i86i]
IN NEW YORK CITIES
107
address you
at
length
;
I have no
voice
for
it.
Allow me again to thank you for this magnificent
reception, and bid you farewell.
The President's Dependence on the People.
At
Rochester,
Syracuse,
and
Utica,
N.
Y.,
President-elect
Lincoln
made
two-minute
speeches
from the train, on February
18,
1861.
At Rochester he
repeated
the thought
that the people had gathered
to
see
him,
not
as an
individual but
as
their
President.
At Syracuse he refused to go on a platform that had
been
set up for him, on the plea that a longer speech
than he was capable
of making would be required of
him.
"But
I
wish you
to understand
that, though
I
am unwilling to go upon this platform, you are not at
liberty
to
draw
any
inference
concerning
any
other
platform
with
which my name
has
been
or
is
con-
nected."
At Utica he
said that he had no speech, but
appeared solely to see and be seen, in which reciprocal
arrangement he claimed to have the best of the bargain
as
far as the
ladies were concerned, though he would
not admit
this
in
the
case
of
the men.
These
senti-
ments he repeated
at Troy and Hudson, New York,
on February
19,
1861.
At Peekskill,
N,
Y., on
the
19th, he said:
"I
will say
in a
single
sentence,
in regard to
the difficulties that lie before me and our beloved
country, that
if
I can only be as generously and
unanimously
sustained
as
the
demonstrations
I
have witnessed indicate I shall be, I shall not fail
;
but without your sustaining hands I am sure that
neither
I nor any
other man can hope
to
sur-
mount these difficulties.
I trust that in the course
I
shall pursue
I
shall be
sustained not only by
the party
that
elected me,
but by the
patriotic
people of the whole country."
I08
SPEECHES
[Feb.
i8
President, not of a Party, but the Nation.
Reply to Governor Morgan of New York, at
Albany.
February
i8,
i86i.
Governor Morgan:
I was pleased to receive an
invitation to visit the capital of the great Empire
State of this nation while on my way to the Fed-
eral capital.
I now thank you, Mr. Governor, and
you, the people of the capital of the State of New
York, for this most hearty and magnificent wel-
come.
If
I am not
at
fault, the great Empire
State
at
this time
contains
a
larger
population
than
did
the
whole
of
the
United
States
of
America at the time they achieved their national
independence, and
I was proud to be invited to
visit
its
capital,
to meet
its
citizens,
as
I now
have
the honor
to
do.
I am
notified by your
governor
that
this
reception
is
tendered
by
citizens without distinction of party.
Because of
this
I accept
it the more gladly.
In this country,
and in any country where freedom of thought
is
tolerated,^ 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 supposes he thereby
best advances the interests of the whole countr)?^
And when an election
is past,
it
is altogether be^
fitting 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
i86i]
TO NEW YORK LEGISLATURE
109
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 liberties of suc-
ceeding generations in this country.
I have
neither
the
voice nor
the
strength
to
address you at any greater length.
I beg you will
therefore
accept my most
grateful
thanks
for
this manifest devotion—not to me, but the insti-
tutions of this great and glorious country.
The Mightiest of Tasks for the Humblest o£
Presidents.
Remarks before the New York Legislature
AT Albany.
February
18,
1861.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the General
Assembly of the State of New York:
It
is with
feelings of great diffidence, and,
I may say, with
feelings
of
awe,
perhaps
greater
than
I
have
recently
experienced,
that
I
meet you
here
in
this
place.
The history of this great
State, the
renown of those great men who have stood here^
and have spoken here, and been heard here,
all
crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink
from any attempt
to address you.
Yet
I have
some confidence given me by the generous manner
in which you have invited me, and by the still more
generous manner in which you have received me,
to speak further.
You have invited and received
me without distinction of party.
I cannot for a
moment suppose that this has been done in any
considerable
degree with
reference
to my per-
sonal services, but that
it
is done,
in so far as I
am regarded,
at
this time, as the representative
no
SPEECHES
[Feb. 19
of the majesty of this great nation.
I doubt not
this
is the truth, and the whole truth, of the case,
and this is as it should be.
It
is much more grati-
fying to me that this reception has been given to
me as the elected representative of a free people,
than
it could possibly be if tendered merely as an
evidence of devotion to me, or to any one man
personally.
And now
I think
it were more
fitting that
I
should close these hasty remarks.
It is true that,
while
I hold myself, without mock modesty, the
humblest of
all individuals that have ever been
elevated to the presidency, I have a more difficult
task to perform than any one of them.
You have generously tendered me the support
—-the united support—of the great Empire State.
For
this,
in behalf of the nation—in behalf of
the present and future of the nation—in behalf
of civil and religious liberty for all time to come,
most gratefully do I thank you.
I do not propose
to
enter
into an explanation of any
particular
line of policy, as to our present difficulties, to be
adopted by the incoming administration.
I deem
it just to you, to myself, to
all, that I should see
everything,
that
I
should hear
everything,
that
I should have every
light that can be brought
within my
reach,
in
order
that,
when
I
do
speak,
I
shall
have
enjoyed
every
oppor-
tunity
to
take
correct
and
true
ground
;
and
for
this
reason
I
do
not
propose
to
speak
at
this time of the policy of the government.
But
when the time comes,
I shall speak, as well as I
am able, for the good of the present and future
of this country—for the good both of the North
and of the South—for the good of the one and
the other, and of all sections of the country.
In
1 86 1
]
AT PO UGHKEEPSIE
1 1
the mean time, if we have patience, if we restrain
ourselves,
if we allow
ourselves not
to run
off
in a passion,
I
still have confidence that the Al-
mighty, the Maker of the universe,
will, through
the
instrumentality of
this great and
intelligent
people, bring us through this as he has through
all the other difficulties of our country.
Relying
on
this,
I again thank you
for this generous
re-
ception.
Piloting the Ship of State.
Remarks at Poughkeepsie, N. Y.
February
19, 1861.
Fellozv-citizens:
It
is
altogether
impossible
I should make myself heard by any considerable
portion
of
this
vast assemblage;
but,
although
I appear before you mainly
for the purpose of
seeing you, and to
let you see rather than hear
me,
I
cannot
refrain
from
saying
that
I am
highly gratified—as much here, indeed, under the
circumstances,
as
I have been anywhere on my
route—to
witness
this
noble
demonstration
made, not in honor of an individual, but of the
man who at this time humbly, but earnestly, rep-
resents the majesty of the
nation.
This
reception,
like
all
the
others
that have
been tendered
to me,
doubtless emanates from
all the political parties, and not from one alone.
As such
I accept
it the more gratefully, since
it
indicates
an
earnest
desire on
the
part
of
the
whole people, without regard to
political
differ-
ences,
to
save—not
the
country,
because
the
country will save
itself—but to save the
institu-
tions
of
the
country—those
institutions
under
which, in the last three quarters of a century, we
112
SPEECHES
[Feb.
have grown to a great, an intelligent, and a happy
people—the
greatest,
the
most
intelligent,
and
the
happiest people
in the world.
These noble
manifestations
indicate, with unerring certainty,
that the whole people are willing to make com-
mon
cause
for
this
object;
that
if,
as
it
ever
must be, some have been successful in the recent
election, and some have been beaten—if some are
satisfied, and some are
dissatisfied, the defeated
party are not
in
favor of sinking the
ship, but
are
desirous of running
it through the tempest
in
safety, and
v/illing,
if they think the people
have committed an error in their verdict now, to
wait
in the hope
of reversing
it, and
setting
it
right next time.
I do not say that in the recent
election
the
people
did
the
wisest
thing
that
could have been done
;
indeed,
I
do
not think
they did
; but
I do say that in accepting the great
trust committed to me, which
I do with a deter-
mination
to endeavor
to prove v^orthy of
it,
I
must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole
country,
for support; and with
their sustaining
aid, even
I, humble as I am, cannot
fail to carry
the
ship of
state
safely through the storm.
I have now only to thank you warmly for your
kind attendance, and bid you
all an affectionate
farewell.
There
is a Time for Silence.
Remarks at New York City.
February
19,
1861.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen: I am rather an
old man to avail myself of such an excuse as I am
now about
to
do.
Yet the truth
is so
distinct,
and
presses
itself
so
distinctly upon
me,
that
i86i]
'AT NEW YORK
"3
I cannot well avoid
it—and that
is, that I did not
understand when
I was brought
into
this room
that
I was to be brought here to make a speech.
It was not intimated to me that
I was brought
into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry
Clay had made
speeches, and where one
in my
position might be expected to do something like
those men
or
say something worthy
of myself
or my audience.
I therefore beg you
to make
allowance for the circumstances in which
I have
been by
surprise
brought
before
you.
Now
I
have been
in
the
habit
of
thinking and some-
times speaking upon political questions that have
for some years past agitated the country
; and,
if
I were disposed to do
so, and we could take
up some one
of the
issues,
as
the lawyers
call
them, and
I were called upon to make an argu-
ment about
it to the best of my ability,
I could
do so without much preparation.
But that
is not
what you
desire to have done here to-night.
I
have
been
occupying
a
position,
since
the
presidential election, of silence—of avoiding pub-
lic speaking, of avoiding public writing.
I have
been doing so because
I thought, upon
full con-
sideration, that was the proper course for me to
take.
I am brought before you now, and
re-
quired to make a speech, when you
all approve
more than anything else of the fact that
I have
been keeping
silence.
And now
it seems to me
that the response you give to that remark ought
to
justify me
in closing
just here.
I have not
kept
silence since the presidential
election from
any party wantonness, or from any indifference
to the anxiety that pervades the minds of men
about the
aspect of the
political
affairs
of
this
country.
I have kept silence for the reason that
114
SPEECHES
[Feb.
I supposed
it was peculiarly proper that I should
do so until the time came when, according to the
custom of the country,
I could speak officially.
I
still suppose that, while the
political drama
being
enacted
in
this
country,
at
this
time,
is
rapidly shifting
its scenes—forbidding an antici-
pation with any degree of
certainty, to-day, of
what we
shall
see to-morrow—it
is
peculiarly
fitting
that
I
should
see
it
all, up
to
the
last
minute, before I should take ground that I might
be disposed (by the shifting of the scenes after-
ward)
also
to
shift.
I have
said
several times
upon
this
journey, and
I now repeat
it to you,
that when the time does come,
I
shall then take
the ground that
I think
is
right—right
for the
North, for the South, for the East, for the West,
for the whole country.
And in doing so, I hope
to feel no necessity pressing upon me to say any-
thing
in
conflict with
the
Constitution
;
in con-
flict with the continued union of these States, in
conflict
with
the
perpetuation
of
the
liberties
of this people, or anything in conflict with any-
thing whatever that
I have ever given you rea-
son to expect from me.
And now, my
friends,
have
I said enough?
{Loud cries of "No, nor
and
"Three
cheers
for
Lincoln!"^
Now, my
friends,
there
appears
to
be
a
difference
of
opinion between you and me, and
I
really
feel
called upon to decide the question myself.
Save Ship and Cargo;
if not Both, the Cargo.
Reply
to the Mayor
of New York
City.
February 20,
1861.
Mr. Mayor:
It
is with
feelings of deep grati-
tude that
I make my acknowledgments
for the
i86i]
AT NEW YORK
1,5
reception
that has been given me
in
the
great
commercial city of New York.
I cannot but re-
member that
it is done by the people who do not,
by a
large majority, agree with me
in
political
sentiment.
It is the more grateful to me because
in this
I see that for the great principles of our
government the people are pretty nearly or quite
unanimous.
In
regard
to
the
difficulties
that
confront us at this time, and of which you have
seen
fit to speak so becomingly and so justly, I can
only say
I agree with the sentiments expressed.
In my devotion to the Union I hope I am behind
no man in the nation.
As to my wisdom in con-
ducting affairs so as to tend to the preservation
of the Union,
I
fear too great confidence may
have been placed
in me.
I am sure
I bring a
heart devoted to the work.
There is nothing that
could ever bring me to consent—willingly to con-
sent—to the destruction of this Union
(in which
not
only the
great
city of New York, but the
whole country, has acquired its greatness), unless
it would be that thing for which the Union itself
was made.
I understand that the
ship
is made
for the carrying and preservation of the cargo;
and so long as the ship
is safe with the cargo,
it
shall not be abandoned.
This Union shall never
be abandoned, unless the possibility of
its exist-
ence shall cease to exist without the necessity of
throwing passengers and cargo
overboard.
So
long, then, as
it is possible that the prosperity and
liberties
of
this people can be preserved within
this Union,
it shall be my purpose at all times to
preserve
it.
And
now,
Mr.
Mayor,
renewing
my thanks for this cordial reception, allow me to
come
to
a
close.
Ii6
SPEECHES
[Feb. 21
The Liberty Inherited from the Fathers.
Address to the Senate of New
Jersey, at
Trenton.
February
21,
1861.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Senate of
the
State
of New
Jersey:
I am
very
grateful
to
you
for
the
honorable
reception
of
which
I
have
been
the
object.
I
cannot
but
remember
the
place
that
New
Jersey
holds
in
our
early
history.
In
the
Revolutionary
struggle
few
of
the
States
among
the
Old
Thirteen
had
more
of
the
battlefields
of
the
country
within
their
limits
than New
Jer-
sey.
May
I
be
pardoned
if,
upon
this
occa-
sion,
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' "Life
of Washington."
I remember
all the accounts
there given of the battle-fields and struggles for
the
liberties of the country, and none
fix them-
selves
upon my
imagination
so
deeply
as
the
struggle
here
at
Trenton,
N.
J.
The
cross-
ing
of
the
river,
the
contest
with
the
Hes-
sians, the great hardships endured
at that time,
all
fixed themselves on my memory more than
any
single
Revolutionary
event;
and
you
all
know,
for you
all have
been
boys, how
these
early impressions 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 some-
thing 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
i86i]
'AT TRENTON
117
exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Consti-
tution, and
the
Hberties
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
in-
strument
in the hands of the Almighty, and of
this,
his almost chosen people,
for perpetuating
the object of that great struggle.
You give me
this
reception,
as
I understand, without
distinc-
tion of party.
I learn that this body is composed
of a majority of gentlemen who, in the exercise
of their best judgment
in the choice of a chief
magistrate,
did
not
think
I was
the
man.
I
understand,
nevertheless,
that
they
come
for-
ward
here
to
greet me
as
the
constitutionally
elected
President of the United
States—as
citi-
zens of the United States to meet the man who,
for the time
being,
is the representative of the
majesty of the nation—united by the single pur-
pose
to perpetuate the
Constitution, the Union,
and the
liberties of the people.
As such,
I
ac-
cept this reception more gratefully than
I could
do
did
I
believe
it were tendered
to me
as an
individual.
Putting the Foot Down Firmly.
Address to the Assembly of New Jersey^ at
Trenton.
February 21, 1861.
Mr.
Speaker and Gentlemen:
I have
just
en-
joyed
the
honor
of
a
reception
by
the
other
branch of this legislature, and I return to you and
them my
thanks
for
the
reception
which
the
people of New Jersey have given through their
chosen representatives to me as the representa-
Ii3
SPEECHES
[Feb. 21
tive,
for the time being,
of the majesty of the
people
of
the United
States.
I
appropriate to
myself very
little
of
the demonstrations
of
re-
spect with which
I have been greeted.
I think
little
should
be
given
to any man,
but
that
it
should
be
a
manifestation
of adherence
to
the
Union and the
Constitution.
I understand my-
self
to be
received
here by
the
representatives
of the people of New Jersey, a majority of whom
differ
in opinion from those with whom
I have
acted.
This manifestation
is therefore to be re-
garded by me as expressing their devotion to the
Union, the Constitution, and the
liberties of the
people.
You, Mr, Speaker, have well said that this
is a
time when the bravest and wisest look with doubt
and awe upon the aspect presented by our na-
tional
affairs.
Under
these
circumstances you
will readily see why
I should not speak in detail
of the course
I
shall deem
it best to pursue.
It
is proper
that
I
should
avail myself of
all the
information and
all the time at my command, in
order that when the time arrives in which
I must
speak officially,
I shall be able to take the ground
which
I deem best and safest, and from which I
may have no
occasion
to
sv/erve.
I
shall
en-
deavor to take the ground I deem most just to the
North,
the
East,
the West, the
South, and the
whole country.
I take
it, I hope, in good temper,
certainly with no malice toward any
section.
I
shall do
all that may be in my power to promote
a peaceful settlement of all our difficulties.
The
man does not
live who
is more devoted to peace
than
I am, none who would do more to preserve
it, but
it may be necessary to put the foot down
iirmly.
[Here the audience broke out
in cheers
i86i]
AT PHILADELPHIA
119
SO loud and long that for some moments
it was
impossible to hear Mr. Lincoln's voice.]
And
if
I do my duty and do right, you will sustain me,
will you not?
[Loud cheers, and cries of "Yes,
yes; we will."]
Received as
I am by the mem.-
bers of a legislature the majority of whom do not
agree with me in political sentiments, I trust that
I may have their assistance in piloting the ship of
state through
this voyage, surrounded by
perils
as
it
is
; for
if
it should suffer wreck now, there
will be no pilot ever needed for another voyage.
Gentlemen,
I have already spoken longer than
I intended, and must beg leave to stop here.
The Teachings of Independence Hall.
Reply to the Mayor of Philadelphia^
Pa.
February 21,
1861.
Mr.
Mayor
and
Fellozu-citi::ens
of
Phila-
delphia: I appear before you to make no lengthy
speech, but to thank you for this reception.
The
reception you have given me to-night
is not to
me, the man, the individual, but to the man v;ho
temporarily
represents, or should represent, the
majesty of the nation.
It is true, as your worthy
mayor
has
said,
that
there
is
great
anxiety
amongst the citizens of the United States at this
time.
I deem
it a happy circumstance that this
dissatisfied portion of our fellow-citizens does not
point
us
to
anything
in which
they
are
being
injured or about to be injured
; for which reason
I have
felt
all the while
justified
in concluding
that the crisis, the panic, the anxiety of the coun-
try
at
this time,
is
artificial.
If there be those
who differ with me upon this subject, they have
I20
SPEECHES
[Feb. 22
not pointed out the substantial difficulty that ex-
ists.
I do not mean to say that an artificial panic
may not do considerable harm; that
it has done
such
I do
not
deny.
The hope
that
has been
expressed by your mayor, that
I may be able to
restore
peace, harmony,
and
prosperity
to
the
country,
is most worthy of him
; and most happy,
indeed, will
I be
if
I
shall be able to verify and
fulfil that hope.
I promise you that
I bring to
the work a sincere heart.
Whether I will bring a
head equal to that heart will be for future times
to determine.
It were useless for me to speak of
details of plans now
; I shall speak officially next
Monday week,
if
ever.
If
I
should not speak
then,
it were useless for me to do so now.
If I
do speak then,
it
is useless for me to do so now.
When
I do speak,
I
shall take such ground as
I
deem best calculated to restore peace, harmony,
and prosperity
to the country, and tend
to
the
perpetuity of the nation and the liberty of these
States
and
these
people.
Your worthy mayor
has expressed the wish, in which I join with him,
that
it were convenient for me to remain in your
city long enough to consult your merchants and
manufacturers;
or, as
it were, to listen to those
breathings
rising
within
the
consecrated
walls
wherein
the
Constitution
of the United
States,
and,
I will add, the Declaration of Independence,
were
originally
framed and adopted.
I
assure
you and your m.ayor that I had hoped on this oc-
casion, and upon
all
occasions during my
life,
that
I
shall
do
nothing
inconsistent
with
the
teachings of
these holy and most sacred
walls.
I have never asked anything that does not breathe
from those walls.
All my political warfare has
been
in favor of the teachings that come
forth
1 86 1
]
AT PHILADELPHIA
1 2
from these sacred walls.
May my right hand for-
get
its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof
of my mouth if ever I prove false to those teach-
ings.
Fellow-citizens,
I
have
addressed
you
longer than
I expected to do, and now allow me
to bid you good-night.
The
Declaration
of
Independence:
Not
for
One Age and Country
Only,
but
for
All
Time and the Whole World.
Address
in
Independence
Hall,
Phila-
delphia.
February 22,
1861.
Mr.
Ciiyler:
I am
filled with deep emotion
at
finding myself standing in this place, where were
collected
together
the
wisdom,
the
patriotism,
the devotion to principle, from which sprang the
institutions
under
which we
live.
You
have
kindly suggested to me that
in my hands
is the
task of restoring peace to our distracted country.
I can say in return, sir, that all the political senti-
ments
I
entertain have been drawn,
so
far as I
have been
able
to draw
them, from
the
senti-
ments which originated in and were given to the
world from this hall.
I have never had a feeling
politically,
that
did
not
spring from
the
senti-
ments embodied in the Declaration of Independ-
ence.
I have often pondered over the dangers
which were incurred by the men who assembled
here and framed and adopted
that Declaration.
I
have
pondered
over
the
toils
that
were
endured
by
the
officers
and
soldiers
of
the
army who achieved
that independence.
I have
often inquired of myself what great principle or
idea
it was
that kept
this Confederacy so long
122
SPEECHES
[Feb. 22
together.
It was not the mere matter of sepa-
ration of the colonies from the motherland, but
that
sentiment
in the
Declaration of Independ-
ence which gave
liberty not alone to the people
of this country, but hope to all the world, for
all
future
time.
It was
that which gave promise
that
in
due
time
the
weights would
be
lifted
from the shoulders of all men, and that all should
have
an
equal
chance.
This
is
the
sentiment
embodied
in
the
Declaration
of
Independence.
Now, my
friends, can this country be saved on
that basis?
If
it can,
I will consider myself one
of the happiest men in the world if I can help to
save
it.
If
it cannot be saved upon that principle,
it will be truly awful.
But
if this country can-
not be saved without giving up that principle,
I
was about to say
I would rather be assassinated
on this spot than surrender
it.
Now, in my view
of the present aspect of affairs, there
is no need
of bloodshed and war.
There is no necessity for
it.
I am not in favor of such a course
; and I may
say
in advance that there will be no bloodshed
unless
it
is
forced upon the government.
The
government
will not use
force,
unless
force
is
used against
it.
My
friends,
this
is
wholly
an
unprepared
speech.
I did not expect to be called on to say a
word when
I
came
here.
I
supposed
I
was
merely to do something toward raising a flag.
I
may,
therefore, have
said something
indiscreet.
[Cries of ''No, no."]
But
I have
said nothing
but what I am willing to live by, and, if
it be the
pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.
i86i]
AT PHILADELPHIA
123
New Stars for the Flag.
Address on Raising a Flag over Independ-
ence
Hall^
Philadelphia.
February
22^
1861.
Fellow-citizens: I am invited and called before
you to participate in raising above Independence
Hall the flag of our country, with an additional
star upon
it."^
I propose now, in advance of per-
forming
this
very
pleasant and complimentary
duty, to say a few words.
I propose to say that
when the
flag was originally raised here,
it had
but thirteen stars.
I wish to
call your attention
to the fact that, under the blessing of God, each
additional star added to that flag has given addi-
tional prosperity and happiness
to
this country,
until
it
has advanced
to
its
present
condition;
and
its welfare in the
future,
as well as
in the
past,
is in your hands.
Cultivating the spirit that
animated
our
fathers, who
gave
renown
and
celebrity
to
this
hall,
cherishing
that
fraternal
feeling which has so long characterized us
as a
nation, excluding passion,
ill temper, and precipi-
tate
action
on
all
occasions,
I
think we may
promise
ourselves
that
not
only
the new
star
placed upon
that
flag
shall be permitted
to
re-
main there to our permanent prosperity for years
to come, but additional ones
shall from time to
time be placed there until we shall number, as
it
was anticipated by the great historian,
five hun-
dred millions of happy and prosperous people.
With these few remarks I proceed to the very
agreeable duty assigned to me.
* Kansas, admitted into the Union, January 29,
1861.
124
SPEECHES
IFeb. 22
A Friend of Peace.
Reply to Governor Curtin of Pennsylvania,
AT Harrisburg.
February
22,
1861.
Governor Curtin and Citizens of the State of
Pennsylvania:
Perhaps
the
best
thing
that
I
could do would be simply to indorse the patriotic
and
eloquent
speech which
your
governor
has
just made in your hearing.
I am quite sure that
I am unable to address to you anything so appro-
priate as that which he has uttered.
Reference has been made by him to the distrac-
tion of the public mind
at this time and to the
great task that
is before me in entering upon the
administration
of
the
General
Government.
With all the eloquence and ability that your gov-
ernor brings to
this theme,
I am
quite sure he
does not—in his situation he cannot—appreciate
as
I do the weight of that great
responsibility.
I
feel
that, under
God,
in the
strength
of the
arms and wisdom of the heads of these masses,
after
all, must be my support.
As
I have often
had occasion to say,
I repeat to you—I am quite
sure
I do not deceive myself when
I
tell you
I
bring to the work an honest heart
; I dare not tell
you that
I bring a head
sufficient for
it.
If my
own strength should
fail, I shall at least fall back
upon these masses, who,
I think, under any cir-
cumstances will not
fail.
Allusion has been made to the peaceful prin-
ciples upon which this great commonwealth was
originally settled.
Allow me to add my meed of
praise
to
those peaceful
principles.
I hope no
one of the Friends who originally
settled
here,
or who lived here
since that time, or who lives
here now, has been or
is a more devoted lover of
i86i]
TO PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE
125
peace, harmony, and
concord than my humble
self.
While
I
have been proud
to
see
to-day
the
finest
military
array,
I
think,
that
I have ever
seen, allow me to
say,
in regard
to those men,
that they give hope of what may be done when
war
is
inevitable.
But,
at the same time, allow
me to express the hope that
in the shedding of
blood their
services may never be needed, espe-
cially in the shedding of fraternal blood.
It shall
be my endeavor
to preserve
the peace
of
this
country
so
far
as
it can possibly be done con-
sistently with the maintenance of the institutions
of the country.
With my consent, or without my
great
displeasure,
this country
shall
never
wit-
ness the shedding of one drop of blood
in
fra-
ternal strife.
And now, my
fellow-citizens, as
I have made
m.any
speeches,
will you
allow me
to
bid you
forewell ?
In the Hands of the People.
Address
to
the
Legislature
of
Pennsyl-
vania,
AT
Harrisburg.
February
22,
1861.
Mr.
Speaker
of
the
Senate,
and
also
Mr.
Speaker
of
the House
of Representatives, and
Gentlemen of the General Assembly of the State
of Pennsylvania:
I appear before you
only
for
a very few
brief remarks
in response
to what
has been said to me.
I thank you most sincerely
for
this
reception,
and
the
generous words
in
which support has been promised me upon
this
occasion.
I thank your great commonwealth for
126
SPEECHES
EFeb. 22
the overwhelming support
it
recently gave, not
me personally, but the cause which I think a just
one, in the late election.
Allusion has been made
to the
fact—the
in-
teresting fact perhaps we should say—that
I for
the
first time appear at the capital of the great
commonwealth of Pennsylvania upon the birth-
day of the Father of his Country.
In connection
with that beloved anniversary connected with the
history
of
this
country,
I
have
already
gone
through
one
exceedingly
interesting
scene
this
morning
in
the
ceremonies
at
Philadelphia.
Under
the
kind conduct
of gentlemen
there,
I
was
for
the
first time allowed the
privilege of
standing in old Independence Hall to have a few
words addressed to me there, and opening up to
me an opportunity of manifesting my deep regret
that I had not more time to express something of
my own
feelings
excited by
the
occasion,
that
had
been
really
the
feelings
of
my
whole
life.
Besides
this, our
friends there had provided
a magnificent flag of the country.
They had ar-
ranged
it so that
I was given the honor of raising
it to the head of
its staff, and when
it went up I
was
pleased
that
it
went
to
its
place by
the
strength of my own feeble arm.
When, accord-
ing to the arrangement, the cord was pulled, and
it floated gloriously to the wind, without an acci-
dent,
in
the
bright,
glowing
sunshine
of
the
morning,
I could not help hoping that there was
in the entire success of that beautiful ceremony
at least something of an omen of what is to come.
Nor could
I help
feeling then, as
I have often
felt, that
in the whole of that proceeding
I was
a very humble instrument.
I had not provided
i86i]
TO PENNSYLVANIA LEGISLATURE
127
the
flag;
I had not made the arrangements
for
elevating
it to
its place
;
I had applied but a very
small portion of even my feeble strength in rais-
ing
it.
In
the whole
transaction
I was
in the
hands of the people who had arranged
it, and if
I can have the same generous cooperation of the
people of this nation, I think the flag of our coun-
try may yet be kept flaunting gloriously.
I recur for a moment but to repeat some words
uttered at the hotel
in regard to what has been
said about the military support which the General
Government may expect from the commonwealth
of
Pennsylvania
in
a
proper
emergency.
To
guard against any possible mistake do
I recur to
this.
It
is not with any pleasure that I contem-
plate the possibility that a necessity may arise in
this
country
for
the
use
of
the
military
arm.
While I am exceedingly gratified to see the mani-
festation upon your streets of your military force
here, and exceedingly
gratified
at your promise
to
use
that
force upon
a proper emergency
wdiile
I make these acknowledgments
I desire to
repeat,
in
order
to
preclude any
possible
mis-
construction, that
I do most sincerely hope that
we shall have no use for them
; that
it will never
become their duty to shed blood, and most espe-
cially never to shed
fraternal blood.
I promise
that
so
far
as
I may have wisdom to
direct,
if
so painful a result shall in any wdse be brought
about,
it shall be through no fault of mine.
Allusion
has
recently
been made
by one
of
I
your honored speakers to some remarks recently
made by myself at Pittsburg in regard to what is
supposed to be the especial interest of this great
commonwealth
of
Pennsylvania.
I now
wish
only to say in regard to that matter, that the few
128
SPEECHES
[Feb. 28
remarks which
I uttered on that occasion were
rather carefully worded.
I took pains that they
should be
so.
I have seen no occasion
since to
add to them or subtract from them.
I leave them
precisely as they stand, adding onlynow that I am
pleased to have an expression from you, gentle-
men
of
Pennsylvania,
signifying
that they
are
satisfactory to you.
And now, gentlemen of the General Assembly
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, allow me
again to return to you my most sincere thanks.
Enmity between North and South Due to a
Misunderstanding.
Reply to the Mayor of Washington, D. C
February 2^,
1861.
Mr. Mayor: I thank you, and through you the
municipal
authorities
of
this
city who
accom-
pany you, for this welcome.
And as
it is the first
time in my life, since the present phase of politics
has presented
itself
in this country, that
I have
said anything publicly within a region of country
where
the
institution
of
slavery
exists,
I
will
take this occasion to say that
I think very much
of the
ill
feeling that has existed and
still exists
between the people
in the section from which
I
came and the people
here,
is dependent upon a
misunderstanding of one
another.
I
therefore
avail myself of
this opportunity to assure you,
Mr. Mayor, and all the gentlemen present, that
I
have
not now, and never have
had, any
other
than
as
kindly
feelings
toward you
as
to
the
people of my own section.
I have not now, and
never
have
had,
any
disposition
to
treat you
i86i]
REPLY TO SERENADE
129
in
any
respect
otherwise
than
as
my
own
neighbors.
I
have
not
now
any
purpose
to
withhold
from you any
of
the
benefits
of
the
Constitution,
under
any
circumstances,
that
I
would
not
feel
myself
constrained
to withhold
from my own neighbors
; and
I hope, in a word,
that when we
shall become
better acquainted
and
I say
it with great confidence—we shall like
each other better.
I thank you for the kindness
of this reception.
President of the Whole Country.
Reply to a Serenade at Washington, D. C.
February 28,
1861.
My Friends: I suppose that I may take this as
a compliment paid to me, and as such please ac-
cept my thanks for
it.
I have reached this city
of Washington under circumstances considerably
differing from those under which any other man
has ever reached
it.
I am here for the purpose
of taking an
official position amongst the people,
almost
all of whom were
politically opposed to
me, and are yet opposed to me, as I suppose.
I propose no lengthy address to you.
I only
propose to say, as
I did on yesterday, when your
worthy
mayor
and
board
of
aldermen
called
upon me, that
I thought much of the
ill
feeling
that has existed between you and the people of
I
your surroundings and that people from among
I whom
I came, has depended, and now depends,
upon a misunderstanding.
I hope that, if things shall go along as prosper-
ously as
I believe we
all desire they may,
I may
'
have
it in my power to remove something of this
130
SPEECHES
misunderstanding; that I may be enabled to con-
vince you, and the people of your section of the
country, that we regard you as in
all things our
equals, and in
all things entitled to the same re-
spect and the same treatment that we claim
for
ourselves
; that we are in no wise disposed,
if
it
were
in our power,
to oppress you,
to deprive
you of any of your rights under the Constitution
of the United
States, or even narrowly to
split
hairs with you in regard to these rights, but are
determined
to
give
you,
as
far
as
lies
in our
hands,
all your
rights under the Constitution
not
grudgingly,
but
fully
and
fairly.
I
hope
that, by thus dealing with you, we will become
better acquainted, and be better friends.
And now, my friends, with these few remarks,
and again returning my thanks
for this compli-
ment, and expressing my desire to hear
a
little
more of your good music, I bid you good-night.
Presidential Addresses
First Inaugural Address.*
Delivered at Washington, D.
C.
March
4,
1861.
Fellow-citizens of the United States: In com-
pliance with a custom as old as the government
itself,
I appear before you to address you briefly,
and to take in your presence the oath prescribed
by the
Constitution of the United
States
to be
taken by the President ''before he enters on the
execution of his
office."
* Lincoln wrote and privately printed a tentative draft of
the
message
while
at
Springfield,
111.
On
his
way
to Washington he gave a copy to his friend O. H. Brown-
ing,
at
Indianapolis,
who
suggested
that
the
statement
therein
that
Lincoln
would
"reclaim"
the
Federal
prop-
erty
in
the hand
of
the
secessionists
should be
omitted,
as
subject
to
construction
as
a
threat,
and
as
such
un-
necessarily aggravating to the South.
This suggestion the
President
adopted.
On arriving
at Washington, Mr.
Lin-
coln gave a copy of the draft to Mr. Seward, his appointee
as
Secretary
of
State.
Mr.
Seward
suggested
two
im-
portant
changes,
one
that was
virtually
Mr.
Browning's
emendation, and the other, the omission of a statement that
the
President would
follow
the
principles
of
the
Repub-
lican platform.
Referring
to the
latter, he reminded Lin-
coln
that Jefferson,
at
a
similar
crisis when
the opposing
party
sought
to
dismember
the
Government,
"sank
the
partisan
in
the
patriot
in
his
inaugural
address,
and
propitiated
his
adversaries
by
declaring
:
'We
are
all
Federalists,
all
Republicans.' "
Most
of
Seward's
other
suggestions
related
to
improvements
in
rhetoric.
His
"general remarks" were as follows
:
"The
argument
is
strong
and
conclusive,
and
ought
not
to
be
in
any way
abridged
or
modified.
"But something
besides
or
in
addition
to argument
is
133
134
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
I do not consider
it necessary
at present
for
me
to
discuss
those
matters
of
administration
about which there
is no special anxiety or excite-
ment.
Apprehension seems to exist among the people
of the Southern States that by the accession of
a Republican
administration their property and
their peace and personal
security are to be en-
dangered.
There has never been any reasonable
cause
for such apprehension.
Indeed, the most
ample evidence to the contrary has
all the v^hile
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
'T
have no purpose, directly or
indirectly, to inter-
needful
to meet and remove prejudice and passion
in the
South, and despondency in the
East.
"Some words
of
affection—some
of calm and
cheerful
confidence."
Mr.
Seward
submitted two
paragraphs
of
his
own,
as
suggestions
for
closing
the
speech
in
a
conciliatory and
cheerful
manner.
The
second
was
in
that
poetic
vein
which
occasionally
cropped
out
in
Seward s
speeches
and
writings, and over which Lincoln on
better acquaint-
ance
was
wont
good-naturedly
to
rally
him.
Seward
wrote
:
"I close.
We are not, we must not be, aliens or enemies,
but
fellow-countrymen
and
brethren.
Although
passion
has
strained
our
bonds
of
affection
too
hardly,
they
must not.
I am sure they will not, be broken.
The mystic
chords
which,
proceeding from
so many
battlefields
and
so many
patriot
graves,
pass through
all
the
hearts and
all hearths
in
this broad continent
of
ours,
will
yet again
harmonize
in
their ancient music when breathed upon by
the guardian angel
of the nation."
Lincoln took
this paragraph, and by deft touches which
reveal
a
literary
taste
beyond
that
of
any
statesman
of
his
time,
transformed
it
into
his
peroration.
More than
anything
else
in the address,
it was the tender
spirit and
chaste
beauty
of
these
closing words
that
convinced
the
people
that
Lincoln
measured
up
to
the
high
mental
stature
demanded
of
one
who
was
to
be
their
leader
during the most critical period of the life of the nation.
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
135
fere with the institution of slavery in the States
where
it exists.
I beheve 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
re-
canted them.
And, more than
this, they placed
in the platform for my acceptance, and as a law
to themselves and to me, the clear and emphatic
resolution which I now read
:
Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights
of the States, and especially the right of each State to
order and control its own domestic institutions accord-
ing to
its own judgment exclusively,
is essential to that
balance
of
power
on
which
the
perfection
and
en-
durance of our political fabric depend, and we denounce
the lawless invasion by armed force of the
soil of any
State or
Territory, no matter under what
pretext,
as
among the gravest of crimes.
I now reiterate these sentiments
; and, in doing
so,
I
only
press upon
the
public
attention
the
most
conclusive
evidence
of which
the
case
is
susceptible, that the property, peace, and security
of no section are to be
in any wise endangered
by the now incoming administration.
I add, too,
that
all
the
protection which,
consistently
w^ith
the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will
be cheerfully given to
all the
States when law-
fully demanded,
for whatever cause—as cheer-
fully to one section as to another.
There
is much controversy about the deliver-
ing 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
con-
136
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
sequence of any law or regulation therein be discharged
from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on
claim of the party to whom such
service or labor may
be due.
It
is
scarcely
questioned
that
this
provision
was
intended by those who made
it
for the
re-
claiming of what we call fugitive slaves
; and the
intention of the lawgiver
is the law.
All mem-
bers
of
Congress
swear
their
support
to
the
whole
Constitution—to
this
provision
as much
as to any other.
To the proposition, then, that
slaves whose cases come within the terms of this
clause
''shall
be
delivered
up,"
their
oaths
are
unanimous.
Now,
if they would make the effort
in good temper, could they not with nearly equal
unanimity frame and pass a law by means of
which to keep good that unanimous oath?
There
is some
difference of opinion whether
this clause should be enforced by national or by
State
authority;
but
surely
that
difference
is
not
a very material
one.
If the
slave
is to be
surrendered,
it can be of but
little consequence
to him or to others by which authority
it
is done.
And should anyone
in any case be content that
his oath
shall go unkept on a merely unsubstan-
tial controversy as to how
it shall be kept ?
Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not
all the safeguards of
liberty known
in
civilized
and humane jurisprudence to be introduced,
so
that a free man be not, in any case, surrendered
as a slave ?
And might
it not be well at the same
time to provide by law
for the enforcement of
that clause in the Constitution which guarantees
that "the citizen of each State shall be entitled to
all
privileges and immunities
of
citizens
in the
several States."
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
137
I take the
official oath to-day with no mental
reservations,
and
with no purpose
to
construe
the
Constitution
or
laws
by
any
hypercritical
rules.
And while I do not choose now to specify
particular acts of Congress
as proper to be en-
forced,
I do suggest that
it
will be much
safer
for
all, both
in
official and
private
stations,
to
conform
to and
abide by
all
those
acts which
stand unrepealed, than
to
violate any of them,
trusting
to
find
impunity
in having them
held
to be unconstitutional.
It is seventy-two years since the first inaugura-
tion of a President under our National Constitu-
tion.
During
that
period
fifteen
different and
greatly distinguished citizens have, in succession,
administered the executive branch of the govern-
ment.
They
have
conducted
it through many
perils,
and
generally
with
great
success.
Yet,
with all this scope of precedent, I now enter upon
the same task for the brief constitutional term of
four
years
under
great and
peculiar
difficulty.
A
disruption of
the
Federal Union,
heretofore
only menaced,
is now formidably attempted.
I hold that,
in contemplation of universal law
and
of
the
Constitution,
the
Union
of
these
States
is perpetual.
Perpetuity
is implied,
if not
expressed, in the fundamental law of all national
governments.
It is safe to assert that no govern-
ment proper ever had a provision
in
its organic
law
for
its own termination.
Continue to exe-
cute
all the express
provisions of our National
Constitution, and the Union will endure forever
—it being impossible to destroy
it except by some
action not provided
for
in the instrument
itself.
Again,
if the United
States be not a govern-
ment proper, but an association of States in the
138
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
nature of contract merely, can
it, as a contract,
be peaceably unmade by less than
all the parties
who made it?
One party to a contract may vio-
late
it—break
it, so to speak
; but does
it not re-
quire all to lawfully rescind it?
Descending from these general
principles, we
find the proposition that,
in
legal contemplation
the Union
is perpetual confirmed by the history
of the Union
itself.
The Union
is m.uch older
than the
Constitution.
It was
formed,
in
fact,
by the Articles of Association
in
1774.
It was
matured
and
continued
by
the
Declaration
of
Independence
in
1776.
It was further matured,
and the
faith of
all the then thirteen States ex-
pressly
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 Con-
stitution was
''to form
a more perfect Union."
But
if the destruction of the Union by one or
by a part only of the States be lawfully possible,
the Union
is less perfect than before the Consti-
tution, having lost the vital element of perpetuity.
It follows from these views that no State upon
its own mere motion can lawfully get out of the
Union ; that resolves and ordinances to that effect
are legally void
; and that acts of violence, within
any State or States, against the authority of the
United
States, are insurrectionary or revolution-
ary, according to circumstances.
I therefore consider that, in view of the Con-
stitution 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 exe-
cuted in all the States.
Doing this
I deem to be
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
139
only a simple duty on my part; and
I
shall per-
form
it so
far as practicable, unless my rightful
masters, the American people, shall withhold the
requisite means, or in some authoritative manner
direct the contrary.
I
triist this will not be
re-
garded as a menace, but only as the declared pur-
pose
of
the Union
that
it
will
constitutionally
defend and maintain itself.
In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed
or violence
; and there shall be none, unless
it be
forced upon the national authority.
The power
confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and
possess the property and places belonging to the
government, and
to
collect
the
duties and
im-
posts
;
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
in-
terior
locality, shall be so great and universal as
to prevent competent resident citizens from hold-
ing 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
ii? every case and exi-
I40
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
gency my best discretion will be exercised accord-
ing to circumstances actually
existing, and with
a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the
national troubles and the restoration of fraternal
sympathies and
afifections.
That there
are persons
in one
section or an-
other who seek to destroy the Union at all events,
and are glad of any pretext to do
it, I will neither
affirm nor deny;
but
if
there be
such,
I
need
address no word
to them.
To
those, however,
who really love the Union may I not speak ?
Before entering upon so grave a matter as the
destruction
of our
national
fabric,
with
all
its
benefits,
its
memiories, and
its
hopes, would
it
not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it?
Will you hazard so desperate a step while there
is any possibility that any portion of the
ills you
fly
from
have
no
real
existence?
Will
you,
while the certain
ills you
fly to are greater than
all the real ones you
fly from—will you risk the
commission of so fearful a mistake?
All profess to be content
in the Union
if
all
constitutional
rights
can
be
maintained.
Is
it
true, then, that any
right, plainly written
in the
Constitution,
has
been
denied?
I
think
not.
Happily the human mind
is so constituted that no
party can
reach
to
the audacity of doing
this.
Think,
if you can, of a single instance
in which
a
plainly
written
provision
of
the
Constitution
has ever been denied.
If by the mere force of
numbers a majority should deprive a minority of
any clearly written constitutional right,
it might,
in a moral point of view, justify revolution—cer-
tainly 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
as-
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
141
sured
to them
by
affirmations
and
negations,
guarantees and prohibitions,
in the Constitution,
that controversies never
arise concerning them.
But no organic
lav/ can ever be framed with a
provision
specifically
applicable
to
every
ques-
tion which may occur in practical administration.
No
foresight can
anticipate, nor any document
of reasonable length contain, express provisions
for
all possible questions.
Shall
fugitives from
labor
be
surrendered
by
national
or
by
State
authority?
The Constitution does not expressly
say.
May Congress prohibit slavery in the Ter-
ritories?
The
Constitution
does
not
expressly
say.
Must Congress protect slavery in the Terri-
tories?
The
Constitution
does
not
expressly
say.
From
questions
of
this
class
spring
all our
constitutional controversies, and we divide upon
them into majorities and minorities.
If the mi-
nority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or
the government must
cease.
There
is no other
alternative
;
for
continuing
the
government
is
acquiescence on one side or the other.
If a minority
in such case
will secede rather
than acquiesce, they make a precedent which
in
turn will divide and ruin them
; for a minority of
their own
will
secede
from them whenever
a
majority refuses to be controlled by such minor-
ity.
For instance, why may not any portion of a
new confederacy a year or two hence arbitrarily
secede again, precisely as portions of the present
Union now claim
to secede from
it?
All who
cherish disunion sentiments are now being edu-
cated to the exact temper of doing this.
Is
there
such
perfect
identity
of
interests
among the States to compose a new Union, as to
142
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
produce
harmony
only,
and
prevent
renewed
secession ?
Plainly,
the
central
idea
of
secession
is
the
essence of anarchy. A majority held in restraint
by constitutional checks and limitations, and
al-
ways changing easily with deliberate changes of
popular opinions and sentiments,
is the only true
sovereign of a
free people.
Whoever
rejects
it
does, of necessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism.
Unanimity
is impossible
; the rule of a minority,
as a permanent arrangement,
is wholly inadmis-
sible;
so
that,
rejecting the majority
principle,
anarchy
or
despotism
in some form
is
all
that
is left.
I do not forget the position, assumed by some,
that
constitutional
questions
are
to
be
decided
by the Supreme Court; nor do
I deny that such
decisions must be binding, in any case, upon the
parties
to a
suit,
as
to the
object
of
that
suit,
while they are also entitled to very high respect
and consideration in all parallel cases by all other
departments of the government.
And while
it
is
obviously
possible
that
such
decision may
be
erroneous
in any given case,
still the
evil
efifect
following
it, being limited to that particular case,
with
the
chance
that
it may be
overruled and
neyer become a precedent
for other
cases,
can
better be borne than could the evils of a different
practice.
At
the same
time, the candid
citizen
must confess that if the policy of the government,
upon
vital questions
affecting the whole people,
is
to
be
irrevocably
fixed by
decisions
of
the
Supreme
Court,
the
instant
they
are made,
in
ordinary
litigation
between
parties
in
personal
actions, the people
will have ceased to be
their
own
rulers,
having
to
that
extent
practically
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
143
resigned their government into the hands of that
eminent tribunal.
Nor
is there in this view any
assault upon
the
court
or
the
judges.
It
is
a
duty from which they may not shrink to decide
cases properly brought before them, and
it
is no
fault of theirs
if others seek to turn their
deci-
sions to
political purposes.
One section of our country believes slavery
is
right, and ought to be extended, while the other
believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended.
This
is the only substantial
dispute.
The
fugi-
tive-slave clause of the Constitution, and the law
for
the
suppression
of
the
foreign
slave-trade,
are each
as well enforced, perhaps,
as any law
can
ever be
in
a community where
the moral
sense of the people imperfectly supports the law
itself.
The great body of the people abide by
the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few
break over in each.
This, I think, cannot be per-
fectly cured
; and
it would be worse in both cases
after the separation of the sections than before.
The
foreign
slave-trade, now
imperfectly
sup-
pressed,
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 coun-
try cannot do this.
They cannot but remain face
to
face, and intercourse, either amicable or hos-
tile, must continue between them.
Is
it possible,
then, to make that intercourse more advantageous
144
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
or more
satisfactory
after
separation
than
be-
fore?
Can
aliens
make
treaties
easier
than
friends can make laws?
Can
treaties be more
faithfully enforced between aliens than laws can
among
friends?
Suppose you go
to war, you
cannot
fight always; and when, after much
loss
on both
sides, and no gain on
either, you cease
fighting, the identical old questions as to terms of
intercourse are again upon you.
This
country,
with
its
institutions,
belongs
to
the
people who
inhabit
it.
Whenever
they
shall grow weary
of
the
existing
government,
they
can
exercise
their
constitutional
right
of
amending
it, or their revolutionary right to
dis-
member or overthrow
it.
I cannot be ignorant of
the fact that many worthy and patriotic citizens
are desirous of having the National Constitution
amended.
While
I make no recommendation of
amendm^ents,
I
fully recognize the
rightful
au-
thority of the people over the whole subject, to be
exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the
instrument
itself; and
I
should, under
existing
circumstances,
favor rather than oppose
a
fair
opportunity being aflforded the people to act upon
it.
I will venture to add that to me the conven-
tion mode
seems
preferable,
in
that
it
allows
amendments
to originate with the people them-
selves,
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 pro-
posed
amendment
to
the
Constitution—which
amendment,
however,
I
have
not
seen—has
passed
Congress,
to the
effect
that
the Federal
Government
shall
never
interfere with
the
do-
i86i]
FIRST INAUGURAL
H5
mestic
institutions of
the
States,
including that
of persons held to service.
To avoid misconstruc-
tion of what
I have said,
I depart from my pur-
pose not
to speak of particular amendments so
far
as
to
say
that, holding such
a provision to
now
be
implied
constitutional
law,
I
have
no
objection
to
its being made
express and
irrev-
ocable.
The chief magistrate derives
all his authority
from the people, and they have conferred none
upon him to
fix terms
for the separation of the
States.
The people themselves can do this also
if they choose
; but the
executive,
as
such, has
nothing to do with
it.
His duty
is to administer
the present government, as
it came to his hands,
and to transmit
it, unimpaired by him, to his suc-
cessor.
Why should there not be a patient confidence
in the ultimate
justice of the people?
Is there
any better or equal hope in the v.^orld?
In our
present
differences
is
either party without
faith
of being in the right?
If the Almighty Ruler of
Nations,
with
his
eternal
truth and
justice, be
on your
side of the North, or on yours of the
South,
that
truth
and
that
justice
will
surely
prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of
the American people.
By the frame of the government under which
we live, this same people have wisely given their
public servants but little power for mischief
; and
have, with equal wisdom, provided for the return
of
that
little
to
their own hands
at very
short
intervals.
While
the people
retain
their
virtue
and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme
of wickedness or
folly, can very seriously injure
the government in the short space of four years.
t46
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 5
My countrymen, one and
all, think calmly and
well upon this whole subject.
Nothing valuable
can be lost by taking time.
If there be an object
to hurry any of you in hot haste to a step which
you would
never
take
deliberately,
that
object
will be
frustrated by taking time
; but no good
object can be frustrated by
it.
Such of you as
are now
dissatisfied,
still have the old Constitu-
tion unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the
laws of your own framing under
it; while the
new
administration
will
have
no
immediate
power,
if
it would, to change either.
If
it were
admitted that you who are
dissatisfied hold the
right
side
in the
dispute, there
still
is no
single
good reason for precipitate action.
Intelligence,
patriotism,
Christianity, and
a
firm
reliance on
Him who has never
yet
forsaken
this
favored
land, are
still competent to adjust in the best way
all our present difficulty.
In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-country-
men, and not in mine,
is the momentous issue of
civil war.
The government
will not
assail you.
You can have no conflict without being yourselves
the aggressors.
You have no oath registered
in
heaven to destroy the government, while
I
shall
have the most solemn one to ''preserve, protect,
and defend
it."
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but
friends. We must not be enemies.
Though pas-
sion may have
strained,
it must not break our
bonds of affection.
The mystic chords of mem-
ory, stretching from every battle-field and patriot
grave to every
living heart and hearthstone
all
over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of
the Union when
again touched,
as
surely they
will be, by the better angels of our nature.
i86i]
TO STATE DELEGATIONS
147
Remarks upon
Sectionalism
to Pennsylvania
and Massachusetts Delegations.
On March
5,
1861, two
delegations,
one
of
citizens
of
Pennsylvania, and one of
citizens
of Massachusetts,
called
upon
President
Lincoln
with
assurances
of
popular support.
His responses were as follows:
To THE Pennsylvania Delegation.
Allusion has been made to the hope that you
entertain that you have a President and a gov-
ernment.
In respect to that
I wish to say to you
that in the position
I have assumed
I wish to do
more than
I have ever given reason to believe
I
would do.
I do not wish you to believe that
I
assume
to be any
better than others who have
gone
before
me.
I
prefer
rather
to
have
it
understood
that,
if we ever have a government
on the principles we profess, we should remem-
ber, while we
exercise our
opinion,
that others
have also rights to the exercise of their opinions,
and
that we
should
endeavor
to
allow
these
rights, and act in such a manner as to create no
bad
feeling.
I hope we have a government and
a President.
I hope, and wish
it to be under-
stood, that there may be no allusion to unpleasant
differences.
We must remember that the people of
all the
States are
entitled
to
all the privileges and im-
munities
of
the
citizens
of
the
several
States.
We should bear
this in mind, and act in such a
way
as
to say
nothing
insulting and
irritating.
I would inculcate this idea, so that we may not,
like Pharisees,
set ourselves up to be better than
other people.
148
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Apr. 13
To THE Massachusetts Delegation.
I am thankful
for this renewed assurance of
kind feeHng and confidence, and the support of
the old Bay State, in so far as you, Mr. Chairman,
have
expressed,
in
behalf
of
those whom you
represent, your sanction of what
I have enunci-
ated in my inaugural address.
This is very grate-
ful to my feelings.
The object was one of great
delicacy,
in presenting views
at the opening of
an
administration
under
the
peculiar
circum-
stances
attending my entrance upon
the
official
duties connected with the government.
I studied
all the points with great anxiety, and presented
them with whatever of ability and sense of jus-
tice
I could bring to bear.
That
it met the ap-
probation of our good friends in Massachusetts,
I am
exceedingly
gratified, and
I hope
it
will
meet the approbation of
friends everywhere.
I
am thankful
for
the
expressions
of those who
have voted with us
; and, like every man of you,
I
like them as certainly as
I do others.
As the
President
in
the
administration of
the govern-
ment,
I hope to be man enough not to know one
citizen of the United States from another, or one
section
from
another.
I
shall
be
gratified
to
have good
friends of Massachusetts and others
who have thus far supported me in these national
views
still to support me in carrying them out.
Remarks on Executive Policy to a Committee
from the Virginia Convention.
On April
13,
1861,
William
Ballard
Preston,
Alex-
ander H. H,
Stuart, and George W.
Randolph
waited
on
President
Lincoln
as
a committee from
the
Vir-
i86i]
TO VIRGINIA COMMITTEE
149
ginia
Convention,
and
presented
the
request
of
the
Convention
(authorized
April
8,
1861)
that
he com-
municate
to
it
"the
policy
which
the
Federal
Execu-
tive
intends
to
pursue
in
regard
to
the
Confederate
States."
The President replied:
In answer
I have
to say
that, having
at the
beginning of my
official term expressed my
in-
tended poHcy as plainly as
I was able,
it
is with
deep
regret and some mortification
I now learn
that there
is
great and
injurious uncertainty
in
the
public mind
as
to what
that
policy
is, and
what course
I intend to pursue.
Not having as
yet seen occasion
to change,
it
is now my pur-
pose to pursue the course marked out
in the
in-
augural address.
I commend a careful consider-
ation of the whole document as the best expres-
sion
I can give of my purposes.
As I then and therein said, I now repeat
: "The
power confided to me
will be used to hold,
oc-
cupy,
and
possess
the
property and
places
be-
longing
to
the
government,
and
to
collect
the
duties and imposts
; but beyond what is necessary
for these
objects, there
will be no invasion, no
using of force against or among the people any-
where."
By the words
' 'property and places be-
longing to the government,"
I
chiefly
allude
to
the military posts and property which were in the
possession
of the government when
it came
to
my hands.
But if, as now appears to be true, in pursuit of
a purpose
to
drive the United
States authority
from
these
places,
an unprovoked
assault
has
been made upon Fort Sumter, I shall hold myself
at liberty to repossess,
if
I can, like places which
had been seized before the government was de-
volved upon me.
And in every event
I
shall, to
150
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. lo
the
extent of my
ability,
repel
force by
force.
In case
it proves true that Fort Sumter has been
assaulted,
as
is
reported,
I
shall perhaps cause
the United
States
mails
to be withdrawn from
all the
States which claim
to have seceded, be-
lieving
that
the commencement
of
actual war
against
the
government
justifies
and
possibly
demands this.
I scarcely need to say that
I consider the mili-
tary posts and property situated within the States
which claim to have seceded as yet belonging to
the government of the United States as much as
they did before the supposed secession.
Whatever
else
I may do
for
the
purpose,
I
shall
not attempt
to
collect
the
duties and
im-
posts by any armed invasion of any part of the
country;
not meaning by
this, however,
that
I
may not land a force deemed necessary to relieve
a
fort upon a border of the country.
From the fact that
I have quoted a part of the
inaugural address,
it must not be inferred that
I
repudiate any other part, the whole of which
I
reaffirm, except so far as what
I now say of the
mails may be regarded as a modification.
Conference
on
Compensated
Emancipation
w^ith Border
State
Delegations.
On
March
lo,
1862,
delegations
from
the
border
slave
States
of
Delaware,
Maryland,
Virginia,
Ken-
tucky,
and
Missouri
waited
on
President
Lincoln
in
response
to
his
request
for
a conference upon com-
pensated emancipation,
the
subject
of his recent mes-
sage
to Congress
(see Message
to Congress, March
6,
1862).
At the close of the conference the Hon.
J. W.
Cris-
field, a delegate from Maryland, retired to his room and
wrote
out
his
recollections
of what had taken
place.
i862]
TO BORDER STATE DELEGATES
151
The
accuracy
of
his
report
was
attested
by
three
other delegates.
With some sHght editing of the form,
though not the substance
of
his
statements, Mr.
Cris-
field's account
is as follows:
The President
said
that,
since he had
sent
in
his message of the 6th, several of the gentlemen
present
had
visited
him,
but had
avoided
any
allusion to the message, and he therefore inferred
that
its import had been misunderstood, and was
regarded
as
inimical
to the
interests we
repre-
sented
; and therefore he had resolved to talk with
us,
and
disabuse
our minds
of
that
erroneous
opinion.
He disclaimed any intent to injure the interests
or wound
the
sensibilities
of
the
slave
States.
On
the
contrary, he
declared
that
his
purpose
was
to
protect
the
one and
respect
the
other.
We were, he said, engaged in a terrible, wasting,
and
tedious war
; immense
armies were
in
the
field, and must continue there as long as the war
should
last
; these armies came of necessity, into
contact with slaves in the States we represented,
and, as they advanced, would be brought into con-
tact with the slaves of other States.
Slaves came,,
and would continue to come to the camps, thus
keeping up
continual
irritation.
He was
con-
stantly annoyed by
conflicting and
antagonistic
complaints.
On the one side a certain class com-
plained
if
the
slave was
not
protected
by
the
army; persons were frequently found who, par-
ticipating
in
these
views,
acted
in
a way
un-
friendly to the slaveholder.
On the other hand,
slaveholders
complained
that
their
rights were
interfered
with,
their
slaves
were
induced
to
abscond
and
were
protected
within
the
lines.
These complaints were numerous, loud, and deep.
152
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
IMar. 10
They were a serious annoyance to him, and em-
barrassing
to
the
progress
of
the
war.
They
kept ahve a spirit hostile to the government in the
States we
represented;
they
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, that 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.
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.
Emanci-
pation was a subject exclusively under the con-
trol of the
States, and must be adopted or
re-
jected by each
for
itself; he did not claim nor
had this government any right to coerce them for
that purpose.
He wished
it to be clearly under-
stood that such was no part of
his purpose
in
making this proposition.
He did not expect us
to be prepared
then and there
to
give him an
answer, but he hoped we would take the subject
into
serious
consideration, confer with one
an-
other, and then take such course as we
felt our
duty and
the
interests
of
our
constituents
re-
quired.
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
proposition
was
necessary
for
that.
Besides,
he
and his friends
felt solicitous on account of the different
constructions which the resolution and message had re-
ceived.
The New York Tribune was for
it, and under-
i862]
TO BORDER STATE DELEGATES
153
stood
it to mean that we must accept gradual emancipa-
tion according
to the plan suggested, or get something
worse.
The President replied that he must not be ex-
pected
to
quarrel with
the New York
Tribune
before the right time
; he hoped never to have to
do
it—anyway 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 referred, nor destroyed the hopes
of the Confederates that Missouri would at some
time range herself alongside of them, which pre-
vention and destruction, the passage of this reso-
lution by Congress and
its
acceptance by Mis-
souri would in his judgment accomplish.
Mr.
Crisfield, of Maryland, asked what would be the
effect of the refusal of the State to accept this proposal,
and
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 action 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 qualifying the foregoing declaration.
These were not recorded since they were imma-
terial to a just understanding of his meaning.
154
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. lo
Mr,
Crisfield
said
he
did
not
think
the
people
of
Maryland looked upon
slavery -as
a permanent
institu-
tion
;
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
emancipation
of
slaves
in
the
District
of
Columbia,
or
the
confiscation
now
threatened
of
Southern
property.
He
thought
before
the
people
of
Maryland
would
consent
to
consider
this
proposition
they would require to be informed on these
points.
The President replied that, unless he was ex-
pelled
by
the
act
of God
or
the
Confederate
armies, he
should occupy
that house
for
three
years
; and as long as he remained there Mary-
land had nothing to
fear
either
for her
institu-
tions or her interests on the points referred to.
Mr.
Crisfield
immediately
added:
Mr.
President,
if
what you now
say
could
be
heard
by
the
people
of
Maryland, they would consider your proposition with a
much better feeling than
I fear they
will be inclined to
do without such public expression on your part.
The
President
replied
that
a
publication
of
what he said would not do;
it would force him
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
Wicklifife,
of
Kentucky,
then
asked
him
respecting 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 cooperate with
i86-]
TO BORDER STATE DELEGATES
15^
any
State by
giving
such
State pecuniary
aid.
He added that he thought the resolution, as pro-
posed by him, would be considered rather as the
expression of a sentiment than as involving any
constitutional 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 should 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
slaveholding
con-
stituencies
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 gentleman must do as he thought best.
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
that he did
not pretend to
disguise
his
antislavery
feeling;
he
thought
slavery
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 North 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 that the
institution was wrong and
that
it ought never to have existed
; but yet he
recognized
the
rights
of
property
which
had
grown out of
it, and he would respect those rights
156
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[May
as
fully as similar rights
in any other property;
he recognized that property can
exist, and does
legally exist in slavery.
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 encour-
aging the proposition and offering inducements
to give
it up.
Here
the
interview,
so
far
as
this
subject
is
con-
cerned,
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
devotion
to
the
happiness
and
glory
of
his
country
; and with
that
conviction we
should
consider
respectfully the important suggestions he had made.
Response
to
Evangelical
Lutherans
on
De-
pendence upon Divine Guidance.
Early
in May,
1862, probably on the 6th day of the
month,
the
President
received
a
delegation
of Evan-
gelican Lutherans, who bore an official message pledg-
ing
the
support
of
their
church.
The
President
said
in response:
Gentlemen:
I
welcome
here
the
representa-
tives of the Evangelical Lutherans of the United
States.
I
accept with gratitude their assurances
of the sympathy and support of that enlightened,
influential, and
loyal
class of my
fellow-citizens
in
an
important
crisis
which
involves,
in my
judgment, not only the
civil and religious
liber-
ties of our own dear land, but in a large degree
the
civil
and
religious
liberties
of mankind
in
many countries and through many ages. You well
know,
gentlemen,
and
the
world
knows, how
reluctantly
I accepted
this issue of battle forced
upon me on my advent to
this place by the
in-
1862]
TO 12TH INDIANA REGIMENT
157
ternal enemies of our
country.
You
all know,
the world knows, the forces and the resources the
public agents have brought
into employment
to
sustain
a government
against which
there
has
been brought
not one complaint of
real
injury
committed
against
society
at home
or
abroad.
You all may recollect that in taking up the sword
thus
forced
into
our
hands,
this
government
appealed to the prayers of the pious and the good,
and declared that
it placed
its whole dependence
upon the favor of God.
I now humbly and rev-
erently,
in your presence,
reiterate the acknowl-
edgment of that dependence, not doubting
that,
if
it
shall
please
the
Divine Being who
deter-
mines the destinies of nations,
this
shall remain
a united people, and that they will, humbly seek-
ing
the
Divine
guidance, make
their prolonged
national
existence
a
source
of new
benefits
to
themselves and their successors, and to all classes
and conditions of mankind.
Remarks to Twelfth Indiana Regiment on the
Nation's Dependence on the Army.
On ]\Iay 15,
1862, the New York Evening Post printed
the following report of
a speech
of President Lincoln
to 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
fre-
quently
for me
to
have
speeches
ready on
all
occasions.
As you have paid such a mark of re-
spect
to the
chief magistrate,
it appears
that
should say a word or two in reply.
Your colonel has thought
fit, on
his own
ac-
158
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[July
count and in your name, to say that you are sat-
isfied with the manner in which I have performed
my part in the difficulties which have surrounded
the nation.
For your kind expressions I am ex-
ceedingly grateful, but, on the other hand,
I
as-
sure 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 sup-
port 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
regiment,
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.
Appeal
to
Border-State
Representatives
to
Favor Compensated Emancipation.
On
July
12,
1862,
President
Lincoln
read
to
the
Representatives
in Congress from
the Border
States
the following appeal:
Gentlemen:
After
the
adjournment
of
Con-
gress, now very near, I shall have no opportunity
of seeing you for several months.
Believing that
you of the border
States hold more power
for
good than any other equal number of members,
I
feel
it a duty which
I cannot justifiably waive
to make this appeal to you.
I intend no reproach
or complaint when I assure you that, in my opin-
(V=
1862] ON COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION
159
ion,
if you
all had voted for the resolution in the
gradual-emancipation message of last March, the
war would now be substantially ended.
And the
plan therein proposed
is yet one of the most po-
tent and swift means of ending
it.
Let the States
which are in rebellion see definitely and certainly
that
in no
event
will
the
States you
represent
ever
join
their proposed confederacy, and they
cannot much longer maintain
the
contest.
But
you cannot divest them of their hope to ultimately
have you with them so long as you show a deter-
mination to perpetuate the institution within your
own States.
Beat them at elections, as you have
overwhelmingly done, and, nothing daunted, they
still claim you as
their own.
You and
I know
what
the
lever of
their power
is.
Break
that
lever before their
faces, and they can shake you
no more forever.
Most of you have treated me
with kindness and consideration, and
I trust you
will
not now think
I improperly touch what
is
exclusively your own, when, for the sake of the
whole country, I ask, Can you, for your States, do
better than to take the course
I urge?
Discard-
ing punctilio and maxims adapted to more man-
ageable times, and looking only to the unprece-
dentedly
stern
facts
of
our
case,
can
you
do
better
in
any
possible
event?
You
prefer
that the constitutional
relation of the
States to
the
nation
shall be
practically
restored without
disturbance of that
institution; and
if
this were
done, my whole duty
in
this
respect, under the
Constitution
and my
oath
of
office, would
be
performed.
But
it is not done, and we are trying
to accomplish
it by war.
The incidents
of the
war
cannot
be
avoided.
If
the war
continues
long, as
it must
if the object be not sooner
at-
i6o
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug.
tained, the institution in your States will be ex-
tinguished by mere friction and abrasion—by the
mere incidents of the war.
It will be gone, and
you
will
have
nctlil.ig
valuable
in
lieu
of
it.
Much of
its value
is gone already.
How much
better
for you and
for your people to take the
step which at once shortens the war and secures
substantial compensation
for that which
is sure
to be wholly lost in any other event
!
How much
better to thus save the money which else we sink
forever
in the war
!
How much better to do
it
while we
can,
lest
the war
erelong render
us
pecuniarily unable to do
it
!
How much better
for you as
seller, and the nation as buyer, to sell
out and buy out that without which the war could
never have been, than to sink both the thing to
be
sold and the
price
of
it
in
cutting one
an-
other's throats?
I do not speak of emancipation
at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate
gradually. Room in South America for coloniza-
tion can be obtained cheaply and
in abundance,
and when numbers
shall be large enough to be
company
and
encouragement
for
one
another,
the freed people will not be so reluctant to go.
I am pressed with a difficulty not yet mentioned
—one which threatens division among those who,
united, are none too strong.
An instance of
it
is
known
to
you.
General
Hunter
is
an
honest
man.
He was, and
I hope
still
is, my
friend.
I valued him none the less for his agreeing with
me in the general wish that
all men everywhere
could be free.
He proclaimed all men free within
certain States, and I repudiated the proclamation.
He expected more good and less harm from the
measure than
I could believe would follow.
Yet,
in
repudiating
it,
I gave
dissatisfaction,
if
not
18621
ON McCLELLAN-STANTON FEUD
i6i
offense, to many whose support the country can-
not afford to lose.
And this
is not the end of
it.
The pressure
in
this
direction
is
still upon me,
and
is
increasing.
By
conceding what
I now
ask,
you
can
relieve
me,
and,
much
more,
can
relieve the country,
in this important point.
Upon these considerations
I have again begged
your
attention
to
the
message
of March
last.
Before leaving the
capital, consider and
discuss
it among yourselves.
You are patriots and states-
men, and as such I pray you consider this propo-
sition, and at the least commend it to the consider-
ation of your States and people.
As you would
perpetuate
popular
government
for
the
best
people in the world, I beseech you that you do in
no wise omit
this.
Our common country
is
in
great peril, demanding the loftiest views and bold-
est
action
to
bring
it
speedy
relief.
Once
re-
lieved,
its form of government
is saved
to
the
world,
its beloved history and cherished memo-
ries are vindicated, and
its happy future fully as-
sured
and
rendered
inconceivably
grand.
To
you, more than
to any
others,
the
privilege
is
given
to
assure
that
happiness and
swell
that
grandeur, and to link your own names therewith
forever.
Remarks
on
the
McClellan-Stanton
Contro-
versy Made
at a Union Meeting in Wash-
ington.
On
August
6,
1862.
President
Lincoln
addressed
a
Union
meeting
in Washington
on
the
differences
of
opinion that had developed between the Commander of
the Army of the Potomac and the Secretary of War.
Fellow-Citizens:
I
believe
there
is no
prece-
dent for my appearing before you on this occa-
i62
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug.
sion, but
it
is also true that there
is no precedent
for your being here yourselves
; and
I
offer,
in
justification
of
myself and
of
you,
that upon
examination
I have found nothing
in the Con-
stitution against
it.
I, however, have an impres-
sion that there are younger gentlemen who will
entertain
you
better,
and
better
address
your
understanding, than
I
will or could
; and there-
fore
I
propose
to
detain
you
but
a moment
longer.
I am very little inclined on any occasion to say
anything unless
I hope to produce some good by
it.
The only thing I think of just now not likely
to be better said by some one else,
is a matter in
which we have heard some
other persons blamed
for what
I did myself.
There has been a very
widespread
attempt
to have
a
quarrel between
General
McClellan and
the
Secretary
of War.
Now,
I occupy a position that enables me to ob-
serve that these two gentlemen are not nearly so
deep in the quarrel as some pretending to be their
friends.
General
McClellan's
attitude
is
such
that,
in
the
very
selfishness
of
his
nature,
he
cannot but wish to be successful, and
I hope he
will
; and the
Secretary of War
is
in
precisely
the same
situation.
If the military commanders
in
the
field cannot be
successful,
not
only the
Secretary
of War,
but
myself,—for
the
time
being the master of them
both,—cannot but be
failures.
I know General McClellan wishes to be
successful, and
I know he does not wish
it any
more than the
Secretary of War
for him, and
both
of them together no more than
I wish
it.
Sometimes we have a dispute about how many
men General IMcClellan has had, and those who
would disparage him say that he has had a very
i862]
ON NEGRO COLONIZATION
163
large number, and those who would disparage the
Secretary of War
insist that General McClellan
has had a very small number.
The basis for this
is, there
is always a wide difference, and on this
occasion perhaps a wider one than usual, between
the grand total on McClellan's rolls and the men
actually
fit
for duty; and those who would
dis-
parage him talk of the grand total on paper, and
those who would disparage the Secretary of War
talk of those at present fit for duty.
General Mc-
Clellan has sometimes asked
for things that the
Secretary
of War
did
not
give
him.
General
McClellan is not to blame for asking for what he
wanted and needed, and the Secretary of War
is
not to blame for not giving when he had none to
give.
And
I say here, as far as I know, the Sec-
retary of War has withheld no one thing at any
time in my power to give him.
I have no accusa-
tion against him.
I believe he is a brave and able
man, and
I stand here, as justice requires me to
do, to take upon myself what has been charged on
the Secretary of War, as withholding from him.
I have talked longer than I expected to do, and
now
I. avail myself of my privilege of saying no
more.
Address to a Deputation
of Colored Men on
Colonization.
On August
14,
1862,
a
committee
of
colored men
called by
invitation upon
President
Lincoln.
He
in-
formed them
that
a sum
of money had been
appro-
priated 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.
The place the
President had
in mind was Vache
Island,
in
the West
i64
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug.
Indies,
-which the owner, a man named Koch, had un-
loaded
on
the
Government.
The
experiment
of
colonizing
it with American freedmen was a disastrous
failure.
Inadequately provisioned, without a leader, and
brought
face
to
face
with
the
problems
of
life
in
a
strange country, the
disheartened colonists
fell an easy
prey to sloth and disease.
Many died of malaria before
the Government
sent
a
ship
to
bring
the
half-starved
and debilitated survivors back to the United
States.
The
following
is
a
report
of
the
substance
of
the
President's remarks
Why should the people of your race be colo-
nized, and where?
Why should they leave this
country ?
This
is, perhaps, the
first question for
proper consideration.
You and we are different
races.
We have between us a broader difiference
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 disadvan-
tage 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 sepa-
rated.
You here are freemen,
I suppose?
[A voice: Yes,
sir.'\
Perhaps you have long been
free, or
all your
lives.
Your
race
is
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
aspiratiori of men
is
to enjoy equality with the
best when free, but on this broad continent not a
single man of your race
is made the equal of a
single man of ours.
Go where you are treated
i862]
ON NEGRO COLONIZATION
165
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 an-
other's
throats—none knowing how
far
it
will
extend—and then consider v/hat 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
insti-
tution 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
condition.
I suppose one of the principal difficul-
ties
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, per-
haps more so, than you can in any foreign coun-
try; 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 ex-
i66
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
CAug.
tremely
selfish view of the case.
You ought to
do something to help those who are not so
for-
tunate 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 m.any 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 be-
fore me, would move in this matter, much might
be accomplished.
It is exceedingly important that
we have men at the beginning capable of thinking
as white men, and not those who have been sys-
tematically oppressed.
There
is much to encour-
age you.
For the sake of your race you should
sacrifice something of your present 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
difficult to make a man miserable while he
feels
he
is worthy of himself and claims kindred to the
great
God who made
him.
In
the
American
Revolutionary war sacrifices were made by men
engaged
in
it, but they were cheered by the
fu-
ture.
General
Washington
himself
endured
greater
physical
hardships
than
if
he
had
re-
mained
a
British
subject,
yet he was
a happy
man because he was 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
I
i862]
ON NEGRO COLONIZATION
167
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 be-
tween 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
de-
ceased.
The question is, if the colored people are
persuaded to go anywhere, w^hy 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
m.e 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 Central America.
It
is nearer to us than Li-
beria—not much more than one
fourth
as
far
as Liberia, and within seven days' run by steam-
ers.
Unlike Liberia,
it is a great line of travel
it
is a highway.
The country
is a very excellent
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 particular place has
all the advantages
for a colony.
On both
sides
there are harbors—among the finest in the world.
i68
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug.
Again, there
is evidence of very rich coal-mines.
A certain amount of coal is valuable in any coun-
try.
Why
I attach so much importance to coal
is,
it will afford 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
shovv^
; 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 you reach there, it is a great
advantage.
Coal land is the best thing I know of
with which to commence an enterprise.
To return—you have been talked to upon this
subject, and
told that
a
speculation
is intended
by gentlemen who have an interest in the coun-
try,
including
the
coal-mines.
We
have
been
mistaken
all our lives
if we do not knov/ whites,
as well as blacks, look to their self-interest.
Un-
less among those deficient of intellect, everybody
you trade with makes something.
You meet with
these things here and everywhere.
If such per-
sons have what
will
be an advantage
to them,
the
question
is, whether
it cannot be made of
advantage to you ?
You are intelligent, 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 enter-
prise, I will spend some of the money intrusted to
me.
I am not sure you will succeed.
The gov-
ernment may
lose
the money;
but we
cannot
succeed unless we try; and we think, with care,
i862]
ON NEGRO COLONIZATION
169
we can succeed.
The political affairs in Central
America are not in quite as satisfactory a condi-
tion 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 can get a number of able-bodied men,
with their wives and children, who are willing to
go when
I
present
evidence
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
successful
commence-
ment.
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
importance—worthy
of
a
month's
study,
instead of a speech delivered in an hour.
I ask
you, then, to consider seriously, 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 mankind
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.
I70
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Sept.
Remarks
on
Premature
Emancipation
to
Representatives
of
the
Churches
of
Chi-
cago.
On September
13^
1862,
President Lincoln made the
following
reply
to
a
committee
from
the
religious
denominations of Chicago, asking him to issue a Proc-
lamation of Emancipation:
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 probable 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 deceived 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 rev-
elation.
I must study the plain physical facts of
the
case,
ascertain what
is
possible,
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 gentle-
men of standing and intelligence from New York
called as a delegation on business connected with
the war
;
but, before
leaving, two of them ear-
nestly beset me to proclaim general emancipation,
upon which the other two
at once
attacked them.
You also know that the last session of Congress
i862]
TO CHURCHES OF CHICAGO
171
had a decided majority of antislavery men, yet
they
could
not
unite on
this
poHcy.
And
the
same
is true of the rehgious people.
Why, the
rebel soldiers are praying with a great deal more
earnestness,
I
fear,
than
our own
troops, and
expecting God to favor their side
; for one of our
soldiers who had been taken prisoner told Sen-
ator Wilson a few days since that he met with
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 emanci-
pation
from me
do,
especially
as we
are now
situated?
I
do not want
to
issue a document
that the w^hole 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
indi-
vidual 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 can-
not 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 rations
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
172
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Sept.
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
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 River 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 Run, an expedition went
out from Washington 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 subdue the
enemy;
nor
do
I
urge
objections
of
a
moral
nature,
in view
of possible consequences of
in-
surrection and massacre at the South.
I view this
matter as a practical war measure, to be decided
on according to the advantages or disadvantages
it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion.
I admit that slavery
is the root of the
rebel-
lion, or at least
its sme 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
i862]
TO CHURCHES OF CHICAGO
173
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 somewhat
at the North, though not
so much,
I
fear, as you and those you represent
imagine.
Still, some
additional
strength would
be added
in that way to the war, and then, un-
questionably,
it would weaken the rebels by draw-
ing
off their
laborers, which
is of great impor-
tance
; 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 thou-
sand
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 important principle to rally and
unite
the people,
in
the
fact that
constitutional
government
is
at
stake.
This
is a fundamental
idea going down about as deep as anything.
Do not misunderstand me because I have men-
tioned these objections.
They indicate the
diffi-
culties that have thus far prevented my action in
some such way
as you
desire.
I have not
de-
cided
against
a
proclamation
of
liberty
to
the
slaves,
but
hold
the
matter
under
advisement;
174
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Sept.
and
I can assure you that the subject
is on my
mind, by day and
night, more than any
other.
Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do.
I trust that in the freedom with which I have can-
vassed your views
I have not in any respect in-
jured your feelings.
Remarks on Making the Emancipation Proc-
lamation Effective,
in Response to a Sere-
nade.
On September
24,
1862, President Lincoln made the
following response to a serenade:
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
in-
formed why
it
is that on
this occasion you ap-
pear 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 judg-
ment 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.
C)n
the
fourteenth
and seventeeth days of this present month there
have been battles bravely,
skilfully, and success-
fully fought.
We do not yet know the particu-
i862]
REPLY TO MRS. GURNEY
175
lars.
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.
Remarks on the Divine Will, in Reply to an
Address by Mrs. Gurney.
Late in September,
1862, probably on the 28th day of
the month, President Lincoln made the following reply
to an address by Mrs. Gurney
:
I am glad of this interview, and glad to know
that I have your sympathy and prayers. We are
indeed going through a great trial—a fiery trial.
In the very responsible position in which
I hap-
pen to be placed, being a humble instrument
in
the hands of our Heavenly Father, as
I am, and
as we
all are^ to work out his great purposes,
I
have desired that
all my works and acts may be
according to his
will, and that
it might be
so,
I
have sought his aid
; but
if, after endeavoring to
do my best in the light which he affords me, I find
my
efforts
fail,
I
must
believe
that
for some
purpose unknown
to me, he
wills
it
otherwise.
If I had had my way, this war would never have
been commenced.
If I had been allowed my way,
this war would have been ended before this
; but
we find
it still continues, and we must believe that
he permits
it for some wise purpose of his own,
mysterious and unknown to us
; and though with
our limited understandings we may not be
able
to comprehend
it, yet we cannot but believe that
he who made the world
still governs
it.
176
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[May
Meditation on the Divine Will.
A day or so after the reply to Mrs. Gurney, probably
on September
30,
1862,
President Lincoln wrote down
the
following
meditations on
the
will
of God
in
its
relation to the Civil War:
The
will
of God
prevails.
In
great
contests
each
part}^ claims
to act
in accordance with the
will
of God.
Both may
be, and one must
be,
wrong.
God cannot 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 some-
thing 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 that
this
is
probably
true
;
that God
wills
this
contest, and
wills that
it shall not end yet.
By his mere great
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.
Remarks on Benefits
of the Union, Made
at
Frederick, Maryland.
On October 4.
1862. President Lincoln while passing
through
Frederick,
Md., made
short speeches
to two
groups of assembled citizens and soldiers.
In my present position
it
is hardly proper
for
me to make speeches.
Every word
is so closely
noted
that
it
will not do
to make
foolish
ones,
and
I cannot be expected to be prepared
[at
all
times']
to make sensible ones.
If
I were
[«ozf]
as
I have been for most of my
life,
I might
per-
haps talk nonsense to you for half an hour, and
1863]
TO PRESBYTERIANS
177
it wouldn't hurt anybody.
As
it
is,
I can only
return thanks for the compliment paid our cause.
Please accept my sincere thanks for the compli-
ment to the country.
I
see
myself surrounded by
soldiers and by
citizens of this good city of Frederick, all anxious
to hear something from me.
Nevertheless,
I can
only say—as
I did elsewhere
five miinutes ago
that
it
is not proper for me to make a speech
in
my present position.
I return thanks to our gal-
lant
soldiers
for
the
good
service
they
have
rendered,
the
energies
they
have
show^n,
the
hardships they have endured, and the blood they
have so noblv shed for this dear Union of ours,
and
I also return thanks, not only to the soldiers,
but to the good
citizens of Frederick and to
all
the good men, women, and children throughout
the land for their devotion to our glorious cause,
and
I say this without any malice in my heart to
those who have done otherwise.
May our
chil-
dren and our 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 those
glorious
insti-
tutions
bequeathed
us by Washington and
his
compeers
!
Remarks on the Subordination of the Admin-
istration to the Government, Made to Mem-
bers of the Presbyterian General Assembly.
Late
in
May,
1863,
probably
on
the
30th
of
the
month,
President Lincoln made the following reply to
members of the Presbyterian General Assembly:
It has been my happiness to receive testimonies
of a similar nature from,
I believe, all denomina-
178
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[July 7
tions of Christians.
They are
all loyal, but per-
haps
not
in
the
same
degree
or
in
the same
numbers
; but
I think they
all claim to be loyal.
This to me
is most gratifying, because from the
beginning I saw that the issue of our great strug-
gle
depended
on
the
divine
interposition
and
favor.
If we had
that,
all would be well.
The
proportions of this rebellion were not for a long
time
understood.
I
saw
that
it
involved
the
greatest
difficulties, and would
call forth
all the
powers
of
the
whole
country.
The
end
is
not
yet.
The
point made
in your paper
is well taken
as to *'the government" and "the administration"
in whose hands are these interests.
I fully appre-
ciate its correctness and justice.
In my adminis-
tration
I may have committed some
errors.
It
would be indeed remarkable if I had not.
I have
acted according
to my
best judgment
in every
case.
The
views
expressed
by
the
committee
accord with my own; and on this principle
*'the
government"
is to be supported though
**the ad-
ministration" may not
in every case wisely
act.
As a pilot I have used my best exertions to keep
afloat our Ship
of
State, and
shall be
glad
to
resign my trust at the appointed time to another
pilot more
skilful
and
successful
than
I may
prove.
In every case and at all hazards the gov-
ernment must be perpetuated.
Relying, as
I do,
upon the Almighty Power, and encouraged as I
am
by
these
resolutions
which
you
have
just
read,
with
the
support
which
I
receive
from
Christian men,
I
shall not hesitate to use
all the
means at my control to secure the termination of
this rebellion and will hope for success.
I
sincerely thank you
for
this
interview,
this
i863]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
179
pleasant mode of presentation, and the General
Assembly
for
their
patriotic
support
in
these
resolutions.
Remarks
on
Notable
Fourths
of
July,
in.
»
Response to a Serenade.
On July
7,
1863, President Lincoln made the follow-
ing response to a serenade:
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 recognitions.
The two men
most distinguished in the framing and support of
the Declaration were Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams—the one having penned
it and the other
sustained
it the most forcibly in debate—the only
two
of
the
fifty-five who
signed
it
that
were
elected
Presidents
of
the
United
States.
Pre-
cisely
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
his-
tory.
Another
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.
i8o
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Sept.
effort to overthrow the principle that all men are
created
equal, we have the surrender of a most
powerful
position and army on
that
very
day.
And not only
so, but
in a 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.
Gentle-
men,
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 occa-
sions, not only in success, but for the want of suc-
cess.
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.
Remarks on Temperance
in
the Army
to
a
Delegation of the Sons of Temperance.
On September
29,
1863, a delegation of the Sons of
Temperance
presented
suggestions
to
President
Lin-
coln
looking
to
the
decrease
of
drunkenness
in
the
army.
The President replied as follows:
As a matter of course,
it
will not be possible
for me to make a response coextensive with the
address which you have presented
to me.
If
I
were
better known
than
I am, you would
not
iS63]
TO SONS OF TEMPERANCE
i8i
need to be told that in the advocacy of the cause
of temperance you have a friend and sympathizer
in me.
When
I was a young man—long ago—before
the Sons of Temperance as an organization had
an existence—I, in a humble way, made temper-
ance
speeches,
and
I
think
I may
say
that
to
this day
I have
never, by my
example,
belied
what
I then said.
In regard to the suggestions which you make
for the purpose of the advancement of the cause
of temperance
in the army,
I cannot make par-
ticular responses to them at
this
time.
To pre-
vent intemperance in the army
is even a part of
the articles of war.
It
is part of the law of the
land, and was so, I presume, long ago, to dismiss
officers
for
drunkenness.
I am
not
sure
that,
consistently with the public service, more can be
done than has been done.
All, therefore, that
I
can promise you
is—if you
will
be
pleased
to
furnish me with a copy of your address—to have
it submitted to the proper department, and have
it considered whether
it contains any suggestions
which will improve the cause of temperance and
repress
the
cause
of
drunkenness
in
the army
any better than it is already done.
I can promise
no more than that.
I think that the reasonable men of the world
have long since agreed that intemperance
is one
of the
greatest,
if not the very
greatest,
of
all
evils among: mankind.
That
is not a matter of
dispute,
I
believe.
That the disease
exists, and
that
it is a very great one,
is agreed upon by all.
The mode of cure is one about which there may
be differences of opinion.
You have suggested
that
in an army—our army—drunkenness
is
a
i82
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 9
great evil, and one which, while it exists to a very
great
extent, we cannot expect
to overcome
so
entirely as to have such successes in our arms as
we might have without
it.
This undoubtedly
is
true, and while
it
is perhaps rather a bad source
to derive comfort from, nevertheless,
in
a hard
struggle,
I do not know but what
it
is some con-
solation
to be aware
that
there
is some
intem-
perance on the other side, too
; and that they have
no
right
to beat us
in physical combat on
that
ground.
But
I have already said more than
I expected
to be able to say when I began, and
if you please
to hand me a copy of your address,
it
shall be
considered.
I thank you very
heartily,
gentle-
men,
for
this
call,
and
for
bringing
with you
these very many pretty
ladies.
Speech
at
the
Dedication
of
the
National
Cemetery at Gettysburg.
On November
19,
1863,
the
National
Cemetery
of
Union
Soldiers
killed
at the
battle of Gettysburg was
dedicated in the presence of a vast array of people as-
sembled from
all parts
of the Union upon the
battle-
iield.
The
orator
of
the
day
was
Edward
Everett.
At
the
close
of
his
long
address,
composed
in
the
finished
periods
of
that
"classic"
order
of American
•oratory
of which he was the
greatest
living
master,
when
the
thunders
of
applause
that
it
evoked
had
ceased, President Lincoln rose and spoke a few heart-
felt words which so moved the deeps of emotion in his
hearers
that many
sat
spell-bound and
silent
after the
speaker had finished.
As the President's letter to Mr.
Everett,
written on
the
following
day,
indicates
(see
Letters
in present edition), Mr. Lincoln inferred from
this
reception
that
the
speech was
a
"failure," but
he
w^as quickly disabused of that idea by evidences coming
from every part of the Union of the deep impression
it
had made on the hearts of his countrymen.
1864]
TO GENERAL GRANT
185
Fourscore
and
seven
years
ago
our
fathers
brought
forth
on
this
continent
a new
nation,
conceived in Hberty, and dedicated to the propo-
sition that
all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, test-
ing whether that
nation,
or any nation
so con-
ceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
We
are met on a great battle-field of that war. We
have come to dedicate a portion of that
field as
a final resting-place for those who here gave their
lives that that nation might live.
It
is altogether
fitting and proper that we should do this.
But,
in a larger
sense, we cannot
dedicate
we
cannot
consecrate—we
cannot
hallow—this
ground.
The brave men,
living and dead, who
struggled here, have consecrated
it far above our
poor power
to add or
detract.
The world will
little note nor long remember what we say
here,,
but
it can never forget what they did here.
It is
for
us,
the
living,
rather,
to be
dedicated here
to the
unfinished work which they who
fought
here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather
for
us
to be
here
dedicated
to
the
great
task
remaining
before
us—that from
these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
which they gave the
last
full measure of 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.
Address to General Grant on Commissioning'
Him Lieutenant-General.
On
March
9,
1864,
President
Lincoln
appointed
Ulysses
S. Grant Lieutenant-General
of
the Army of
1 84
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 21
the United
States.
In handing
the General
his com-
mission the President said:
General Grant:
The
nation's
appreciation
of what you
have
done,
and
its
rehance upon you
for
what
re-
mains to
do,
in the existing great struggle, are
now presented with this commission, constituting
you
Lieutenant-General
in
the Army
of
the
United States.
With this high honor devolves upon you also a
corresponding
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.
To this General Grant made the following response:
'Mr'. President:
I accept this commission, with gratitude for the high
honor conferred.
With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on
so many
fields
for our common country,
it
will
be my
earnest endeavor not
to disappoint your expectations.
I
feel the
full weight of the responsibilities now de-
volving on me, and
I know that
if they are met,
it will
be due to those armies, and above
all,
to the favor of
that Providence which leads both nations and men.
Remarks on the Women of America, Made at
a
Sanitary
Fair
in Washington.
On
March
18,
1864,
in
closing
a
sanitary
fair
In
Washington, President Lincoln took occasion to praise,
not
only
the heroism
of American
soldiers,
but
the
patriotism of American women:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I appear to say but a
word.
This extraordinary war in which we are
engaged
falls heavily upon
all classes of people,
i864]
TO WORKINGMEN
185
but
the most
heavily upon
the
soldier.
For
it
has been
said,
all that a man hath
will he give
for
his
life
;
and
while
all
contribute
of
their
substance, the
soldier puts
his
life
at
stake, and
often
yields
it up
in
his
country's
cause.
The
highest merit, then,
is due to the
soldier.
In this extraordinary war, extraordinary devel-
opments
have
manifested
themselves,
such
as
have not been seen in former wars
; and amongst
these manifestations nothing has been more
re-
markable than these fairs for the relief of suffer-
ing
soldiers and
their
families.
And
the
chief
agents in these fairs are the women of America.
I am not accustomed
to the
use of language
of eulogy
; I have never studied the art of paying
compliments to women
; but
I must
say, that
if
all that has been said by orators and poets since
the creation of the world in praise of women were
applied
to the women of America,
it would not
do them
justice
for
their
conduct
during
this
war.
I will close by saying, God bless the women
of America.
Remarks on the Interest of Labor in Respect-
ing Rights of Property.
On March 21,
1864, President Lincoln made the
fol-
lowing reply to
a committee from the Workingmen's
Association of New York
:
Gentlemen
of the Committee:
The honorary
membership
in your
association,
as
generously
tendered,
is gratefully accepted.
You comprehend, as your address shows, that
the existing rebellion means more, and tends to
more, than the perpetuation of African slavery
that
it
is,
in
fact, a war upon the
rights
of
all
i86
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Apr.
i8
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,
1861:
Here
the
President
read
that
part
of
the message
beginning with "It continues to develop that the insur-
rection
is
largely,
if not
exclusively,
a war upon
the
first principle of popular government," and ending with
"Let them
{the
zvorkingrnen]
beware
of
surrendering
a political power which they already possess, and which,
if
surrendered,
will
surely be used
to
close
the door
•of advancement
against such as they, and
to
fix new
disabilities and burdens upon them,
till
all
of
liberty
shall be lost."
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 prejudice,
working division and hostility among themselves.
The most notable feature of a disturbance in your
city
last
summer
was
the
hanging
of
some
working
people
by
other
working
people.
It
should never be
so.
The strongest bond of hu-
man
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
en-
couragement
to
industry
and
enterprise.
Let
not him who
is
houseless
pull down
the house
of another, but
let him work diligently and build
one
for
himself, thus by example assuring that
his own shall be safe from violence when built.
1864]
AT BALTIMORE FAIR
187
Address on the Definition of Liberty and the
Reported
Massacre
of
Negro
Troops
at
Fort Pillow, Made at a Sanitary Fair in Bal-
timore.
On
April
18,
1864,
President
Lincoln
spoke
at
a
sanitary
fair
in
Baltimore on
the important
part the
slavery issue had assumed in the war:
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Calling
to mind that
Ave 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 wlio have wrought
the
change, and
the
fair women who
strive
to
reward them for
it
!
But Baltimore suggests more than could hap-
pen within Baltimore.
The change within Balti-
more
is part only of a far wider change.
When
the war
began,
three
years
ago,
neither
party,
nor any man,
expected
it would
last
till
now.
Each looked for the end,
in some way, long ere
to-day.
Neither did any anticipate that domestic
slavery would be much affected by the war.
But
here we are
; the war has not ended, and slavery
has been much
affected—how much
needs
not
now to be recounted.
So true is
it that man pro-
poses 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
iuture.
The world has never had a good
definition of
i88
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Apr.
i8
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
fol-
lows 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
passing from under
the yoke of bondage hailed by some
as the ad-
vance of
liberty, and bewailed by others
as the
destruction of
all
liberty.
Recently, as
it seems,
the people of Maryland have been doing some-
thing to define
liberty, and thanks to them
that,
in what they.have done, the wolf's dictionary has
been repudiated.
It
is not very becoming for one in my position
to make
speeches
at
great
length;
but
there
is
another subject upon which
I
feel
that
I ought
to say a word.
1864]
AT BALTIMORE FAIR
189
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
sol-
dier, 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
con-
viction
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 protec-
tion 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 gov-
ernment
is
indifferent
to
this
matter,
or
is not
doing the best
it can in regard to
it. We do not
to-day know
that
a
colored
soldier,
or
white
officer commanding
colored
soldiers,
has
been
massacred by the
rebels when made a prisoner.
We
fear
it,—believe
it,
I may
say,—but we do
not know
it.
To take the
life
of one
of
their
prisoners
on
the
assumption
that
they murder
ours, when
it
is short of certainty that they do
murder ours, might be too
serious, too
cruel, a
mistake.
We are having the Fort Pillow
affair
thoroughly
investigated
; and such
investigation
will probably show conclusively how the truth
is.
If after
all that has been said
it
shall turn out
390
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[May
14.
that there has been no massacre at Fort Pillow, it
will be almost safe to say there has been none,
and
will be none, elsewhere.
If there has been
the massacre of three hundred there, or even the
tenth part of three hundred,
it will be conclusively
proved
; and being so proved, the retribution shall
as surely come.
It will be matter of grave con-
sideration in what exact course to apply the retri-
bution
; but in the supposed case it must come.
Remarks on General Grant, in Response to a
Serenade.
On May 9,
1864, in response to a serenade, President
Lincoln spoke
in praise of the recent achievements of
the Union commanders,
especially Lieutenant-General
Grant:
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
resolutely
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 fine as he purposed before
he moved his armies.
I will volunteer to say that
I am very glad at what has happened, but there
1864]
TO CHURCH DELEGATIONS
191
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 coun-
try.
I commend you
to keep yourselves
in the
same tranquil mood that
is characteristic of that
brave and
loyal man.
I have said more than
I
expected when
I came
before
you.
Repeating"
my thanks for this call, I bid you good-by.
Replies to Methodist and Baptist Delegations.
On May
14,
1864, two delegations, one of Methodists
and
one
of
Baptists,
waited upon
President
Lincoln
with
addresses
from
their
respective
denominations.
The President made the following replies:
To THE Methodist Delegation.
Gentlemen: In response to your address, allow
me to
attest the accuracy of
its
historical
state-
ments,
indorse
the
sentiments
it
expresses, and
thank you in the nation's name for the sure prom-
ise
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 greater numbers the most
important
of
all.
It
is no
fault
in
others
that
the Methodist Church sends more soldiers to the
192
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[June 9
field,
more
nurses
to
the
hospital,
and
more
prayers to heaven than any.
God bless the Meth-
odist Church.
Bless all the churches, and blessed
be God, who,
in
this our great
trial, giveth
us
the churches.
To THE Baptist Delegation.
In
the
present
very
responsible
position
in
which
I am engaged,
I have had great cause of
gratitude
for the support 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.
Reply to the Committee Notifying President
Lincoln of his Renomination.
On June
9,
1864, the President
replied
as follows to
the
committee
notifying him
of
his
renomination
as
President
by
the Union
National
[Republican]
Con-
vention:
Mr.
Chairman
and
Gentlemen
of
the Com-
mittee:
I
will
neither
conceal my
gratification
nor restrain the expression of my gratitude that
the Union
people, through
their
convention,
in
their continued
effort
to
save and advance
the
nation, have deemed me not unworthy to remain
in my
present
position.
I know no
reason
to
doubt that I shall accept the nomination tendered
;
and
yet perhaps
I
should
not
declare
definitely
before reading and considering what is called the
1864]
TO NOTIFICATION COMMITTEE
193
platform.
I
will
say now, however,
I
approve
the declaration in favor of so amending the Con-
stitution
as
to
prohibit
slavery throughout
the
nation.
When the people
in revolt, with a hun-
dred days of explicit notice that they could within
those
days resume
their
allegiance
without
the
overthrow of their institution, and that they could
not so resume
it afterward, elected to stand out,
such amendment of the Constitution as now pro-
posed became a
fitting and necessary conclusion
to the
final
success
of the Union
cause.
Such
alone can meet and cover
all
cavils.
Now the
unconditional Union men, North and South, per-
ceive its importance and embrace
it.
In the joint
names of Liberty and Union,
let us labor to give
it legal form and practical effect.
Platform of the Union National Conven-
tion Held at Baltimore, ]\Id., June 7 and
8,
1864.
1.
Resolved,
That
it
is
the
highest
duty
of
every
American
citizen
to maintain against
all their enemies
the integrity of the Union and the paramount authority
of the Constitution and laws of the United States; and
that, laying aside
all
differences of
political opinion, we
pledge
ourselves,
as Union men, animated by
a com-
mon sentiment and aiming at a common object, to do
everything
in
our power
to
aid
the
government
in
quelling by
force
of arms
the
rebellion now
raging
against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment
due
to
their
crimes
the
rebels
and
traitors
arrayed
against
it.
2. Resolved, That we approve the determination of the
government
of
the
United
States
not
to compromise
with rebels, or to offer them any terms of peace, except
such as may be based upon an unconditional surrender
of their hostihty and
a return to
their
just allegiance
to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and
that we
call
upon
the
government
to
maintain
this
position,
and
to
prosecute
the
war
with
the utmost
194
'PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[June 9
possible vigor to the complete suppression of the
re-
bellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrificing patriot-
ism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the
American people to
their country and
its
free
institu-
tions.
3.
Resolved, That as slavery was the cause, and now
constitutes the strength, of this rebellion, and as
it must
be, always and everywhere, hostile to the principles of
republican government, justice and the national
safety-
demand its utter and complete extirpation from the soil
of the republic; and that while we uphold and maintain
the
acts and proclamations by which the government,
in
its own
defense,
has
aimed
a
death-blow
at
this
gigantic
evil, we are in favor, furthermore, of such an
amendment
to
the
Constitution,
to
be made
by
the
people
in
conformity
with
its
provisions,
as
shall
terminate and forever prohibit the existence of slavery
within
the
limits
or
the
jurisdiction
of
the
United
States.
4. Resolved, That the thanks of the American people
are due
to
the
soldiers and
sailors
of
the army and
navy, who have periled
their
lives
in defense
of
their
country and
in
vindication
of
the honor
of
its
flag;
that the nation owes to them some permanent recogni-
tion
of
their
patriotism and
their
valor,
and
ample
and permanent provision
for those
of their survivors
who
have
received
disabling
and
honorable wounds
in the
service
of the country; and that the memories
of those who have
fallen
in
its
defense
shall be held
in grateful and everlasting remembrance.
5. Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practi-
cal
wisdom,
the
unselfish
patriotism,
and
the
un-
swerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles
of American liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln has
discharged
under
circumstances
of
unparalleled
dif-
ficulty
the
great
duties
and
responsibilities
of
the
Presidential
office
;
that we approve and indorse
as
de-
inanded by the emergency and essential to the preserva-
tion of the nation, and as within the provisions of the
Constitution,
the
measures
and
acts
which
he
has
adopted
to
defend
the
nation
against
its
open
and
secret foes; that we approve, especially, the Proclama-
tion
of Emancipation, and
the employment
as Union
soldiers
of men
heretofore
held
in
slavery;
and
that
we have
full
confidence
in
his determination
to carry
1864]
TO NOTIFICATION COMMITTEE
195
these
and
all
other
constitutional
measures
essential
to the
salvation
of the country into
full and complete
effect.
6.
Resolved, That we deem
it essential to the general
welfare
that harmony
should
prevail
in
the
national
councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence
and
official
trust those only who cordially indorse the
principles proclaimed
in
these
resolutions, and which
should
characterize
the administration
of the govern-
ment.
7.
Resolved,
That
the
government owes
to
all men
employed in
its armies, without regard to distinction of
color, the
full protection of the laws of war, and that
any violation of these laws, or of the usages of civilized
nations
in
time
of
war,
by
the
rebels now
in
arms,
should be made the subject of prompt and
full redress.
8.
Resolved, That
foreign immigration, which
in the
past has added so much to the wealth, development of
resources,
and
increase
of power
to
this
nation,
the
asylum
of
the
oppressed
of
all
nations,
should
be
fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.
9. Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy con-
struction of the railroad to the Pacific coast.
10. Resolved, That the national
faith, pledged
for the
redemption of the public
debt, must be kept
inviolate,
and that for this purpose we recommend economy and
rigid
responsibility
in
the public
expenditures, and a
vigorous and just system of taxation: and that
it
is the
duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and pro-
mote the use of the national currency.
11. Resolved, That we approve the position taken by
the government
that
the people
of the United
States
can never regard with indifference the attempt of any
European power to overthrow by force or to supplant
by fraud the institutions of any republican government
on
the
Western
Continent,
and
that
they
will
view
with extreme jealousy,
as menacing to the peace and
independence
of
their own country,
the
efforts
of any
such power
to
obtain new
footholds
for
monarchical
governments,
sustained by
foreign
military
force,
ia
near proximity to the United States.
196
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[June
Remarks on Support of the Army, to an Ohio
Delegation.
On June
9,
1864, an Ohio
delegation
returning from
the Baltimore convention serenaded the President.
In
response he spoke of the primary duty of Union men
to support the army.
Gentlemen:
I am very much
obliged
to you
for this compliment.
I have just been saying, and
will repeat
it, that the hardest of
all speeches
I
have to ansvv^er is a serenade.
I never know what
to say on
these
occasions.
I suppose
that you
have done me
this kindness
in connection with
the action of the Baltimore convention, which has
recently taken place, and with which, of course,
I am very
well
satisfied.
What we
want,
still
more than Baltimore conventions or presidential
elections,
is success under General Grant.
I pro-
pose
that you constantly bear
in mind
that the
support you owe to the brave ofhcers and soldiers
in the field
is of the very first importance, and we
should
therefore bend
all
our
energies
to
that
point.
Now, v/ithout detaining you any longer,
I pro-
pose that you help me to close up what
I am now
saying
with
three
rousing
cheers
for
General
Grant
and
the
officers
and
soldiers
under
his
command.
Remarks on Swapping Horses
in Midstream,
to a
Delegation from
the
National Union
League.
On June
9,
1864, an Ohio delegation returning from
the National Union League waited upon President Lin-
coln
with
an
address.
In
reply
the
President
spoke
modestly upon the considerations that had probably led
to his renomination.
1864]
TO AN OHIO REGIMENT
197
Gentlemen:
I can only say
in response to the
kind
remarks
of your
chairman,
as
I
suppose,
that
I am very
grateful
for the renewed
confi-
dence which
has been accorded
to me
both by
the convention and by the National League.
I
am not
insensible
at
all to the personal compli-
ment there
is in this, and yet
I do not allow my-
self to believe that any but a small portion of
it
is to be appropriated as a personal compliment.
That really the convention and the Union League
assembled
with
a
higher
view—that
of
taking
care of the interests of the country for the pres-
ent and the great future—and that the part
I am
entitled
to appropriate
as a compliment
is
only
that part which
I may lay hold of as being the
opinion of the convention and of the League, that
I am not entirely unworthy to be intrusted with
the place which I have occupied for the last three
years.
But
I do
not
allow
myself
to
suppose
that
either
the
convention
or the League have
concluded to decide that I am either the greatest
or best man in America, but rather they have con-
cluded
that
it
is not
best
to swap horses while
crossing
the
river, and have
further concluded
that I am not so poor a horse that they might not
make a botch of
it in trying to swap.
Remarks to an Ohio Regiment.
On June
11,
1864, President Lincoln addressed a few
words to an Ohio regiment passing through Washing-
ton to the front.
Soldiers!
I
understand
you
have
just come
from Ohio—come to help us in this, the nation's
day of trial, and also of
its hopes.
I thank you
for your promptness in responding to the call for
198
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[June
troops.
Your services were never needed more
than now.
I know
not where you
are
going.
You may stay here and take the places of those
who
will be
sent
to
the
front,
or you may go
there yourselves.
Wherever you go,
I know you
will do your best.
Again I thank you.
Good-by.
Remarks on
the Progress
of the War,
at
a
Sanitary Fair in Philadelphia.
On June
16,
1864, President Lincoln spoke at a Sani-
tary Fair
in Philadelphia on the progress
of the war,
asking
that citizens be ready
to respond to measures
of emergency.
I suppose that this toast was intended to open
the way for me to say something.
War,
at the
best,
is
terrible, and
this war of
ours,
in
its
magnitude
and
in
its
duration,
is
one of the most
terrible.
It has deranged busi-
ness,
totally
in many
localities, and
partially
in
all
localities.
It
has
destroyed
property
and
ruined homes
;
it has produced
a
national
debt
and taxation unprecedented, at least in this coun-
try;
it
has
carried mourning
to
almost
every
home, until it can almost be said that the ''heavens
are hung in black."
Yet the war continues, and several relieving co-
incidents have accompanied
it from the very be-
ginning which have not been known, as
I under-
stand, or have any knowledge
of, in any former
wars in the history of the world.
The Sanitary
Commission, with
all
its benevolent
labors
; the
Christian Commission, with
all
its Christian and
benevolent
labors; and
the
various
places,
ar-
rangements,
so
to
speak, and
institutions, have
contributed to the comfort and
relief of the
sol-
1864]
AT PHILADELPHIA FAIR
199
diers.
You have two of these places in this city
the Cooper Shop and Union Volunteer Refresh-
ment Saloons.
And
lastly, these
fairs, which,
I
believe, began only last August,
if I mistake not,
in Chicago, then at Boston, at Cincinnati, Brook-
lyn, New York, and Baltimore, and those at pres-
ent held at St. Louis, Pittsburg, and Philadelphia.
The motive and object that
lie
at the bottom of
all these are most worthy
; for, say what you will,
after all, the most is due to the soldier who takes
his life in his hands and goes to fight the battles of
his country.
In what
is contributed to his com-
fort when he passes to and
fro, and
in what
is
contributed to him when he is sick and wounded,
in whatever
shape
it
comes, whether from
the
fair and
tender hand
of woman,
or from any
other source,
it is much, very much.
But I think
that there
is
still that which
is of as much value
to him in the continual reminders he sees
in the
newspapers that while he
is absent he
is yet re-
membered by the loved ones at home.
Another
view
of
these
various
institutions,
if
I may
so
call
them,
is worthy
of
consideration,
I
think.
They are voluntary contributions, given zealously
and
earnestly, on top of
all the disturbances of
business, of
all the disorders, of
all the taxation,
and of
all the burdens that the war has imposed
upon us, giving proof that the national resources
are not
at
all exhausted, and
that
the
national
spirit of patriotism
is even firmer and
stronger
than at the commencement of the war.
It
is
a
pertinent question,
often asked
in the
mind privately, and from one to the other, when
is
the war
to end?
Surely
I
feel
as
deep an
interest
in this question as any other can
; but
I
do not wish to name a day, a month, or a year.
200
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[July
when
it
is to end.
I do not wish to run any risk
of seeing the time come without our being ready
for the end,
for
fear of disappointment because
the time had come and not the end. We accepted
this war for an object, a worthy object, and the
war will end when that object is attained.
Under
God,
I hope
it never
will end
until
that
time.
Speaking
of
the
present
campaign.
General
Grant
is
reported
to
have
said,
**I am
going
through
on
this
line
if
it
takes
all
summer."
This war has taken three years
;
it was begun or
accepted upon the
line of restoring the national
authority
over
the whole
national
domain, and
for the American people, as far as my knowledge
enables me to speak,
I say we are going through
on this line
if
it takes three years more.
My
friends,
I
did not know but that
I might
be called upon to say a few words before
I got
away from here, but
I did not know
it was com-
ing just here.
I have never been in the habit of
m.aking predictions in regard to the war, but I am
almost tempted to make one.
If I were to hazard
it,
it
is
this
: That Grant
is
this
evening,
with
General Meade and
General Hancock, and
the
brave
officers and
soldiers with him,
in
a
posi-
tion from whence he will never be dislodged until
Richmond
is taken; and
I have but one
single
proposition to put now, and perhaps
I can best
put
it in the form of an interrogative.
If I shall
discover that General Grant and the noble officers
and men under him can be greatly
facilitated in
their work by a sudden pouring forward of men
and assistance,
will you give them to me?
Are
you ready to march?
[Cries of "Yes."]
Then
I
say, Stand
ready,
for
I am watching
for the
chance.
I thank you, gentlemen.
1864]
TO ITALIAN ENVOY
201
Remarks on Amity with
Italy, Made
in Re-
ceiving
Commander
Bertinatti
as
Italian
Envoy Extraordinary.
On July 23,
1864, President Lincoln spoke as follows
to Commander
Bertinatti, on the occasion
of
his
ad-
vancement
to
the
position
of
Italian
Envoy
Extra-
ordinary:
Mr. Commander Bertinatti:
I am
free
to
confess
that
the United
States
have
in
the
course
of
the
last three years
en-
countered vicissitudes and been involved
in con-
troversies
which have
tried
the
friendship and
even the forbearance of other nations, but
at no
stage in this unhappy fraternal war in which we
are only endeavoring to save and strengthen the
foundations
of our
national
unity has the king
or the people of
Italy
faltered
in addressing to
us
the
language
of
respect,
confidence,
and
friendship.
We have tried you, Mr.
Bertinatti,
as a charge d'affaires and as a minister resident,
and
in both of these characters we have found
you always
sincerely and earnestly
interpreting
the
loyal sentiments of your sovereign.
At the
same time
I am sure that no minister here has
more
faithfully
maintained
and
advanced
the
interests
with
which
he
was
charged
by
his
government.
I
desire
that
your
countrymen
may know that
I think you have
well deserved
the elevation to which
I owe the pleasure of the
present
interview.
I pray God
to have your country
in
his holy
keeping, and to vouchsafe to crown with success
her
noble
aspirations
to
renew,
under
the
auspices of her present enlightened government,
her ancient career,
so wonderfully
illustrated
in
the achievements of art,
science, and freedom.
202
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug.
Remarks on Democratic
Strategy,
to Gover-
nor Randall and Others.
In an
interview with
several
visitors,
including ex-
Governor Randall of Wisconsin, held about the middle
of
August,
probably
the
15th
day
of
the
month.
President
Lincoln made
the
following remarks upon
the evils which would result from Democratic success
in
the
Presidential campaign.
The
interview was
re-
ported by 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
solicitude
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 permanent 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
proA^e 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 150,000 able-bodied colored men, most of
them
under
arms,
defending
and
acquiring
Union
territory.
The Democratic
strategy
de-
mands that these
forces be disbanded, and that
1864]
ON DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY
205
the masters be
conciliated by
restoring them to
slavery.
The black men who now
assist Union
prisoners 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 ex-
perience of the present 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 advan-
tages 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 150,000 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
fi^ghting against both master and
slave, long
before the present policy was inaugurated.
"There have been men base enough to propose
to men 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
I
204
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug. 22
rebellion
without
the
use
of
the
emancipation
policy, and every other policy calculated to weak-
en the moral and physical forces of the rebellion.
''Freedom has given us 150,000 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
evidences of a fraternal feeling growing up be-
tween 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."
Remarks on
Inequalities
of Taxation, Made
to the 164th Ohio Regiment.
On August
18,
1864, in an address to the 164th Ohio
Regiment, President Lincoln referred to the bearing of
Union
success on
future generations, and appealed
to
his hearers as patriots to bear incidental inequalities in
administration of government, especially those of taxa-
tion.
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
for-
ward
at
the
call
of
their
country.
I
wish
it
might be more generally and universally under-
stood 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 involved in this contest than
is realized by
1864]
TO 166TH OHIO REGIMENT
205
every
one.
There
is
involved
in
this
struggle
the
question
whether
your
children
and my
children
shall enjoy the
privileges we have
en-
joyed.
I say this in order to impress upon 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
application
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, be-
fore
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
; things
may be
done wrong,
while
the
officers
of
the
government do
all they can to prevent mistakes.
But
I beg of you,
as
citizens
of
this
great
re-
public, not to
let your minds be carried 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
re-
turn to you my sincere thanks,
soldiers, for the
honor you have done me
this afternoon.
Remarks on the Value
of American
Citizen-
ship, Made to the
i66th Ohio Regiment.
On August 22, 1864. in an address to the i66th Ohio
Regiment, President Lincoln spoke in a similar strain
to
the
foregoing
address,
laying
stress
on
the
inesti-
mable worth of free government.
Soldiers:
I suppose you are going home to see
your families and friends.
For the services you
2o6
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Aug. 31
have done in this great struggle in which we are
all engaged, I present you sincere thanks for my-
self and the country.
I almost always
feel
inclined, when
I happen
to
say
anything
to
soldiers,
to
impress
upon
them, in a few brief remarks, the importance of
success in this contest.
It
is not merely for to-
day,
but
for
all time
to come,
that we
should
perpetuate
for our children's children that great
and free government which we have enjoyed
all
our
lives.
I
beg
you
to remember
this,
not
merely
for my
sake, but
for yours.
I happen,
temporarily, to occupy this White House.
I am
a
living witness
that any one
of your children
may look to come here as my father's child has.
It
is
in order
that each one
of you may have,
through this free government which we have en-
joyed, 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 the struggle should be maintained, that
we may not lose our birthright—not only for one,
but for two or three years.
The nation
is worth
fighting for, to secure such an inestimable jewel.
An Appeal to Soldiers to Resist Disaffection,
Made to the 148th Ohio Regiment.
On August 31,
1864, in an address to the 148th Ohio
Regiment,
President Lincoln made an earnest appeal
to soldiers as patriots to
resist the wiles of those who
would
persuade
them
that
they
were
discriminated
against by the government.
Soldiers of the 148th Ohio:
I am most happy to meet you on this occasion.
I
understand
that
it
has
been
your
honorable
1864]
TO 148TH OHIO REGIMENT
207
privilege to stand,
for a brief period,
in the de-
fense of your country, and that now you are on
your way
to your homes.
I
congratulate
you,
and those who are waiting to bid you welcome
home from the war
; and permit me in the name
of the people to thank you for the part you have
taken in this struggle
for the
life of the nation.
You
are
soldiers
of
the
republic,
everywhere
honored and respected.
Whenever
I appear be-
fore a body of soldiers,
I
feel tempted to talk to
them of the nature of the struggle
in which we
are engaged.
I look upon
it
as an attempt on
the
one
hand
to
overwhelm
and
destroy
the
national
existence,
while
on
our
part we
are
striving to maintain the government and institu-
tions of our fathers, to enjoy them ourselves, and
transmit them to our children and our children's
children forever.
To do this the. constitutional administration of
our government must be sustained, and
I beg of
you not to allow your minds or your hearts to be
diverted from the support of
all necessary meas-
ures for that purpose, by any miserable picayune
arguments addressed to your pockets, or inflam-
matory appeals made to your passions and your
prejudices.
It
is vain and
foolish to arraign
this man or
that for the part he has taken or has not taken,
and to hold the government responsible
for
his
acts.
In no administration can there be perfect
equality of action and uniform
satisfaction
ren-
dered by
all.
But
this
government
must
be
preserved
in
spite of the acts of any man or set of men.
It is
worthy
of your
every
effort.
Nowhere
in
the
world
is
presented
a
government
of
so much
2o8
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Sept. 7
liberty
and
equality.
To
the
humblest
and
poorest
amongst
us
are
held
out
the
highest
privileges
and
positions.
The
present moment
finds me at the White House, yet there
is as good
a chance for your children as there was for my
father's.
Again
I admonish you not to be turned from
your
stern
purpose
of
defending
our
beloved
country and
its
free
institutions by any
argu-
ments
urged by
ambitious and
designing men,
but to stand fast for the Union and the old flag.
Soldiers,
I bid you God-speed to your homes.
Remarks
on
Venezuela, Made
in
Receiving
Minister Bruzual.
On September
5,
1864, President Lincoln extended a
welcome
to
the new
minister from
Venezuela,
Sefior
Bias Bruzual.
In
it he paid a tribute to Venezuela as
a leader in South American civilization.
Mr. Bruzual:
It gives me pleasure
to
receive^
and welcome to the United States a representa-
tive of Venezuela.
Venezuela,
almost
centrally
situated
amon^
American
republics,
holds
a
position
com-^
mercially
advantageous
and
politically
impor-
tant.
Endowed by nature with capacity for rich
and varied production,
it extends over a broad
territory, embracing vast resources yet to be de-
veloped.
Guided by the principles of republican
government and advancing civilization,
it adopts
institutions
which
have
contributed
largely
to
the growth of the countries of this continent in
the
past, and which form the basis of high and
cherished aspirations for their future.
The
government
and
people
of
the
United
1S64]
ON THE BIBLE
209
States cannot but feel a deep interest and earnest
sympathy
in the
peace,
the
prosperity, and the
progress of Venezuela.
Thanking you
for the
friendly sentiments
to-
ward
the
United
States
which
you
have
ex-
^
pressed,
I pray you
to
accept the assurance
of
my best wishes that your sojourn in our country
may be agreeable to yourself and satisfactory to
the government which you represent.
Remarks upon the Holy Scriptures, in Receiv-
ing the
Present
of a
Bible from
a Negro
Delegation.
On September
7,
1864, a committee of colored people
of Baltimore presented
a
Bible to the
President, who
responded with a tribute to the holy book.
This occasion would seem fitting for a lengthy
response
to
the
address
which
you
have
just
made.
I would make one
if prepared; but
I am
not.
I would promise to respond in writing had
not experience taught me that business
will not
allow me
to do
so.
I can
only now
say,
as
I
have often before said,
it has always been a sen-
timent with me that
all mankind should be
free.
So far as able, within my sphere,
I have always
acted
as
I
believe
to be
right and
just; and
I
have done
all
I could
for the good of mankind
generally.
In
letters and documents
sent from
this
office
I have expressed myself better than
I
now can.
In regard to
this great book,
I have
but to
say,
it
is the best
gift God has given to
man.
All
the good Saviour gave
to the world was
communicated through this book.
But for
it we
could
not know
right from wrong.
All thing?
2IO
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Oct.
most desirable for man's welfare, here and here-
after, are to be found portrayed in
it.
To you I
return my
most
sincere
thanks
for
the
very
elegant copy
of
the
great Book of God which
you present.
Remarks on the Abolition of Slavery in Mary-
land, in Response to a Serenade.
On October
19,
1864, in response to a serenade given
him by
citizens
of Maryland,
President
Lincoln
con-
gratulated them upon
the
abolition
of
slavery
in
the
State by
its new constitution.
Referring to the com-
ing Presidential election, he pledged himself to uphold
whatever government the people should decree.
Friends and FeIIo'w-citi:sens: I am notified that
this
is a compliment paid me by the loyal Mary-
landers resident 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 constitutes the chief merit
of the new constitution.
Most heartily do I con-
gratulate
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,
would have saved to the nation more money than
would have met
all the private
loss
incident to
the measure
; but
it has come at
last, and
I
sin-
cerely hope
its friends may fully realize
all their
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 elec-
1864]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
211
tion I will, between then and the end of my con-
stitutional 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 particu-
lar individual, as the intimation of a purpose that
if their nominee
shall be elected he
will
at once
seize
control
of
the
government.
I
hope
the
good people 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 there-
fore
say
that
if
I
shall
live
I
shall
remain
President until the 4th of next March
; and that
whoever
shall
be
constitutionally
elected
there-
for,
in
November,
shall
be
duly
installed
as
President on the 4th of March; and that, 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 to save the ship.
This is due to the people both on principle and
under
the
Constitution.
Their
will,
constitu-
tionally expressed,
is the ultimate law for
all.
If
they should deliberately resolve to have immedi-
ate peace, even
at the
loss of their country and
their liberty,
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, however, they are
still
resolved to pre-
serve their country and their liberty
; and in this,
in
office or out of
it,
I am resolved to stand by
them.
I may add
that
in
this purpose—to save the
country
and
its
liberties—no
classes
of
people
seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers
in the
212
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Nov.
field and
the
sailors
afloat.
Do
they not have
the hardest of it?
Who should quail when they
do not?
God bless the soldiers and seamen, with
all their brave commanders.
Remarks on Voting as You
Fight, Made
to
the
189th Nev7 York Regiment.
On
October
24,
1864,
the
President
addressed
the
189th New York
Regiment,
praising
the
soldiers
for
upholding the administration on the
battlefield and at
the polls.
Soldiers: I am exceedingly obliged to you for
this mark of respect.
It is said that we have the
best government the world ever knew, and
I am
glad to meet you, the supporters of that govern-
ment.
To you who render the hardest work
in
its support should be given the
greatest
credit.
Others who
are
connected
with
it,
and
who
occupy higher positions, can be dispensed
with,
but
we
cannot
get
along
without
your
aid.
While others differ w4th the administration, and,
perhaps,
honestly,
the
soldiers
generally
have
sustained
it
;
they have
not
only
fought
right,
but, so far as could be judged from their actions,
they have voted right, and
I
for one thank you
for
it.
I know you are en route
for the
front,
and therefore do not
expect me
to
detain you
long.
I will now bid you good-morning.
Remarks on Election Day,
in Response to a
Serenade.
On November
9,
1864,
the day
of the
Presidential
election,
the
President
was
serenaded
by
citizens
of
Pennsylvania.
He
seized
the
opportunity
to
express
i864]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
213
his
gratitude
to
the
country
for
its
support
of
his
labors in upholding the Union.
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 inferred that you were of
that
portion
of my countrymen who
think
that
the
best
interests
of
the nation
are
to be
sub-
served by the support of the present administra-
tion.
I
do
not
pretend
to
say
that
you, who
think
so, embrace
all the patriotism and
loyalty
of the country, but I do believe, and I trust with-
out
personal
interest,
that
the
welfare
of
the
country does
require that such support and
in-
dorsement should be given.
I
earnestly
believe
that
the
consequences
of
this day's work,
if
it be
as you assume, and as
now seems probable, will be to the lasting advan-
tage,
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 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 confidence in me, if I know my heart, my
gratitude
is
free
from
any
taint
of
personal
triumph.
I do not impugn the
m.otives
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 reso-
lution to stand by free government and the rights
of humanity.
214
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Nov.
lo
Remarks on the Benefits of the Elective Sys-
tem, in Response to a Serenade.
On November
lo,
1864, when
it was definitely known
that
he
had
been
reelected,
the
President
was
the
recipient
of
a
serenade by
citizens,
in responding to
which
he
cited
the
orderliness
of
the
election
as
a
signal proof of the stability of democratic government.
It has long been a grave question whether any
government, not too strong
for the
liberties of
its people, can be strong enough to maintain
its
existence
in
great
emergencies.
On
this
point
the present
rebellion brought our
republic
to
a
severe
test, and a presidential election occurring
in regular course during the rebellion, added not
a httle to the strain.
If the loyal people united were put to the ut-
most of their strength by the rebellion, must they
not
fail when divided and partially paralyzed by
a political war among themselves ?
But the elec-
tion
was
a
necessity.
We
cannot
have
free
government
without
elections
;
and
if
the
re-
bellion 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 ap-
plied
to
the
facts
of
the
case.
What
has
oc-
curred
in
this
case must
ever
recur
in
similar
cases.
Human nature
will not change.
In any
future
great
national
trial,
compared
with
the
men of this, we shall have as weak and as strong,
as silly and as wise, as bad and as good.
Let us,
therefore, study the
incidents
of this
as
philos-
ophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as
wrongs to be revenged.
But the election, along
with
its
incidental
and
undesirable
strife,
has
1864]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
215
done good too.
It has demonstrated that a peo-
ple's government can sustain a national election
in the midst of a great
civil war.
Until now,
it
has not been known to the world that this was a
possibility.
It shows,
also, how sound and how
strong we
still
are.
It shows that, even among
candidates
of
the same
party, he who
is most
devoted to the Union and most opposed to trea-
son can
receive most
of the
people's
votes.
It
shows,
also,
to
the
extent yet known,
that we
have more men now than we had when the war
began.
Gold
is good
in
its
place, but
living,
brave, patriotic men are better than gold.
But the
rebellion continues, and now that the
election
is
over, may not
all having a common
interest reunite
in a common
effort
to save our
common
country?
For my own
part,
I
have
striven
and
shall
strive
to
avoid
placing
any
obstacle in the way.
So long as I have been here
I have not willingly planted a thorn in any man's
bosom.
While
I am deeply sensible to the high
compliment of a reelection, and duly grateful, as
I trust, to almighty God for having directed my
countrymen to a right conclusion, as
I think, for
their own good,
it adds nothing to my
satisfac-
tion that any other man may be disappointed or
pained by the result.
May
I ask those who have not differed with
me
to
join with me
in
this same
spirit toward
those who have?
And now
let me close by ask-
ing three
hearty
cheers
for
our brave
soldiers
and seamen and
their
gallant and
skilful com-
manders.
2i6
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Dec.
Remarks
on
Maryland's
Free
Constitution,
to the Maryland Union Committee.
On November
17,
1864,
in
reply
to
the
Maryland
Union Committee, which had waited upon him
in con-
gratulation of
his
reelection,
President Lincoln spoke
of Maryland's adoption of a free constitution as more
significant than his own triumph.
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 purpose.
He would
say, however, that he was gratified with the
re-
sult
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 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
con-
stitution 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
1864]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
217
lose Maryland in the presidential election to save
it by
the
adoption
of
a
free-State
constitution,
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 successful.
Remarks on Sherman's March to the
Sea, in
Response to a Serenade.
On December
6.
1864,
in
a
brief response
to
a
sere-
nade,
President
Lincoln turned
the
subject from
his
reelection
to
General Sherman, who had
cut
himself
off from
Northern
communication,
and had plunged
his army into the heart of the Confederacy.
Friends and
Fellozv-citizens:
I believe
I
shall
never be old enough to speak without embarrass-
ment when I have nothing to talk about.
I have
no good news to
tell you, and yet
I have no bad
news to
tell.
We have talked of elections
until
there
is nothing more to say about them.
The
most
interesting
news we now
have
is
from
Sherman.
We
all know where he went
in, but
I can't
tell where he will come out.
I
will now
close
by
proposing
three
cheers
for
General
Sherman and his army.
2i8
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Jan.
Remarks on Edward Everett, to a Committee
Presenting a Souvenir of Gettysburg.
On
January
24,
1865,
a
committee
of
ladies
and
gentlemen presented President Lincoln with a souvenir
of
Gettysburg.
In
response
he
paid
a
tribute
to
Edward Everett, the orator of the day at the dedication
of
the
National
Cemetery
at
Gettysburg,
who
had
recently died (January
15, 1865).
Reverend
Sir, and Ladies and
Gentlemen:
I
accept with emotions
of profoundest
gratitude,
the
beautiful
gift
you
have
been
pleased
to
present to me.
You
will, of course, expect that
I acknowledge
it.
So much has been said about
Gettysburg, and
so
well, that for me to attempt
to say more may perhaps only serve to weaken
the
force
of
that which has
already been
said.
A most graceful and eloquent tribute was paid
to the patriotism and self-denying labors of the
American
ladies, on the occasion
of the
conse-
cration
of the national cemetery
at Gettysburg,
by our
illustrious
friend, Edward Everett, now,
alas
! departed from earth.
His
life was a truly
great one, and
I think the greatest part of
it was
that which crowned
its
closing
years.
I
wish
you to read,
if you have not already done so, the
eloquent and truthful words which he then spoke
of the women of America.
Truly, the
services
they have rendered to the defenders of our coun-
try
in this perilous time, and are yet rendering,
can never be estimated as they ought to be.
For
your kind wishes to me personally,
I beg leave to
render you likewise my
sincerest thanks.
I as-
sure
you
they
are
reciprocated.
And
now,
gentlemen and ladies, may God bless you
all.
I
1865]
RESPONSE TO SERENADE
219
Remarks
on
the
Constitutional Amendment
Abolishing
Slavery,
in
Response
to
a
Serenade.
On January
31,
1865,
in response to a serenade, the
President made the following remarks on the adoption
by
Congress
the
day
before
of
the
Constitutional
amendment abolishing slavery.
He supposed the passage through Congress of
the
constitutional
amendment
for
the
abolish-
ment
of
slavery throughout
the
United
States
was the occasion
to which he was indebted
for
the honor of
this
call.
The occasion was one of congratulation to the
country, and to the whole world.
But there
is a
task yet before us—to go forward and have con-
summated by the votes of the States that which
Congress had
so nobly begun yesterday.
[Ap-
plause and
cries,
''They
will do
it,"
etc.]
He
had
the
honor
to
inform
those
present
that
Illinois
had
already
to-day
done
the
work.
Maryland was
about
half through,
but he
felt
proud that Illinois was a little ahead.
He thought this measure was a very fitting
if
not an indispensable adjunct to the winding up
of the great
difficulty.
He wished the reunion
of
all the States perfected, and so effected as to
remove
all causes
of disturbance
in the future;
and, to attain this end,
it was necessary that the
original
disturbing cause
should,
if
possible, be
rooted out.
He thought all would bear him wit-
ness
that he had never shrunk from doing
all
that he could to eradicate slavery, by issuing an
emancipation proclamation.
But
that proclama-
tion
falls
short of what the amendment
will be
when
fully consummated.
A question might be
2 20
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Feb.
raised
whether
the
proclamation
was
legally
valid.
It might be urged, that
it only aided those
that came into our lines, and that
it was inopera-
tive as to those who did not give themselves up;
or that
it would have no effect upon the children
of
slaves
born
hereafter
;
in
fact,
it would
be
urged
that
it
did
not meet
the
evil.
But
this
amendment
is a king's cure-all for
all
evils.
It
winds
the
whole
thing
up.
He
would
repeat
that
it was the fitting if not the indispensable ad-
junct to the consummation of the great game we
are playirg.
He could not but congratulate
all
present—himself,
the
country,
and
the
whole
world—upon this great moral victory.
The Hampton Roads Conference.
In
a
letter dated February
7,
1865, and addressed to
Charles
Francis
Adams,
Minister
to
Great
Britain,
Secretary
Seward
gives
the
following
account
of
the
conference which President Lincoln held with the Con-
federate
Peace
Commissioners
at
Hampton
Roads,
February
3,
1865.
On
the
morning
of
the
3d,
the
President,
attended
by
the
Secretary,
received
Messrs.
Stephens,
Hunter,
and
Campbell
on board
the
United
States
steam
transport
River Queen
in
Hampton Roads.
The conference was altogether
informal.
There was
no .attendance
of
secre-
taries,
clerks,
or other witnesses.
Nothing was
written
or
read.
The
conversation,
although
earnest and
free, was calm, and courteous, and
kind
on
both
sides.
The Richmond
party
ap-
proached the discussion rather indirectly, and at
no
time
did
they
either make
categorical
de-
mands, or tender formal stipulations, or absolute
refusals.
Nevertheless,
during
the
conference.
1865]
HAMPTON ROADS CONFERENCE
221
which
lasted
four
hours,
the
several
points
at
issue between the government and the insurgents
were
distinctly raised, and discussed
fully,
intel-
ligently, and in an amicable spirit.
What the in-
surgent party seemed chiefly to favor was a post-
ponement
of
the
question
of
separation,
upon
which the war
is waged, and a mutual direction
of efforts of the government, as well as those of
the insurgents, to some extrinsic policy or scheme
for a season during which passions might be ex-
pected to subside, and the armies be reduced, and
trade and intercourse between the people of both
sections resumed.
It was suggested by them that
through such postponement we might now have
immediate peace, with some not very certain pros-
pect
of an
ultimate
satisfactory
adjustment
of
political
relations between
this government and
the
States,
section,
or
people now engaged
in
conflict with
it.
This
suggestion,
though
deliberately
consid-
ered, was nevertheless regarded by the President
as one of armistice or truce, and he announced
that we can agree to no cessation or suspension
of hostilities, except on the basis of the disband-
ment of the insurgent forces, and the restoration
of
the
national
authority
throughout
all
the
States in the Union.
Collaterally, and
in subor-
dination
to
the proposition which was thus an-
nounced,
the
antislavery
policy
of
the
United
States was reviewed
in
all
its bearings, and the
President
announced
that
he must
not
be
ex-
pected to depart from the positions he had here-
tofore assumed in his proclamation of emancipa-
tion and other documents, as these positions were
reiterated
in
his
last
annual
message.
It was
further declared by the President that the com-
222
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar. 4
plete
restoration
of
the
national
authority was
an indispensable condition of any assent on our
part to whatever form
of peace might be pro-
posed.
The
President
assured
the
other party
that, while he must adhere to these positions, he
would be prepared, so far as power is lodged with
the executive, to exercise
liberality.
His power,
however, is limited by the Constitution
; and when
peace should be made. Congress must necessarily
act
in regard to appropriation of money and to
the admission of representatives from the insur-
rectionary
States.
The Richmond
party
were
then
informed
that
Congress
had,
on
the
31st
ultimo,
adopted by
a
constitutional
majority
a
joint resolution submitting to the
several
States
the proposition to abolish slavery throughout the
Union, and that there
is every reason to expect
that
it will be soon accepted by three-fourths of
the States, so as to become a part of the national
organic law.
The
conference
came
to
an
end
by
mutual
acquiescence, without producing an agreement of
views upon the several matters discussed, or any
of
them.
Nevertheless,
it
is
perhaps
of some
importance that we have been able to submit our
opinions and views
directly to prominent
insur-
gents, and to hear them in answer in a courteous
and not unfriendly manner.
Acceptance of the Office of President Made to
Notification Committee
of
Congress.
On February
9,
1865,
a committee
of Congress
re-
ported to President Lincoln that he had been reelected
by the Electoral College.
In response he accepted the
trust in the following brief remarks:
With
deep
gratitude
to my
countrymen
for
1865]
SECOND INAUGURAL
22$
this mark of their confidence
; with a distrust of
my own
abihty
to
perform
the
duty
required
under the most favorable circumstances, and now
rendered
doubly
difficult
by
existing
national
perils
; yet with a firm
reliance on the
strength
of our free government, and the eventual loyalty
of the people to the
just principles upon which
it
is
founded, and above
all
with an unshaken
faith
in the Supreme Ruler of nations,
I accept
this
trust.
Be pleased to signify this to the
re-
spective Houses of Congress.
Second Inaugural Address.
Delivered at Washington, D.
C.
March
4,
1865.
Fellow-countrymen : At
this second appearing
to take the oath of the presidential office, there
is
less occasion for an extended address than there
was at the
first.
Then a statement, somewhat in
detail, of a course to be pursued, seemed fitting
and
proper.
Now,
at
the
expiration
of
four
years, during which public declarations have been
constantly called forth on every point and phase
of the great contest which
still absorbs the atten-
tion and
engrosses
the
energies
of
the
nation,
little that
is new could be presented.
The prog-
ress of our arms, upon which
all else chiefly de-
pends,
is as well known to the public as to my-
self; and
it
is,
I
trust,
reasonably
satisfactory
and encouraging to
all.
With high hope for the
future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.
On
the
occasion
corresponding
to
this
four
years ago,
all thoughts were anxiously directed
to an impending
civil war.
All dreaded
it—all
sought to avert
it.
While the inaugural address
224
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Mar.
was being delivered from this place, devoted
al-
together to saving the Union without war, insur-
gent agents were
in the
city seeking to destroy
it without war—seeking to
dissolve
the Union,
and divide
effects, by negotiation.
Both parties
deprecated war
; but one of them would make war
rather than
let the nation survive
; and the other
'would accept war rather than
let
it perish.
And
the war came.
One-eighth of the whole population were
col-
ored
slaves,
not
distributed
generally
over
the
Union, but
localized
in the Southern part of
it.
These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful
interest.
All knev/ that this interest was, some-
how, 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
restrict the
territorial
enlargement of
it.
Neither party expected
for the war the mag-
nitude
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
assist-
ance
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
2865]
TO INDIANA REGIMENT
225
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 sup-
pose
that American
slavery
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 terri-
ble war,
as the woe due
to those by whom the
offense came, shall we discern therein any depart-
ure from
those
divine
attributes which
the
be-
lievers
in
a
living God always
ascribe
to him?
Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that
this mighty
scourge
of war may
speedily
pass
away.
Yet,
if God wills that
it continue until
all
the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred
and
fifty years of unrequited
toil
shall be sunk,
and
until
every drop
of blood drawn
with
the
lash
shall
be
paid by
another drawn
with
the
sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so
still
it must be said, "The judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether."
With malice toward none
; with charity for all
;
with
firmness
in
the
right,
as God
gives us
to
see the
right,
let us strive on to finish the work
we
are
in
;
to bind up
the
nation's wounds
;
to
care
for him who
shall have borne
the
battle,
and
for
his widow, and
his orphan—to do
all
\
which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting
I
peace among ourselves, and with
all nations.
Remarks on the Employment
of Negroes
in
the Confederate Army, Made to an Indiana
Regiment.
On
March
17,
1865,
in
an
address
to
an
Indiana
Regiment,
the President took occasion to animadvert
226
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Apr.
ii
on the reported intention of the Confederacy to employ
negroes in the army.
Fellow-citizens: A
few
words
only.
I
was
born
in
Kentucky,
raised
in
Indiana,
reside
in
Illinois, and now,
here,
it
is my
duty
to
care
equally for the good people of
all the
States.
I
am to-day glad of seeing
it
in the power of an
Indiana regiment to present this captured flag to
the good governor of their State
; and yet I would
not
wish
to
compliment
Indiana
above
other
States,
remembering
that
all
have
done
so
well.
There are but few aspects of this great war on
which
I have not already expressed my views by
speaking or
writing.
There
is one—the
recent
effort
of
"our
erring
brethren,"
sometimes
so
called, to employ the slaves in their armies.
The
great
question
with them
has
been,
"Will
the
negro
fight
for them?"
They ought
to know
better
than
we,
and
doubtless
do know
better
than we.
I may incidentally remark, that hav-
ing in my life heard many arguments—or strings
of words meant to pass for arguments—intended
to show that the negro ought to be a
slave—if
he shall now really fight to keep himself a slave,
it
will be a
far
better argument why he should
remain
a
slave than
I have
ever before
heard.
He,
perhaps, ought
to be a
slave
if he
desires
it
ardently enough
to
fight
for
it.
Or,
if one
out of four
will,
for
his own freedom,
fight
to
keep the other three
in
slavery, he ought to be
a slave for his
selfish meanness.
I have always
thought that
all men should be free; but
if any
should
be
slaves,
it
should
be
first
those who
desire
it for themselves, and secondly those who
desire
it for
others.
Whenever
I hear any one
1865]
ON RECONSTRUCTION
227
arguing for
slavery,
I
feel a strong impulse
to
see
it tried on him personally.
There
is one thing about the negroes' fighting
for
the
rebels which we can know
as
well
as
they
can,
and
that
is
that
they
cannot
at
the
same time fight in their armies and stay at home
and make bread for them.
And this being known
and remembered, we can have but
little concern
whether
they
become
soldiers
or
not.
I am
rather in favor of the measure, and would at any
time^,
if I could, have loaned them a vote to carry
it.
We have to reach the bottom of the insur-
gent resources
; and that they employ, or seriously
think of employing, the slaves as
soldiers, gives
us glimipses of the bottom.
Therefore I am glad
of what we learn on this subject.
Speech on the Reconstruction of the Southern
States.
On April
11,
1865, two days
after
the surrender
of
General
Lee
at
Appomattox,
President
Lincoln
de-
livered what proved
to be
his
last public address.
It
dealt
with
the
reconstruction
of
the governments
of
the Southern States, especially of Louisiana.
We meet
this evening not
in
sorrow,
but
in
gladness of heart.
The evacuation of Petersburg
and Richmond, and the surrender of the princi-
pal 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
for-
gotten.
A call for a national thanksgiving is be-
ing prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor
must those whose harder part gives us the cause
of rejoicing be overlooked.
Their honors must
2 28
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES
[Apr. u
not be parceled out with
others.
I myself was
near the front, and had the high 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 reinauguration of
the national
authority — reconstruction — which
has had a large share of thought from the first,
is
pressed much more
closely upon our
attention.
It
is fraught with great difficulty.
Unlike a case
of war between independent nations, there
is no
authorized organ
for
us
to
treat with—no one
man has
authority
to
give up
the
rebellion
for
any other man. We simply must begin with and
mold from disorganized and discordant elements.
Nor
is
it a small additional embarrassment that
we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to
the mode, manner, and measure
of
reconstruc-
tion.
As a general
rule,
I abstain from reading
the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not
to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly
offer an answer.
In spite of this precaution, how-
ever,
it comes to my knowledge that
I am much
censured for some supposed agency in setting up
and seeking to sustain the new State government
of Louisiana.
In
this
I have done
just so much
as, and no
more than, the public knows.
In the annual mes-
sage of December,
1863, and
in the accompany-
ing proclamation,
I
presented
a plan
of
recon-
struction, as the phrase goes, which
I promised,
if adopted by any State, should be acceptable to
and sustained by the executive government of the
nation.
I distinctly stated that this was not the
iS65]
ON RECONSTRUCTION
229
only plan which might possibl}' be acceptable, and
I
also
distinctly
protested
that
the
executive
claimed no right to say when or whether members
should
be
admitted
to
seats
in
Congress
from
such States.
This plan was in advance submitted
to the then Cabinet, and
distinctly approved by
every member of
it.
One of them suggested that
I should then and
in
that connection apply
the
Emancipation Proclamation to the theretofore ex-
cepted
parts
of Virginia and Louisiana
;
that
I
should drop the suggestion about apprenticeship
for freed people, and that I should omit the pro-
test against my own power
in regard to the ad-
mission of members
to Congress.
But even he
approved every part and parcel of the plan which
has since been employed or touched by the action
of Louisiana.
The new
constitution
of Louisiana,
declaring
emancipation
for
the
whole
State,
practically
applies
the proclamation
to the
part
previously
excepted.
It does not adopt apprenticeship
for
freed people, and
it
is
silent, as
it could not well
be otherwise, about the admission of members to
Congress.
So
that,
as
it
applies
to
Louisiana,
every member of the Cabinet fully approved the
plan.
The message went to Congress, and
I
re-
ceived many commendations of the plan, written
and verbal, and not a single objection to
it from
any professed emancipationist came to my knowl-
edge
until
after
the news
reached Washington
that the people of Louisiana had begun to move
in accordance with
it.
From about July, 1862,
I
had corresponded with different persons supposed
to be interested
[i;/]
seeking a reconstruction of
a
State government
for
Louisiana.
When
the
message of 1863, with the plan before mentioned,