore stated, to time, discussion, and the ballot-box for final adjustment; and they assailed and reduced the fort for precisely the re- verse object — to drive out the visible authority of the Federal Union, and thus force it to immediate dissolu- tion. That this was' their object the executive well un- derstood; and having said to them in the inaugural ad- dress, "You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors," he took pains not only to keep this dec- laration good, but also to keep the case so free from the power of ingenious sophistry that the world should not be able to misunderstand it. By the affair at Fort Sum- ter, with its surrounding circumstances, that point was reached. Then and thereby the assailants of the gov- ernment began the conflict of arms, without a gun in sight or in expectancy to return their fire, save only the few in the fort sent to that harbor years before for their own protection, and still ready to give that protection in whatever was lawful. In this act, discarding all else, they have forced upon the country the distinct issue, "immediate dissolution or blood." And this issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man the question whether a constitutional republic or de- mocracy — a government of the people by the same peo- ple — can or cannot maintain territorial integrity against its own domestic foes. It presents the question whether discontented individuals, too few in numbers to control 1861-1865 lYl administration according to organic law in any case, can always, upon the pretenses made in this case or on any other pretenses, or arbitrarily without any pretense, break up their government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: Is there in all republics this inherent and fatal weakness ? Must a government, of necessity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to main- tain its own existence? So viewing the issue, no choice was left but to call out the war power of the government, and so to resist force employed for its destruction by force for its preservation. The call was made, and the response of the country was most gratifying, surpassing in unanimity and spirit the most sanguine expectation. Yet none of the States commonly called slave States, except Delaware, gave a regiment through regular State organization. A few regiments have been organized within some others of those States by individual enterprise, and received into the government service. Of course the seceded States, so called (and to which Texas had been joined about the time of the inauguration), gave no troops to the cause of the Union. The border States, so called, were not uniform in their action, some of them being almost for the Union, while in others — as Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas — the Union sentiment was nearly repressed and silenced. The course taken in Vir- ginia was the most remarkable — ^perhaps the most im- portant. A convention elected by the people of that State to consider this very question of disrupting the Federal Union was in session at the capital of Virginia 172 ABRAHAM LINCOLN when Fort Sumter fell. To this body the people had chosen a large majority of professed Union men. Al- most immediately after the fall of Sumter, many members of that majority went over to the original disunion mi- nority, and with them adopted an ordinance for with- drawing the State from the Union. Whether this change was wrought by their great approval of the assault upon Sumter, or their great resentment at the government's re- sistance to that assault, is not definitely known. Al- though they submitted the ordinance for ratification to a vote of the people, to be taken on a day then some- what more than a month distant, the convention and the Legislature "(which was also in session at the same time and place), with leading men of the State not members of either, immediately commenced acting as if the State were already out of the Union. They pushed military preparations vigorously forward all over the State. They seized the United States armory at Harper's Ferry, and the navy-yard at Gosport, near Norfolk. They received — ^perhaps invited — into their State large bodies of troops, with their warlike appointments, from the so-called se- ceded States. They formally entered into a treaty of temporary alliance and co-operation with the so-called ^'Confederate States," and sent members to their con- gress at Montgomery. And finally, they permitted the insurrectionary government to be transferred to their capital at Richmond. The people of Virginia have thus allowed this giant insurrection to make its nest within her borders ; and this government has no choice left but to deal with it where it finds it. And it has the less regret as the loyal citi- 1861-1865 173 zens have, in due form, claimed its protection. Those loyal citizens this government is bound to recognize and protect, as being Virginia. In the border States, so called, — in fact the middle States, — there are those who favor a policy which they call ''armed neutrality"; that is, an arming of those States to prevent the Union forces passing one way, or the disunion the other, over their soil. This would be disunion completed. Figuratively speaking, it would be the building of an impassable wall along the line of sepa- ration — and yet not quite an impassable one, for under the guise of neutrality it would tie the hands of Union men and freely pass supplies from among them to the in- surrectionists, which it could not do as an open enemy. At a stroke it would take all the trouble ofi the hands of secession, except only what proceeds from the external blockade. It would do for the disunionists that which, of all things, they most desire — feed them well and give them disunion without a struggle of their own. It rec- ognizes no fidelity to the Constitution, no obligation to maintain the Union; and while very many who have favored it are doubtless loyal citizens, it is, nevertheless, very injurious in effect. Recurring to the action of the government, it may be stated that at first a call was made for 75,000 militia ; and, rapidly following this, a proclamation was issued for closing the ports of the insurrectionary districts by pro- ceedings in the nature of blockade. So far all was be- lieved to be strictly legal. At this point the insurrec- tionists announced their purpose to enter upon the prac- tice of privateering. 174 ABKAHAM LINCOLN Other calls were made for volunteers to serve for three years, unless sooner discharged, and also for large addi- tions to the regular army and navy. These measures, whether strictly legal or not, were ventured upon, under what appeared to be a popular demand and a public necessity; trusting then, as now, that Congress would readily ratify them. It is believed that nothing has been done beyond the constitutional competency of Congress. Soon after the first call for militia, it was considered a duty to authorize the commanding general' in proper cases, according to his discretion, to suspend the priv- ilege of the writ of habeas corpus, or, in other words, to arrest and detain, without resort to the ordinary proc- esses and forms of law, such individuals as he might deem dangerous to the public safety. This authority has pur- posely been exercised but very sparingly. Nevertheless, the legality and propriety of what has been done under it are questioned, and the attention of the country has been called to the proposition that one who has sworn to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed" should not him- self violate them. Of course some consideration was given to the questions of power and propriety before this matter was acted upon. The whole of the laws which were required to be faithfully executed were be- ing resisted and failing of execution in nearly one-third of the States. Must they be allowed to finally fail of execution, even had it been perfectly clear that by the use of the means necessary to their execution some sin- gle law, made in such extreme tenderness of the citi- zen's liberty that, practically, it relieves more of the guilty than of the innocent, should to a very limited extent be 1861-1865 175 violated? To state the question more directly, are all the laws but one to go unexecuted, and the government itself go to pieces lest that one be violated? Even in such a case, would not the official oath be broken if the government should be overthrown when it was believed that disregarding the single law would tend to preserve it? But it was not believed that this question was pre- sented. It was not believed that any law was violated. The provision of the Constitution that '^the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, un- less when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it," is equivalent to a provision — is a provision — that such privilege may be suspended when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety does require it. It was decided that we have a case of re- bellion, and that the public safety does require the quali- fied suspension of the privilege of the writ which was authorized to be made. Now it is insisted that Congress, and not the executive, is vested with this power. But the Constitution itself is silent as to which or who is to exercise the power ; and as the provision was plainly made for a dangerous emergency, it cannot be believed the framers of the instrument intended that in every case the danger should run its course until Congress could be called together, the very assembling of which might be prevented, as was intended in this case, by the rebellion. No more extended argument is now offered, as an opin- ion at some length will probably be presented by the attorney-general. Whether there shall be any legisla- tion upon the subject, and if any, what, is submitted en- tirely to the better judgment of Congress. 176 ABEAHAM LINCOLN The forbearance of this government has been so ex- traordinary and so long continued as to lead some for- eign nations to shape their action as if they supposed the early destruction of our national Union was prob- able. While this, on discovery, gave the executive some concern, he is now happy to say that the sovereignty and rights of the United States are now everywhere prac- tically respected by foreign powers; and a general sym- pathy with the country is manifested throughout the world. The reports of the Secretaries of the Treasury, War, and the Navy will give the information in detail deemed necessary and convenient for your deliberation and ac- tion; while the executive and all the departments will stand ready to supply omissions, or to communicate new facts considered important for you to know. It is now recommended that you give the legal means for making this contest a short and decisive one: that you place at the control of the government for the work at least four hundred thousand men and $400,000,000. That number of men is about one-tenth of those of proper ages within the regions where, apparently, all are will- ing to engage; and the sum is less than a twenty- third part of the money value owned by the men who seem ready to devote the whole. A debt of $600,000,000 now is a less sum per head than was the debt of our Revo- lution when we came out of that struggle ; and the money value in the coimtry now bears even a greater propor- tion to what it was then than does the population. Surely each man has as strong a motive now to preserve our liberties as each had then to establish them. 1861-1865 177 A right result at this time will be worth more to the world than ten times the men and ten times the money. The evidence reaching ns from the country leaves no doubt that the material for the work is abundant, and that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it legal sanction, and the hand of the executive to give it prac- tical shape and efficiency. One of the greatest perplexi- ties of the government is to avoid receiving troops faster than it can provide for them. In a word, the people will save their government if the government itself will do its part only indifferently well. It might seem, at first thought, to be of little difference whether the present movement at the South be called ^^secession" or "rebellion." The movers, however, well un- derstand the difference. At the beginning they knew they could never raise their treason to any respectable magni- tude by any name which implies violation of law. They knew their people possessed as much of moral sense, as much of devotion to law and order, and as much pride in and reverence for the history and government of their common country as any other civilized and patriotic peo- ple. They knew they could make no advancement di- rectly in the teeth of these strong and noble sentiments. Accordingly, they commenced by an insidious debauch- ing of the public mind. They invented an ingenious sophism which, if conceded, was followed by perfectly logical steps, through all the incidents, to the complete destruction of the Union. The sophism itself is that any State of the Union may consistently with the national Constitution, and therefore lawfully and peacefully, with- draw from the Union without the consent of the Union 178 ABKAHAM LINCOLN or of any other State. The little disguise that the sup- posed right is to be exercised only for just cause, them- selves to be the sole judges of its justice, is too thin to merit any notice. With rebellion thus sugar-coated they have been drug- ging the public mind of their section for more than thirty years, and until at length they have brought many good men to a willingness to take up arms against the gov- ernment the day after some assemblage of men have en- acted the farcical pretense of taking their State out of the Union, who could have been brought to no such thing the day before. This sophism derives much, perhaps the whole, of its currency from the assumption that there is some omnipo- tent and sacred supremacy pertaining to a State — to each State of our Federal Union. Our States have neither more nor less power than that reserved to them in the Union by the Constitution — no one of them ever having been a State out of the Union. The original ones passed into the Union even before they cast off their British colonial dependence; and the new ones each came into the Union directly from a condition of dependence, ex- cepting Texas. And even Texas in its temporary inde- pendence was never designated a State. The new ones only took the designation of States on coming into the Union, while that name was first adopted for the old ones in and by the Declaration of Independence. Therein the ^United Colonies" were declared to be "free and in- dependent States"; but even then the object plainly was not to declare their independence of one another or of the Union, but directly the contrary, as their mutual 1861-1865 179 pledge and their mutual action before, at the time, and afterward, abundantly show. The express plighting of faith by each and all of the original thirteen in the Ar- ticles of Confederation, two years later, that the Union shall be perpetual, is most conclusive. Having never been States either in substance or in name outside of the Union, whence this magical omnipotence of "State rights," asserting a claim of power to lawfully destroy the Union itself? Much is said about the ^'sovereignty" of the States; but the word even is not in the national Consti- tution, nor, as is believed, in any of the State constitu- tions. What is "sovereignty" in the political sense of the term? Would it be far wrong to define it as "a political community without a political superior" ? Tested by this, no one of our States except Texas ever was a sovereignty. And even Texas gave up the character on coming into the Union; by which act she acknowledged the Consti- tution of the United States, and the laws and treaties of the United States made in pursuance of the Consti- tution, to be for her the supreme law of the land. The States have their status in the Union, and they have no other legal status. If they break from this, they can only do so against law and by revolution. The Union, and not themselves separately, procured their independence and their liberty. By conquest or purchase the Union gave each of them whatever of independence or liberty it has. The Union is older than any of the States, and, in fact, it created them as States. Originally some de- pendent colonies made the Union, and, in turn, the Union threw off their old dependence for them, and made them States, such as they are. Not one of them ever had a 180 ABRAHAM LINCOLN State constitution independent of the Union. Of course, it is not forgotten that all the new States framed their constitutions before they entered the Union — nevertheless, dependent upon and preparatory to coming into the Union. Unquestionably the States have the powers and rights reserved to them in and by the national Constitution; but among these surely are not included all conceiv- able powers, however mischievous or destructive, but, at most, such only as were known in the world at the time as governmental powers; and certainly a power to de- stroy the government itseK had never been known as a governmental, as a merely administrative power. This relative matter of national power and State rights, as a principle, is no other than the principle of generality and locality. Whatever concerns the whole should be con- fided to the whole — to the General Government; while whatever concerns only the State should be left exclu- sively to the State. This is all there is of original prin- ciple about it. Whether the national Constitution in de- fining boundaries between the two has applied the prin- ciple with exact accuracy, is not to be questioned. We are all bound by that defining, without question. What is now combated is the position that secession is consistent with the Constitution — is lawful and peace- ful. It is not contended that there is any express law for it; and nothing should ever be implied as law which leads to unjust or absurd consequences. The nation pur- chased with money the countries out of which several of these States were formed. Is it just that they shall go off without leave and without refunding? The na- 1861-1865 181 tion paid very large sums (in the aggregate, I believe, nearly a hundred millions) to relieve Florida of the abor- iginal tribes. Is it just that she shall now be off with- out consent or without making any return? The nation is now in debt for money applied to the benefit of these so-called seceding States in common with the rest. Is it just either that creditors shall go unpaid or the re- maining States pay the whole ? A part of the present na- tional debt was contracted to pay the old debts of Texas. Is it just that she shall leave aAd pay no part of this herself ? Again, if one State may secede, so may another; and when all shall have seceded, none is left to pay the debts. Is this quite just to creditors ? Did we notify them of this sage view of ours when we borrowed their money ? If we now recognize this doctrine by allowing the seceders ta go in peace, it is difficult to see what we can do if others- choose to go or to extort terms upon which they will promise to remain. The seceders insist that our Constitution admits of secession. They have assumed to make a national consti- tution of their own, in which of necessity they have either discarded or retained the right of secession as they insist it exists in ours. If they have discarded it, they thereby admit that on principle it ought not to be in ours. If they have retained it, by their own construction of ours, they show that to be consistent they must secede from one another whenever they shall find it the easiest way of settling their debts, or affecting any other selfish or unjust object. The principle itself is one of disinte- 182 ABRAHAM LINCOLN gration, and upon which no government can possibly endure. If all the States save one should assert the power to drive that one out of the Union, it is presumed the whole class of seceder politicians would at once deny the power and denounce the act as the greatest outrage upon State rights. But suppose that precisely the same act, instead of being called "driving the one out," should be called "the seceding of the others from that one," it would be exactly what the seced^ers claim to do, unless, indeed, they make the point that the one, because it is a minority, may rightfully do what the others, because they are a majority, may not rightfully do. These politicians are subtle and profound on the rights of minorities. They are not partial to that power which made the Constitution and speaks from the preamble calling itself "We, the People." It may well bo questioned whether there is to-day a majority of the legally qualified voters of any State except I)erhaps South Carolina in favor of disunion. There is much reason to believe that the Union men are the major- ity in many, if not in every other one, of the so-called seceded States. The contrary has not been demonstrated in any one of them. It is ventured to affirm this even of Virginia and Tennessee; for the results of an election held in military camps, where the bayonets are all on one side of the question voted upon, can scarcely be considered as demonstrating popular sentiment. At such an elec- tion, nil that large class who are at once for the Union :md against coercion would bo coerced to vote against the Union. 1801-1805 183 It may bo affirmed without extravagance that tlio free iiiHtitutlons wo enjoy liavo th^veloped the powerB and im- proved the condition of our whole people beyond any example in the world. Of this wo now have a striking and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the government has now on foot was never b(?fore known without a soldier in it but who has taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than this, there are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, I)rofessions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the; world; and there is S(.'arcely one from wliich there could not be sel(M;t('d a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a (;ourt, abundantly competent to administer tin; government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in the army of our late friends, now ad- versaries in this contest; but if it is, so much better the reason why the government which has conferred such bene- fits on both them and us should not be broken up. Who(?ver in any section proposes to abandon such a gov- ernment would do well to consider in deference to what principle it is that he does it; what better he is likely to get in its stead; whether the substitute will give, or be intended to give, so much of good to the people. There are some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adver- saries have adopted some declarations of independence in which, uidike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal.'' Why? They have ad(;pted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old on(% signed by Washington, they omit "We, the P(M)])le," and substi- 184 ABRAHAM LINCOLN tute, "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view the rights of men and the authority of the people. This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men — to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laud- able pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existence we contend. I am most happy to believe that the plain people under- stand and appreciate this. It is worthy of note that, while in this the government's hour of trial large num- bers of those in the army and navy who have been favored with the offices have resigned and proved false-to the hand which had pampered them, not one common soldier or common sailor is known to have deserted his flag. Great honor is due to those officers who remained true, despite the example of their treacherous associates; but the greatest honor, and most important fact of all, is the unanimous firmness of the common soldiers and com- mon sailors. To the last man, so far as known, they have successfully resisted the traitorous efforts of those whose commands, but an hour before, they obeyed as absolute law. This is the patriotic instinct of the plain people. They understand, without an argument, that the destroy- ing of the government which was made by Washington means no good to them. Our popular government has often been called an experi- 1861-1865 185 ment. Two points in it our people have already settled — the successful establishing and the successful admin- istering of it. One still remains — its successful mainte- nance against a formidable internal attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world that those who can fairly carry an election can also suppress a rebellion; that ballots are the rightful and peaceful successors of bullets; and that when ballots have fairly and constitutionally decided, there can be no successful appeal back to bullets; that there can be no successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elec- tions. Such will be a great lesson of peace : teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by a war; teaching all the folly of being the beginners of a war. Lest there be some uneasiness in the minds of candid men as to what is to be the course of the government toward the Southern States after the rebellion shall have been suppressed, the executive deems it proper to say it will be his purpose then, as ever, to be guided by the Constitution and the laws ; and that he probably will have no different understanding of the powers and duties of the Federal Government relatively to the rights of the States and the people, under the Constitution, than that expressed in the inaugural address. He desires to preserve the government, that it may be administered for all as it was administered by the men who made it. Loyal citizens everywhere have the right to claim this of their government, and the government has no right to withhold or neglect it. It is not perceived that in giving it there is any coercion, any conquest, 186 ABEAHAM LINCOLN or any subjugation, in any just sense of those terms. The Constitution provides, and all the States have ac- cepted the provision, that "the United States shall guar- antee to every State in this Union a republican form of government." But if a State may lawfully go out of the Union, having done so it may also discard the republican form of government, so that to prevent its going out is an indispensable means to the end of maintaining the guarantee mentioned; and when an end is lawful and obligatory, the indispensable means to it are also lawful and obligatory. It was with the deepest regret that the executive found the duty of employing the war power in defence of the government forced upon him. He could but perform this duty or surrender the existence of the government. No compromise by public servants could, in this case, be a cure; not that compromises are not often proper, but that no popular government can long survive a marked precedent that those who carry an election can only save the government from immediate destruction by giving up the main point upon which the people gave the election. The people themselves, and not their servants, can safely reverse their own deliberate decisions. As a private citizen the executive could not have con- sented that these institutions shall perish; much less could he in betrayal of so vast and so sacred a trust as these free people had confided to him. He felt that he had no moral right to shrink, nor even to count the chances of his own life, in what might follow. In full view of his great responsibility he has, so far, done what he has deemed his duty. You will now, according to your own 1861-1865 187 judgment, perform yours. He sincerely hopes that your views and your action may so accord with his as to assure all faithful citizens who have been disturbed in their rights of a certain and speedy restoration to them, under the Constitution and the laws. And having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts. "Wanting to Work" (October 17, 1861) Major Kamsey, My Dear Sir: The lady bearer of this says she has two sons who want to work. Set them at it if possible. Wanting to work is so rare a want that it should be encouraged. The Nation and the War (December 3, 1861) Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Eepre- SENTATIVES: — In the midst of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great gratitude to God for un- usual good health and most abundant harvests. You will not be surprised to learn that in the peculiar exigencies of the times our intercourse with foreign nations has been attended with profound solicitude, chiefly turning upon our own domestic affairs. A disloyal portion of the American people have during the whole year been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures factious do- mestic division is exposed to disrespect abroad, and one 188 ABEAHAM LINCOLN party, if not both, is sure sooner or later to invoke foreign intervention. Nations tlins tempted to interfere are not always able to resist the connsels of seeming expediency and ungener- ous ambition, although measures adopted under such in- fluences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those adopting them. The disloyal citizens of the United States who have offered the ruin of our country in return for the aid and comfort which they have invoked abroad have received less patronage and encouragement than they probably ex- pected. If it were just to suppose, as the insurgents have seemed to assume, that foreign nations in this case, dis- carding all moral, social, and treaty obligations, would act solely and selfishly for the most speedy restoration of commerce, including especially the acquisition of cot- ton, those nations appear as yet not to have seen their way to their object more directly or clearly through the destruction than through the preservation of the Union. If we could dare to believe that foreign nations are actuated by no higher principle than this, I am quite sure a sound argument could be made to show them that they can reach their aim more readily and easily by aiding to crush this rebellion than by giving encouragement to it. The principal lever relied on by the insurgents for ex- citing foreign nations to hostility against us, as already intimated, is the embarrassment of commerce. Those nations, however, not improbably saw from the first that it was the Union which made as well our foreign as our domestic commerce. They can scarcely have failed to perceive that the effort for disunion produces the existing 1861-1865 189 difficulty, and that one strong nation promises more dur- able peace and a more extensive, valuable, and reliable commerce tlian can the same nation broken into hostile fragments. It is not my purpose to review our discussions with foreign states, because, whatever might be their wishes or dispositions, the integrity of our country and the stability of our government mainly depend not upon them, but on the loyalty, virtue, patriotism, and intelli- gence of the American people. The correspondence itself, with the usual reservations, is herewith submitted. I venture to hope it will appear that we have prac- ticed prudence and liberality toward foreign powers, avert- ing causes of irritation and with firmness maintaining our own rights and honor. Since, however, it is apparent that here, as in every other state, foreign dangers necessarily attend domestic difficulties, I recommend that adequate and ample meas- ures be adopted for maintaining the public defenses on every side. While under this general recommendation provision for defending our seacoast line readily occurs to the mind, I also in the same connection ask the atten- tion of Congress to our great lakes and rivers. It is be- lieved that some fortifications and depots of arms and munitions, with harbor and navigation improvements, all at well-selected points upon these, would be of great importance to the national defense and preservation. I ask attention to the views of the Secretary of War, ex- pressed in his report, upon the same general subject. I deem it of importance that the loyal regions of east Tennessee and western North Carolina should be con- 190 ABEAHAM LINCOLN nected with Kentucky and other faithful parts of the Union by railroad. I therefore recommend, as a military measure, that Congress provide for the construction of such road as speedily as possible. Kentucky no doubt will co-operate, and through her Legislature make the most judicious selection of a line. The northern terminus must connect with some existing railroad, and whether the route shall be from Lexington or Nicholasville to the Cum- berland Gap, or from Lebanon to the Tennessee line, in the direction of Knoxville, or on some still different line, can easily be determined. Kentucky and the General Gov- ernment co-operating, the work can be completed in a very short time, and when done it will be not only of vast present usefulness, but also a valuable permanent improve- ment, worth its cost in all the future . . . The operations of the treasury during the period which has elapsed since your adjournment have been conducted with signal success. The patriotism of the people has placed at the disposal of the government the large means demanded by the public exigencies. Much of the national loan has been taken by citizens of the industrial classes, whose confidence in their country's faith and zeal for their country's deliverance from present peril have in- duced them to contribute to the support of the govern- ment the whole of their limited acquisitions. This fact imposes peculiar obligations to economy in disbursement and energy in action. One of the unavoidable consequences of the present in- surrection is the entire suppression in many places of all the ordinary means of administering civil justice by the officers and in the forms of existing law. This is the 1861-1865 191 case, in whole or in part, in all the insurgent States ; and as our armies advance upon and take possession of parts of those States the practical evil becomes more appar- ent. There are no courts nor officers to whom the citizens of other States may apply for the enforcement of their lawful claims against citizens of the insurgent States, and there is a vast amount of debt constituting such claims. Some have estimated it as high as $200,000,000, due in large part from insurgents in open rebellion to loyal citizens who are even now making great sacrifices in the discharge of their patriotic duty to support the govern- ment. Under these circumstances I have been urgently solicited to establish, by military power, courts to ad- minister summary justice in such cases. I have thus far declined to do it, not because I had any doubt that the end proposed — the collection of the debts — was just and right in itself, but because I have been unwilling to go beyond the pressure of necessity in the unusual exercise of power. But the powers of Congress, I suppose, are equal to the anomalous occasion, and therefore I refer the whole matter to Congress, with the hope that a plan may be devised for the administration of justice in all such parts of the insurgent States and Territories as may be under the control of this government, whether by a voluntary return to allegiance and order or by the power of our arms; this, however, not to be a permanent in- stitution, but a temporary substitute, and to cease as soon as the ordinary courts can be re-established in i)eace. Under and by virtue of the act of Congress entitled "An Act to confiscate property used far insurrectionary purposes," approved August 6, 1861, the legal claims of 192 ABKAHAM LINCOLN certain persons to the labor and service of certain other persons have become forfeited, and numbers of the latter thus liberated are already dependent on the United States, and must be provided for in some way. Besides this, it is not impossible that some of the States will pass similar enactments for their own benefit respectively, and by operation of which persons of the same class will be thrown upon them for disposal. In such case I recom- mend that Congress provide for accepting such persons from such States, according to some mode of valuation, in lieu, pro tanto, of direct taxes, or upon some other plan to be agreed on with such States respectively; that such persons, on such acceptance by the General Govern- ment, be at once deemed free, and that in any event steps be taken for colonizing both classes (or the one first mentioned if the other shall not be brought into existence) at some place or places in a climate congenial to them. It might be well to consider, too, whether the free colored people already in the United States could not, so far as individuals may desire, be included in such colonization. To carry out the plan of colonization may involve the acquiring of territory, and also the appropriation of money beyond that to be expended in the territorial acqui- sition. Having practiced the acquisition of territory for nearly sixty years, the question of constitutional power to do so is no longer an open one with us. The power was questioned at first by Mr. Jefferson, who, however, in the purchase of Louisiana, yielded his scruples on the plea of great expediency. If it be said that the only legitimate object of acquiring territory is to furnish homes 1861-1865 193 for white men, this measure effects that object, for emi- gration of colored men leaves additional room for white men remaining or coming here. Mr. Jefferson, however, placed the importance of procuring Louisiana more on political and commercial grounds than on providing room for population. On this whole proposition, including the appropriation of money with the acquisition of territory, does not the expediency amount to absolute necessity — that without which the government itself cannot be perpetuated? The war continues. In considering the policy to be adopted foj* suppressing the insurrection I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorse- less revolutionary struggle. I have therefore in every case thought it proper to keep the integrity of the Union prominent as the prima-ry object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the Legis- lature. In the exercise of my best discretion I have adhered to the blockade of the ports held by the insurgents, instead of putting in force by proclamation the law of Congress enacted at the late session for closing those ports. So also, obeying the dictates of prudence, as well as the obligations of law, instead of transcending I have adhered to the act of Congress to confiscate property used for insurrectionary purposes. If a new law upon the same subject shall be proposed, its propriety will be duly considered. The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable means must be employed. We should 194 ABKAHAM LINCOLN not be in haste to determine that radical and extreme measures, which may reach the loyal as well as the dis- loyal, are indispensable. The inaugural address at the beginning of the Admin- istration and the message to Congress at the late special session were both mainly devoted to the domestic con- troversy out of which the insurrection and consequent war have sprung. Nothing now occurs to add or sub- tract to or from the principles or general purposes stated and expressed in those documents. The last ray of hope for preserving the Union peaceably expired at the assault upon Fort Sumter, and a general review of what has occurred since may not be unprofit- able. What was painfully uncertain then is much better defined and more distinct now, and the progress of events is plainly in the right direction. The insurgents confi- dently claimed a strong support from the north of Mason and Dixon's line, and the friends of the Union were not free from apprehension on the point. This, how- ever, was soon settled definitely, and on the right side. South of the line noble little Delaware led off right from the first. Maryland was made to seem against the Union. Our soldiers were assaulted, bridges were burned, and railroads torn up within her limits, and we were many days at one time without the ability to bring a single regiment over her soil to the capital. Now her bridges and railroads are repaired and open to the government; she already gives seven regiments to the cause of the Union, and none to the enemy; and her people, at a regular elec- tion, have sustained the Union by a larger majority and a larger aggregate vote than they ever before gave to any 1861-1865 195 candidate or any question. Kentucky, too, for some time in doubt, is now decidedly and, I think, unchangeably ranged on the side of the Union. Missouri is compara- tively quiet, and, I believe, cannot again be overrun by the insurrectionists. These three States of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, neither of which would promise a single soldier at first, have now an aggregate of not less than forty thousand in the field for the Union, while of their citizens certainly not more than a third of that number, and they of doubtful whereabouts and doubtful existence, are in arms against us. After a some- what bloody struggle of months, winter closes on the Union people of western Virginia, leaving them masters of their own country. . . . With the retirement of General Scott came the Execu- tive duty of appointing in his stead a general-in-chief of the army. It is a fortunate circumstance that neither in council nor country was there, so far as I know, any difference of opinion as to the proper person to be selected. The retiring chief repeatedly expressed his judgment in favor of General McClellan for the position, and in this the nation seemed to give a unanimous con- currence. The designation of General McClellan is there- fore in considerable degree the selection of the country as well as of the Executive, and hence there is better reason to hope there will be given him the confidence and cordial support thus by fair implication promised, and without which he cannot with so full efficiency serve the country. It has been said that one bad general is better than two good ones, and the saying is true if taken to mean 196 ABRAHAM LINCOLN no more than that an army is better directed by a single mind, though inferior, than by two superior ones at variance and cross-purposes with each other. And the same is true in all joint operations wherein those engaged can have none but a common end in view and can differ only as to the choice of means. In a storm at sea no one on board can wish the ship to sink, and yet not unfrequently all go down together because too many will direct and no single mind can be allowed to control. It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popu- lar government — the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the existing right of suffrage and the denial to the people of all right to participate in the selection of public officers except the legislative boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large con- trol of the people in government is the source of all politi- cal evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of returning despotism. It is not needed nor fitting here that a general argu- ment should be made in favor of popular institutions, but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor in the structure of the government. It 1861-1865 197 is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or huy them and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is as- sumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless. Labor is prior to and independent of capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error is in as- suming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy an- other few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither 198 ABEAHAM LINCOLN slaves nor masters, while in the Northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families — wives, sons, and daughters, — work for themselves on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands and also buy or hire others, to labor for them; but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again, as has already been said, there is not of neces- sity any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men every- where in these States a few years back in their lives were hired laborers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all, gives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress and im- provement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty; none less inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrender- ing a political power which they already possess, and which if surrendered will surely be used to close the door of advancement against such as they and to fix new disabili- 1861-1865 199 ties and burdens upon them till all of liberty shall be lost. . . . 1862 A Message to English Working Men (January 10, 1862) Working-Men of Manchester: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions which you sent me on the eve of the new year. When I came, on the 4th of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election to preside in the Government of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or whosesoever the fault, one duty, para- mount to all others, was before me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Constitution and the integrity of the Federal Republic. A conscientious purpose to perform this duty is the key to all the measures of ad- ministration which have been and to all which will here- after be pursued. Under our frame of government and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I would. It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary for the public safety from time to time to adopt. I have understood well that the duty of self-preserva- tion rests solely with the American people; but I have at the same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging or 200 ABKAHAM LINCOLN prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the country is engaged. A fair examination of history has served to authorize a belief that the past actions and influences of the United States were generally regarded as having been beneficial toward mankind. I have, there- fore, reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. Cir- cumstances — to some of which you kindly allude — induce me especially to expect that if justice and good faith should be practiced by the United States, they would en- counter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstra- tion you have given of your desire that a spirit of amity and peace toward this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is by the kindred nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the working-men at Manchester, and in all Europe, are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this govern- ment, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the action of our disloyal citizens, the working-men of Europe have been subjected to severe trials, for the purpose of forcing their sanction to that attempt. Under the circumstances, I cannot but regard your decisive utterances upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. 1861-1865 201 It is indeed an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth and of the ultimate and uni- versal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. I do not doubt that the sentiments you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation; and, on the other hand, I have no hesitation in assuring you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this inter- change of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. Executive Order on Political Prisoners (February 14, 1862) The breaking out of a formidable insurrection based on a conflict of political ideas, being an event without prece- dent in the United States, was necessarily attended by great confusion and perplexity of the public mind. Dis- loyalty before unsuspected suddenly became bold, and treason astonished the world by bringing at once into the field military forces superior in number to the standing army of the United States. Every department of the government was paralyzed by treason. Defection appeared in the Senate, in the House of Kepresentatives, in the Cabinet, in the Federal courts; ministers and consuls returned from foreign countries to enter the insurrectionary councils or land or naval forces; commanding and other officers of the army and m the 202 ABKAHAM LINCOLN nayy betrayed our councils or deserted their posts for commands in the insurgent forces. Treason was flagrant in the revenue and in the post-office service, as well as in the Territorial governments and in the Indian reserves. Not only governors, judges, legislators, and ministerial officers in the States, but even whole States rushed one after another with apparent unanimity into rebellion. The capital was besieged and its connection with all the States cut off. Even in the portions of the country which were most loyal, political combinations and secret societies were formed furthering the work of disunion, while, from motives of disloyalty or cupidity or from excited passions or perverted sympathies, individuals were found furnish- ing men, money, and materials of war and supplies to the insurgents' military and naval forces. Armies, ships, for- tifications, navyyards, arsenals, military posts, and garri- sons one after another were betrayed or abandoned to the insurgents. Congress had not anticipated, and so had not provided for, the emergency. The municipal authorities were powerless and inactive. The judicial machinery seemed as if it had been designed, not to sustain the government, but to embarrass and betray it. Foreign intervention, openly invited and industriously instigated by the abettors of the insurrection, became im- minent, and has only been prevented by the practice of strict and impartial justice, with the most perfect modera- tion, in our intercourse with nations. The public mind was alarmed and apprehensive, though fortunately not distracted or disheartened. It seemed to 1861-1865 203 be doubtful whether the Federal Government, which one year before had been thought a model worthy of universal acceptance, had indeed the ability to defend and main- tain itself. Some reverses, which, perhaps, were unavoidable, suf- fered by newly levied and inefficient forces, discouraged the loyal and gave new hopes to the insurgents. Volun- tary enlistments seemed about to cease and desertions commenced. Parties speculated upon the question whether conscription had not become necessary to fill up the armies of the United States. In this emergency the President felt it his duty to employ with energy the extraordinary powers which the Constitution confides to him in cases of insurrection. He called into the field such military and naval forces, unau- thorized by the existing laws, as seemed necessary. He directed measures to prevent the use of the post-office for treasonable correspondence. He subjected passengers to and from foreign countries to new passport regulations, and he instituted a blockade, suspended the writ of habeas corpus in various places, and caused persons who were represented to him as being or about to engage in dis- loyal and treasonable practices to be arrested by special civil as well as military agencies and detained in military custody when necessary to prevent them and deter others from such practices. Examinations of such cases were instituted, and some of the persons so arrested have been discharged from time to time under circumstances or upon conditions compatible, as was thought, with the public safety. 204 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Meantime a favorable change of public opinion has oc- curred. The line between loyalty and disloyalty is plainly defined. The whole structure of the government is firm and stable. Apprehension of public danger and facilities for treasonable practices have diminished with the pas- sions which prompted heedless persons to adopt them. The insurrection is believed to have culminated and to be declining. The President, in view of these facts, and anxious to favor a return to the normal course of the administration as far as regard for the public welfare will allow, directs that all political prisoners or state prisoners now held in military custody be released on their subscribing to a parole engaging them to render no aid or comfort to the enemies in hostility to the United States. The Secretary of War will, however, in his discretion, except from the effect of this order any persons detained as spies in the service of the insurgents, or others whose release at the present moment may be deemed incompatible with the public safety. To all persons who shall be so released, and who shall keep their parole, the President grants an amnesty for any past offences of treason or disloyalty which they may have committed. Extraordinary arrests will hereafter be made under the direction of the military authorities alone. By order of the President Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War. 1861-1865 205 Friendship with Other Nations (March 4, 1862) The United States have no enmities, animosities, or rivalries, and no interests which conflict with the welfare, safety, and rights or interests of any other nation. Their own prosperity, happiness, and aggrandizement are sought most safely and advantageously through the perservation not only of peace on their own part, but peace among all other nations. But while the United States are thus a friend to all other nations, they do not seek to conceal the fact that they cherish especial sentiments of friend- ship, for, and sympathies with, those who, like themselves, have founded their institutions on the principle of the equal rights of men ; and such nations being more promi- nently neighbors of the United States, the latter are co- operating with them in establishing civilization and cul- ture on the American continent. Such being the general principles which govern the United States in their foreign relations, you may be assured, sir, that in all things this government will deal justly, frankly, and, if it be possible, even liberally with Peru, whose liberal sentiments toward us you have so kindly expressed. Advice to the Border States (March 10, 1862) Memorandum of an Interview between the President and Some Border Slave-State Representatives, hy Hon. J. W. Crisfield. » "Dear Sir: — I called, at the request of the President, to ask you to come to the White House to-morrow morn- 206 ABEAHAM LINCOLN ing, at nine o'clock, and bring such of your colleagues as are in town." Yesterday, on my return from church, I found Mr. Post- master-General Blair in my room, writing the above note, which he immediately suspended, and verbally communi- cated the President's invitation and stated that the Presi- dent's purpose was to have some conversation with the delegations of Kentucky, Missouri, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware, in explanation of his message of the 6th instant. This morning these delegations, or such of them as were in town, assembled at the White House at the appointed time, and after some little delay were admitted to an audience. Mr. Leary and myself were the only members from Maryland present, and, I think, were the only mem- bers of the delegation at that time in the city. I know that Mr. Pearce, of the Senate, and Messrs. Webster and Calvert, of the House, were absent. After the usual salutations, and we were seated, the President said, in substance, that he had invited us to meet him to have some conversation with us in explana- tion of his message of the 6th; that since he had sent it in several of the gentlemen then present had visited him, but had avoided any allusion to the message, and he therefore inferred that the import of the message had been misunderstood, and was regarded as inimical to the interests we represented; and he had resolved he would talk with us, and disabuse our minds of that erroneous opinion. The President then disclaimed any intent to injure the interests or wound the sensibilities of the slave States. On the contrary, his purpose was to protect the one and 1861-1865 207 respect the other; that we were engaged in a terrible, wasting, and tedious war; immense armies were in the field, and must continue in the field as long as the war lasts ; that these armies must, of necessity, be brought into contact with slaves in the States we represented and in other States as they advanced; that slaves would come to the camps, and continual irritation was kept up; that he was constantly annoyed by conflicting and antagonistic complaints: on the one side a certain class complained if the slave was not protected by the army; persons were frequently found who, participating in these views, acted in a way unfriendly to the slaveholder; on the other hand, slaveholders complained that their rights were inter- fered with, their slaves induced to abscond and protected within the lines; these complaints were numerous, loud and deep; were a serious annoyance to him and embar- rassing to the progress of the war; that it kept alive a spirit hostile to the government in the States we repre- sented ; strengthened the hopes of the Confederates that at some day the border States would unite with them, and thus tend to prolong the war; and he was of opinion, if this resolution should be adopted by Congress and accepted by our States, these causes of irritation and these hopes would be removed, and more would be accomplished toward shortening the war than could be hoped from the greatest victory achieved by Union armies; that he made this proposition in good faith, and desired it to be accepted, if at all, voluntarily, and in the same patriotic spirit in which it was made; that emancipation was a subject ex- clusively under the control of the States, and must be adopted or rejected by each for itself; that he did not 208 ABRAHAM LINCOLN claim nor had this government any right to coerce them for that purpose; that such was no part of his purpose in making this proposition, and he wished it to be clearly understood ; that he did not expect us there to be prepared to give him an answer, but he hoped we would take the subject into serious consideration, confer with one another, and then take such course as we felt our duty and the interests of our constituents required of us. Mr. Noell, of Missouri, said that in his State slavery was not considered a permanent institution; that natural causes were there in operation which would at no distant day extinguish it, and he did not think that this propo- sition was necessary for -that; and, besides that, he and his friends felt solicitous as to the message on account of the different constructions which the resolution and message had received. The New York Tribune was for it, and understood it to mean that we must accept gradual emancipation according to the plan suggested, or get something worse. The President replied that he must not be expected to quarrel with the New York Tribune before the right time ; he hoped never to have to do it; he would not anticipate events. In respect to emancipation in Missouri, he said that what had been observed by Mr. Noell was probably true, but the operation of these natural causes had not prevented the irritating conduct to which he had re- ferred, or destroyed the hopes of the Confederates that Missouri would at some time range herself alongside of them, which, in his judgment, the passage of this resolu- tion by Congress and its acceptance by Missouri would accomplish. 1861-1865 209 Mr. Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the effect of the refusal of the State to accept this proposal, and he desired to know if the President looked to any policy beyond the acceptance or rejection of this scheme. The President replied that he had no designs beyond the actions of the States on this particular subject. He should lament their refusal to accept it, but he had no designs beyond their refusal of it. Mr. Menzies, of Kentucky, inquired if the President thought there was any power except in the States them- selves to carry out his scheme of emancipation. The President replied that he thought there could not be. He then went off into a course of remarks not quali- fying the foregoing declaration nor material to be repeated to a just understanding of his meaning. Mr. Crisfield said he did not think the people of Mary- land looked upon slavery as a permanent institution; and he did not know that they would be very reluctant to give it up if provision was made to meet the loss and they could be rid of the race; but they did not like to be coerced into emancipation, either by the direct action of the government or by indirection, as through the eman- cipation of slaves in this District, or the confiscation of Southern property as now threatened; and he thought before they would consent to consider this proposition they would require to be informed on these points. The President replied that, unless he was expelled by the act of God or the Confederate armies, he should occupy that house for three years; and as long as he remained there Maryland had nothing to fear either for her institutions or her interests on the points referred to. 210 ABKAHAM LINCOLN Mr. Crisfield immediately added: "Mr. President, if what you now say could be heard by the people of Mary- land, they would consider your proposition with a much better feeling than I fear without it they will be inclined to do." The President : "That (meaning a publication of what he said) will not do; it would force me into a quarrel before the proper time"; and, again intimating, as he had before done, that a quarrel with the "Greeley faction" was impending, he said he did not wish to encounter it before the proper time, nor at all if it could be avoided. Governor Wickliffe, of Kentucky, then asked him re- specting the constitutionality of his scheme. The President replied: "As you may suppose, I have considered that; and the proposition now submitted does not encounter any constitutional difficulty. It proposes simply to co-operate with any State by giving such State pecuniary aid"; and he thought that the resolution, as proposed by him, would be considered rather as the ex- pression of a sentiment than as involving any constitu- tional question. Mr. Hall, of Missouri, thought that if this proposition was adopted at all it should be by the votes of the free States, and come as a proposition from them to the slave States, affording them an inducement to put aside this subject of discord; that it ought not to be expected that members representing slave-holding constituencies should declare at once, and in advance of any proposition to them, for the emancipation of slavery. The President said he saw and felt the force of the objection; it was a fearful responsibility, and every gen- 1861-1865 211 tleman must do as lie thought best; that he did not know- how this scheme was received by the members from the free States; some of them had spoken to him and received it kindly; but for the most part they were as reserved and chary as we had been, and he could not tell how they would vote. And in reply to some expression of Mr. Hall as to his own opinion regarding slavery, he said he did not pretend to disguise his antislavery feeling; that he thought it was wrong, and should continue to think so but that was not the question we had to deal with now. Slavery existed, and that, too, as well by the act of the ISi orth as of the South ; and in any scheme to get rid of it the North as well as the South was morally bound to do* its full and equal share. He thought the institution wrong and ought never to have existed ; but yet he recog- nized the rights of property which had grown out of it, and would respect those rights as fully as similar rights in any other property; that property can exist and does legally exist. He thought such a law wrong, but the rights of property resulting must be respected; he would get rid of the odious law, not by violating the right, but by encouraging the proposition and offering inducements to give it up. Here the interview, so far as this subject is concerned, terminated by Mr. Crittenden^s assuring the President that, whatever might be our final action, we all thought him solely moved by a high patriotism and sincere de- votion to the happiness and glory of his country; and with that conviction we should consider respectfully the important suggestions he had made. After some conversation on the current war news, we 212 ABRAHAM LINCOLN retired, and I immediately proceeded to my room and wrote out this paper. J. W. Crisfield. Proclamation of Thanksgiving for Victories (April 10, 1862) By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victo- ries to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and in- vasion. It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall have been received, they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings, that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the divine guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries of the earth. 1861-1865 213 In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day [seal] of April, A. D. 1862, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-sixth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Thanks to the Soldiers (May 15-Dec. 23, 1862) Soldiers, of the Twelfth Indiana Regiment: It has not been customary heretofore, nor will it be hereafter, for me to say something to every regiment passing in review. It occurs too frequently for me to have speeches ready on all occasions. As you have paid such a mark of respect to the chief magistrate, it appears that I should say a word or two in reply. Your colonel has thought fit, on his own account and in your name, to say that you are satisfied with the manner in which I have performed my part in the difficulties which have surrounded the nation. For your kind expressions I am extremely grate- ful, but on the other hand I assure you that the nation is more indebted to you, and such as you, than to me. It is upon the brave hearts and strong arms of the people of the country that our reliance has been placed in support of free government and free institutions. For the part which you and the brave army of which you are a part have, under Providence, performed in this great struggle, I tender more thanks — greatest thanks that can be possibly due — and especially to this regi- 214 ABEAHAM LINCOLN ment, which has been the subject of good report. The thanks of the nation will follow you, and may God's bless- ing rest upon you now and forever. I hope that upon your return to your homes you will find your friends and loved ones well and happy. I bid you farewell. The American Soldier (Aug. 1^, 1862) To Count A. De Gasparin. Dear Sir: — Your very acceptable letter, dated Orbe, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland, 18th of July, 1862, is re- ceived. The moral effect was the worst of the affair before Richmond, and that has run its course downward. We are now at a stand, and shall soon be rising again, as we hope. I believe it is true that, in men and material, the enemy suffered more than we in that series of con- flicts, while it is certain that he is less able to bear it. With us every soldier is a man of character, and must be treated with more consideration than is customary in Europe. Hence our great army, for slighter causes than could have prevailed there, has dwindled rapidly, bringing the necessity for a new call earlier than was anticipated. We shall easily obtain the new levy, however. Be not alarmed if you shall learn that we shall have resorted to a draft for part of this. It seems strange even to me, but it is true, that the government is now pressed to this course by a popular demand. Thousands who wish not to personally enter the service are nevertheless anxious to pay and send substitutes, provided they can have assur- ance that unwilling persons, similarly situated, will be compelled to do likewise. Besides this, volunteers mostly 1861-1865 215 choose to enter newly forming regiments, while drafted men can be sent to fill up the old ones, wherein man for man they are quite doubly as valuable. You ask, "Why is it that the North with her great armies so often is found with inferiority of numbers face to face with the armies of the South ?" While I painfully know the fact, a military man, which I am not, would better answer the question. The fact I know has not been overlooked, and I suppose the cause of its continuance lies mainly in the other facts that the enemy holds the interior and we the exterior lines, and that we operate where the people convey information to the enemy, while he operates where they convey none to us. I have received the volume and letter which you did me the honor of addressing to me, and for which please accept my sincere thanks. You are much admired in America for the ability of your writings, and much loved for your generosity to us and your devotion to liberal principles generally. You are quite right as to the importance to us, for its bearing upon Europe, that we should achieve military successes, and the same is true for us at home as well as abroad. Yet it seems unreasonable that a series of successes, extending through half a year, and clearing more than 100,000 square miles of country, should help us so little, while a single half-defeat should hurt us so much. But let us be patient. I am very happy to know that my course has not con- flicted with your judgToent of propriety and policy. I can only say that I have acted upon my best convictions. 216 ABRAHAM LINCOLN without selfishness or malice, and that by the help of God I shall continue to do so. Please be assured of my highest respect and esteem. I To the Army of the Potomac (Octoler J^, 1862) I am surrounded by soldiers and a little farther off by the citizens of this good city of Frederick. Nevertheless I can only say, as I did five minutes ago, it is not proper for me to make speeches in my present position. I return thanks to our soldiers for the good services they have rendered, the energy they have shown, the hardships they have endured, and the blood they have shed for this Union of ours ; and I also return thanks, not only to the soldiers, but to the good citizens of Frederick, and to the good men, women, and children in this land of ours, for their devotion to this glorious cause; and I say this with no malice in my heart towards those who have done other- wise. May our children and children's children, for a thousand generations, continue to enjoy the benefits con- ferred upon us by a united country, and have cause yet to rejoice under these glorious institutions, bequeathed to us by Washington and his compeers. Now, my friends, soldiers and citizens, I can only say once more — farewell. To Miss Fanny McCullough Executive Mansion, Washington, December 23, 1862 Dear Fanny: — It is with deep regret that I learn of the death of your kind and brave father, and especially 1861-1865 217 that it is affecting your young heart beyond what is common in such cases. In this sad world of ours sorrow comes to all, and to the young it comes with bittered agony because it takes them unawares. The older have learned ever to expect it. I am anxious to afford some alleviation of your present distress. Perfect relief is not possible, except with time. You cannot now realize that you will ever feel better. Is not this so? And yet it is a mistake. You are sure to be happy again. To know this, which is certainly true, will make you some less miserable now. I have had experience enough to know what I say, and you need only to believe it to feel better at once. The memory of your dear father, instead of an agony, will yet be a sad, sweet feeling in your heart, of a purer and holier sort than you have known before. Please present my kind regards to your afflicted mother. Your sincere friend, A. Lincoln. The Broader Powers of the Constitution (May 26, 1862) To THE Senate and House of Kepresentatives : The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States and aims at the overthrow of the Federal Constitu- tion and the Union, was clandestinely prepared during the winter of 1860 and 1861, and assumed an open organiza- tion in the form of a treasonable provisional government at Montgomery, in Alabama, on the 18th day of February, 1861. On the 12th day of April, 1861, the insurgents committed the flagrant act of civil war by the bombard- ment and the capture of Fort Sumter, which cut off the 218 ABKAHAM LINCOLN hope of immediate conciliation. Immediately afterward all the roads and avenues to this city were obstructed, and the capital was put into the condition of a siege. The mails in every direction were stopped and the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents, and military and naval forces which had been called out by the govern- ment for the defense of Washington were prevented from reaching the city by organized and combined treasonable resistance in the State of Maryland. There was no adequate and effective organization for the public de- fense. Congress had indefinitely adjourned. There was no time to convene them. It became necessary for me to choose whether, using only the existing means, agencies, and processes which Congress had provided, I should let the government fall at once into ruin or whether, avail- ing myself of the broader powers conferred by the Con- stitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it, with all its blessings, for the present age and for posterity. I thereupon summoned my constitutional advisers, the heads of all the departments, to meet on Sunday, the 20th day of April, 1861, at the office of the Navy Department, and then and there, with their unanimous concurrence, I directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea to afford protection to the commercial marine, and especially the California treasure ships then on their way to this coast. I also directed the commandant of the navy- yard at Boston to purchase or charter and arm as quickly as possible five steamships for purposes of public defense. I directed the commandant of the na%T^-yard at Philadel- phia to purchase or charter and arm an equal number for LINCOLN, THE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE (From Leslie's Weekly, Oct. 20, i860) 1861-1865 219 the same purpose. I directed the commandant at New York to purchase or charter and arm an equal number. I directed Commander Gillis to purchase or charter and arm and put to sea two other vessels. Similar directions were given to Commodore Dupont, with a view to the opening of passages by water to and from the capital. I directed the several officers to take the advice and obtain the aid and efficient services, in the matter, of his Excel- lency Edwin D. Morgan, the Governor of New York, or in his absence George D. Morgan, William M. Evarts, R. M. Blatchford, and Moses H. Grinnell, who were by my directions especially empowered by the Secretary of the Navy to act for his department in that crisis in mat- ters pertaining to the forwarding of troops and supplies for the public defense. The several departments of the government at that time contained so large a number of disloyal persons that it would have been impossible to provide safely through official agents only for the performance of the duties thus confided to citizens favorably known for their ability, loyalty, and patriotism. The several orders issued upon these occurrences were transmitted by private messengers, who pursued a cir- cuitous way to the seaboard cities, inland across the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio and the northern lakes. I be- lieve by these and other similar measures taken in that crisis, some of which were without any authority of law, the government was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a dollar of the public funds thus confided with- out authority of law to unofficial persons was either lost or wasted, although apprehensions of such misdirection 220 ABKAHAM LINCOLN occurred to me as objections to those extraordinary pro- ceedings, and were necessarily overruled. I recall these transactions now because my attention has been directed to a resolution which was passed by the House of Representatives on the 30th day of last month, which is in these words: "Resolved, That Simon Cameron, late Secretary of War by investing Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of the public money and authority to purchase military supplies without restriction, without requiring from him any guaracity for the faithful performance of his duties, when the services of competent public officers were available, and by involving the government in a vast number of contracts with persons not legitimately en- gaged in the business pertaining to the subject-matter of such contracts, especially in the purchase of arms for future delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public service, and deserves the censure of the House." Congress will see that I should be wanting equally in candor and in justice if I should leave the censure ex- pressed in this resolution to rest exclusively or chiefly upon Mr. Cameron. The same sentiment is unanimously entertained by the heads of departments who participated in the proceedings which the House of Representatives have censured. It is due to Mr. Cameron to say that although he fully approved the proceedings they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not only the President, but all the other heads of departments, were at least equally responsible with him for whatever error, wrong, or fault was committed in the premises. 1861-1865 221 The Army and Fugitive Slaves (July 28, 1862) Sir: — The copy of a letter addressed to yourself by Mr. Thomas J. Durant has been shown to me. The writer appears to be an able, a dispassionate, and an entirely sincere man. The first part of the letter is devoted to an effort to show that the secession ordinance of Louisiana was adopted against the will of a majority of the people. This is probably true, and in that fact may be found some instruction. Why did they allow the ordinance to go into effect? Why did they not assert themselves? Why stand passive and allow themselves to be trodden down by a minority? Why did they not hold popular meetings and have a convention of their own to express and enforce the true sentiment of the State? If preorganization was against them then, why not do this now that the United States army is present to protect them? The paralysis — the dead palsy — of the government in this whole struggle is that this class of men will do nothing for the govern- ment, nothing for themselves, except demanding that the government shall not strike its open enemies, lest they be struck by accident! Mr. Durant complains that in various ways the relation of master and slave is disturbed by the presence of our army, and he considers it particularly vexatious that this, in part, is done under cover of an act of Congress, while constitutional guaranties are suspended on the plea of military necessity. The truth is, that what is done and omitted about slaves is done and omitted on the same military necessity. It is a military necessity to have men and money; and we can get neither in sufficient 222 ABEAHAM LINCOLN numbers or amounts if we keep from or drive from our lines slaves coming to them. Mj. Durant cannot be ignorant of the pressure in this direction, nor of my efforts to hold it within bounds till he and such as he shall have time to help themselves. I am not posted to speak understandingly on all the police regulations of which Mr. Durant complains. Lf experience shows any one of them to be wrong, let them be set right. I think I can perceive in the freedom of trade which Mr. Durant urges that he would relieve both friends and enemies from the pressure of the blockade. By this he would serve the enemy more effectively than the enemy is able to serve himself. I do not say or believe that to serve the enemy is the purpose of Mr. Durant, or that he is conscious of any purpose other than national and patriotic ones. Still, if there were a class of men who, having no choice of sides in the contest, were anxious only to have quiet and comfort for themselves while it rages, and to fall in with the victorious side at the end of it without loss to themselves, their advice as to the mode of conducting the contest would be precisely such as his is. He speaks of no duty — apparently thinks of none — resting upon Union men. He even thinks it in- jurious to the Union cause that they should be restrained in trade and passage without taking sides. They are to touch neither a sail nor a pump, but to be merely pas- sengers — deadheads at that — to be carried snug and dry throughout the storm, and safely landed right side up. Nay, more: even a mutineer is to go untouched lest these sacred passengers receive an accidental wound. Of course 1861-1865 223 the rebellion will never be suppressed in Louisiana if the professed Union men there will neither help to do it nor permit the government to do it without their help. Now, I think the true remedy is very different from what is suggested by Mr. Durant. It does not lie in rounding the rough angles of the war, but in removing the necessity for the war. The people of Louisiana who wish protection to person and property have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them in good faith reinaugurate the national authority, and set up a State government conforming thereto under the Constitution. They know how to do it, and can have the protection of the army while doing it. The army will be withdrawn so soon as such State government can dispense with its presence; and the people of the State can then, upon the old consti- tutional terms, govern themselves to their own liking. This is very simple and easy. If they will not do this — if they prefer to hazard all for the sake of destroying the government — it is for them to consider whether it is probable I will surrender the government to save them from losing all. If they decline what I suggest, you scarcely need to ask what I will do. What would you do in my position? Would you drop the war where it is ? Or would you prosecute it in future with elder-stalk squirts charged with rose-water? Would you deal lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest, leaving any available means un- applied ? I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all I can, to save the govern- ment, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal 224 ABRAHAM LINCOLN inclination. I shall do nothing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing. Duty of Aliens (July 21, 1862) The following order has been received from the Presi- dent of the United States: Representations have been made to the President by the ministers of various foreign powers in amity with the United States that subjects of such powers have during the present insurrection been obliged or required by mili- tary authorities to take an oath of general or qualified allegiance to this government. It is the duty of all aliens residing in the United States to submit to and obey the laws and respect the authority of the government. For any proceeding or conduct inconsistent with this obliga- tion and subversive of that authority they may rightfully be subjected to military restraints when this may be necessary. But they cannot be required to take an oath of allegiance to this government, because it conflicts with the duty they owe to their own sovereigns. All such obligations heretofore taken are therefore remitted and annulled. Military commanders will abstain from im- posing similar obligations in future, and will in lieu thereof adopt such other restraints of the character indi- cated as they shall find necessary, convenient, and effec- tual for the public safety. It is further directed that whenever any order shall be made affecting the personal liberty of an alien reports of the same and of the causes thereof shall be made to the War Department for the consideration of the Department of State. 1861-1865 225" Answer to the "Prayer of Twenty Millions** (August 22, 1862) Hon. Horace Greeley. Dear Sir : — I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed to myself through the New York 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 con- trovert 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 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 as to save the Union, and is not either to save or destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do 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 226 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 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 so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I intend no modification of my oft- expressed personal wish that all men, everywhere, could be free. Colonization of Negroes (August 14, 1862) This afternoon the President of the United States gave an audience to a committee of colored men at the White House. They were introduced by Eev. J. Mitchell, Com- missioner of Emigration. E. M. Thomas, the chairman, remarked that they were there by invitation to hear what the Executive had to say to them. Having all been seated, the President, after a few preliminary observations, informed them that a sum of money had been appropriated by Congress, and placed at his disposition, for the purpose of aiding the colonization, in some country, of the people, or a portion of them, of African descent, thereby making it his duty, as it had for a long time been his inclination, to favor that cause. And why, he asked, should the people of your race be colonized, and where? Why should they leave this coun- try? This is, perhaps, the first question for proper con- sideration. You and we are different races. We have 1861-1865 227 between us a broader difference than exists between almost any other two races. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss; but this physical difference is a great disad- vantage to us both, as I think. Your race suffer very greatly, many of them, by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word, we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason, at least, why we should be separated. You here are free men, I suppose. A Voice- — Yes, sir. The President — Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people. But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race. You are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoys. The aspiration ' of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but on this broad con- tinent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours. Go where you are treated the best, and the ban is still upon you. I do not propose to discuss this, but to present it as a fact, with which we have to deal. I cannot alter it if I would. It is a fact about which we all think and feel alike, I and you. We look to our condition. Owing to the existence of the two races on this continent, I need not recount to you the effects upon white men, growing out of the institution of slavery. I believe in its general evil effects on the white race. See our present condition — the country engaged in war — our white men cutting one another's throats — none know- 228 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ing how far it will extend — and then consider what we know to be the truth: But for your race among us there could not be war, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless I repeat, without the institution of slavery and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have an existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I know that there are free men among you, who, even if they could better their condition, are not as much inclined to go out of the country as those who, being slaves, could obtain their freedom on this condi- tion. I suppose one of the principal difficulties in the way of colonization is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by it. You may believe that you can live in Washington, or elsewhere in the United States, the remainder of your life, as easily, perhaps more so, than you can in any foreign country; and hence you may come to the conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign country. This is (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the case. You ought to do something to help those who are not so fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our people, harsh as it may be, for you free colored people to remain with us. Now, if you could give a start to the white people, you would open a wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not free at the beginning, and whose intellects are clouded by slavery, we have very poor material to start with. If intelligent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we 1861-1865 229 have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically op- pressed. There is much to encourage you. For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your pres- ent comfort for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people. It is a cheering thought throughout life that something can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject to the hard usages of the world. It is different to make a man miser- able while he feels he is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the great God who made him. In the Ameri- can Revolutionary war sacrifices were made by men en- gaged in it, but they were cheered by the future. General Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject, yet he was a happy man because he had engaged in benefiting his race, in doing something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own. The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it is a success. The old President of Liberia, Roberts, has just been with me — the first time I ever saw him. He says they have within the bounds of that colony between three and four hundred thousand people, or more than in some of our old States, such as Rhode Island or Delaware, or in some of our newer States, and less than in some of our larger ones. They are not all American colonists or their descendants. Something less than 12,000 have been sent thither from this country. Many of the original settlers have died; yet, like people elsewhere, their offspring outnumber those 230 ABRAHAM LINCOLN deceased. The question is, if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there? One reason for unwillingness to do so is that some of you would rather remain within reach of the country of your nativity. I do not know how much attachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them, at all events. The place I am thinking about for a colony is in Cen- tral America. It is nearer to us than Liberia — not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steamers. Unlike Liberia, it is a great line of travel — it is a highway. The country is a very ex- cellent one for any people, and with great natural re- sources and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with your native soil, thus being suited to your physical condition. The particular place I have in view is to be a great highway from the Atlantic or Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, and this par- ticular place has all the advantages for a colony. On both sides there are harbors — among the finest in the world. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will af- ford an opportunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in their homes. If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show; and so where there is nothing to cultivate and of which to make a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as soon as reach you there, it is a great advantage. 1861-1865 231 Coal land is the best thing I know of with which to com- mence an enterprise. To return — you have been talked to upon this sub- ject, and told that a speculation is intended by gentle- men who have an interest in the country, including the coal-mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know whites, as well as blacks, look to their self- interest. Unless among those deficient of intellect, every- body you trade with makes something. You meet with these things here and everywhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the question is whether it cannot be made of advantage to you. You are intelli- gent, and know that success does not so much depend on external help as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, de- pends upon yourselves. As to the coal-mines, I think I see the means available for your self-reliance. I shall, if I get a sufficient number of you engaged, have provision made that you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise, I will spend some of the money in- trusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The gov- ernment may lose the money; but we cannot succeed un- less we try, and we think with care we can succeed. The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory a condition as I wish. There are contending factions in that quarter, but it is true all the factions are agreed alike on the subject of colonization, and want it, and are more generous than we are here. To your colored race they have no objection. I would endeavor to have you made the equals, and have the best assurance that you should be the equals, of the best. The practical thing I want to ascertain is whether I 232 ABRAHAM LINCOLN can get a number of able-bodied men, with their wives and children, who are willing to go when I present evi- dence of encouragement and protection. Could I get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children, and able to "cut their own fodder," so to speak ? Can I have fifty? If I could find twenty -five able-bodied men, with a mixture of women and children — good things in the family relation, I think, — I could make a success- ful commencement. I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great im- portance — worthy of a month's study, instead of a speech delivered in an hour. I ask you, then, to consider seri- ously, not pertaining to yourselves merely, nor for your race and ours for the present time, but as one of the things, if successfully managed, for the good of man- kind — ^not confined to the present generation, but as "From age to age descends the lay To millions yet to be, Till far its echoes roll away Into eternity." The above is merely given as the substance of the President's remarks. The chairman of the delegation briefly replied that they would hold a consultation, and in a short time give an answer. The President said : Take your full time— no hurry at all. The delegation then withdrew. 1861-1865 233 Delay in Emancipation (September 13, 1862) The subject presented in the memorial is one upon which I have thought much for weeks past, and I may even say for months. I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that they represent the Divine will. I am sure that either the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both. I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that if it is prob- able that God would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me ; for, unless I am more de- ceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it ! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is pos- sible, and learn what appears to be wise and right. The subject is difficult, and good men do not agree. For instance, the other day, four gentlemen of standing and intelligence from New York called as a delegation on business connected with the war; but before leaving two of them earnestly besought me to proclaim general eman- cipation, upon which the other two at once attacked them. You know also that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of antislavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the re- ligious people. Why, the rebel soldiers are praying with a great deal more earnestness, I fear, than our own troops. 234 ABKAHAM LINCOLN and expecting God to favor their side: for one of our soldiers who had been taken prisoner told Senator Wilson a few days since that he met nothing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case. What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet! Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Constitution in the rebel States? Is there a single court, or magistrate or individual that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come within our lines? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And suppose they could be induced by a proclamation of freedom from me to throw themselves upon us, what should we do with them? How can we feed and care for such a multitude? General Butler wrote me a few days since that he was issuing more ra- tions to the slaves who have rushed to him than to all the white troops under his command. They eat, and that is all ; though it is true General Butler is feeding the whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the blacks to slavery again? for I am told that whenever the rebels 1861-1865 235 take any black prisoners, free or slave, they immediately auction them off. They did so with those they took from a boat that was aground in the Tennessee Kiver a few days ago. And then I am very ungenerously at- tacked for it! For instance, when, after the late battles at and near Bull Kun, an expedition went out from Wash- ington under a flag of truce to bury the dead and bring in the wounded, and the rebels seized the blacks who went along to help, and sent them into slavery, Horace Greeley said in his paper that the government would probably do nothing about it. What could I do? Now, then, tell me, if you please, what possible result of good would follow the issuing of such a proclamation as you desire? Understand, I raise no objections against it on legal or constitutional grounds; for, as commander- in-chief of the army and navy, in time of war I suppose I have a right to take any measure which may best sub- due the enemy, nor do I urge objections of a moral na- ture, in view of possible consequences of insurrection and massacre at the South. I view this matter as a practical war measure, to be decided on according to the advan- tages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion. I admit that slavery is the root of the rebellion, or at least its sine qua non. The ambition of politicians may have instigated them to act, but they would have been impotent without slavery as their instrument. I will also concede that emancipation would help us in Europe, and convince them that we are incited by something more than ambition. I grant, further, that it would help some- what at the North, though not so much, I fear, as you 236 ABKAHAM LINCOLN and those you represent imagine. Still, some additional strength would be added in that way to the war, and then, unquestionably, it would weaken the rebels by draw- ing off their laborers, which is of great importance; but I am not so sure we could do much with the blacks. If we were to arm them, I fear that in a few weeks the arms would be in the hands of the rebels; and, indeed, thus far we have not had arms enough to equip our white troops. I will mention another thing, though it meet only your scorn and contempt. There are fifty thousand bayonets in the Union armies from the border slave States. It would be a serious matter if, in consequence of a proclamation such as you desire, they should go over to the rebels. I do not think they all would — not so many, indeed, as a year ago, or as six months ago — not so many to-day as yesterday. Every day increases their Union feeling. They are also getting their pride enlisted, and want to beat the rebels. Let me say one thing more: I think you should admit that we already have an impor- tant principle to rally and unite the people, in the fact that constitutional government is at stake. This is a fun- damental idea going down about as deep as anything. Do not misunderstand me because I have mentioned these objections. They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my action in some such way as you desire. I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advise- ment; and I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other. What- ever shall appear to be God's will, I will do. I trust that 1861-1865 237 in the freedom with which I have canvassed your views I have not in any respect injured your feelings. Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation (September 22, 1862) By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy thereof, do hereby proclaim and declare that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation between the United States and each of the States and the people thereof in which States that relation is or may be sus- pended or disturbed. That it is my purpose, upon the next meeting of Con- gress, to again recommend the adoption of a practical measure tendering pecuniary aid to the free acceptance or rejection of all slave States, so called, the people whereof may not then be in rebellion against the United States, and which States may then have voluntarily adopted, or thereafter may voluntarily adopt, immediate or gradual abolishment of slavery within their respective limits; and that the effort to colonize persons of African descent with their consent upon this continent or else- where, with the previously obtained consent of the gov- ernments existing there, will be continued. That on the 1st day of January, a.d., 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a 238 ABKAHAM LINCOLN State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States shall be then, thenceforward, and for- ever 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 1st day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respec- tively, 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 elec- tions wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such States shall have participated shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evi- dence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. That attention is hereby called to an act of Congress entitled "An act to make an additional article of war," approved March 13, 1862, and which act is in the words and figure following: "Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That hereafter the following shall be promulgated as an additional article of war for the government of the Army of the United States and shall be obeyed and observed as such. "Abt. — All officers or persons in the military or naval 1861-1865 239 service of the United States are prohibited from employing any of the forces under their respective commands for the purpose of returning fugitives from service or labor who may have escaped from any persons to whom such service or labor is claimed to be due, and any officer who shall be found guilty by a court-martial of violating this article shall be dismissed from the service. "Sec. 2. And he it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage." Also to the ninth and tenth sections of an act entitled "An act to suppress insurrection, to punish treason and rebellion, to seize and confiscate the property of rebels, and for other purposes," approved July 17, 1862, and which sections are in the words and figures following: "Sec. 9. And he it further enacted. That all slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the Government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid or comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army, and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the Government of the United States, and all slaves of such persons found on [or] being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war and shall be forever free of their servitude and not again held as slaves. "Sec. 10. And he it further enacted. That no slave escaping into any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia from any other State shall be delivered up or 240 ABKAHAM LINCOLN in any way impeded or hindered of his liberty, except for crime, or some offence against the laws, unless the per- son claiming said fugitive shall first make oath that the person to whom the labor or service of such fugitive is alleged to be due is his lawful owner, and has not borne arms against the United States in the present rebellion, nor in any way given aid and comfort thereto; and no person engaged in the military or naval service of the United States shall, under any pretence whatever, assume to decide on the validity of the claim of any person to the service or labor of any other person, or surrender up any such person to the claimant, on pain of being dis- missed from the service." And I do hereby enjoin upon and order all persons engaged in the military and naval service of the United States to observe, obey, and enforce, within their respec- tive spheres of service, the act and sections above re- cited. And the Executive will in due time recommend that all citizens of the United States who shall have remained loyal thereto throughout the rebellion shall (upon the res- toration of the constitutional relation between the United States and their respective States and people, if that re- lation shall have been suspended or disturbed) be com- pensated for all losses by acts of the United States, in- cluding the loss of slaves. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this twen- ty-second day of September, in the year of our 1861-1865 241 [Seal,] Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: WiLLL4M H. Seward, Secretary of State. The Judgment of the Country (September 24, 1862) REPLY TO SERENADE, SEPTEMBER 24, 1862 I appear before you to do little more than acknowledge the courtesy you pay me, and to thank you for it. I have not been distinctly informed why it is that on this occa- sion you appear to do me this honor, though I suppose it is because of the proclamation. What I did, I did after a very full deliberation, and under a very heavy and solemn sense of responsibility. I can only trust in God I have made no mistake. I shall make no attempt on this occasion to sustain what I have done or said by any comment. It is now for the country and the world to pass judgment and, maybe, take action upon it. I will say no more upon this subject. In my position I am environed with difficulties. Yet they are scarcely so great as the difficulties of those who upon the battle- field are endeavoring to purchase with their blood and their lives the future happiness and prosperity of this country. Let us never forget them. On the fourteenth and seventeenth days of this present month there have been battles bravely, skillfully, and successfully fought. 242 ABKAHAM LINCOLN We do not yet know the particulars. Let us be sure that, in giving praise to certain individuals, we do no injustice to others. I only ask you, at the conclusion of these few remarks, to give three hearty cheers for all good and brave officers and men who fought those successful battles. The Slowness of the War (November 4, 1862) To Carl Schurz: I have received and read your letter of the 20th. The purport of it is that we lost the late elections and the ad- ministration is failing because the war is unsuccessful, and that I must not flatter myself that I am not justly to blame for it. I certainly know that if the war fails the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed if I could do better. You think I could do better; there- fore you blame me already. I think I could not do bet- ter; therefore I blame you for blaming me. I understand you now to be willing to accept the help of men who are not Republicans, provided they have "heart in it." Agreed. I want no others. But who is to be the judge of hearts, or of "heart in it" ? If I must discard my own judgment and take yours, I must also take that of others ; and by the time I should reject all I should be advised to reject, I should have none left. Republicans or others — not even yourself. For be assured, my dear sir, there are men who have "heart in it" that think you are perform- ing your part as poorly as you think I am performing 1861-1865 243 mine. I certainly have been dissatisfied with the slow- ness of Buell and McClellan; but before I relieved them I had great fears I should not find successors to them who would do better; and I am sorry to add that I have seen little since to relieve those fears. I do not see clearly the prospect of any more rapid movements. I fear we shall at last find out that the dif- ficulty is in our case rather than in particular generals. I wish to disparage no one — certainly not those who sym- pathize with me; but I must say I need success more than I need sympathy, and that I have not seen the so much greater evidence of getting success from my sym- pathizers than from those who are denounced as the con- trary. It does seem to me that in the field the two classes have been very much alike in what they have done and what they have failed to do. In sealing their faith with their blood. Baker and Lyon and Bohlen and Richard- son, Republicans, did all that men could do ; but did they any more than Kearny and Stevens and Reno and Mans- field, none of whom were Republicans, and some at least of whom have been bitterly and repeatedly denounced to me as secession sympathizers? I will not perform the ungrateful task of comparing cases of failure. In answer to your question, "Has it not been publicly stated in the newspapers, and apparently proved as a fact, that from the commencement of the war the enemy was continually supplied with information by some of the confidential subordinates of as important an officer as Adjutant-General Thomas?" I must say "'No" as far as my knowledge extends. And I add that if you can 244 ABKAHAM LINCOLN give any tangible evidence upon the subject, I will thank you to come to this city and do so. Yery truly your friend, A. Lincoln. Hopes of Peace (December 12, 1862) Hon. Fernando Wood. My dear Sir: — Your letter of the 8th, with the accom- panying note of same date, was received yesterday. The most important paragraph in the letter, as I con- sider, is in these words: "On the 25th of November last I was advised by an authority which I deemed likely to be well informed, as well as reliable and truthful, that the Southern States would send representatives to the next Congress, provided that a full and general amnesty should permit them to do so. No guarantee or terms were asked for other than the amnesty referred to." I strongly suspect your information will prove to be groundless; nevertheless, I thank you for communicating it to me. Understanding the phrase in the paragraph just quoted — "the Southern States would send representatives to the next Congress" — to be substantially the same as that *^the people of the Southern States would cease re- sistance, and would reinaugurate, submit to, and main- tain the national authority within the limits of such States, under the Constitution of the United States," I say that in such case the war would cease on the part of the United States; and that if within a reasonable time "a full and general amnesty" were necessary to such end, it would not be withheld. 1861-1865 245 I do not think it would be proper now to communi- cate this, formally or informally, to the people of the Southern States. My belief is that they already know it; and when they choose, if ever, they can communicate with me unequivocally. Nor do I think it proper now to suspend military operations to try any experiment of negotiation. I should nevertheless receive with great pleasure the exact information you now have, and also such other as you may in any way obtain. Such information might be more valuable before the 1st of January than after- wards. While there is nothing in this letter which I shall dread to see in history, it is, perhaps, better for the pres- ent that its existence should not become public. I there- fore have to request that you will regard it as confidential. 1863 Final Proclamation of Emancipation (January 1, 1863) By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation Whereas on the 22d day of September, a.d. 1862, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit: "That on the 1st day of January, a.d. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the ABKAHAM LINCOLN It tbe executive government of the ^.^, ^ , ;, the mUitary and naval ^^*°^ ^ ^^,„„3 ^„d «ill do no :„'d maintain the ^-^^/JJoL, or any of then., .n any act or acts to «P^«=^/""^ |„i, actual freedom. efforts they may make fo the ^^^ ^^^ ^^ J^"^^^ ;*"':£ "That the executive will on ^^^^^^ ^^^ P^^^.T, said, by proclamat on de -gn ^ ^^^^^^^^ respectively, sh=a States, if any, in which the peop g^^^^^. ^^4 the '- -/" rsXorTeteo": thereof «-" » f at a^d fact that any State or r Congress of the ui L in good f-*7Xn thereto at eiections wherein a ct«t,=i bv members chosen t ^^^H have Itrity of the qualified voters «' "* countervailing ::rSated ^^1, ^ ^^J— evidet fbat such Sta^ testimony, be deemed conclu^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^,^^„„ ,^,„3t the and the people thereoi a United States." President of the ^ow, tWore, LA'^f -,^»i Tnle vested as United States, by -rtue of the P^ ^^^ ^^^ of the Commander-in-Chief ^^ ^^ ^ ^,^ed rebellion agamsl United States m time of aetua ^^^^^ 1 authority and go---teat ' for suppressing sau as a fit and ---^^^.r^arof January, A. P. 18f > -- rebeBion. do, on this !«» day ot ^^ ^^_ p„Wiely prc in accordance with my P«P°J ^^ l,„ndred days fror Claimed for the full P-^^,tder and designate as tV the first day above ™"f '^j^.^ein the people there ret.:S,Ct^-SVebellion against the .ni 1861-1865 247 folk. including the c L of N^J.l ^"^"' '""^ ^°'- and which .Ud Ta.: at^'^f L ;lrnrLT*^' .ait I Vr^ltdXe ta/V^ ~ ^^- maintain the freedom of said persons °^"" ^"*^ ^i"J 2:a7n\ri74Te *'^ T'^ ^° '^^'^'-'^ ^ ^« lefense; and I recommldt th'' "IT' ° '^^'''"^^'^ ^^'f" emce of the TTnitArJ q+ ^ . received into the armed -on^and^thrptetrndl^TesS^^^^^^^^^ 1 said service. vessels ol all sorts And upon this act, sincerely believed to h. >dthe.raciotf:triSV"or^- °^ -"^"d 248 ABKAHAM LINCOLN In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this first day [seal.] of January, a.d. 1863, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty-sev- enth. Abraham Lincoln. By the President: WiLLUM H. Seward, Secretary of State. The Commander-in-Chief to the Generals (January 22 — October 4, 1863) To McClernand {January 22) My dear sir: — Yours of the 7th was received yesterday. I need not recite because you remember the contents. The charges in their nature are such that I must know as much about the facts involved as you can. I have too many family controversies, so to speak, already on my hands to voluntarily, or so long as I can avoid it, take up another. You are now doing well — well for the country, and well for yourself — much better than you could pos- sibly be if engaged in open war with General Halleck. Allow me to beg that, for your sake, for my sake, and for the country's sake, you give your whole attention to the better work. Your success upon the Arkansas was both brilliant and valuable, and is fully appreciated by the country and government. 1861-1865 249 I To Hooker {Jan. 26) \ General: I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what ap- pear to me to be sufficient reasons, and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and skillful soldier, which of course I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your pro- fession, in which you are right./ You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable if not an indispensable qual- ity. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm;j but I think that during General Burnside's command 6i the army you have taken counsel of your ambition and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the countr^ ^nd to a most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such a way as to believe it, of your re- cently saying that both the army and the government needed a dictator. \ Of course it was not for this, hut in spite of it, that I have given you the command, i Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. . The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the army, of criticizing their commander and withholding con- fidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. ' Neither you nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out 250 ABRAHAM LINCOLN of an army while such a spirit prevails in it; and now beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward and give us victories. Yours very truly. To Rosecrans (May 20) Yours of yesterday in relation to Colonel Haggard is received. I am anxious that you shall not misunderstand me. In no case have I intended to censure you or to question your ability. In Colonel Haggard's case I meant no more than to suggest that possibly you might have been mistaken in a point that could (be) corrected. / frequently rruike mistakes myself in the many things I am compelled to do hastily. To Burnside (July 27) Let me explain. In General Grant's first despatch after the fall of Yicksburg, he said, among other things, he would send the Ninth Corps to you. Thinking it would be pleasant to you, I asked the Secretary of War to tele- graph you the news. For some reasons never mentioned to us by General Grant, they have not been sent, though we have seen outside intimations that they took part in the expedition against Jackson. General Grant is a copi- ous worker and fighter, hut a very meager writer or telegrapher. No doubt he changed his purpose in regard to the Ninth Corps for some sufficient reason, but has forgotten to notify us of it. 1861-1865 251 To Schurz (April 11) My dear Sir: I cannot comply with your request to take your division away from the Army of the Potomac. General Hooker does not wish it done. I do not myself see a good reason why it should be done. The division^ will do itself and its officers more honor and the country more service where it is. Besides these general reasons,, as I understand, the Army of the Potomac will move be- fore these proposed changes could be conveniently made.. / always wish to ohlige you, but I cannot in this case. Yours truly. To HooJcer (May 7) My dear Sir: The recent movement of your army is ended without effecting its object, except, perhaps, some important breakings of the enemy's communications. What next? If possible, I would be very glad of another movement early enough to give us some benefit from the fact of the enemy's communication being broken; but neither for this reason nor any other do I wish anything done in desperation or rashness. An early movement would also help to supersede the bad moral effect of the recent one, which is said to be considerably injurious. Have you already in your mind a plan wholly or partially formed? If you have, prosecute it without interference from me. If you have not, please inform me, so that I, incompetent as I may be, can try and assist in the forma- tion of some plan for the army. 252 ABRAHAM LINCOLN To McDowell {May 28) I think the evidence now preponderates that Ewell and Jackson are still about Winchester. Assuming this, it is for you a question of legs. Put in all the speed you can. I have told Fremont as much, and directed him to drive at them as fast as possible. By the way, I suppose you know Fremont has got up to Moorefield, instead of going to Harrisonburg. To McClellan {May 28) I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory. Still, if it was a total rout of the enemy, I am puzzled to know why the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad was not seized again, as you say you have all the railroads but the Richmond and Fredericksburg. I am 'puzzled to see how, lacking that, you can have any, except the scrap from Richmond to West Point. The scrap of the Vir- ginia Central from Richmond to Hanover Junction, with- out more, is simply nothing. That the whole of the enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think cannot be certainly known to you or me. To Rosecrans {May 28) I would not push you to any rashness, but I am very anxious that you do your utmost short of rashness, to keep Bragg from getting off to help Johnston against Grant. 1861-1865 253 To McDowell {May 28) You say General Geary's scouts report that they find no enemy this side of the Blue Ridge. Neither do I. Have they been to the Blue Ridge looking for them? To Hooker (June 5) Tours of to-day was received an hour ago. So much of professional military skill is requisite to answer it, that I have turned the task over to General Halleck. He promises to perform it with his utmost care. I have but one idea which I think worth suggesting to you, and that is, in case you find Lee coming to the north of the Rap- pahannock, I would by no means cross to the south of it. If he should leave a rear force at Fredericksburg, tempt- ing you to fall upon it, it would fight in intrenchments and have you at disadvantage, and so, man for man, worst you at that point, while his main force would in some way be getting an advantage of you northward. In one word, I would not take any risk of being entangled upon the river, like an ox jumped half over a fence and liable to be torn by dogs front and rear witliout a fair chance to gore one way or kick the other. If Lee would come to my side of the river, I would keep on the same side, and fight him or act on the defense, according as might be my estimate of his strength relatively to my own. But these are mere suggestions which I desire to be controlled by the judgment of yourself and General Halleck. 254 ABRAHAM LINCOLN To Hooker {June 10) Your long despatch of to-day is just received. If left to me, I would not go south of the Rappahannock upon Lee's moving north of it. If you had Richmond invested to-day you would not be able to take it in twenty days; meanwhile your communications, and with them your army, would be ruined. I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your true objective point. If he comes towards the upper Potomac, follow on his flank, and on the inside track, shortening your lines while he lengthens his. Fight him, too, when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, fret him and fret him. To Hooker {June IJf) So far as we can make out here, the enemy have Mil- roy surrounded at Winchester, and Tyler at Martinsburg. If they could hold out a few days, could you help them? If the head of Lee's army is at Martinsburg and the tail of it on the plank-road between Fredericksburg and Chan- cellorsville, the animal must he very slim somewhere; could you not break him? To Schench {June IJi) Get General Milroy from Winchester to Harper's Ferry, if possible. He will be "gobbled up" if he re- mains, if he is not already past salvation. i 1861-1865 255 To Hooker (June 16) My dear General : I send you this by the hand of Cap- tain Dahlgren. Your despatch of 11:30 A. M. to-day is just received. When you say I have long been aware that you do not enjoy the confidence of the major-gen- eral commanding, you state the case much too strongly. You do not lack his confidence in any degree to do you any harm. On seeing him, after telegraphing you this morning, I found him more nearly agreeing with you than I was myself. Surely you do not mean to under- stand that I am withholding my confidence from you when I happen to express an opinion (certainly never dis- courteously) differing from one of your own. I believe Halleck is dissatisfied with you to this extent only, that he knows that you write and telegraph (''re- port /' as he calls it) to me. I think he is wrong to find fault with this ; but I do not think he withholds any sup- port from you on account of it. If you and he would use the same frankness to one another, and to me, that I use to both of you, there would be no difficulty. I need and must have the professional skill of both, and yet these suspicions tend to deprive me of both. I believe you are aware that since you took command of the army I have not believed you had any chance to ejfect anything till now. As it looks to me, Lee's now returning toward Harper's Ferry gives you back the chance that I thought McClellan lost last fall. Quite possibly I was wrong both then and now; but, in the great responsibility resting upon me, I cannot be entirely silent. Now, all I ask is that you will he in such mood 2dC ABEAHAM LINCOLN that we can get into oun action the test cordial judgment of yourself and General Halleclc, with my poor mite added, if indeed lie and you shall think it entitled to any consideration at all. To Grant (July IS) My dear General: I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful ac- hnowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country. I wish to say a word further. When you first reached the vicinity of Vicksburg, I thought you should do what you finally did — march the troops across the neck, run the batteries with the transports, and thus go below; and I never had any faith, except a general hope that you knew better than I, that the Yazoo Pass expedition and the like could succeed. When you got below and took Port Gibson, Grand Gulf, and vicinity, I thought you should go down the river and join General Banks, and when you turned northward, east of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. / now wish to mahe the personal acknowledgment that you were right and I was wrong. To McClernand (August 12) My dear Sir: Our friend William G. Greene has just presented a kind letter in regard to yourself, addressed to me by our other friends Yates, Hatch, and Dubois. I doubt whether your present position is more painful to you than to myself. Grateful for the patriotic stand 1861-1865 257 so early taken by you in this life-and-death struggle of the nation, I have done whatever has appeared practicable to advance you and the public interest together. No charges, with a view to a trial, have been preferred against you by any one; nor do I suppose any will be. All there is, so far as I have heard, is General Grant's statement of his reasons for relieving you. And even this I have not seen or sought to see; because it is a case, as appears to me, in which I could do nothing without doing harm. General Grant and yourself have been conspicuous in our most important successes; and for me to interfere and thus magnify a breach between you could not but be of evil effect. Better leave it where the law of the case has placed it. For me to force you back upon General Grant would be forcing him to resign. I cannot give you a new command, because we have no forces except such as al- ready have commanders. I am constantly pressed by those who scold before they think, or without thinking at all, to give commands re- spectively to Fremont, McClellan, Butler, Sigel, Curtis, Hunter, Hooker, and perhaps others, when, all else out of the way, I have no commands to give them. This is now your case; which, as I have said, pains me not less than it does you. My belief is that the permanent esti- mate of what a general does in the field is fixed by the "cloud of witnesses" who have been with him in the field, and that, relying on these, he who has the right need not to fear. Your friend as ever 258 ABRAHAM LINCOLN To Rosecrans (October J^) Yours of yesterday received. If we can hold Chat- tanooga and East Tennessee, I think the rebellion must dwindle and die. I think you and Burnside can do this, and hence doing so is your main object. Of course to greatly damage or destroy the enemy in your front would be a greater object, because it would include the former and more, but it is not so certainly within your power. I understand the main body of the enemy is very near you, so near that you could "board at home," so to speak, and menace or attack him any day. Would not the doing of this be your best mode of counteracting his raid on your communications? But this is not an order. I in- tend doing something like what you suggest whenever the case shall appear ripe enough to have it accepted in the true understanding rather than as a confession of weak- ness and fear. War on the Ministers (January 2, 1863) Major-General Curtis. My dear Sir: — Yours of December 29 by the hand of Mr. Strong is just received. The day I telegraphed you suspending the order in relation to Dr. McPheeters, he, with Mr. Bates, the Attorney-General, appeared before me and left with me a copy of the order mentioned. The doctor also showed me the copy of an oath which he said he had taken, which is indeed very strong and specific. He also verbally assured me that he had constantly prayed 1861-1865 259 in church for the President and government, as he had always done before the present war. In looking over the recitals in your order, I do not see that this matter of the prayer as he states it, is negatived, nor that any violation of his oath is charged, nor, in fact, that anything specific is alleged against him. The charges are all general : that he has a rebel wife and rebel relations, that he sympa- thizes with rebels, and that he exercises rebel influence. Now, after talking with him, I tell you frankly I believe he does sympathize with the rebels, but the question re- mains whether such a man, of unquestioned good moral character, who has taken such an oath as he has, and cannot even be charged with violating it, and who can be charged with no other specific act or omission, can, with safety to the government, be exiled upon the suspicion of his secret sympathies. But I agree that this must be left to you, who are on the spot; and if, after all, you think the public good requires his removal, my suspension of the order is withdrawn, only with this qualification, that the time during the suspension is not to be counted against him. I have promised him this. But I must add that the United States Government must not, as by this order, undertake to run the churches. When an individual in a church or out of it becomes dangerous to the public in- terest, he must be checked; but let the churches, as such, take care of themselves. It will not do for the United States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches. Yours very truly, A. LiNCOT.N. 260 ABEAHAM LINCOLN P. S. The committee composed of Messrs. Yeatman and Filley (Mr. Broadhead not attending) has presented your letter and the memorial of sundry citizens. On the whole subject embraced exercise your best judgment, with a sole view to the public interest, and I will not interfere without hearing you. Prayers of God's People (January 5, 1863) My Good Friends: The Honorable Senator Harlan has just placed in my hands your letter of the 27th of December which I have read with pleasure and gratitude. It is most cheering and encouraging for me to know that in the efforts which I have made and am making for the restoration of a righteous peace to our country, I am upheld and sustained by the good wishes and prayers of God's people. No one is more deeply than myself aware that without His favor our highest wisdom is but as foolishness and that our most strenuous efforts would avail nothing in the shadow of His displeasure. I am conscious of no desire for my country's welfare that is not in consonance with His will, and of no plan upon which we may not ask His blessing. It seems to me that if there be one subject upon which all good men may unitedly agree, it is imploring the gracious favor of the God of Nations upon the struggles our people are making for the preservation of their precious birth- right of civil and religious liberty. Truly your friend. 1861-1865 261 The Long-enduring Consequences (February 22, 1863) Kev. Alexander Reed. My dear Sir: Your note, by whicli you, as General Superintendent of the United States Christian Commis- sion, invite me to preside at a meeting to be held this iay at the hall of the House of Representatives in this city, is received. While, for reasons which I deem sufficient, I must de- cline to preside, I cannot withhold my approval of the meeting and its worthy objects. Whatever shall be, sincerely and in God's name, devised for the good of the soldiers and seamen in their hard spheres of duty, can scarcely fail to be blessed; and whatever shall tend to turn our thoughts from the unrea- soning and uncharitable passions, prejudices, and jeal- ousies incident to a great national trouble such as ours, and to fix them on the vast and long-enduring conse- quences, for weal or for woe, which are to result from the struggle, and especially to strengthen our reliance on the Supreme Being for the final triumph of the right, cannot but be well for us all. The birthday of Washington and the Christian Sabbath coinciding this year, and suggesting together the highest interests of this life and of that to come, is most propi- tious for the meeting proposed. Your obedient servant. 262 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Recalling Soldiers to Their Regiments (March 10, 1863) By the President of the United States: A Proclamation In pursuance of the twenty-sixth section of the act of Congress entitled ''An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," approved on the 3d day of March, 1863, I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi- dent and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do hereby order and command that all soldiers enlisted or drafted in the service of the United States, now absent from their regiments without leave shall forthwith return to their respective regiments. And I do hereby declare and proclaim that all soldiers now absent from their respective regiments without leave who shall, on or before the first day of April, 1863, report themselves at any rendezvous designated by the general orders of the War Department No. 58, hereto annexed, may be restored to their respective regiments without punishment, except the forfeiture of pay and allowances during their absence; and all who do not return within the time above specified shall be arrested as deserters and punished as the law provides; and Whereas evil-disposed and disloyal persons at sundry places have enticed and procured soldiers to desert and absent themselves from their regiments, thereby weak- ening the strength of the armies and prolonging the war, giving aid and comfort to the enemy, and cruelly exposing the gallant and faithful soldiers remaining in the ranks to increased hardships and danger: 1861-1865 263 I do therefore call upoii all patriotic and faithful citi- zens to oppose and resist the aforementioned dangerous and treasonable crimes, and to aid in restoring to their regiments all soldiers absent without leave, and to assist in the execution of the act of Congress "for enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other purposes," and to support the proper authorities in the prosecution and punishment of offenders against said act and in sup- pressing the insurrection and rebellion. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. Done at the city of Washington, this tenth day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. Abraham Lincoln. Military Service of Aliens (May 8, 1863) By the President of the United States of America: A Proclamation. Whereas the Congress of the United States, at its last session, enacted a law entitled "An act for enrolling and calling out the national forces and for other pur- poses," which was approved on the 3rd day of March last; and Whereas it is recited in the said act that there now exists in the United States an insurrection and rebellion against the authority thereof, and it is, under the Consti- tution of the United Sates, the duty of the government to suppress insurrection and rebellion, to guarantee to each 264 ABKAHAM LINCOLN State a republican form of government, and to preserve the public tranquillity; and Whereas for these high purposes a military force is indispensable, to raise and support which all persons ought willingly to contribute; and Whereas no service can be more praiseworthy and hon- orable than that which is rendered for the maintenance of the Constitution and the Union, and the consequent preservation of free government; and Whereas, for the reasons thus recited, it was enacted by the said statute that all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and persons of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath their intention to become citizens under and in pursuance of the laws thereof, between the ages of twenty and forty-five years (with certain excep- tions not necessary to be here mentioned), are declared to constitute the national forces, and shall be liable to perform military duty in the service of the United States when called out by the President for that purpose; and Whereas it is claimed by and in behalf of persons of foreign birth within the ages specified in said act, who have heretofore declared on oath their intentions to be- come citizens under and in pursuance of the laws of the United States, and who have not exercised the right of suffrage or any other political franchise under the laws of the United States, or of any of the States thereof, that they are not absolutely concluded by their aforesaid declaration of intention from renouncing their purpose to become citizens, and that, on the contrary, such persons under treaties or the law of nations retain a right to renounce that purpose and to forego the privileges of 1861-1865 265 citizenship and residence within the United States under the obligations imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress: Now, therefore, to avoid all misapprehensions concern- ing the liability of persons concerned to perform the service required by such enactment, and to give it full effect, I do hereby order and proclaim that no plea of alienage will be received or allowed to exempt from the obligations imposed by the aforesaid act of Congress any person of foreign birth who shall have declared on oath his intention to become a citizen of the United States under the laws thereof, and who shall be found within the United States at any time during the continuance of the present insurrection and rebellion, at or after the expira- tion of the period of sixty-five days from the date of this proclamation; nor shall any such plea of alienage be allowed in favor of any such person who has so, as afore- said, declared his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and shall have exercised at any time the right of suffrage, or any other political franchise, within the United States, under the laws thereof, or under the laws of any of the several States. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the City of Washington, this eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thou- [SEAL.] sand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States the eighty- seventh. Abraham Lincoln. 266 ABEAHAM LINCOLN The Constitution in War (June 29, 1863) Gentlemen: — The resolutions of the Ohio Democratic State convention, which you present me, together with your introductory and closing remarks, being in position and argument mainly the same as the resolutions of the Democratic meeting at Albany, New York, I refer you to my response to the latter as meeting most of the points in the former. This response you evidently used in preparing your remarks, and I desire no more than that it be used with accuracy. In a single reading of your remarks, I only discovered one inaccuracy in matter, which I suppose you took from that paper. It is where you say: "The undersigned are unable to agree with you in the opinion you have expressed that the Constitution is different in time of insurrection or invasion from what it is in time of peace and public security." A recurrence to the paper will show you that I have not expressed the opinion you suppose. I expressed the opinion that the Constitution is different in its applica- tion in cases of rebellion or invasion, involving the public safety, from what it is in times of profound peace and public security; and this opinion I adhere to, simply because, by the Constitution itself, things may be done in the one case which may not be done in the other. I dislike to waste a word on a merely personal point, but I must respectfully assure you that you will find yourselves at fault should you ever seek for evidence to prove your assumption that "I opposed in discussions before the people the policy of the Mexican war." 1861-1865 267 You say: "Expunge from the Constitution this limita- tion upon the power of Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus, and yet the other guarantees of personal liberty would remain unchanged." Doubtless, if this clause of the Constitution, improperly called, as I think, a limitation upon the power of Congress, were expunged, the other guarantees would remain the same; but the question is not how those guarantees would stand with that clause out of the Constitution, but how they stand with that clause remaining in it, in case of rebellion or invasion involving the public safety. If the liberty could be indulged of expunging that clause, letter and spirit, I really think the constitutional argument would be with you. My general view on this question was stated in the Albany response, and hence I do not state it now. I only add that, as seems to me, the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus is the great means through which the guarantees of personal liberty are conserved and made available in the last resort; and corroborative of this view is the fact that Mr. Yallandigham, in the very case in question, under the advice of able lawyers, saw not where else to go but to the habeas corpus. But by the Constitution the benefit of the writ of habeas corpus itself may be suspended when, in case of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it. You ask, in substance, whether I really claim that I may override all the guaranteed rights of individuals, on the plea of conserving the public safety — when I may choose to say the public safety requires it. This question, divested of the phraseology calculated to represent me as 268 ABKAHAM LINCOLN struggling for an arbitrary personal prerogative, is either simply a question who shall decide, or an affirmation that nobody shall decide, what the public safety does require in cases of rebellion or invasion. The Constitution contemplates the question as likely to occur for decision, but it does not expressly declare who is to decide it. By necessary implication, when re- bellion or invasion comes, the decision is to be made from time to time; and I think the man whom, for the time, the people have, under the Constitution, made the com- mander-in-chief of their army and navy, is the man who holds the power and bears the responsibility of making it. If he uses the power justly, the same people will probably justify him; if he abuses it, he is in their hands to be dealt with by all the modes they have reserved to themselves in the Constitution. The earnestness with which you insist that persons can only, in times of rebellion, be lawfully dealt with in accordance with the rules for criminal trials and pun- ishments in times of peace, induces me to add a word to what I said on that point in the Albany response. You claim that men may, if they choose, embarrass those whose duty it is to combat a giant rebellion, and then be dealt with in turn only as if there were no rebel- lion. The Constitution itself rejects this view. The mili- tary arrests and detentions which have been made, includ- ing those of Mr. Yallandigham, which are not different in principle from the others, have been for prevention, and not for punishment — as injunctions to stay injury, as proceedings to keep the peace; and hence, like proceed- ings in such cases and for like reasons, they have not been 1861-1865 269 accompanied with indictments, or trials by juries, nor in a single case by any punishment whatever, beyond what is purely incidental to the prevention. The original sen- tence of imprisonment in Mr. Yallandigham's case was to prevent injury to the military service only, and the modification of it was made as a less disagreeable mode to him of securing the same prevention. I am unable to perceive an insult to Ohio in the case of Mr. Vallandigham. Quite surely nothing of the sort was or is intended. I was wholly unaware that Mr. Vallandigham was, at the time of his arrest, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor until so in- formed by your reading to me the resolutions of the con- vention. I am grateful to the State of Ohio for many things, especially for the brave soldiers and officers she has given in the present national trial to the armies of the Union. You claim, as I understand, that according to my own position in the Albany response, Mr. Vallandigham should be released; and this because, as you claim, he has not damaged the military service by discouraging enlistments, encouraging desertions, or otherwise; and that if he had, he should have been turned over to the civil authorities under the recent acts of Congress. I certainly do not know that Mr. Vallandigham has specifically and by direct language advised against enlistments and in favor of desertion and resistance to drafting. We all know that combinations, armed in some in- stances, to resist the arrest of deserters began several months ago; th^it more recently the like has appeared in resistance to the enrolment preparatory to a draft; and 270 ABEAHAM LINCOLN that quite a rmmber of assassinations have occurred from the same animus. These had to be met by military force, and this again has led to bloodshed and death. And now, under a sense of responsibility more weighty and enduring than any which is merely official, I solemnly declare my belief that this hindrance of the military, including maim- ing and murder, is due to the course in which Mr. Yallan- digham has been engaged in a greater degree than to any other cause; and it is due to him personally in a greater degree than to any other one man. These things have been notorious, known to all, and of course known to Mr. Yallandigham. Perhaps I would not be wrong to say they originated with his special friends and adherents. With perfect knowledge of them, he has frequently if not constantly made speeches in Con- gress and before popular assemblies; and if it can be shown that, with these things staring him in the face he has ever uttered a word of rebuke or counsel against them, it will be a fact greatly in his favor with me, and one of which as yet I am totally ignorant. When it is known that the whole burden of his speeches has been to stir up men against the prosecution of the war, and that in the midst of resistance to it he has not been known in any instance to counsel against such resistance, it is next to impossible to repel the inference that he has coun- selled directly in favor of it. With all this before their eyes, the convention you represent have nominated Mr. Yallandigham for governor of Ohio, and both they and you have declared the purpose to sustain the national Union by all constitutional means. 1861-1865 271 But of course they and you in common reserve to your- selves to decide what are constitutional means; and, unlike the Albany meeting, you omit to state or intimate that in your opinion an army is a constitutional means of saving the Union against a rebellion, or even to inti- mate that you are conscious of an existing rebellion being in progress with the avowed object of destroying that very Union. At the same time your nominee for gover- nor, in whose behaK you appeal, is known to you and to the world to declare against the use of an army to sup- press the rebellion. Your own attitude, therefore, en- courages desertion, resistance to the draft, and the like, because it teaches those who incline to desert and to escape the draft to believe it is your purpose to protect them, and to hope that you will become strong enough to do so. After a short personal intercourse with you, gentle- men of the committee, I cannot say I think you desire this effect to follow your attitude; but I assure you that both friends and enemies of the Union look upon it in this light. It is a substantial hope, and by consequence a real strength to the enemy. If it is a false hope, and one which you would willingly dispel, I will make the way exceedingly easy. I send you duplicates of this letter in order that you, or a majority of you, may, if you choose, indorse your names upon one of them and return it thus indorsed to me with the understanding that those signing are thereby committed to the following propositions and to nothing else: 1. That there is now a rebellion in the United States, 2T2 ABEAHAM LINCOLN the object and tendency of which is to destroy the National Union; and that, in your opinion, an army and navy are constitutional means for suppressing that rebellion; 2. That no one of you will do anything which, in his own judgment, will tend to hinder the increase, or favor the decrease, or lessen the efficiency of the army or navy while engaged in the effort to suppress that rebellion ; and 3. That each of you will, in his sphere, do all he can to have the officers, soldiers, and seamen of the army and navy, while engaged in the effort to suppress the re- bellion, paid, fed, clad, and otherwise well provided for and supported. And with the further understanding that upon receiving the letter and names thus indorsed, I will cause them to be published, which publication shall be, within itseK, a revocation of the order in relation to Mr. Yallandigham. It will not escape observation that I consent to the release of Mr. Yallandigham upon terms not embracing any pledge from him or from others as to what he will or will not do. I do this because he is not present to speak for himself, or to authorize others to speak for him ; and because I should expect that on his returning he would not put himself practically in antagonism with the position of his friends. But I do it chiefly because I thereby prevail on other influential gentlemen of Ohio to so define their position as to be of immense value to the army — thus more than compensating for the consequences of any mistake in allowing Mr, Yallandigham to return; so that, on the whole, the public safety will not have suf- fered by it. Still, in regard to Mr. Yallandigham and all 1861-1865 273 others, I must hereafter, as heretofore, do so much as the public safety may seem to require. I have the honor to be respectfully yours, etc., Victory at G-ettysburg (July 4, 1863) The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 p.m. of the 3d, is such as to cover that army with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen; and that for this he especially desires that on this day He whose will, not ours, should ever be done be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest gratitude. ''The Fourth of July" (July 7, 1863) RESPONSE TO A SERENADE, JULY 7, 1863 Fellow-Citizens: — I am very glad indeed to see you to-night, and yet I will not say I thank you for this call; but I do most sincerely thank Almighty God for the occasion on which you have called. How long ago is it? —eighty-odd years since, on the Fourth of July, for the first time in the history of the world, a nation, by its representatives, assembled and declared as a self-evident truth "that all men are created equal." That was the birthday of the United States of America. Since then the Fourth of July has had several very peculiar recog- nitions. The two men most distinguished in the fram- ing and support of the Declaration were Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, the one having penned it, and the other 274 ABEAHAM LINCOLN sustained it the most forcibly in debate — the only two of the fifty-five who signed it and were elected Presidents of the United States. Precisely fifty years after they put their hands to the paper, it pleased Almighty God to take both from this stage of action. This was indeed an extraordinary and remarkable event in our history. An- other President, five years after, was called from this stage of existence on the same day and month of the year; and now on this last Fourth of July just passed, when we have a gigantic rebellion, at the bottom of which is an effort to overthrow the principle that all men were created equal, we have the surrender of a most powerful position and army on that very day. And not only so, but in the succession of battles in Pennsylvania, near to us, through three days, so rapidly fought that they might be called one great battle, on the first, second, and third of the month of July; and on the fourth the cohorts of those who opposed the Declaration that all men are created equal, "turned tail" and run. Gentlemen, this is a glorious theme, and the occasion for a speech, but I am not prepared to make one worthy of the occasion. I would like to speak in terms of praise due to the many brave officers and soldiers who have fought in the cause of the Union and liberties of their country from the beginning of the war. These are trying occasions, not only in success, but for the want of success. I dislike to mention the name of one single officer, lest I might do wrong to those I might forget. Recent events bring up glorious names, and particularly prominent ones ; but these I will not mention. Having said this much, I will now take the music. 1861-1865 275 Effect of Emancipation (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 for me thus to 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 uncon- ditional devotion to the Union, and I am sure that my old political friends will thank me for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men whom no partisan malice or partisan 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 d® not have it. But how can we obtain it ? There are but three conceivable ways : First — to suppress the rebel- lion 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 that I learn leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion is its military, its army. That army domi- nates all the country and all the people within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that 276 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 would 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 suc- cess 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 com- promise, 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 to be 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 1861-1865 277 between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while you, I suppose, do not. Yet, I have neither adopted nor proposed any measure which is not consistent with even your view, 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 per- haps would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitu- tional. I think differently. I think the Constitution in- vests 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 it helps us and 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 excep- tions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non-com- batants, 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 278 MiltAHA'IVr LTNCOLK l>«!tt(;r aflp.r tho rotniction than hafore tho issue? There wuH rnon; than a year and a half of trial to Huppress the nl)<;llion l){;foro tho proclamation waH issued, the last oik; hundred (hiys of whieh passed ijn(h*r an explicit notice that it was coming, unhjss averted Ijy those in revolt re- turning to th(;ir allc^iancie. The war lias cfTtainly pro- ^^n'HH(;d as favorably for us since the issue of the i)roclania- tion as before. 1 know, as fully as one can know the o[)inions of others, that Honi(^ of th(; coniinanders of our armies in the field, who have j^iven us our most important victories, believe tho emancipation policy and the use of colored troops constitute the heaviest blows yet dealt to the rebellion, and that at least one of those imi)ortant sucjcesses could not have be(;n achiev(!d when it was but for the aid of l.l;ick soldiers. Anions the commanders who hold these views are some who have nev(T had any aflinity with what is (;all(;d "Aboli- tioniHm," or with "I^;i)ul)lican party politics," but who hold them i)urely as military opinions. 1 submit their opinions us cntillc-d to some w(M^ht aj^'ainst the objections often ur^cid that (;man(;ii)ation and arming the blacks ar(; unwise as military m(!asures, and were not adopted as such in K^)od faith. You say that you will not fiRht to free ncjjfrocs. Some of ihcm s(rcin willing: to fi^dit for you; but no matter. I"'if^ht you, ihc.u, ('X(;lusiv('ly, to save the Union. I issucid the ])ro<;liinuition on purpose; to aid you in saving the Union. WherKver you shall havo conquered all resistance to the Union, if I sliidl urge you to <;ontinue fighting, it will be enough time then for you to declare you will 1861-1865 279 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 weak- ened 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 helping 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 slighted 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 less note. Nor must Uncle Sam's web-feet 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 280 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 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 there will be some black men who can remem- ber that with silent tongue, and clinched 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 have striven to hinder it. Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final tri- umph. 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, Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863) Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in Lib- erty, 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 1861-1865 281 gave their lives that that nation might live. It is alto- gether 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 conse- crated 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 devo- tion — 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. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) Whereas, in and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the President "shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment"; and Whereas a rebellion now exists whereby the loyal State governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed, and are now guilty of, treason against the United States ; and 282 ABRAHAM LINCOLN Whereas, with reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also de- claring that the President was thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the existing rebellion, in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expedient for the public welfare; and Whereas the congressional declaration for limited and conditional pardon accords with well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and Whereas, with reference to said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued several proclamations, with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves; and Whereas it is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugurate loyal State gov- ernments within and for their respective States; there- fore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do proclaim, declare, and make known to all persons who have, directly or by implication, participated in the existing re- bellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restora- tion of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon the condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath, and thenceforward keep and maintain said oath inviolate; and which oath shall 1861-1865 283 be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : I, , do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the union of the States thereunder; and that I will, in like maner, abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress, or by decision of the Supreme Court; and that I will, in like manner, abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God. The persons exempted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are all who are, or shall have been, civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate Government; all who have left judicial stations under the United States to aid the rebellion; all who are or shall have been military or naval officers of said so-called Con- federate Government above the rank of colonel in the army or of lieutenant in the navy; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion; all who resigned commissions in the army or navy of the United States and afterward aided the rebellion ; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or in any other capacity. 284 ABRAHAM LINCOLN x\nd I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, a number of persons, not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such State at the presidential election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall reestablish a State government which shall be republican, and in no wise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the State, and the State shall re- ceive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provi- sion which declares that "The United States shall guar- anty to every State in this Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of them against invasion; and, on application of the legislature, or the executive (when the legislature cannot be convened), against domestic ^violence." And I do further proclaim, declare, and make known, that any provision which may be adopted by such State government in relation to the freed people of such State, which shall recognize and declare their permanent free- dom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent as a temporary arrangement with their pres- ent condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the national executive. And it is suggested as not improper that, in construct- ing a loyal State government in any State, the name of 1861-1865 285 the State, the boundary, the subdivisions, the constitution, and the general code of laws, as before the rebellion, be maintained, subject only to the modifications made neces- sary by the conditions hereinbefore stated, and such others, if any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those framing the new State government. To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that this proclamation, so far as it relates to State gov- ernments, has no reference to States wherein loyal State governments have all the while been maintained. And, for the same reason, it may be proper to further say, that whether members sent to Congress from any State shall be admitted to seats, constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective houses, and not to any extent with the executive. And still further, that this proclamation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the national authority has been suspended, and loyal State governments have been subverted, a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State governments may be reestablished within said States, or in any of them; and while the mode presented is the best the executive can suggest, with his present impres- sions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable. Given under my hand, etc. Review of the War (December 8, 1863) Incidents occurring in the progress of our civil war have forced upon my attention the uncertain state of 286 ABEAHAM LINCOLN international questions touching the rights of foreigners in this country and of United States citizens abroad. In regard to some governments these rights are at least partially defined by treaties. In no instance, however, is it expressly stipulated that in the event of civil war a foreigner residing in this country within the lines of the insurgents is to be exempted from the rule which classes him as a belligerent, in whose behalf the govern- ment of his country cannot expect any privileges or im- munities distinct from that character. I regret to say, however, that such claims have been put forward, and in some instances in behalf of foreigners who have lived in the United States the greater part of their lives. There is reason to believe that many persons born in foreign countries who have declared their intention to become citizens, or who have been fully naturalized have evaded the military duty required of them by denying the fact and thereby throwing upon the Government the bur- den of proof. It has been found difficult or impracticable to obtain this proof, from the want of guides to the proper sources of information. These might be supplied by requiring clerks of courts where declarations of inten- tion may be made or naturalizations effected to send peri- odically lists of the names of the persons naturalized or declaring their intention to become citizens to the Secre- tary of the Interior, in whose Department those names might be arranged and printed for general information. There is also reason to believe that foreigners frequently become citizens of the United States for the sole purpose of evading duties imposed by the laws of their native countries, to which on becoming naturalized here they . 1861-1865 287 at once repair, and though never returning to the United States they still claim the interposition of this govern- ment as citizens. Many altercations and great prejudices have heretofore arisen out of this abuse. It is therefore submitted to your serious consideration. It might be advisable to fix a limit beyond which no citizen of the United States residing abroad may claim the interposi- tion of his government. The right of suffrage has often been assumed and exer- cised by aliens under pretenses of naturalization, which they have disavowed when drafted into the military ser- vice. I submit the expediency of such an amendment of the law as will make the fact of voting an estoppel against any plea of exemption from military service or other civil obligation on the ground of alienage. . , . It has long been a cherished opinion of some of our wisest statesmen that the people of the United States had a higher and more enduring interest in the early settlement and substantial cultivation of the public lands than in the amount of direct revenue to be derived from the sale of them. This opinion has had a controlling in- fluence in shaping legislation upon the subject of our national domain. I may cite as evidence of this the lib- eral measures adopted in reference to actual settlers; the grant to the States of the overflowed lands within their limits, in order to their being reclaimed and rendered fit for cultivation; the grants to railway companies of alter- nate sections of land upon the contemplated lines of their roads, which when completed will so largely multiply the facilities for reaching our distant possessions. This pol- icy has received its most signal and beneficent illustra- 288 ABKAHAM LINCOLN tion in the recent enactment granting homesteads to actual settlers. Since the 1st day of January last the before-mentioned quantity of 1,456,514 acres of land have been taken up under its provisions. This fact and the amount of sales furnish gratifying evidence of increasing settlement upon the public lands, notwithstanding the great struggle in which the energies of the nation have been engaged, and which has required so large a with- drawal of our citizens from their accustomed pursuits. I cordially concur in the recommendation of the Secretary of the Interior suggesting a modification of the act in favor of those engaged in the military and naval service of the United States. I doubt not that Congress will cheerfully adopt such measures as will, without essentially changing the general features of the system, secure to the greatest practicable extent its benefits to those who have left their homes in the defense of the country in this arduous crisis. . . . When Congress assembled a year ago, the war had already lasted nearly twenty months, and there had been many conflicts on both land and sea, with varying results ; the rebellion had been pressed back into reduced limits; yet the tone of public feeling and opinion, at home and abroad, was not satisfactory. With other signs, the popu- lar elections then just past indicated uneasiness among ourselves, while, amid much that was cold and menacing, the kindest words coming from Europe were uttered in accents of pity that we are too blind to surrender a hope- less cause. Our commerce was suffering greatly by a few armed vessels built upon and furnished from foreign shores, and we were threatened with such additions from 1S61-1865 289 the same quarter as would sweep our trade from the sea and raise our blockade. We had failed to elicit from European governments anything hopeful upon this sub- ject. The preliminary emancipation proclamation, issued in September, was running its assigned period to the beginning of the new year. A month later the final proclamation came, including the announcement that colored men of suitable condition would be received into the war service. The policy of emancipation and of em- ploying black soldiers gave to the future a new aspect, about which hope and fear and doubt contended in uncertain conflict. According to our political system, as a matter of civil administration, the General Govern- ment had no lawful power to effect emancipation in any State, and for a long time it had been hoped that the rebellion could be suppressed without resorting to it as a military measure. It was all the while deemed possible that the necessity for it might come, and that if it should the crisis of the contest would then be presented. It came, and, as was anticipated, it was followed by dark and doubtful days. Eleven months having now passed, we are permitted to take another review. The rebel borders are pressed still farther back, and by the complete opening of the Mississippi the country dominated by the rebellion is divided into distinct parts, with no practical com- munication between them. Tennessee and Arkansas have been substantially cleared of insurgent control, and in- fluential citizens in each, owners of slaves and advocates of slavery at the beginning of the rebellion, now declare openly for emancipation in their respective States. Of those States not included in the emancipation proclama- 290 ABRAHAM LINCOLN tion, Maryland and Missouri, neither of which three years ag-o would tolerate any restraint upon the extension of slavery into new Territories, dispute now only as to the best mode of removing it within their own limits. Of those who were slaves at the beginning of the re- bellion full 100,000 are now in the United States military service, about one-half of which number actually bear arms in the ranks, thus giving the double advantage of taking so much labor from the insurgent cause and sup- plying the places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men. So far as tested, it is difficult to say they are not as good soldiers as any. No servile insur- rection or tendency to violence or cruelty has marked the measures of emancipation and arming the blacks. These measures have been much discussed in foreign countries, and, contemporary with such discussion, the tone of pub- lic sentiment there is much improved. At home the same measures have been fully discussed, supported, criticised, and denounced, and the annual elections following are highly encouraging to those whose official duty it is to bear the country through this great trial. Thus we have the new reckoning. The crisis which threatened to divide the friends of the Union is past. Looking now to the present and future, and with refer- ence to a resumption of the national authority within the States wherein that authority has been suspended, I have thought fit to issue a proclamation, a copy of which is herewith transmitted. On examination of this proclama- tion it will appear, as is believed, that nothing will be attempted beyond what is amply justified by the Constitu- tion. True, the form of an oath is given, but no man 1861-1865 291 is coerced to take it. The man is promised a pardon only in case he voluntarily takes the oath. The Consti- tution authorizes the Executive to grant or withhold the pardon at his own absolute discretion, and this includes the power to grant on terms, as is fully established by judicial and other authorities. It is also proffered that if in any of the States named a State government shall be in the mode prescribed set up, such government shall be recognized and guaranteed by the United States, and that under it the State shall, on the constitutional conditions, be protected against inva- sion and domestic violence. The constitutional obligation of the United States to guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government and to protect the State in the cases stated is explicit and full. But why tender the benefits of this provision only to a State government set up in this particular way? This section of the Constitution contemplates a case wherein the ele- ment within a State favorable to republican government in the Union may be too feeble for an opposite and hostile element external to or even within the State, and such are precisely the cases with which we are now dealing. An attempt to guarantee and protect a revived State government, constructed in whole or in preponderating part from the very element against whose hostility and violence it is to be protected, is simply absurd. There must be a test by which to separate the opposing elements, so as to build only from the sound; and that test is a sufficiently liberal one which accepts as sound whoever will make a sworn recantation of his former unsound- ness. 292 ABKAHAM LINCOLN But if it be proper to require as a test of admission to the political body an oath of allegiance to the Consti- tution of the United States and to the Union under it, why also to the laws and proclamations in regard to slavery? Those laws and proclamations were enacted and put forth for the purpose of aiding in the suppres- sion of the rebellion. To give them their fullest effect there had to be a pledge for their maintenance. In my judgment, they have aided and will further aid the cause for which they were intended. To now abandon them would be not only to relinquish a lever of power, but would also be a cruel and an astounding breach of faith. I may add at this point that while I remain in my present posi- tion I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipa- tion proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any per- son who is free by the terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress. For these and other reasons it is thought best that support of these measures shall be included in the oath, and it is believed the Executive may lawfully claim it in return for pardon and restoration of forfeited rights, which he has clear constitutional power to withhold altogether or grant upon the terms which he shaU deem wisest for the public interest. It should be observed also that this part of the oath is subject to the modifying and abrogating power of legislation and supreme judicial decision. . . . In the midst of other cares, however important, we must not lose sight of the fact that the war power is still our main reliance. To that power alone can we look yet for a time to give confidence to the people in the contested 1861-1865 293 regions that the insurgent power will not again overrun them. Until that confidence shall be established little can be done anywhere for what is called reconstruction. Hence our chiefest care must still be directed to the Army and Navy, who have thus far borne their harder part so nobly and well; and it may be esteemed fortunate that in giving the greatest efficiency to these indispensable arms we do also honorably recognize the gallant men, from commander to sentinel, who compose them, and to whom more than to others the world must stand indebted for the home of freedom disenthralled, regenerated, enlarged, and perpetuated. 1864 Trying to Evade the Butchering Business (Jan. 7, 1864) To Hon. S. P. Chase : One Andrews is to be shot for desertion at Covington, to-morrow. The proceedings have never been submitted to the President. Is this right? Governor Hoadley. [Indorsement.'] The case of Andrews is really a very bad one, as appears by the record already before me. Yet before receiving this I had ordered his punishment commuted to imprisonment for during the war at hard labor, and had so telegraphed. I did this, not on any merit in the case, but because / am trying to evade the hutchering business lately. A. Lincoln. 294 ABKAHAM LINCOLN A Positive Direction (March 1, 1864) Hon. Secretary op War. My dear Sir: — A poor widow, by the name of Baird, has a son in the army, that for some offense has been sentenced to serve a long time without pay, or at most with very little pay. I do not like this punishment of withholding pay — it falls so very hard upon poor families. After he had been serving in this way for several months, at the tearful appeal of the poor mother, I made a direc- tion that he he allowed to enlist for a new term, on the same conditions as others. She now comes, and says she cannot get it acted upon. Please do it. Yours truly, Lincoln and Grant (March 9-April 30, 1864) General Grant: The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to do, in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this com- mission, constituting you lieutenant-general in the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corre- sponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need add, that with what I here speak for the nation, goes my own hearty personal concurrence. PORTRAIT BY BRADY, 18^4 (From the War Department Collection) 1861-1865 295 (April 30) Lieutenant-General Grant : Not expecting to see you before the spring campaign opens, I wish to express in this way my entire satisfaction with what you have done up to this time, so far as I understand it. The particulars of your plans I neither know nor seek to know. You are vigilant and self-reliant; and, pleased with this, I wish not to obtrude any restraints or con- straints upon you. While I am very anxious that any greater disaster or capture of our men in great number shall be avoided, I know that these points are less likely to escape your attention than they would be mine. If there be anything wanting which is within my power to give, do not fail to let me know it. And now, with a brave army and a just cause, may God sustain you. Capital and Labor (March 21, 1864) . committee from the workingme] tion of new york, march 21, 1864 Gentlemen of the Committee: The honorary membership in your association, as gen- erously tendered, is gratefully accepted. You comprehend, as your address shows, that the exist- ing rebellion means more and tends to do more than the perpetuation of African slavery — that it is, in fact, a 296 ABEAHAM LINCOLN war upon the rights of all working people. Partly to show that this view has not escaped my attention, and partly that I cannot better express myself, I read a passage from the message to Congress in December, 1S61 : *'It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not exclusively, a war upon the first principle of popular government, the rights of the people. Conclusive evi- dence of this is found in the most grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgment of the existing right of suffrage, and the denial to the people of all right to participate in the selection of public officers, except the legislature, boldly advocated, with labored argument to prove that large control of the people in government is the source of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people. *'In my present position I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this ap- proach of returning despotism. "It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argu- ment should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing, if not above labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, some- how by the use of it induces him to labor. This as- sumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work 1861-1865 297 by their own consent, or huy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired la- borers, or what we call slaves. And, further it is as- sumed that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fixed in that condition for life. Now there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the con- dition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless. "Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capi- tal is only the fruit of labor, and could never have ex- isted if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between capital and labor, producing mutual benefits. The error is in assum- ing that the whole labor of a community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class — neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the Southern States, a majority of the whole people, of all colors, are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families — wives, sons and daughters — work for themselves, on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons 298 ABEAHAM LINCOLN mingle their own labor with capital; that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them, but this is only a mixed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. ^'Again, as has already been said, there is not, of neces- sity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men every- where in these States, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The prudent penniless beginner in the world labors for wages a while, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself, then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all — ogives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress, and improve- ment of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty — none less inclined to touch or take aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power they already possess, and which, if sur- rendered, will surely be used to close the door of advance- ment against such as they, and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of liberty shall be lost." The views then expressed remain unchanged, nor have I much to add. None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the working people. Let them beware of prejudices, working division and hostility among themselves. The most notable feature of a disturbance in your city last summer was the hanging of some work- ing people by other working people. It should never be 1861-1865 299 so. The strongest bojid of human sympathy, outside of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, of all nations, and tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to a war upon property, or the owners of property. Property is the fruit of labor; property is desirable; is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. The Case Against Slavery (April 4, 1864) A. G. Hodges, Esq., Frankfort, Kentucky: My dear Sir: — You ask me to put in writing the sub- stance of what I verbally said the other day, in your presence, to Governor Bramlette and Senator Dixon. It was about as follows: "I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I cannot remember when I did not so think and feel, and yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would to the best of my ability preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. 300 ABKAHAM LINCOLN I understood, too, that in ordinary civil administration this oath even forbade me to practically indulge my pri- mary abstract judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no official act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feel- ing on slavery. I did understand, however, that my oath to preserve the Constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indis- pensable means, that government, that nation, of which that Constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation and yet preserve the Constitution ? By general law, life and limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, other- wise unconstitutional, might become lawful, by becom- ing indispensable to the preservation of the Constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Eight or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that to the best of my ability I had even tried to pre- serve the Constitution, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, coun- try, and Constitution, altogether. When, early in the war. General Fremont attempted military emancipation, I forbade it, because I did not then think it an indispens- able necessity. When, a little later, General Cameron, then Secretary of War, suggested the arming of the blacks, I objected, because I did not yet think it an in- dispensable necessity. When, still later. General Hunter attempted military emancipation, I again forbade it, be- cause I did not yet think the indispensable necessity had 1861-1865 301 come. When, in Marcli, and May, and July, 1862, I made earnest and successive appeals to the Border States to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispens- able necessity for military emancipation and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition, and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss, but of this I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force, no loss by it anyhow, or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite one hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cavilling. We have the men; and we could not have had them without the measure. "And now let any Union man who complains of the measure test himseK by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he cannot face his case so stated, it is only because he cannot face the truth." I add a word which was not in the verbal conversation. In telling this tale I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but con- fess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at 302 ABKAHAM LINCOLN the end of three years' struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man, devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. What Is Liberty (April 18, 1864) Ladies and Gentlemen: — Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we cannot fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many people assembled here to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the Union, it occurs at once that three years ago the same soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till now is both great and gratifying. Blessings on the brave men who have wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for it! But Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore. The change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. When the war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it would last till now. Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere to-day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be much affected by the war. But here we are; the war has not ended, and slavery has been much 1861-1865 303 affected — how much needs not now to be recounted. So true is it that man proposes and God disposes. But we can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it; and seeing it, in this case, we feel more hopeful and confident for the future. The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name, liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatible names — liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator^ while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. Plainly, the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails to-day among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. Hence we behold the process by which thousands are daily pass- ing from under the yoke of bondage hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruc- tion of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty, and 304 ABRAHAM LINCOLN thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolfs dictionary has been repudiated. It is not very becoming for one in my position to make speeches at length; but there is another subject upon which I feel that I ought to say a word. A painful rumor, true, I fear, has reached us, of the massacre, by the rebel forces at Fort Pillow, in the west end of Tennessee, on the Mississippi River, of some three hundred colored soldiers and white officers, who had just been overpowered by their assailants. There seems to be some anxiety in the public mind whether the Government is doing its duty to the colored soldier, and to the service, at this point. At the beginning of the war, and for some time, the use of colored troops was not contemplated; and how the change of purpose was wrought I will not now take time to explain. Upon a clear conviction of duty I resolved to turn that element of strength to account; and I am responsible for it to the American people, to the Christian world, to history, and in my final account to God. Hav- ing determined to use the negro as a soldier, there is no way but to give him all the protection given to any other soldier. The difficulty is not in stating the principle, but in practically applying it. It is a mistake to suppose the Government is indifferent to this matter, or is not doing the best it can in regard to it. We do not to-day know that a colored soldier, or white officer izommanding col- ored soldiers, has been massacred by the rebels when made a prisoner. We fear it, — believe it, I may say, — ^but we do not know it. To take the life of one of their prisoners on the assumption that they murder ours, when it is short of certainty that they do murder ours, might be too 1861-1865 305 serious, too cruel, a mistake. We are having the Fort Pillow affair thoroughly investigated; and such investiga- tion will probably show conclusively how the truth is. If after all that has been said it shall turn out that there has been no massacre at Fort Pillow, it will be almost safe to say there has been none, and will be none, elsewhere. If there has been the massacre of three hundred there, or even the tenth part of three hundred, it will be conclu- sively proved; and being so proved, the retribution shall as surely come. It will be matter of grave consideration in what exact course to apply the retribution; but in the supposed case it must come. Honor to the Churches (May 14, 1864) To Methodists Gentlemen : — In response to your address, allow me to attest the accuracy of its historical statements, indorse the sentiments it expresses, and thank you in the nation's name for the sure promise it gives. Nobly sustained, as the Government has been, by all the churches, I would utter nothing which might in the least appear invidious against any. Yet without this it may fairly be said, that the Methodist Episcopal Church, not less devoted than the best, is by its greatest numbers the most important of all. It is no fault in others that the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the field, more nurses to the hos- pitals, and more prayers to Heaven than any other. God bless the Methodist Church. Bless all the churches; and 306 ABEAHAM LINCOLN blessed be God, wbo in this our great trial giveth us the churches. To Baptists In the present very responsible position in which I am engaged, I have had great cause of gratitude for the sup- port so unanimously given by all Christian denominations of the country. I have had occasion so frequently to respond to something like this assemblage, that I have said all I had to say. This particular body is, in all respects, as respectable as any that have been presented to me. The resolutions I have merely heard read, and I therefore beg to be allowed an opportunity to make a short response in writing. Sticking to the War (June 16, 1864) TO THE SANITARY FAIR IN PHILADELPHU I suppose that this toast is intended to open the way for me to say something. War at the best is terrible, and this of ours in its magnitude and duration is one of the most terrible the world has ever known. It has de- ranged business totally in many places, and perhaps in all. It has destroyed property, destroyed life, and ruined homes. It has produced a national debt and a degree of taxation unprecedented in the history of this country. It has caused mourning among us until the heavens may almost be said to be hung in black. And yet it continues. It has had accompaniments not before known in the his- tory of the world. I mean the Sanitary and Christian Commissions, with their labors for the relief of the sol- 1861-1865 307 diers, and the Volunteer Refreshment Saloons, under- stood better by those who hear me than by myself, and these fairs, first begun at Chicago and next held in Boston, Cincinnati, and other cities. The motive and object that lie at the bottom of them are worthy of the most that we can do for the soldier who goes to fight the battles of his country. From the fair and tender hand of women is much, very much, done for the soldier, continually remind- ing him of the care and thought for him at home. The knowledge that he is not forgotten is grateful to his heart. Another view of these institutions is worthy of thought. They are voluntary contributions, giving proof that the national resources are not at all exhausted, and that the national patriotism| will sustain us through all. It is a When is this war to end? I do not day when it will end, lest the end • should not come at the given time. We accepted this ■ war, and did not begin it. We accepted it for an object, and when that object is accomplished the war will end, and I hope to God that it will never end until that object is accomplished! We are going through with our task, so far as I am concerned, if it takes us three years longer. I have not been in the habit of making predictions, but I am almost tempted now to hazard one. I will. It is, that Grant is this evening in a position, with Meade and Hancock, of Pennsylvania, whence he can never be dis- lodged by the enemy until Richmond is taken. If I shall discover that General Grant may be greatly facilitated in the capture of Richmond by rapidly pouring to him a large number of armed men at the briefest notice, will \ pertinent question, wish to name the 308 ABEAHAM LINCOLN you go? Will you marcli on with him? (Cries of *'Yes, yes.") Then I shall call upon you when it is necessary. Abiding the Issue (August 15, 1864) INTERVIEW WITH JOHN T. MILLS. "Mr. President," said Governor Randall, ^^why can't you seek seclusion, and play hermit for a fortnight? It would reinvigorate you." "Ah," said the President, "two or three weeks would do me no good. I cannot fly from my thoughts — my solici- tude for this great country follows me wherever I go. I do not think it is personal vanity or ambition, though I am not free from these infirmities, but I cannot but feel that the weal or woe of this great nation will be decided in November. There is no program offered by any wing of the Democratic party but that must result in the perma- nent destruction of the Union." "But, Mr. President, General McClellan is in favor of crushing out this rebellion by force. He will be the Chicago candidate." "Sir, the slightest knowledge of arithmetic will prove to any man that the rebel armies cannot be destroyed by Democratic strategy. It would sacrifice all the white men of the North to do it. There are now in the service of the United States nearly one hundred and fifty thousand able-bodied colored men, most of them under arms, de- fending and acquiring Union territory. The Democratic strategy demands that these forces be disbanded, and that the masters be conciliated by restoring them to slavery. The black men who now assist Union prisoners 1861-1865 309 to escape are to be converted into our enemies, in the vain hope of gaining the good-will of their masters. We shall have to fight two nations instead of one. "You cannot conciliate the South if you guarantee to them ultimate success; and the experience of the pres- ent war proves their success is inevitable if you fling the compulsory labor of millions of black men into their side of the scale. Will you give our enemies such military advantages as insure success, and then depend on coax- ing, flattery, and concession to get them back into the Union? Abandon all the posts now garrisoned by black men, take one hundred and fifty thousand men from our side and put them in the battle-field or corn-field against us, and we would be compelled to abandon the war in three weeks. "We have to hold territory in inclement and sickly places; where are the Democrats to do this? It was a free fight, and the field was open to the war Democrats to put down this rebellion by fighting against both master and slave, long before the present policy was inaugurated. "There have been men base enough to propose to me to return to slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson and Olustee, and thus win the respect of the masters they fought. Should I do so, I should deserve to be damned in time and eternity. Come what will, I will keep my faith with friend and foe. My enemies pretend I am now carrying on this war for the sole purpose of abolition. So long as I am President, it shall be carried on for the sole purpose of restoring the Union. But no human power can subdue this rebellion without the use of the emanci- 310 ABEAHAM LINCOLN pation policy, and every other policy calculated to weaken the moral and physical forces of the rebellion. "Freedom has given us one hundred and fifty thou- sand men, raised on Southern soil. It will give us more yet. Just so much it has subtracted from the enemy, and, instead of alienating the South, there are now evi- dences of a fraternal feeling growing up between our men and the rank and file of the rebel soldiers. Let my enemies prove to the country that the destruction of slavery is not necessary to a restoration of the Union. I will abide the issue." What is Involved in This Contest (August 18-22, 1864) To the leifth Ohio Regiment {Aug. 18, 186Ji) SOLDIERS : — You are about to return to your homes and your friends, after having, as I learn, performed in camp a comparatively short term of duty in this great contest. I am greatly obliged to you, and to all who have come forward at the call of their country. I wish it might be more generally and universally understood what the country is now engaged in. We have, as all will agree, a free government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man. In this great struggle, this form of government and every form of human right is endangered if our enemies succeed. There is more in- volved in this contest than is realized by every one. There is involved in this struggle the question whether your children and my children shall enjoy the privileges we have enjoyed. I say this, in order to impress upon 1861-1865 311 you, if you are not already so impressed, that no small matter should divert us from our great purpose. There may be some inequalities in the practical applica- tion of our system. It is fair that each man shall pay taxes in exact proportion to the value of his property; but if we should wait, before collecting a tax, to adjust the taxes upon each man in exact proportion with every other man, we should never collect any tax at all. There may be mistakes made sometimes; and things may be done wrong, while the officers of the Government do all they can to prevent mistakes. But I beg of you, as citi- zens of this great Republic, not to let your minds be car- ried off from the great work we have before us. This struggle is too large for you to be diverted from it by any small matter. When you return to your homes, rise up to the height of a generation of men worthy of a free government, and we will carry out the great work we have commenced. I return to you my sincere thanks, soldiers, for the honor you have done me this afternoon. | To the 166th Ohio {August 22) SOLDIERS : — I suppose you are going home to see your families and friends. For the services you have done in this great struggle in which we are engaged, I present you sincere thanks for myself and the country. I almost always feel inclined, when I say anything to soldiers, to impress upon them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of success in this contest. It is not merely for the day, but for all time to come, that we should per- petuate for our children's children that great and free 312 ABRAHAM LINCOLN government wHch we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I happen, temporarily, to occupy this big White House. I am a living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is in order that each one of you may have, through this free government which we have enjoyed, an open field, and a fair chance for your industry, enterprise, and intelligence; that you may all have equal privileges in the race of life with all its desirable human aspirations — it is for this that the struggle should be maintained, that we may not lose our birthrights — not only for one, but for two or three years, if necessary. The nation is worth fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel. The Purposes of the Almighty ( September 4, 1864) Eliza P. Gurney. My esteemed Friend: — I have not forgotten — probably never shall forget — the very impressive occasion when yourself and friends visited me on a Sabbath forenoon two years ago — nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, even been forgotten. In all, it has been ^rour purpose to strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to the good Christian people of the country for their constant prayer and consolations; and to no one of them more than to yourself. The purposes of the Al- mighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this ; but God knows best, and has ruled other- 1861-1865 313 wise. We shaU yet acknowledge His wisdom, and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gWes us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay. Tour people-the Friends-have had, and are having, a very great trial. On principle and faith opposed to both war and oppression, they can only practically op- pose oppression by war. For those appealing to me on conscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do, the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my oath to the law. That you believe this I doubt not, and be- lieving it, I shall still receive, for our country and my- self, your earnest prayers to our Father in Heaven. Tour sincere friend. The Constitution the Ultimate Law (October 19, 1864) Friends and Fellow-Citizens:-! am notified that this is a compliment paid me by the loyal Marylanders resi- dent in this District. I infer that the adoption of the new constitution for the State furnishes the occasion, and that in your view the extirpation of slavery const - tutes the chief merit of the new constitution. Most heart- ily do I congratulate you, and Maryland, and the nation and the world, upon this event. I regret that it did not occur two years sooner, which, I am sure ^""^ have saved the nation more money than would have met all the private loss incident to the measure; but it has come at last, and I sincerely hope its friends may fully reaUze 314 ABRAHAM LINCOLN all tlieir anticipations of good from, it, and that its op- ponents may by its effects be agreeably and profitably disappointed. A word "upon another subject. Something said by the Secretary of State in his recent speech at Auburn has been construed by some into a threat, that if I shall be beaten at the election, I will, between then and the end of my constitutional term, do what I may be able to ruin the Government. Others regard the fact that the Chicago Convention adjourned, not sine die, but to meet again, if called to do so by a particular individual, as the intimation of a pur- pose that if their nominee shall be elected he will at once seize control of the Government. I hope the good peo- ple will permit themselves to suffer no uneasiness on either point. I am struggling to maintain the Government, not to overthrow it. I am struggling especially to prevent others from overthrowing it. I therefore say, that if I live, I shall remain President until the 4th of next March, and that whoever shall be constitutionally elected, in November, shall be duly installed as President on the 4th of March, and in the interval I shall do my utmost that whoever is to hold the helm for the next voyage shall start with the best possible chance of saving the ship. This is due to the people, both on principle and under the Constitution. Their will, constitutionally expressed, is the ultimate law for all. If they should deliberately resolve to have immediate peace, even at the loss of their country and their liberties, I know not the power or the right to resist them. It is their own business, and they must do as they please with their own. I believe, how- 1861-1865 315 ever, they are still resolved to preserve their country and their liberties; and in this, in office or out of it, I am re- solved to stand by them. I may add, that in this purpose to save the country and its liberties, no classes of peo- ple seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the field and the sailors afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? Who should quail vt^hile they do not? God bless tha soldiers and seamen, with all their brave commanders. No Free Government Without Elections (November 9, 1864) Friends and Fellow-Citizens : — Even before I had been informed by you that this compliment was paid me by loyal citizens of Pennsylvania, friendly to me, I had in- ferred that you were of that portion of my countrymen who think that the best interests of the nation are to be subserved by the support of the present administration. I do not pretend to say that you, who think so, embrace all the patriotism and loyalty of the country, but I do be- lieve, and I trust without personal interest, that the wel- fare of the country does require that such support and indorsement should be given. I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work, if it be as you assume, and as now seems prob- able, will be to the lasting advantage, if not to the very salvation, of the country. I cannot at this hour say what has been the result of the election. But, whatever it may be, I have no desire to modify this opinion : that all who have labored to-day in behalf of the Union have wrought 316 ABEAHAM LINCOLN for the best interests of the country and the world; not only for the present, but for all future ages. I am thankful to God for this approval of the people; but, while deeply grateful for this mark of their con- fidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one, but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity. Victory Not Triumph (November 17, 1864) REPLY TO MARYLAND UNION COMMITTEE The President, in reply, said that he had to confess he had been duly notified of the intention to make this friendly call some days ago, and in this he had had a fair opportunity afforded to be ready with a set speech; but he had not prepared one, being too busy for that pur- pose. He would say, however, that he was gratified with the result of the presidential election. He had kept as near as he could to the exercise of his best judgment for the interest of the whole country, and to have the seal of approbation stamped on the course he had pursued was exceedingly grateful to his feelings. He thought he could say, in as large a sense as any other man, that his pleasure consisted in belief that the policy he had pursued was the best, if not the only one for the safety of the country. He had said before, and now repeated, that he indulged 1861-1865 317 in no feeling of triumph over any man who thought or acted differently from himself. He had no such feeling toward any living man. When he thought of Maryland, in particular, he was of the opinion that she had more than double her share in what had occurred in the recent elections. The adoption of a free-State constitution was a greater thing than the part taken by the people of the State in the presidential election. He would any day have stipulated to lose Maryland in the presidential elec- tion to save it by the adoption of a free-State constitu- tion, because the presidential election comes every four years, while that is a thing which, being done, cannot be undone. He therefore thought that in that they had a victory for the right worth a great deal more than their part in the presidential election, though of the latter he thought highly. He had once before said, but would say again, that those who have differed with us and opposed us will see that the result of the presidential election is better for their own good than if they had been success- ful. Thanking the committee for their compliment, he brought his brief speech to a close. The Anti-Slavery Amendment to the Constitution (De- cember 6, 1864) ... At the last session of Congress a proposed amend- ment of the Constitution abolishing slavery throughout the United States passed the Senate, but failed for lack of the requisite two-thirds vote in the House of Representa- tives. Although the present is the same Congress and 318 ABRAHAM LINCOLN nearly the same members, and without questioning the wisdom or patriotism of those who stood in opposition, I venture to recommend the reconsideration and passage of the measure at the present session. Of course the ab- stract question is not changed; but an intervening elec- tion shows almost certainly that the next Congress will pass the measure if this does not. Hence there is only a question of time as to when the proposed amendment will go to the States for their action. And as it is to so go at all events, may we not agree that the sooner the bet- ter? It is not claimed that the election has imposed a duty on members to change their views or their votes any further than, as an additional element to be considered, their judgment may be affected by it. It is the voice of the people now for the first time heard upon the ques- tion. In a great national crisis like ours, unanimity of action among those seeking a common end is very desir- able — almost indispensable. And yet no approach to such unanimity is attainable unless some deference shall be paid to the will of the majority simply because it is the will of the majority. In this case the common end is the maintenance of the Union, and among the means to secure that end such will, through the election, is most clearly declared in favor of such Constitutional amend- ment. The most reliable indication of public purpose in this country is derived through our popular elections. Judg- ing by the recent canvass and its result, the purpose of the people within the loyal States to maintain the in- tegrity of the Union was never more firm nor more nearly unanimous than now. The extraordinary calmness and 1861-1865 319 good order with which the millions of voters met and mingled at the polls give strong assurance of this. Not only all those who supported the Union ticket, so called, but a great majority of the opposing party also may be fairly claimed to entertain and to be actuated by the same purpose. It is an unanswerable argument to this effect that no candidate for any office whatever, high or low, has ventured to seek votes on the avowal that he was for giving up the Union. There have been much im- pugning of motives and much heated controversy as to the proper means and best mode of advancing the Union cause, but on the distinct issue of Union or no Union the politicians have shown their instinctive knowledge that there is no diversity among the people. In affording the people the fair opportunity of showing one to another and to the world this firmness and unanimity of pur- pose, the election has been of vast value to the national cause. The election has exhibited another fact not less valu- able to be known — the fact that we do not approach ex- haustion in the most important branch of national re- sources, that of living men. While it is melancholy to re- flect that the war has filled so many graves and carried mourning to so many hearts, it is some relief to know that, compared with the surviving, the fallen have been so few. While corps and divisions and brigades and regiments have formed and fought and dwindled and gone out of existence, a great majority of the men who composed them are still living. The same is true of the naval service. The election returns prove this. So many voters could not else be found. The States regularly 320 ABEAHAM LINCOLN holding elections, both now and four years ago, to wit, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michi- gan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Ehode Island, Yermont, West Yirginia, and Wisconsin, cast 3,982,011 votes now, against 3,870,222 cast then, showing an ag- gregate now of 3,982,011. To this is to be added 33,762 cast now in the new States of Kansas and Nevada, which States did not vote in 1860, thus swelling the aggregate to 4,015,773 and the net increase during the three years and a half of war to 145,551. A table is appended show- ing particulars. To this again should be added the num- ber of all soldiers in the field from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Indiana, Illinois, and Cal- ifornia, who by the laws of those States could not vote away from their homes, and which number cannot be less than 90,000. Nor yet is this all. The number in organized Territories is triple now what it was four years ago, while thousands, white and black, join us as the national arms press back the insurgent lines. So much is shown, affirmatively and negatively, by the election. It is not material to inquire how the increase has been pro- duced or to show that it would have been greater but for the war, which is probably true. The important fact re- mains demonstrated that we have more men now than we had when the war began; that we are not exhausted nor in process of exhaustion; that we are gaining strength and may if need be maintain the contest indefinitely. This as to men. Material resources are now more complete and abundant than ever. 1861-1865 321 The national resources, then, are unexhausted, and, as we believe, inexhaustible. The public purpose to re- establish and maintain the national authority is un- changed, and, as we believe, unchangeable. The manner of continuing the effort remains to choose. On careful consideration of all the evidence accessible it seems to me that no attempt at negotiation with the insurgent leader could result in any good. He would accept nothing short of severance of the Union, precisely what we will not and can not give. His declarations to this effect are explicit and oft repeated. He does not attempt to deceive us. He affords us no excuse to deceive ourselves. He can- not voluntarily reaccept the Union; we cannot volun- tarily yield it. Between him and us the issue is distinct, simple, and inflexible. It is an issue which can only be tried by war and decided by victory. If we yield, we are beaten ; if the Southern people fail him, he is beaten. Either way it would be the victory and defeat following war. What is true, however, of him who heads the in- surgent cause is not necessarily true of those who fol- low. Although he cannot reaccept the Union, they can. Some of them, we know, already desire peace and reunion. The number of such may increase. They can at any mo- ment have peace simply by laying down their arms and submitting to the national authority under the Consti- tution. After so much the Government could not, if it would, maintain war against them. The loyal people would not sustain or allow it. If questions should re- main, we would adjust them by the peaceful means of legislation, conference, courts, and votes, operating only in Constitutional and lawful channels. Some certain, and 322 ABRAHAM LINCOLN other possible, questions are and would be ey>nd the Executive power to adjust ; as, for instance, the admission of members into Congress and whatever might require the appropriation of money. The Executive power itself would be greatly diminished by the cessation of actual war. Pardons and remissions of forfeitures, however, would still be within Executive control. In what spirit and temper this control would be exercised can be fairly judged of by the past. A year ago general pardon and amnesty, upon speci- fied terms, were offered to all except certain designated classes, and it was at the same time made known that the excepted classes were still within contemplation of special clemency. During the year many availed them- selves of the general provision, and many more would, only that the signs of bad faith in some led to such pre- cautionary measures as rendered the practical process less easy and certain. During the same time also special par- dons have been granted to individuals of the excepted classes, and no voluntary application has been denied. Thus practically the door has been for a full year open to all except such as were not in condition to make free choice; that is, such as were in custody or under con- straint. It is still so open to all. But the time may come, probably will come, when public duty shall de- mand that it be closed and that in lieu more rigorous measures than heretofore shall be adopted. In presenting the abandonment of armed resistance to the national authority on the part of the insurgents as the only indispensable condition to ending the war on the THE LAST PORTRAIT OF LINCOLN (Taken April 9, 1865, the Sunday before his assassination) 1861-1865 323 part of the Government, I retract nothing heretofore said as to slavery. I repeat the declaration made a year ago, that "while I remain in my present position I shall not attempt to retract or modify the emancipation proc- lamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation or by any of the acts of Congress." If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it an Executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another, and not I, must be their instru- ment to perform it. In stating a single condition of peace I mean simply to say that the war will cease on the part of the Govern- ment whenever it shall have ceased on the part of those who began it. Origin of the Greenbacks (December 16, [?] 1864) My dear Colonel Dick: — I have long determined to make public the origin of the greenback and tell the world that it is Dick Taylor's creation. You had always been friendly to me, and when troublous times fell on us, and my shoulders, though broad and willing, were weak, and myself surrounded by such circumstances and such people that I knew not whom to trust, then I said in my extremity: "I will send for Colonel Taylor; he will know what to do." I think it was in January, 1862, on or about the 16th, that I did so. You came, and I said to you: "What can we do?" Said you, "Why, issue Treasury notes bearing no interest, printed on the best banking 324 ABKAHAM LINCOLN paper. Issue enough to pay off the Army expenses and declare it legal tender." Chase thought it a hazardous thing, but we finally accomplished it, and gave the people of this Eepublic the greatest blessing they ever had — their own paper to pay their own debts. It is due to you, the father of the present greenback, that the people should know it, and I take great pleasure in making it known. How many times have I laughed at you telling me plainly that I was too lazy to be any- thing but a lawyer. To the Mother of Five Heroes (November 21, 1864) Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts. 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 words 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, Abraham Lincoln ■\ 1S61-1865 325 Response to Serenades (May 9, November 10, 1864) FELLOW-CITIZENS :— I am very much obliged to you for the compliment of this call, though I apprehend it is owing more to the good news received to-day from the Army than to a desire to see me. I am indeed very grateful to the brave men who have been struggling with the enemy in the field, to their noble commanders who have directed them, and especially to our Maker. Our commanders are following up their victories reso- lutely and successfully. I think, without knowing the particulars of the plans of General Grant, that what has been accomplished is of more importance than at first appears. I believe, I know (and am especially grateful to know) that General Grant has not been jostled in his purposes, that he has made all his points, and to-day he is on his line as he purposed before he moved his armies. I will volunteer to say that I am very glad at what has happened, but there is a great deal still to be done. While we are grateful to all the brave men and officers for the events of the past few days, we should, above all, be very grateful to Almighty God, who gives us victory. There is enough yet before us requiring all loyal men and patriots to perform their share of the labor and follow the example of the modest General at the head of our armies, and sink all personal consideration for the sake of the country. I commend you to keep yourself in the same tranquil mood that is characteristic of that brave and loyal man. I have said more than I expected 326 ABRAHAM LINCOLN when I came before you. Repeating my thanks for this call, I bid you good-by. November 10, 186 J!^ It has long been a grave question whether any govern- ment, not too strong for the liberties of its people, can be strong enough to maintain its existence in great emer- gencies. On this point the present rebellion brought our government to a severe test, and a presidential election occurring in regular course during the rebellion, added not a little to the strain. If the loyal people united were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided and partially paralyzed by a political war among themselves? But the election was a necessity. We can- not have free government without elections; and if the election could force us to forego or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has occurred in this case must ever recur in similar cases. Human nature will not change. In any future great national trial, compared with the men of this, we will have as weak and as strong, as silly and as wise, as bad and as good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged. But the election, along with its incidental and unde- sirable strife, has done good, too. It has demonstrated 1861-1865 327 that a i)eople's government can sustain a national elec- tion in the midst of a great civil war. Until now, it has not been known to the world that this was a possi- bility. It shows, also, how sound and strong we still are. It shows that even among the candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of the people's votes. It shows, also, to the extent yet known, that we have more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is good in its place; but living, brave, and patriotic men are better than gold. But the rebellion continues, and, now that the elec- tion is over, may not all have a common interest to re- unite in a common effort to save our common country?. For my own part, I have striven and shall strive to avoid placing any obstacle in the way. So long as I have been here, I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am duly sensible to the high compliment of a re-election, and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God, for having directed my countrymen to a right con- clusion, as I think, for their good, it adds nothing to my satisfaction that any other man may be disappointed by the result. May I ask those who have not differed with me to join with me in this same spirit towards those who have? And now, let me close by asking three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen, and their gallant and skil- ful commanders. 328 ABRAHAM LINCOLN "Following to the Death" (August 3, 1864) Lieutenant-General Grant, City Point, Virginia: I have seen your despatch in which you say, ^'I want Sheridan put in command of all the troops in the field, with instructions to put himself south of the enemy, and follow him to the death. Wherever the enemy goes, let our troops go also." This, I think, is exactly right as to how our forces should move; but please look over the despatches you may have received from here, ever since you made that order, and discover, if you can, that there is any idea in the head of any one here of "putting our army south of the enemy," or of following him to the *'death," in any direction. I repeat to you, it will neither be done nor attempted, unless you watch it every day and hour, and force it. (August 17) I have seen your despatch expressing your unwilling- ness to break your hold where you are. Neither am I willing. Hold on with a bulldog grip, and chew and choke as much as possible. 1865 With Malice Toward None, with Charity for All (March 4, 1865) SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS FELLOW-COUNTEYMEN : At this second appear- ing to take the oath of the presidential office there is less 1861-1865 329 occasion for an extended address tlian 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 atten- tion 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 sat- isfactory 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, in- surgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it with- out 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 was colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a pe- culiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, per- petuate, 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 re- 330 ABRAHAM LINCOLN strict 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 offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slaveiy is one of those of- fenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time. He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any de- parture 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 mi|:hty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman'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. 1S61-1865 331 *'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous al- together." 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 clierish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations! Last Public Address (April 11, 1865) Fellow-Citizens: — We meet this evening not in sor- row, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Peters- burg 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 gives 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 pleasure of trans- mitting 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 rein- auguration of the national authority — reconstruction — which has had a large share of thought from the first, 332 ABKAHAM LINCOLN is pressed much more closely upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a case of war be- tween 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 ele- ments. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and measure of reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer. In spite of this pre- caution, 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 and no more than the public knows. In the Annual Message of December, 1863, and the accompanying proclamation, I presented a plan of reconstruction, as the phrase goes, which I promised, if adopted by any State, would be ac- ceptable 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 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 Vir- ginia and Louisiana; that I should drop the suggestion 1861-1865 333 about apprenticeship for freed people, and that I should omit the protest against my own power in regard to the admission of members of Congress. But even he ap- proved every part and parcel of the plan which has since been employed or touched by the action of Louisiana, The new constitution of Louisiana, declaring emancipa- tion for the whole State, practically applies the proc- lamation to the part previously excepted. It does not adopt apprenticeship for freed people, and is silent, as it could not well be otherwise, about the admission of members to Congress. So that, as it applied to Louisi- ana, 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 begun to move in accordance with it. From about July, 1862, I had corresponded with different persons supposed to be interested in seeking a reconstruction of a State government for Louisiana. When the message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned, reached New Orleans, General Banks wrote me that he was confident that the people, with his military co-operation, would reconstruct substantially on that plan. I wrote to him and some of them to try it. They tried it, and the re- sult is known. Such has been my only agency in getting up the Louisiana government. As to sustaining it my promise is out, as before stated. But, as bad promises are better broken than kept, I shall treat this as a bad promise and break it, whenever I shall be convinced that 334 ABEAHAM LINCOLN 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 upon 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 endeavor- ing to answer 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 prac- tically immaterial, could have no effect other than the mischievous one of dividing our friends. As yet, what- ever it may become, that question is bad as the basis of a controversy, and good for nothing at all — a merely per- nicious 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 their proper practical relation. I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether those States have ever been out of the Union, than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial whether they had been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restore 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 1861-1865 335 never having been out of it. The amount of constitu- ency, so to speak, on which the Louisiana government rests, would be more satisfactory to all if it contained fifty thousand, or thirty thousand, or even twenty thou- sand, instead of twelve thousand, as it does. It is also unsatisfactory to some that the elective franchise is not given to the colored man. I would myself prefer that it were now conferred on the very intelligent, and on those who serve our cause as soldiers. Still, the question is not whether the Louisiana government, as it stands, is quite all that is desirable. The question is, Will it be wiser to take it as it is and help to improve it, or to re- ject and disperse? 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 elec- tions, 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. This 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 perpetuate freedom in the State — committed to the very things, and nearly all things, the nation wants — and they ask the nation's recognition and its assistance to make good this committal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to disorganize and disperse them. We, 336 ABEAHAM LINCOLN in fact, 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, held 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 para- lyzing 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 con- trary, 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 twelve thou- sand to adhere to their work, and argue for it, and prose- lyte 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 towards it, than by running backward over them ? Concede that the new gov- ernment of Louisiana is only to what it should be as the egg is to the fowl, we shall sooner have the fowl by hatch- ing the egg than by smashing it. Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in favor of the pro- posed 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 1861-1865 337 to be persistently questioned, while a ratification by three- fourths of all the States would be unquestioned and un- questionable. I repeat the question, Can Louisiana be brought into proper practical relation with the Union sooner by sustaining or by discarding her new State gov- ernment? What has been said of Louisiana will apply 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 unprece- dented 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. LINCOLN CHRONOLOGY 1809-1865 I. 1809-1831 1809 1816 1818 1828 Feb. Oct. 12 5 Lincoln born, near Hodgensville, Kentucky Family moved to Pigeon Creek, Indiana Death of Lincoln's mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln Lincoln first went down the Mis- 1830 1831 II sissippi Family moved to Macon County, Illinois Lincoln settled at New JSalem, Illinois . 1832-1853 1832 1832 Mar. 9 1832 Apr.-Aug. 1833 1833-1836 1834-1843 Lincoln began the study of law Electioneering address to the voters of Sangamon County Lincoln captain in the Black Hawk War Lincoln a deputy surveyor Lincoln postmaster at Salem Lincoln member of the Illinois Legislature 339 1842 Nov. 4 1846 May 1 1846 Aug. 3 1847 Dec. 6-1849 1847 Dec. 22 340 ABKAHAM LINCOLN 1837 Mar. 3 Lincoln and Stone's protest on Slavery 1837 Lincoln settled at Springfield, Illi- nois; practices law Lincoln married to Mary Todd Lincoln nominated for Congress Lincoln elected to Congress Mar. 4 Lincoln in Congress Lincoln's Resolution against the Mexican War 1849 Jan. 16 Lincoln's Bill for Abolition in District of Columbia 1850 Sept. 9, 16 Compromise Act of 1850 passed 1851 Death of Thomas Lincoln, Abra- ham's father III. 1854-1860 Passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act First State Republican Conven- tion at Jackson, Michigan Lincoln's Speeches against Doug- las on Kansas-Nebraska Civil War in Kansas Case for the Illinois Central R. R. Lincoln at first Illinois Repub- lican Convention Candidate for Republican nomi- nation for Vice-President 1856 Nov. 4 Head of Republican Electoral Ticket in Illinois 1857 McCormick Reaper Case (Stanton concerned ) 1854 May 30 1854 July 6 1854 Oct. 4-23 1854-1856 1855 1856 May 29 1856 July 17 LINCOLN CHRONOLOGY 341 1858 June 16 Lincoln nominated for United States Senate. 1858 June 16 "House Divided Against Itself" Speech 1858 Aug. 21-Oct. 15 Lincoln's joint debates with Douglas 1859 Jan. 6 Douglas elected Senator over Lincoln 1859 Sept. 16, 17 Lincoln's Speeches in Ohio Cam- paign 1859 Oct. 16-18 John Brown's Raid 1860 Feb. 27 Lincoln's Cooper Institute Speech at New York 1860 March Lincoln's Speeches in New Eng- land 1860 May 18 Lincoln nominated for the presi- dency by the Republican Con- vention at Chicago 1860 Nov. 6 Lincoln elected president 1860 Dec. Proposed Compromise with the South rejected by Lincoln 1860 Dec. 20 Secession of South Carolina IV. 1861-1865 1861 Feb. 9 Confederate States of America formed 1861 Feb. 11-23 Lincoln's journey from Spring- field to Washington 1861 Mar. 4 Lincoln inaugurated as Presi- dent; First Inaugural Ad- dress 1861 Mar. 15 Cabinet Conference on defending Fort Sumter 342 ABEAHAM LINCOLN 1861 Apr. 1 Lincoln's reply to Seward's "Memorandum" on foreign pol- icy 1861 Apr. 6 Lincoln's decision to defend Fort Sumter 1861 Apr. 14 Surrender of Fort Sumter to the Confederacy 1861 Apr. 15 Proclamation calling 75,000 mili- tia and extra session of Con- gress 1861 Apr. 10 Proclamation declaring blockade of the South 1861 Apr. 27 First Suspension of Habeas Cor- pus 1861 May 3 Proclamation calling 42,000 vol- unteers 1861 July 4 Message to Congress in special session 1861 July 21 Defeat at Bull Run 1861 Aug. 12 Fast Day Proclamation 1861 Sept. 11 Fremont's emancipation procla- mation revoked by Lincoln 1861 Nov. 1 McClellan appointed commander of the army 1861 Dec. 3 First annual message to Congress 1861 Dec. 26 Order to release Mason and Slidell 1862 Jan. 27 General Order for forward move- ment on February 22 1862 Feb. 16 Capture of Fort Donelson 1862 Mar. 6 Message to Congress recommend- ing compensated emancipation 1862 Mar. 9 Monitor-Merrimac Naval Battle LINCOLN CHRONOLOGY 343 1862 Mar. 11 McCIellan's command restricted to Army of the Potomac 1862 Apr. 6-7 Battle of Pittsburgh Landing 1862 Apr. 10 Thanksgiving Proclamation 1862 Apr. 24 Capture of New Orleans 1862 Mar. 19 Proclamation revoking Gen. Hun- ter's order of military emanci- pation 1862 Apr. 16 Act abolishing slavery in the Dis- trict of Columbia 1862 June 19 Act abolishing slavery in the ter- ritories 1862 July 2 Call for 300,000 volunteers 1862 July 9 Lincoln visits McCIellan's army at Harrison's Landing 1862 July 11 H. W. Halleck made general-in- chief 1862 Aug. 22 Lincoln's letter to Greeley on emancipation 1862 Sept. 16-17 Battle of Antietam 1862 Sept. 22 Preliminary emancipation procla- mation 1862 Nov. 5 McCIellan superseded by Burn- side 1862 Dec. 1 Second annual message to Con- gress 186.3 Jan. 1 Final emancipation proclamation 1863 Jan. 25 Burnside superseded by Hooker 1863 Mar. 30 Fast Day Proclamation 1863 April Lincoln's Visit and Review of Hooker's Army 1863 June 12 Lincoln's letter to Corning and others on arbitrary arrests 1863 June 27 Hooker superseded by Meade 344 ABKAHAM LINCOLN 1863 July 1-3 Battle of Gettysburg 1863 July 4 Surrender of Vicksburg 1863 July 13-16 Draft Riots in New York 1863 July 15 Special Proclamation of Thanks- giving 1863 Aug. 26 Lincoln's political letter to Conk- ling 1863 Oct. 3 Annual Thanksgiving Proclama- tion 1863 Oct. 16 Grant appointed to western com- mand 1863 Nov. 19 Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 1863 Nov. 24, 25 Battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge 1863 Dec. 8 Proclamation of Amnesty and Re- construction 1863 Dec. 8 Third annual message to Con- gress 1864 !Mkr. 10 Grant assigned to command all the armies of the U. S. 1864 Apr. 4 Lincoln's letter to Hodges on emancipation 1864 June 8 Lincoln renominated for presi- dent by Union Convention 1864 June 30 Secretary Chase's resignation ac- cepted 1864 July 7 Proclamation for day of prayer 1864 July 8 Proclamation on pocket-veto of Wade Davis bill 1864 July 18 Announcement on peace terras ["to whom it may concern"] 1864 Sept. 3 Proclamation of Special Thanks- giving for Mobile Bay and At- lanta. 1^,64 Oct. 20 1864 Nov. 8 1864 Dec. 6 1865 Feb. 1 1865 Feb. 3 1865 Feb. 5 1865 Mar. 4 1865 Mar. 24 1865 Apr. 4 1865 Apr. 5 1865 Apr. 9 1865 Apr. 11 1865 Apr. 14 1865 Apr. 15 1865 Apr. 21 -May 3 1865 May 4 LINCOLN CHRONOLOGY 345 Annual Thanksgiving Proclama- tion Lincoln reelected president Fourth annual message to Con- gress Thirteenth Amendment signed Hampton Roads Conference Draft of message to pay foi^ Southern slaves Second inauguration and Address Lincoln's visit to Grant at City Point Lincoln in Richmond Campbell memorandum on peace Surrender of Lee to Grant at Ap- pomattox Lincoln's last public address — reconstruction Lincoln shot by an assassin Lincoln's death at Washington Lincoln's body carried in state from Washington to Spring- field Lincoln buried at Springfield ct<^ \