(A compilation of material copied from this web site - National historic Site - National Park service http://www.nps.gov/liho/slavery/al01.htm Note: the recent editing and emphasis were inserted here by V. M.)
Abraham Lincoln's actual position on slavery has been attacked. It is obvious that he was a politician and that he did espouse things while in office that appeared to be contradictory of his basic beliefs. However, there is a lot of straw being tossed in the air for it is also obvious that he did detest slavery. Would we be better off today with this nation having been divided up into several smaller nations? Would this nation still be a oneness if Abraham Lincoln had not have been our president? Many people do not understand that in some dire situations dictatorial power has to be.
Abraham Lincoln is often referred to as "The
Great Emancipator" and yet, he did had not publicly called for emancipation until late in throughout his entire
life. Lincoln began his public career by claiming that he was
"antislavery" -- and
was obstinately against
slavery's expansion but he did not calling for
immediate emancipation. However, the man who began simply as "antislavery" would, for conscious sake, eventually issued
the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in those states that were
in rebellion. He vigorously supported the 13th Amendment which abolished slavery
throughout the United States, and, in the last speech of his life, he
recommended extending the vote to African Americans.
This brief study of Lincoln's writings on slavery contains examples of Lincoln's
views on slavery. It also shows one of his greatest strengths: his ability to
change as it relates to his public stance on the immorality and illegality of slavery.
We are deeply indebted to the work of the Abraham Lincoln Association in
collecting Lincoln's writings and publishing them as the Collected Works of
Abraham Lincoln. It was from this monumental work that these selections were
taken. The roman numerals and numbers at the end of each section refer to the
volume and page of the Collected Works.
At the age of 28, while serving
in the Illinois General Assembly, Lincoln made one of his first public
declarations against slavery.
March 3, 1837
The following protest was presented to the House, which was read and ordered to
be spread on the journals, to wit:
"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 to abate its evils.
They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power, under
the constitution, to interfere with the institution 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 that power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of
the people of said District.
The difference between these opinions and those contained in the said
resolutions, is their reason for entering this protest."
Dan Stone,
A. Lincoln,
Representatives from the county of Sangamon
(I, 75)
In a letter to his friend Joshua Speed, Lincoln freely
expressed his hatred of slavery but he did not recommend immediate
emancipation.
August 24, 1855
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 to 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 carried back to
their stripes, and unrewarded toils; but I bite my lip and keep quiet.
In 1841 you and I had together a tedious low-water trip, on a Steam Boat 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
dozen slaves, shackled together with irons. That sight was a continual torment
to me; and I see something like it every time I touch the Ohio, or
any other slave-border. It is hardly fair to you to assume, that I have no
interest in a thing which has, and continually exercises, 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 feelings so prompt me; and I am under no obligation to
the contrary.
(II, 320)
Lincoln often encountered views supporting slavery. In
this fragment, he countered the arguments that slavery was justified based on
color and intellect.
July 1, 1854
Fragment on Slavery
If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B.
-- why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may
enslave A?--
You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the
right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to
the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own.
You do not mean color exactly?--You mean the whites are intellectually the
superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take
care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with
an intellect superior to your own.
But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your
interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can
make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.
(II, 222)
Lincoln, in a speech at Peoria, attacked slavery on the
grounds that its existence within the United States made American democracy
appear hyprocritical in the eyes of the world. However, he also confessed his
uncertainty as how to end slavery where it then existed, because he believed
that neither colonolization nor racial equality were practical.
Speech at Peoria, Illinois
October 16, 1854
I can not but hate [the
declared indifference for slavery's spread]. I hate it because of the
monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our
republican example of its just influence in the world -- enables the enemies
of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites -- causes the
real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces
so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very
fundamental principles of civil liberty -- criticising [sic] the Declaration of
Independence, and insisting that there is no right principle of action but
self-interest.
Before proceeding, let me say I think I have no prejudice against the
Southern people. They are just what we would be in their situation. If
slavery did not now exist amongst them, they would not introduce it. If it
did now exist amongst us, we should not instantly give it up. This I believe
of the masses north and south. Doubtless there are individuals, on both sides,
who would not hold slaves under any circumstances; and others who would gladly
introduce slavery anew, if it were out of existence. We know that some
southern men do free their slaves, go north, and become tip-top abolitionists;
while some northern ones go south, and become most cruel slave-masters.
When southern people tell us they are no more responsible for the origin of
slavery, than we; I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the
institution exists; and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any
satisfactory way, I can understand and appreciate the saying. I surely will
not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all
earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do, as to the existing
institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to
Liberia, -- to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince
me, that whatever of high hope, (as I think there is) there may be in this, in
the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there
in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days; and there are not surplus
shipping and surplus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times
ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as underlings? Is it
quite certain that this betters their condition? I think I would not hold one in
slavery, at any rate; yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce
people upon. What next? Free them, and make them politically and socially, our
equals? My own feelings will not admit of this; and if mine would, we well know
that those of the great mass of white people will not.
(II, 255-256)
This is perhaps Lincoln's most succinct description of
his beliefs on democracy and slavery.
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.
(II, 532)
In 1858, the Republican Party sought to unseat one of
the nation's most powerful United States Senators, Stephen Douglas. To oppose
him, they nominated Abraham Lincoln. The resulting Lincoln-Douglas debates gave
each candidate ample opportunity to publicly express his opinions on slavery.
During the fifth debate, Lincoln claimed that slavery ran counter to American
democratic principles because the Declaration of Independence's phrase - "all
men are created equal" applied to African-Americans.
Fifth Debate with Stephen A. Douglas
Galesburg, Illinois
October 7, 1858
Judge Douglas, and whoever like him teaches that the negro has no share, humble
though it may be, in the Declaration of Independence, is going back to the era
of our liberty and independence, and so far as in him lies, muzzling the cannon
that thunders its annual joyous return; that he is blowing out the moral lights
around us; when he contends that whoever wants slaves
has a right to hold them; that he is penetrating, so far as lies in his power,
the human soul, and eradicating the light of reason and the love of liberty,
when he is in every possible way preparing the public mind, by his vast
influence, for making the institution of slavery perpetual and national.
(III, 234)
To some Americans, the phrase "all men are created
equal" applied only to some. To Lincoln, it applied to all.
Seventh and Last Debate with Stephen A. Douglas
Alton, Illinois
October 15, 1858
And when this new principle [that African Americans were not covered by the
phrase "all men are created equal"] -- this new proposition that no
human being ever thought of three years ago, -- is brought forward, I combat it
as having an evil tendency, if not an evil design; I combat it as having a
tendency to dehumanize the negro -- to take away from him the right of ever
striving to be a man. I combat it as being one of the thousand things constantly
done in these days to prepare the public mind to make property, and nothing but
property of the negro in all the States of the Union.
.....I have never sought to apply these principles to
the old States for the purpose of abolishing slavery in those States.
It is nothing but a miserable perversion of what I have said, to assume that I
have declared Missouri, or any other slave State shall emancipate her slaves. I
have proposed no such thing.
(III, 304-305)
In the final Lincoln-Douglas debate, Lincoln claimed
that the issues over which the two candidates had sparred, were not just issues
of his time, rather, Lincoln believed that these debates were small battles in
the larger war between individual rights and the divine right of kings.
Seventh and Last Debate with Stephen A. Douglas
Alton, Illinois
October 15, 1858
That is the real issue.
That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of
Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between
these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are
the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time; and
will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the
other the divine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it
develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn
bread, and I'll eat it." No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the
mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by
the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving
another race, it is the same tyrannical principle.
(III, 315)
Some feared that Lincoln was recommending social and political equality between the races. Writing to James N. Brown, Lincoln discounted this belief although seven years later, he would embrace this hope in the last speech of his life.
To James N. Brown
October 18, 1858
I do not perceive how I can express myself, more plainly, than I have done in
the foregoing extracts. In four of them I have
expressly disclaimed all intention to bring about social and political equality
between the white and black races, and, in all the rest, I have done the same
thing by clear implication.
I have made it equally plain that I think the negro is
included in the word "men" used in the Declaration of Independence.
I believe the declara[tion] that "all men are
created equal" is the great fundamental principle upon which our
free institutions rest; that negro slavery is violative
of that principle; but that, by our frame of government, that
principle has not been made one of legal obligation; that by our frame of
government, the States which have slavery are to retain
it, or surrender it at their own pleasure; and that all others -- individuals,
free-states and national government -- are constitutionally bound to leave them
alone about it.
I believe our government was thus framed because of the
necessity springing from the actual presence of slavery, when it was framed.
That such necessity does not exist in the teritories[sic], where slavery is
not present.
...It does not follow that social and political equality between whites and
blacks, must be incorporated, because slavery must not.
(III, 328)
Speech at Chicago, Illinois
March 1, 1859
I do not wish to be misunderstood upon this subject of slavery in this country.
I suppose it may long exist, and perhaps the best way for it to come to an end
peaceably is for it to exist for a length of time. But I say that the spread and
strengthening and perpetuation of it is an entirely different proposition. There we should in every way resist it as a wrong, treating
it as a wrong, with the fixed idea that it must and will come to an end.
(III, 370)
To Henry L. Pierce
April 6, 1859
This is a world of compensations; and he who would be
no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others,
deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.
(III, 376)
Speech at Cincinnati, Ohio
September 17, 1859
I think Slavery is wrong, morally, and politically. I desire that it
should be no further spread in these United States, and I should not object if
it should gradually terminate in the whole Union.
(III, 440)
I say that we must not interfere with the
institution of slavery in the states where it exists, because the
constitution forbids it, and the general welfare does not require us to do so.
We must prevent the revival of the African slave trade and the enacting by
Congress of a territorial slave code.
(III, 460)
Fragment on Free Labor
September 17, 1859
We know, Southern men declare that their slaves are better off than hired
laborers amongst us. How little they know, whereof they speak! There is no
permanent class of hired laborers amongst us.
Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery
has no hope. The power of hope upon human exertion, and happiness, is
wonderful. The slave-master himself has a conception of it; and hence the system
of tasks among slaves. The slave whom you can not drive with the lash to
break seventy-five pounds of hemp in a day, if you will task him to break a
hundred, and promise him pay for all he does over, he will break you a
hundred and fifty. You have substituted hope, for the rod.
(III, 462-3)
To William H. Seward
February 1, 1861
I say now, however, as I have all the while said, that on the territorial
question -- that is, the question of extending slavery under the national
auspices, -- I am inflexible. I am for no compromise which assists or permits
the extension of the institution on soil owned by the nation. And any trick by
which the nation is to acquire territory, and then allow some local authority to
spread slavery over it, is as obnoxious as any other.
(IV, 183)
In Lincoln's last public address, he recommended
extending the right to vote to the African Americans who had fought for the
Union. This expressed his belief that African Americans should be granted full
political equality.
Last Public Address
April 11, 1865
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.
(VIII, 403)
2nd Manassas
August 28-30, 1862 In order to draw Pope's army into battle, Jackson ordered
an attack on a Federal column that was passing across his front on the Warrenton
Turnpike on August 28. The fighting at Brawner Farm lasted several hours and
resulted in a stalemate. Pope became convinced that he had trapped Jackson and
concentrated the bulk of his army against him. On August 29, Pope launched a
series of assaults against Jackson's position along an unfinished railroad
grade. The attacks were repulsed with heavy casualties on both sides. At noon,
Longstreet arrived on the field from Thoroughfare Gap and took position on
Jackson's right flank. On August 30, Pope renewed his attacks, seemingly unaware
that Longstreet was on the field. When massed Confederate artillery devastated a
Union assault by Fitz John Porter's command, Longstreet's wing of 28,000 men
counterattacked in the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. The Union
left flank was crushed and the army driven back to Bull Run. Only an effective
Union rearguard action prevented a replay of the First Manassas disaster. Pope's
retreat to Centreville was precipitous, nonetheless. The next day, Lee ordered
his army in pursuit. This was the decisive battle of the Northern Virginia
Campaign.
Source: American Battlefield Protection Program
Lincoln's Response: Meditation
on the Divine Will
September 2, 1862
The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in
accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God can not
be for, and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it
is quite possible that God's purpose is something different from the purpose of
either party - and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are
of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is
probably true - that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall end yet. By
his mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either
saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And
having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the
contest proceeds.
Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VI, pp. 327-368.
Antietam
September 16-18, 1862 On September 16,
Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan confronted Lee's Army of Northern Virginia at
Sharpsburg, Maryland. At dawn September 17, Hooker's corps mounted a powerful
assault on Lee's left flank that began the single bloodiest day in American
military history. Attacks and counterattacks swept across Miller's cornfield and
fighting swirled around the Dunker Church. Union assaults against the Sunken
Road eventually pierced the Confederate center, but the Federal advantage was
not followed up. Late in the day, Burnside's corps finally got into action,
crossing the stone bridge over Antietam Creek and rolling up the Confederate
right. At a crucial moment, A.P. Hill's division arrived from Harpers Ferry and
counterattacked, driving back Burnside and saving the day. Although outnumbered
two-to-one, Lee committed his entire force, while McClellan sent in less than
three-quarters of his army, enabling Lee to fight the Federals to a standstill.
During the night, both armies consolidated their lines. In spite of crippling
casualties, Lee continued to skirmish with McClellan throughout the 18th, while
removing his wounded south of the river. McClellan did not renew the assaults.
After dark, Lee ordered the battered Army of Northern Virginia to withdraw
across the Potomac into the Shenandoah Valley.
Source: American Battlefield Protection Program
Lincoln's Response: Lincoln issued the Preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation.
Gettysburg
July 1-3, 1863 Gen. Robert E. Lee concentrated his full strength against
Maj. Gen. George G. Meade's Army of the Potomac at the crossroads county seat of
Gettysburg. On July 1, Confederate forces converged on the town from west and
north, driving Union defenders back through the streets to Cemetery Hill. During
the night, reinforcements arrived for both sides. On July 2, Lee attempted to
envelop the Federals, first striking the Union left flank at the Peach Orchard,
Wheatfield, Devil's Den, and the Round Tops with Longstreet's and Hill's
divisions, and then attacking the Union right at Culp's and East Cemetery Hills
with Ewell's divisions. By evening, the Federals retained Little Round Top and
had repulsed most of Ewell's men. During the morning of July 3, the Confederate
infantry were driven from their last toe-hold on Culp's Hill. In the afternoon,
after a preliminary artillery bombardment, Lee attacked the Union center on
Cemetery Ridge. The Pickett-Pettigrew assault (more popularly, Pickett's Charge)
momentarily pierced the Union line but was driven back with severe casualties.
Stuart's cavalry attempted to gain the Union rear but was repulsed. On July 4,
Lee began withdrawing his army toward Williamsport on the Potomac River. His
train of wounded stretched more than fourteen miles.
Source: American Battlefield Protection Program
Lincoln's Response: To George G. Meade
July 14, 1863
Major General Meade:
I have just seen your despatch to Gen. Halleck, asking to be relieved of your
command, because of a supposed censure of mine. I am very - very - grateful to
you for the magnificent success you gave the cause of the country at Gettysburg;
and I am sorry now to be the author of the slightest pain to you. But I was in
such deep distress myself that I could not restrain some expression of it. I had
been oppressed nearly ever since the battles of Gettysburg, by what appeared to
be evidence that yourself, and Gen. Couch, and Gen. Smith, were not seeking a
collision with the enemy, but were trying to get him across the river without
another battle. What these evidences were, if you please, I hope to tell you at
some time, when we shall both feel better. The case, summarily stated is this.
You fought and beat the enemy at Gettysburg; and, of course, to say the least,
his loss was as great as yours. He retreated; and you did not, as it seemed to
me, pressingly pursue him; but a flood in the river detained him, till, by slow
degress, you were again upon him. You had at least twenty thousand veteran
troops directly with you, and as many more raw ones within supporting distance,
all in addition to those who fought with you at Gettysburg; while it was not
possible that he had received a single recruit; and yet you stood and let the
flood run down, bridges be built, and the enemy move away at his leisure,
without attacking him. And Couch and Smith! The latter left Carlisle in time,
upon ordinary calculation, to have aided you in the last battle at Gettysburg;
but he did not arrive. At the end of more than ten days, I believe twelve, under
constant urging, he reached Hagerstown from Carlisle, which is not an inch over
fiftyfive miles, if so much. And Couch's movement was very little different.
Again, my dear general, I do not believe you appreciate that magnitude of the
misfortune involved in Lee's escape. He was within your easy grasp, and to have
closed upon him would, in connection with our other late successes, have ended
the war. As it is, the war will be prolonged indefinitely. If you could not
safely attack Lee last Monday, how can oyu possibly do so South of the river,
when you can take with you very few more than two thirds of the force you then
had in hand? It would be unreasonable to expect, and I do not expect you can now
effect much. Your golden opportunity is gone, and I am distressed immeasureably
because of it.
I beg you will not consider this a prossecution, or persecution of yourself. As
you had learned that I was dissatisfied, I have thought it best to kindly tell
you why.
Lincoln never sent the
letter.
Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VI, pp. 327-368.
Vicksburg
Siege: May 18-July 4, 1863 In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant's armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a
Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered
after prolonged siege operations. This was the culmination of one of the most
brilliant military campaigns of the war. With the loss of Pemberton's army and
this vital stronghold on the Mississippi, the Confederacy was effectively split
in half. Grant's successes in the West boosted his reputation, leading
ultimately to his appointment as General-in-Chief of the Union armies.
Source: American Battlefield Protection Program
Lincoln's
Response: To Ulysses S. Grant
July 13, 1863
I do not remember that you and I ever met
personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgement 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 Gen. Banks; and when you turned
Northward East of the Big Black, I feared it was a mistake. I now wish to make
the personal acknowledgment that you were right, and I was wrong.
Source: The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume VI, pp. 327-368.
Lincoln on Secession
Soon after Abraham Lincoln was
elected to the presidency in November 1860, seven southern states seceded from
the Union. In March 1861, after he was inaugurated as the 16th President of the
United States, four more followed.
The secessionists claimed that according to the Constitution every state had the
right to leave the Union. Lincoln claimed that they did not have that right.
He opposed secession for these reasons:
Secession Will Destroy Democracy
In all trying
positions in which I shall be placed, and doubtless I shall be placed in many
such, my reliance will be upon...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 States and the liberties of these 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.
Indianapolis, Indiana
February 11, 1861
We Are Friends
Friends. I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be
enemies. Though passion may have strained it must no break our bonds of
affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and
patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land,
will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will
be, by the better angels of our nature.
First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
Physically We Cannot Separate
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.
First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
Secession Is Unlawful
I hold that, in
contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the union of these
States is perpetual....It follows....that no State, upon its own mere motion,
can lawfully get out of the Union; that resolves and ordinances to that effect
are legally void; and that acts of violence, within any State or States, against
the authority of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary,
according to circumstances. I, therefore, consider that, in view of the
Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken.
First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
Secession Is Unlawful
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.
Message to Congress in Special Session
July 4, 1861
Secession Is Unlawful
We find the
proposition that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual confirmed by
the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the
Constitution. It was formed, in fact, by the Articles of Association in
1774. It was matured and continued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776.
It was further matured, and the faith of all the 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."
First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
Secession Equals Anarchy
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
opinins and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it does of necessity fly to
anarchy or 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.
First Inaugural Address
March 4, 1861
The principle [secession]
itself is one of disintegration, and upon which no government can possibly
endure.
Message to Congress in Special Session
July 4, 1861
Secession Will Destroy Democracy
The distinct issue, "Immediate dissolution or blood"...embraces
more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of
man the question of whether a constitutional republic or democracy -- a
government of the people, by the same people -- can or cannot maintain its
territorial integrity against its own domestic foes. It presents the
question whether the discontented individuals -- too few in numbers to control
the 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 the 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 maintain its own existence?"
Message to Congress in Special Session
July 4, 1861
Secession Will Destroy Democracy
Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this
administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal
significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial
through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest
generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will
not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we
do know how to save it. We -- even we here -- hold the power, and bear the
responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free -
honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or
meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.
Annual Message to Congress
December 1, 1862