THE PHILOSOPHY of f^ ' r i p "^ L J r ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN HIS OWN WORDS compiled by WILLIAM E.BARINGER The book that every one of Lincoln's friends, admirers and collectors will vitally need and want: Lincoln's philosophy in his own words; his views on the widely ranging phases of hu- man, of individual as well as social ideals and practice. Coming to the public in the year of Lincoln's Sesquicentennial Celebration, this handy-sized and thought-packed volume bears an unfor- gettable message to every American and to all mankind in these again troubled times, a mes- sage from one of the heights of the heritage of the United States. Compiled by one of the foremost Lincoln scholars of our day and the Executive Director of the United States Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, Professor Baringer's book makes some of the very greatest words that have ever been spoken on American soil live again for all who wish to read and re-read them. Surprisingly enough for such a great man, the sources for the accurate texts of Lincoln's writ- ings and speeches are not readily accessible to the non-specialist. This book fills that need and makes those words accessible. Here the reader will find home-spun humor, capital common sense, wonderfully adept judgment and human appraisal, profound feeling, and above all, a deep and irresistible love for one's fellow man. A book to remember, to keep nearby, along with Shakespeare and the Bible. "... absorbing document of human interest." "... indispensable reference work " "... the record of the thinking and values of one of the few truly great human beings to play a mayor part in history and in man's faith in himself" Three dollars and fifty cents LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY MEMORIAL the Class of 1901 founded by HARLAN HOYT HORNER and HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://archive.org/details/philosophyofabraOOillinc THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN Portrait of ABRAHAM LINCOLN i8og- 1865 as photographed by Alexander Gardner in Washington, on November 75, 1863, four days before the President delivered his famous Gettysburg Address. It is one of the best known Lincoln photographs. THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN IN HIS OWN WORDS COMPILED BY WILLIAM E.BARINGER PROFESSOR OF HISTORY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LINCOLN SESQUICENTENNIAL COMMISSION WASHINGTON, D. C. FALCON'S WING PRESS COPYRIGHT © 1959 THE FALCON'S WING PRESS INDIAN HILLS, COLORADO, USA All rights reserved No portion thereof in this book may ' reproduced in any form except in book reviews without permission in writing from the publisher Library of Congress Catalogue Card No. S9~ I 4557 Printed in Switzerland 973, 7L< KB23J* DEDICATED TO Lee White Administrative Assistant to Senator John Sherman Cooper, Chairman Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission Albert Gechter Graduate Student University of Florida Both of whom unwittingly played key parts in the chain of events leading to this publication CONTENTS General Editor's Introduction .... XI Foreword . . xxvn Preface .. .. xxix I Human Interest 3 II On Politics and Politicians 23 in On Slavery and its Problems 41 IV On Law and its Profession 67 V On American Institutions 73 VI On Liberty 109 VII On Religion 119 VIII On Labor 125 IX On Union, Disunion, and the War . . 131 x On Civil Liberties, Red Tape, and the War 155 / also know your courage and your dignity : A dignity that came from the big, clean open spaces Of your heart. I know your loneliness ; Abe Lincoln, And I am part of it. I am part of your sorrow, And I am part of your pain - That last, fierce pain you knew As a little man's bullet Burned into your flesh. Yes, I know your story well, And I am part of it. I am part of you, Abe Lincoln, And I walk in your shadow - That long, slow shadow That stretches out beyond your sleep, Beyond your dream. From a Poem by Libby Stopple, Texas (printed by permission) GENERAL EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION The occasion of welcoming Professor Baringer's unique and fine compilation of the philosophy of Abraham Lincoln into the Keystone Series of enduring books is both pleasurable and yet surrounded with serious and even grave reflections. For we are today living through times tragically witnessing the deliberate undermining and overthrow of the highest moral principles that have hitherto led and dignified man- kind, the principles of which Lincoln was an unforgettable spokesman. Today there is a greater civil war ravaging all mankind. The question before us is whether an unscrupulous minority, treacherously and without popular mandate seizing the reins of government, shall be allowed to steal everyone else's priv- ate liberties and properties, and then subvert the entire pop- ulace to slavery, using brute force and murder as their ulti- mate means. The question is whether an oligarchical minor- ity falsely calling itself "The State" shall be allowed to en- slave the populations of nations, in a slavery far more degrad- ing and brutal than any system of private slavery : for gov- ernment property has always been notoriously more ill- treated than private property. There is no individual who loses if such property is damaged, no individual responsibil- ity, and consequently an exponentially degenerate growth of disregard for human life and dignity. That degeneration and disregard are nowhere more evident than in the vast slave la- bor camps, called communes in Red China, and concentra- tion camps in Soviet Russia, which support as their necessary XII PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN foundation the entire misery-spawned superstructure of slave or Communist societies. * Lincoln's stand against such a colossal form of slavery would have been even more uncompromisingly stern than his historical stand against private slavery. For in enslavement by the State, the very origin of man's forming into social groups for mutual protection and maximal individual free- dom is perverted and betrayed, and tyranny is blasphem- ously touted as the religion of such obscenity masquerad- ing as government. Side by side with the 20 th Century's great conflict over enslavement by the State in the hands of criminal oligarchy stands the kindred question of the allowance of an ever-in- creasing brutality, which emerged after the first large-scale use of weapons of mass-destruction in World War I. The two questions go hand in hand, for criminal oligarchies' nat- ural gravitation is toward acquiring more and more power of mass-destruction, however horrible the means, just so long as the efficiency of the death-dealing power increases. The power of mass-destruction is a necessity to mass-enslave- ment. For slave populations must be controlled by force when not psychologically drugged. Lincoln's stand here is clear too. "Civilized belligerents," he wrote in a letter to James Conkling dated August 26, 1863, "do all in their power to help themselves, or hurt the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous and cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes and non- combatants, male and female." The criminal bombings of civilians on both sides during World War II remove every so-called great nation of the world today from the 1 See "Forced Labor in Soviet Russia" by David J. Dallin and Boris Nicolaevsky, copyright by Yale University Press and published by Hollis and Carter, Ltd., 25 Ashley Place, London, S.W.I. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XIII ranks of the civilized in the definition of one of mankind's worthiest and highest examples, Abraham Lincoln. There is no conclusion to be drawn but that the kind of men who have seized leadership have betrayed humanity suc- cessively more and more since the opening of the 20 th Century. But even though we have not clear national goodness any longer, we are able to distinguish outright evil from various shades of weakness. How worthy or great a nation is today de- pends on a very simple fact : how much that nation actually respects and enforces the rights and liberties of individuals as such within its borders. For the sore conflicts today over State-enslavement and mass-brutality, and the extent to which each one of these cancers has encroached on any re- gion, can be discovered by using this simple measuring line. Individual mankind is the key. What we wrote as an editorial 1 in 1952 seems even more appropriate today - so much so that we feel called upon to repeat those words here : "As I would not be a slave, "The State is an institution for so I would not be a master." the exercising of violence." LINCOLN VerSUS LENIN In the ancient Finnish epic, the Kalevala, to know and recite the origin and name of an evil demon was to exorcize it. That is still true today. When we know the origin and name of an evil force - the true nature of it denuded of all fa£ades, the roots of what 'makes it tick' - then more than half the battle is won. It is long past time for totalitarian Communism to be named, and its roots spoken. 1 The Jacob Boehme Quarterly, Winter 1952. XIV PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN The roots lie deep in human nature, and the two men named are but two sides of man himself, between which he must choose unequivocally today - or die to his humanity. The slow sifting process of historical centuries has precip- itated a result from all its mixtures of good and evil - has pro- duced a final separation in the ways of organizing human behaviour. Man now has before him the conclusive choice of extending violence, hate and injustice on the one hand, or freedom, love and justice on the other, toward his fellow man. During the history of Western civilization at the very least, there has been no clearer example of the very core of the credo of violence than Lenin; and no more compelling example of the belief and practice of freedom, humanitarian love, and justice than Lincoln. Two final forms of the social character of mankind - examplified so diametrically in the two men themselves, two ultimate systems of human and societal relationships, one based on mistrust and the idea of the absolute arbitrary public master, the other based on trust and the idea of the great, elected public servant - these con- stitute the choice that the shuffling of history has yielded to mankind in the last deal of the cards. The problem of Communism is but the problem of that choice. Dictatorial oligarchy requires unprincipled men for its continuance and formation. Free popular representation and elective power requires, on the other hand, men of principle and ethical integrity as an indispensable condition for its continuance. If principled men come not to be chosen to guide the people, then insofar as that condition exists, un- principled men will choose themselves to rule them, vault- ing themselves to power through chaos. Where there is not active health and sanity, there will ill-health and insanity speedily become actively manifest. Right choice must main- tain right results. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XV The most outstanding characteristic of history has been trial and error and the freedom of choice they entail. The historical process is and has been by no means determined except by the desires in men they have allowed to determine them, by their own permission within themselves to begin with. Fish may be caught on hooks assuredly; and just as assuredly it is the fishes' greed for the bait that led them there. So was it Lenin's own appetite for power and violence that step by step forged his own choice, the choice against the humanity of the Golden Rule, against any form of fine character, ethics or principles, and for the criminality of self-justifying any means, for terrorism, falsification, and violence. There was no extenuating cricumstance for this choice of Lenin's. The cause lay in himself. For on the eve of his birth, in the Russia of 1870, there were already two clearly defined and very different revolutionary programs. One was based on the principles of social democracy and elective majority; the other, upon dictatorship over the people in their very name, by the projected ruse of a conspiratorial coup of an autocratic few carrying the sophistry of Marxism to its inevitable immorality, wherein Communism is seen to be nothing more than the most hypocritical fascism of them all. This language is not strong. It is merely factual, and the facts are not pleasant. Representative of the first group were Herzen and Lavrov. Herzen had already written in 1867 : Social progress is possible only under complete republican freedom, under full democratic equality. Herzen had felt that every republic would have to lead to socialism, something we today know is not true at all. But, returning to the central thesis of his remarks, he said : XVI PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN On the other hand, Socialism which might try to dispense with polit- ical freedom would rapidly degenerate into autocratic Communism. Here Herzen was truly a prophet. Somewhat later, Lavrov, wrote even more specifically : History has shown us that the possession of great power currupts the best people... Every dictatorship must surround itself with compulsory means of defense which must serve as obedient tools in its hands, every dictatorship is called upon to suppress not only its reactionary oppo- nents, but also those who disagree with its methods and actions. Whenever a dictatorship succeeded in establishing itself it had to spend more time and effort in maintaining its power... than upon the realization of its program. Representative of the other group were Nechaiev, Bakun- in and Tkachev. The basic creed of this group, which was later to become official Soviet Party-line propaganda, was expressed in the "Catechism" of Nechaiev and Bakunin published and spread in and after 1869 : The Revolutionist... has no private interests, no business affairs, no sentiments, ties, property, nor even a name of his own... Heart and soul, not merely by word but by deed, he has severed every link with the social order, and... the civilized world... He is its merciless enemy and conti- nues to inhabit it with only one purpose - to destroy it... Everything with promotes the success of the revolution is moral, everything which hinders it is immoral... The nature of the true revolutionist excludes all romanticism, all tenderness, all love. This unmanly creed bore its appropriate fruit in the per- sons of Lenin, and succeeding him, Stalin, - inwardly twist- ed out of human shape. It also distinguishes the Com- munist from all other political adherents : he is an avowed enemy to the rest of the world. His presence in any other government and milieu than his treasonable own, born of betrayal of the people, means traitorism and treason. Com- munists are not a bona fide political party, but members of a conspiratorial network of espionage and sabotage agents of a foreign imperialist power - the Soviet Union, the most ex- tended empire based on slavery of the most vicious sort the world has ever seen. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XVII Bakunin later becomes even more revealing than Ne- chaiev when even he became filled with revulsion at his own disciple Nechaiev's ideas. Bakunin, the sad type of man who is unable in time to discern the logical conclusions of his own immoral half-truths, thus finally wrote in disillusion of the movement he had helped to found : With the expection of... chosen leaders, all the members should serve as blind tools in the hands of those leaders... It is permissible to deceive these members... rob them, and even murder them if necessary. They are merely cannon fodder for conspiracies. For the good of the cause he (the leader) must be allowed to gain full mastery over your person, even against your will. The lesser fry, as in any criminal organization, are con- temptible dupes. Here the Communists of the world may see the attitude toward them by the 'Central Party.' For Nechaiev's group and credo was the ideological allegiance that Lenin chose, even with Bakunin's retraction before him. What makes the matter still more remarkable is that Ne- chaiev's ideas and following did not win the Russian Revo- lution of 19 17. It was rather Herzen and Lavrov who won in 1917. Lenin's Bolsheviks were a counter-revolutionary movement that overthrew the Russian Revolution. This has never been made sufficiently clear and pointed, though the facts are available and have been printed. On the contrary, there is a most insidious tendency in both England and Amer- ica to whitewash the sepulchre of Communism and make it appear respectable, rotten though it is. But of this later. Lenin's comparative handful of armed Bolsheviki riffraff and fanatics, headed by the conspiratorial leaders called 'The Military Revolutionary Committee,' slayed peasants and workers both, and arrested, by force of arms, the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Kerensky and Konovalov. Despite Lenin's counter-revolutionary coup, popular opin- ion throughout Russia demanded a republican Constituent XVIII PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Assembly to be called. Out of 707 elected deputies by the Russian people, only 175 were Bolshevik, and out of the 175 only 40 were pro-Lenin Bolsheviki. Yet that 40, by means of arming city riffraff and using Lettish mercenaries, over- threw the Constituent Assembly - the most democratic event in the history of Russia - and seizing counter-revolutionary power, defeated the will of the people. All the chaos and con- fusion inherent in the revolutionary situation were taken advantage of to mask this seizure of power by a criminal few, whose purposes were well expressed by Lenin after the fall of the Constituent Assembly : We made a mistake in not postponing the calling of the Constituent Assembly. We acted very incautiously. But it comes out all to the better. The dissolution of the Constituent Assembly by the Soviet Government means a complete and frank liquidation of the idea of democracy by the idea of dictatorship. It will serve as a good lesson. Compare this with the sentiments of the actual winners of the Russian Revolution, (in turn overthrown by Lenin's con- spiracy) as expressed by one of its 19 18 survivors, the inter- esting figure of Vera Figner : None of us was a Jacobin. We never thought of forcing upon the ma- jority of the people the will of the minority, and we never planned a government that would bring about revolutionary, socialistic, economic, and political changes by decree... Should the people's representatives favour some measure that is directly opposed to the demands of the rev- olutionary party, this party would under no circumstances resort to acts of violence and terrorism to enforce its program. Here was the voice of Herzen, Lavrov and for that matter, Masaryk - the voice of the group first mentioned, the group that won the Russian Revolution only to be in turn down- trodden by Lenin's ruthless and autocratic counter-revolution. However, it must be stated in logical justice that any idealogy, like Marxism, which repudiates all ethics and any Higher Power than arrogant man, subverting human nature to purely material values, - can scarcely avoid arriving at EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XIX Nechaiev and Leninism by its own internal logic. Commu- nism is the enslavement of all the persons in the nation - summarily called 'masses' or 'workers' - by a conspiratorial few identifying themselves with and as 'the State' by the use of armed force and terroristic policing. It is a system which is the natural denouement of the phenomenon we may term anthropolatry : the worship of man by man, as a god suf- ficient unto himself; and its close kin : the rejection of ethical certainties and principles of integrity. It is the final degener- ation of humanism without God. Now an extremely significant fact becomes apparent. Every system of values which claims that man is sufficient unto himself and simply a higher animal in nature, with reason- ing rather than ethics his basic feature, - any such anthro- polatrous system finally becomes pregnant with its final abortion, namely Communism, which can in derision call itself the humanism of the 20 th century. Naturalism, with its sophistical denial of man's distinctive feelings and heart, of all ethical verities, and with its equally sophistical attempts to persuade us that humanism must be anthropolatry, - is the natural breeding ground of Marxism, which merely carries these notions into the political sphere. The denial of Divinity and the divinity in man, the denial of ethics in the vicious equating of 'good' with 'good for me and pleasant,' - all this effectively prepares the warped mind for the espousal of full anthropolatry and the negation of all moral values as 'relativistic.' Any means are 'good' relative to my own ends, said Lenin's credo. There are indeed an infinite number of relations in this world. But they are governed by the most profoundly fixed ethical principles, the denial of which in practice leads to the moral deterioration of man. It was Lincoln's noble distinc- tion never to have lost sight of this foundational truth : Let XX PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN us do the right as God gives us to see the right.,.. Lincoln's entire principle was to seek for the Divine Will, the will of Love, Wisdom and Right Doing, within himself, and then to live in the ennobling faith that all circumstances following upon his having done his highest and best would have to eventuate in greater good than before. It was a good and lov- ing will, without the least taint of arrogance and self-exalta- tion, that was Lincoln's only final steersman through his greatest problems. Ideas were never more important for Lin- coln than men and women, whom ideas are supposed to serve. He never bowed down and worshipped, as did Lenin, Hitler and their ilk, a Luciferean image in and controlling his own mind. He sought only the Highest Good, and he knew that goodness and slavery of any sort are incompatible. Lincoln and Lenin are two sides of man, the light and the raging darkness within each man. The first wishes to free and seeks not itself, the second seeks its own will only and wishes to enchain. One can be led to the second and its predominance by the easy stages of naturalizing man and materializing na- ture, or by any form of ultimate pluralism, which denies inner relations between things : which denies meaning and saves words to worship. Pluralism reflects ethically as complete amorality, for actions are atomistic, and there can be no ab- solute ethical principles. And let it be clearly understood, any amorality is immorality. Any man whose will is not good, is doing bad. There is no such thing as an ethical vacuum, as the amoralists and ethical relativists would have us believe, in order to ease their own doubts by the empty expedient of obtaining companions in misery. Pseudo-objective 'behav- iorism' leads to same end. Some scientists, and the so- called intelligentsia - as distinct from the intelligent - can particularly fall heirs to anthropolatry and amorality in the names of 'naturalism ' 'scientific humanism' and the like. The EDITOR' S INTRO DUC TIO N XXI very next step in this development is the sociopolitical ex- pression of such views : Marxism. The ethical impoverishment of the majority of America's universities, particularly in the departments of philosophy - where the ethical truths verifiably discovered by all the great leaders of mankind should be taught, rather than the spine- less non-committalism which today passes for courses in ethics and comparative religion - this ethical improverishment is the first step toward the totalitarian state. The repudiation of moral verities is the first step to Lenin. The ceaseless search for ethical principles and the practice of integrity in one's daily life is the first step toward Lincoln. Today it is the choice of ethics and principles that must first be made before any political policy can be formulated. It is the characteristic choice facing 20 th century man. And he who has not chosen the Light, has chosen the darkness, and has eliminated himself. The United States, irrespective of whether any others so choose or not, must and is highly called upon to choose the way of Lincoln who, more than any other, is the best of the United States of America. If we fail Lincoln, we fail our better selves. These days shall be written as the true fiery trial, not only of America, but of all the peoples of the earth. Lincoln mentioned that 'fiery trial,' and his words are highly appropriate today. And it was well known by Jacob Boehme that the fire can be tinctured only by the light, in this caset the light of a deep ethical awareness - the only light by which 20 th century mankind will find its way out of the morass. Whatever power Communism holds in men's minds today stems from several specific sources, other than those more general ones discussed in the account of its origin. Rather, the specific sources are more like offshoots from the root of non-ethics and the materialization of man, together with anthropolatry. We list some of these specific sources : XXII PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN i. Communism pretends to be the proper humanism for a materialistic age. The claim by Communism that material conditions are the only relevancies for mankind, though it is disproved by every case of a wealthy person's committing suicide, - finds many advocates today, whose own loss of inner values confirms for them the Communistic claim, thus turning them into grist for Communism's mill. Into this in- tellectual-fodder category, sometimes quite unaware, march the ethical fence-sitters, the 'naturalistic' thinkers, the plural- ists and nominalists of all sorts, the verbalists and all those who worship things and ideas more than the Living Maker of things and ideas. 2. The restless discontent of the modern world - shot full of compromises on the most fundamental moral principles, so full of ethical uncertainties. This basic anxiety, discon- tent and ethical supineness all make for certainties being sneer- ed at and sour-grapishly ridiculed, unless they are not cer- tainties but brutalities of feeling and thinking ; for the very sneerers at ethical certainty are the first to substitute for their lack by falling down before some form of blind emo- tionalism and sensationism elevated into a creed. For some creed, man must have, whether it ennoble or degenerate him. The ridicule of moral principles is, of course, good Commu- nist party line. And the emergence of fascist tendencies, born of unhealthy hate-filled emotionalisms, is viewed with glee by Communists as part of the ferment of a decadence which plays into their hands. For the same reasons the cult of ugli- ness as a substitute for beauty, or disintegration in place of an ideal or idea, in the arts, is hailed as a decadent tendency, which Lenin himself would extol as an ally. 3. The Communist promises and love of violence allow its purveyors to pander to this discontent and the states of mind it arouses. EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XXIII 4. The lack on the part of the political leaders of the non- Communist world, of any ethical-social program for man- kind, to fill the prevailing tragic moral bankruptcy, - is eagerly plied, and the vacuum filled, by the poisonous falsi- fications of Communist propaganda. 5. The essence of the modus operandi of Communist pro- paganda is that the pseudo-ethics of expediency - all too often used by governments throughout history -is now exalt- ed into a ruthless creed and turned against all governments by one conspiratorial group, glorying in being apostate from genuine human feeling - fooling the people. 6. Modern man is unfortunately but by and large a mass man. He is, and hence feels, 'lost in the shuffle.' He is not an individual but a fearful thing and cog in a group, anxious to make the 'approved' or 'adjusted' reaction that will gain him prestige among his frightened ilk. To the purveyors of 'ad- justment' as ethics, it can be said first that the successful thief has 'well adjusted' himself to criminality. The loss of Lenin's and other Communist consciences is an excellent sign of unexceptionable 'adjustment.' Adjustment to what, and to what end? is the truly ethical question, immediately showing how irrelevant mere ad- justment is in anything but purely sensationistic hedonism, - a part of the Marxist degraded and spiritually emasculated view of human nature, and developed by the Communist ruling class into the hedonism of whip-wielding, of sadism. The lack of individual consideration and the mass regimen- tation of modern man are a fitting 'prep' school for the Com- munist antheap state. 7. This lack of individual dignity, stemming ultimately from too few modern individuals practising ethics as indivi- duals, finds unhealthy reflections in the labor-management relations so easily exploited by Communism. It should be re- XXIV PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN cognized that the basic labor problem in the United States is psychological,andhas long sincepassed the stage of beingsimp- ly economic. The machine-worship has deteriorated the artis- an's creative dignity, and has bred discontented frustration. Eliminating these sources is preventive medicine. But the state of world health requires also curative medicine. Inter- esting light is thrown on this aspect of the problem by Lin- coln's stand against conspiratorial agitation against the Union. He called on the power given in the American Con- stitution to suspend habeas corpus in times of serious threat to the country. He did so, and placed conspirators and agita- tors under indefinite arrest. And he did this without a qualm, as one would arrest the growth and spread of vermin. "Must I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert?..." wrote Lincoln. "Nor am I able to appreciate the danger apprehended [by his correspondent 1 ] that the American people will by arrests during the rebellion lose the right of public discussion, the liberty of speech and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury, and habeas corpus through- out the indefinite peaceful future which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able to believe that a man could contract so strong an appetite for emetics during temporary illness as to persist in feeding on them during the remainder of his healthful life." So Lincoln, and his words are truer than ever regarding the United States of America, and any democratic government wishing to rid itself of the Commu- nist parasites that seek to bore from within and destroy. On another occasion Lincoln summed up the very mean- ing of America, as "a practical demonstration of the truth of a proposition which had hitherto been considered at best 1 Erastus Corning (June 12, 1863) EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION XXV no better than problematical - namely the capability of a people to govern themselves." This is the best summation for the free world that has ever been made. While the Com- munist dedication is to the proposition that the people are utterly /^capable of governing themselves through their freely elected representatives ; that they therefore must have whip-masters. The fate of the w r orld today depends on whether most of its people will finally prove that they will do more for an ideal than for a whip. We are again engaged in a great struggle, and against a far more vicious slavery than Lincoln ever imagined, though he clearly sketched its possibility in his Springfield speech of January 27, 1838. The principles and operations of freedom, and freedom openly challenged and forced to the issue, are imperishably stated in Lincoln's words - lived by and in his actions. Lincoln is the answer to a wolf-pack, wolf-leader system. Over the world today, and emanating from Communist USSR, stands the ominous shadow of Lenin. Also over the world, and emanating from the roots of Democratic Republic of the U.S.A., is stretched the giant, protective shadow of Lincoln, whose great heart still watches with us. When Lincoln becomes for us more than merely the picture on a five dollar banknote, then we are assured of that spiritual and ethical victory, which must first take place in us as individuals, in our daily lives, before any outward victory of any perma- nence or significance can or will have been gained. Two quo- tations conclude : We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that has preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us,, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. LINCOLN XXVI PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN A Communist must be prepared... to resort to all sorts of schemes and stratagems, employ illegitimate methods, conceal the truth... We repudiate all morality that is taken outside of human class concepts... Morality is [defined to be] that which is creating a new Communist so- ciety... The will of a class is at times best realized by a dictator... Reli- gion is one of the forms of spiritual oppression. LENIN It is Lincoln versus Lenin today. The choice is simple. Let us not be slow about it. Thus the 1952 editorial. The voices of the six million slain free Russian peasants of the 1930's, the thousands of Soviet-persecuted Socialists and Zionists, the countless dead and living dead of East Germany of 1953, Hungary in 1956, and Tibet in 1959 who bravely strove for their freedom, and were shamefully left to die in their own blood by the West, may help us to decide. The human race itself weighs in the balance : to fail morally now is tantamount to mankind's suicide. The choice is ours. May, 1959 C. A. Muses Locarno FOREWORD One of the official objectives of the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, created by Congress to commemorate the 150 th Anniversary of Lincoln's birth, and one of the most impor- tant, is to "seek to emphasize the principles and ideals exemplified by Abraham Lincoln and their application to the present day." This impressive and worthwhile purpose is by no means an esay one to accomplish. What were Lincoln's principles and ideals ? There is no easy agreement, either popular or scholarly, on that aspect of Lincolniana. Lincoln is quoted by everyone who has any- thing to say in public, and Lincoln books are so numerous, and so uneven in quality, that "authority" can be found mak- ing him say almost anything anyone wants him to have said. But Lincoln's own words are the only true authority here. Before much can be done to emphasize Lincoln's princi- ples and ideals, we must know what they actually were. De- spite the size of the world's Lincoln bookshelf, no work exists dealing with this specific subject. He was primarily a man of action, not a philosopher. Principles and ideals interested him, mainly, not per se, but for their effect on people. Obviously, the place to find Lincoln's ideals is in his own writings. Until recently, however, it was not possible to dis- cover his real thoughts even there. For sixty years, thousands of readers thought they were reading Lincoln in Nicolay and Hay's Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln. Actually, they read the editors' version of Lincoln, which was unbelievably inaccurate, as well as anything but complete. Not until 1953, XXVIII PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN when the Abraham Lincoln Association and Rutgers Univer- sity Press published The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols.), edited by Roy P. Easier, Marion Dolores Bonzi Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap, could anyone not working in thousands of scattered documents read what Lincoln actually wrote. 1 Armed with this accurate text, the editor read through The Collected Works, from end to end, marking passages bear- ing on Lincoln's ideals. The excerpts were then noted, check- ed, and categorized under their main topics. The category called "Human Interest" for lack of a better caption, was placed first because of its fascination. It makes a seductive beginning to the work. In case some reader might complain that the passages under that heading are not ideals at all, the writer will reply in advance that, strictly speaking, they are not. Rather, they show Lincoln applying his prin- ciples and ideals in practice, thus enhancing their impor- tance beyond that of the strictly intellectual. Originally conceived as an aid to official Commission speakers, and a part of the Commission's general school pro- gram, the concept of this selection grew and flourished until it became apparent that there is no foreseeable limit to its possibilities. Book form was the lasting solution. W.E.B. 1 This monumental work of research went out of print in 1958, and is now being reprinted, in the Sesquicentennial Edition, by the History- Book Club, Stamford, Connecticut. PREFACE One day in Peabody Hall at the University of Florida, a stu- dent inquired of a passing professor if a work exists on Lin- coln's philosophy which he might read. The professor could give him no help, as there was no such work in spite of the enormous number of books on the Lincoln bookshelves. That professor was the present writer ; and his student's unsatis- fied question remained with him like Socrates' gadfly. The conclusion grew that, provided there was material to work with, a study of Lincoln's philosophy was most in order. Congress then established the Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission to commemorate the 150 th anniversary of Lin- coln's birth. Early in 1958 the Commission adopted the note- worthy official objective to "seek to emphazise the prin- ciples and ideals exemplified by Abraham Lincoln and their application to the present day." Thus two separate drives converged to motivate a search for Lincoln's philosophy. As Lincoln was essentially a man of action, political and social, and not a philosopher, the quest did not at first look promising. Ideas and principles interested him less for their own sake than for their relation to people. Philosophy in Lincoln's time in America was not a separate discipline, but a branch of science. Learning and thought were respected not so much for their own sake, but rather for what they could accomplish in practice. Besides, Lincoln had little time for long stretches of abstract thought. He was busy making a living at law and pursuing a growing reputation in politics and statemanship. XXX PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN According to William Herndon, who saw Lincoln at closer range for more years than anyone else except Mrs. Lincoln, Lincoln was a deep thinker much more than a broad reader. His reading was mostly on public affairs. Here he thought deeply and reached conclusions which satisfied him, and eventually influenced history. Lincoln never bought a philo- sophy book. But Herndon did. He brought to the office works by Spencer, Darwin, Feuerbach, and Lincoln read them "by snatches." He thoroughly read The Vestiges of Crea- tion^ and became a believer in higher evolution. "Mr. Lincoln believed in laws that imperiously ruled both matter and mind," wrote Herndon. "With him there could be no mira- cles outside of law ; he held that the universe was a grand mys- tery and a miracle. Nothing to him was lawless, everything being governed by law. There were no accidents in his phi- losophy. Every event had its cause. The past to him was the cause of the present and the present including the past will be the cause of the grand future and all are one, links in the endless chain, stretching from the infinite to the finite. Every- thing to him was the result of the forces of Nature, playing on matter and mind from the beginning of time ; and will to the end of it play on matter and mind, giving the world other, further, and grander results." That, thought Herndon, was as far as Lincoln would go into the realm of philosophical thought. "Time and space, noumena or phenomena, experienced ideas or universal and inherent and necessary ideas, the attributes of being, psy- chology or metaphysics - these were to him trash. He discovered through experience that his mind, the mind of all men, had limitations attached or placed on it and hence he economized his forces and his time by applying his powers and his time in the field of the practical. In this field he thought, wrought, and acted." PREFACE XXXI In that field he is quoted more extensively perhaps than any other man. In America, he is cited in all areas by every- one who has anything to say in public. Yet precisely what were Lincoln's principles, thoughts, and ideas? There is no simple agreement on that score, either popular or scho- larly. But basic points remain fixed. For the purpose of finding them The Collected Writings of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols.), edited by Roy P. Easier, Ma- rion Dolores Bonzi Pratt, and Lloyd A. Dunlap, the only extensive and textually accurate source of Lincoln's actual words, were read through from beginning to end. Passa- ges bearing on his thought were marked, checked with the originals, sifted, and categorized under the principal topics which emerged, to make them more meaningful and clear than would have been the case if presented in chrono- logical order. Ten categories emerged, despite some inevi- table overlapping. One of these ten needs special comment. Some of the most striking passages, which cried out for inclusion, were not pri- marily ideological. Rather they demonstrated, not strictly what Lincoln's thought was, but the way he applied and used it in dealing with people, a matter of paramount importance in a politician and statesman. Called "Human Interest" for want of a better name, these selections bring him to life as a living man in amazing fashion. What biographer, for example, limned Lincoln as vividly as he did when he described him- self as "a long black fellow" in a letter to a friend? A word of explanation about the use of brackets. If the extant text gave a wrong date, or accidentally left out a letter, word or punctuation mark, it is supplied in brackets, following Basler, Pratt, und Dunlap. Brackets are also used to enclose remarks from the crowd when Lincoln made a speech. XXXII PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Investigating Lincoln's philosophy has been a richly re- warding experience. These excerpts reveal a new Lincoln, the man of ideas. They shine forth clearly, unobstructed by a thicket of events. The search was replete with surprises. Anyone who follows Lincoln's thought will find a Lincoln come alive, and will savor some of the most majestic prose, and some of the funniest, ever assembled together in a comparable space. W. E. B. Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission National Archives Building Washington, D. C. May 12, 1959 THE PHILOSOPHY OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN I HUMAN INTEREST Lincoln Describes Himself Dear Hewett : Your Whig representative from Mississippi, P. W. Tomp- kins, has just shown me a letter of yours to him. I am jealous because you did not write to me. Perhaps you have forgotten me. Dont you remember a long black fellow who rode on horseback with you from Tremont to Springfield nearly ten years ago, swiming your horses over the Mackinaw on the trip ? Well, I am that same one fellow yet. l On How a Young Man May Rise The way for a young man to rise, is to improve himself every way he can, never suspecting that any body wishes to hinder him. Allow me to assure you, that suspicion and jealousy never did help any man in any situation. There may some- times be ungenerous attempts to keep a young man down ; and they will succed too, if he allows his mind to be diverted from its true channel to brood over the attempted injury. Cast about, and see if this feeling has not injured every per- son you have ever known to fall into it. 2 On Himself as Literary Detective Fred Schooler, - Your letter of the 21 st was received two or three days ago, and for which please accept my thanks, both for your courtesy and the encouraging news in it. The news we are receiving here now from all parts is on the look-up. We have had several letters from Ohio to-day, all encoura- ging.... The tone of the letters - free from despondency - 1 To Josephus Hewett, 2/13/48, I, 450. 2 To W.H.Herndon, 7/10/48, I, 497. PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN full of hope - is what particularly encourages me. If a man is scared when he writes, I think I can detect it, when I see what he writes. l How Lincoln Appeared to an Audience of Strangers Mr. Kellogg then introduced to the meeting the Hon. Abram Lincoln, Whig member of Congress from Illinois, a repre- sentative of free soil. Mr. Lincoln has a very tall and thin figure, with an intellec- tual face, showing a searching mind, and a cool judgment. He spoke in a clear and cool, and very eloquent manner, for an hour and a half, carrying the audience with him in his able arguments and brilliant illustrations - only interrupted by warm and frequent applause. He began by expressing a real feeling of modesty in addressing an audience "this side of the mountains," a part of the country where, in the opin- ion of the people of his section, everybody was supposed to be instructed and wise. But he had devoted his attention to the question of the coming Presidential election, and was not unwilling to exchange with all whom he might meet the ideas to which he had arrived. 2 Honesty Dear Sir : I have just received yours of the 16th, with check on Flagg & Savage for twenty-five dollars. You must think 1 am a high-priced man. You are too liberal with your money. Fifteen dollars is enough for the job. I send you a receipt for fifteen dollars, and return to you a ten-dollar bill. Yours truly, A. Lincoln. 3 1 To W.Schouler, 8/28/48, I, 518. 2 Speech at Worcester, Mass., 9/12/48, II, 1-2. 3 To George P.Floyd, 2/21/56, II, 332-333- HUMAN INTEREST 7 Lincolnian Wit, at Douglas's Expense There is one other point. Judge Douglas has a very affection- ate leaning towards the Americans and old Whigs. Last evening, in a sort of weeping tone, he described to us a death bed scene. He had been called to the side of Mr. Clay, in his last moments, in order that the genius of "popular sover- eignty" might duly descend from the dying man and settle upon him, the living and most worthy successor. He could do no less than promise that he would devote the remainder of his life to "popular sovereignty" ; and then the great statesman departs in peace. By this part of the "plan of the campaign," the Judge has evidently promised himself that tears shall be drawn down the cheeks of all old Whigs, as large as half grown apples. Mr. Webster, too, was mentioned ; but it did not quite come to a death-bed scene, as to him. It would be amusing, if it were not disgusting, to see how quick these compromise- breakers administer on the political effects of their dead ad- versaries, trumping up claims never before heard of, and di- viding the assets among themselves. If I should be found dead tomorrow morning, nothing but my insignificance could prevent a speech being made on my authority, before the end of next week. It so happens that in that "popular sover- eignty" with which Mr. Clay was identified, the Missouri Compromise was expressly reserved ; and it was a little sin- gular if Mr. Clay cast his mantle upon Judge Douglas on purpose to have that compromise repealed. 1 # I am informed, that my distinguished friend yesterday be- came a little excited, nervous perhaps, [laughter] and he said something about fighting, as though referring to a pugilistic 1 Speech at Springfield, III., 7/17/58, II, 519. 8 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN encounter between him and myself. Did anybody in this audience hear him use such language ? [Cries of yes.] I am informed, further, that somebody in his audience, rather more excited, or nervous, than himself, took off his coat, and offer- ed to take the job off Judge Douglas' hands, and fight Lin- coln himself. Did anybody here witness that warlike proceed- ing? [Laughter, and cries of yes.] Well, I merely desire to say that I shall fight neither Judge Douglas nor his second. [Great laughter.] I shall not do this for two reasons, which I will now explain. In the first place, a fight would prove no- thing which is in issue in this contest. It might establish that Judge Douglas is a more muscular man than myself, or it might demonstrate that I am a more muscular man than Judge Douglas. But this question is not referred to in the Cincin- nati platform, nor in either of the Springfield platforms. [Great laughter]. Neither result could prove him right or me wrong. And so of the gentleman who volunteered to do his fighting for him. If my fighting Judge Douglas would not prove anything, it would certainly prove nothing for me to fight his bottle-holder. [Continued laughter.] My second reason for not having a personal encounter with the Judge is, that I don't believe he wants it himself. [Laughter.] He and I are about the best friends in the world, and when we get together he would no more think of fighting me than of fighting his wife. Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, when the Judge talked about fighting, he was not giving vent to any ill-feeling of his own, but merely trying to excite -well, enthusiasm against me on the part of his audience. And as I find he was tolerably successful, we will call it quits. [Cheers and laughter.] 1 1 Speech at Havana, 111., 8/14/58, II, 541-542. HUMAN INTEREST Douglas's "Biography" of Lincoln I desire to know whether Mr. Lincoln's principles will bear transplanting from Ottawa to Jonesboro ? I put these ques- tions to him to-day distinctly, and ask an answer. I have a right to an answer, for I quote from the platform of the Republican party, made by himself and others at the time that party was formed, and the bargain made by Lincoln to dissolve and kill the old Whig party, and transfer its members, bound hand and foot, to the Abolition party, under the direction of Giddings and Fred Douglass. In the remarks I have made on this platform, and the posi- tion of Mr. Lincoln upon it, I mean nothing personally disrespectful or unkind to that gentleman. I have known him for nearly twenty-five years. There were many points of sympathy between us when we first got acquainted. We were both comparatively boys, and both struggling with poverty in a strange land. I was a schoolteacher in the town of Winchester, and he a flourishing gro- cery-keeper in the town of Salem. He was more suc- cessful in his occupation than I was in mine, and hence more fortunate in this world's goods. Lincoln is one of those peculiar men who perform with admirable skill everything which they undertake. I made as good a schoolteacher as I could and when a cabinet maker I made a good bedstead and tables, although my old boss said I succeeded better with bureaus and secre- taries than anything else; but I believe that Lincoln was always more successful in business than I, for his business enabled him to get into the Legislature. I met him there, however, and had a sympathy with him, because of the up hill struggle we both had in life. He was then just as good at telling an anecdote as now. He could beat any 10 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN of the boys wrestling, or running a foot race, in pitching quoits or tossing a copper, could ruin more liquor than all the boys of the town together, and the dignity and impartial- ity with which he presided at a horse race or fist fight, excited the admiration and won the praise of everybody that was present and participated. I sympathised with him, because he was struggling with difficulties and so was I. Mr. Lincoln served with me in the Legislature in 1836, when we both retired, and he subsided, or became submerged, and he was lost sight of as a public man for some years. In 1846, when Wilmot introduced his celebrated proviso, and the Abolition tornado swept over the country, Lincoln again turned up as a member of Congress from the Sangamon dis- trict. I was then in the Senate of the United States, and was glad to welcome my old friend and companion. Whilst in Congress, he distinguished himself by his opposition to the Mexican war, taking the side of the common enemy against his own country; and when he returned home he found that the indignation of the people followed him everywhere, and he was again submerged or obliged to retire into pri- vate life, forgotten by his former friends. He came up again in 1854, just in time to make this Abolition or Black Republican platform in company with Giddings, Lovejoy, Chase, and Fred Douglass for the Republican party to stand upon. 1 On Douglas's Veracity Now my fellow citizens, I will detain you only a little while longer. My time is very nearly out. I find a report of a speech made by Judge Douglas at Joliet, since we last met at Free- port - published I believe in the Missouri Republican - on the 9 th of this month, in which Judge Douglas says : 1 Debate at Ottawa, 8/21/58, III, 5-6. HUMAN INTEREST II "You know at Ottawa, I read this platform and asked him if he concurred in each and all of the principles set forth in it. He would not answer these questions. At last I said frankly, I wish you to answer them, because when I get them up here where the color of your principles is a little darker than in Egypt, I intend to trot you down to Jonesboro. The very notice that I was going to take him down to Egypt made him tremble in the knees so that he had to be carried from the platform. He laid up seven days, and in the meantime held a consultation with his political physicians, they had Lovejoy and Farnsworth and all the leaders of the Abolition party, they consulted it all over, and at last Lincoln came to the conclusion that he would answer, so he came up to Free- port last Friday." Now that statement altogether furnishes a subject for phi- losophical contemplation. [Laughter.] I have been treating it in that way, and I have really come to the conclusion that I can explain it in no other way than by believing the Judge is crazy. [Renewed laughter.] If he was in his right mind, I cannot conceive how he would have risked disgusting the four or five thousand of his own friends who stood there, and knew, as to my having been carried from the platform, that there was not a word of truth in it. Judge Douglas - Didn't they carry you off? Mr. Lincoln - There ; that question illustrates the charac- ter of this man Douglas, exactly. He smiles now and says, "Didn't they carry you off?" But he says then, "He had to be carried off" ; and he said it to convince the country that he had so completely broken me down by his speech that I had to be carried away. Now he seeks to dodge it, and asks, "Didn't they carry you off?" Yes, they did. But, Judge Doug- las , why didn't you tell the truth? [Great laughter and cheers.] I would like to know why you didn't tell the truth about it. 12 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN [Continued laughter.] And then again, "He laid up seven days." He puts this in print for the people of the country to read as a serious document. I think if he had been in his sober senses he would not have risked that barefacedness in the presence of thousands of his own friends, who knew that I made speeches within six of the seven days at Henry, Mar- shall County; Augusta, Hancock County, and Macomb, McDonough County, including all the necessary travel to meet him again at Freeport at the end of the six days. Now, I say, there is no charitable way to look at that statement, except to conclude that he is actually crazy. [Laughter.] There is another thing in that statement that alarmed me very greatly as he states it, that he was going to "trot me down to Egypt." Thereby he would have you to infer that I would not come to Egypt unless he forced me - that I could not be got here, unless he, giant-like, had hauled me down here. [Laughter.] That statement he makes, too, in the teeth of the knowledge that I had made the stipulation to come down here, and that he himself had been very reluctant to enter into the stipulation. [Cheers and laughter.] More than all this, Judge Douglas, when he made that statement must have been crazy, and wholly out of his sober senses, or else he would have known that he got me down here - that promise - that windy promise - of his powers to annihilate me, wouldn't amount to anything. Now, how little do I look like being carried away trembling ? Let the judge go on, and after he is done with his half hour, I want you all, if I can't go home myself, to let me stay and rot here ; and if anything happens to the Judge, if I cannot carry him to the hotel and put him to bed, let me stay here and rot. [Great laughter.] I say, then, there is something extraordinary in this statement? I ask you if you know any other living man who would make such a statement? [Cries of "No," "no," "Yes," "yes."] I will ask HUMAN INTEREST 1 3 my friend Casey, over there, if he would do such a thing? [Casey dropped his head and said nothing.] Would he send that out and have his men take it as the truth ? Did the Judge talk of trotting me down to Egypt to scare me to death ? Why, I know this people better than he does. I was reared just a little east of here. I am a part of this people. But the Judge was raised further north, and perhaps he has some horrid idea of what this people might be induced to do. [Roars of laughter and cheers.] But really I have talked about this matter per- haps longer than I ought, for it is no great thing, and yet the smallest are often the most difficult things to deal with. The Judge has set about seriously trying to make the impression that when we meet at different places I am literally in his clutches - that I am a poor, helpless, decrepit mouse, and that I can do nothing at all. This is one of the ways he has taken to create that impression. I don't know any other way to meet it, except this. I don't want to quarrel with him - to call him a liar - but when I come square up to him I don't know what else to call him, if I must tell the truth out. [Cheers and laughter.] I want to be at peace and reserve all my fighting powers for necessary occasions. My time, now, is very nearly out, and I give up the trifle that is left to the Judge to let him set my knees trembling again, if he can. l On Whipping Rebels I thank you, Mr. Train, for your kindness in presenting me with this truly elegant and highly creditable specimen of the handiwork of the mechanics of your State of Massachusetts, and I beg of you to express my hearty thanks to the donors. It displays a perfection of workmanship which I really wish I had time to acknowledge in more fitting words, and I might then follow your idea that it is suggestive, for it is evidently 1 Debate at Jonesboro, 9/15/58, III, 133-135. 14 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN expected that a good deal of whipping is to be done. But, as we meet here socially, let us not think only of whipping rebels, or of those who seem to think only of whipping negroes, but of those pleasant days which it is to be hoped are in store for us, when, seated behind a good pair of horses, we can crack our whips and drive through a peaceful, happy and prosper- ous land. With this idea, gentlemen, I must leave you for my business duties. I The President Takes the Responsibility To the Senate and House of Representatives : The insurrection which is yet existing in the United States, and aims at the overthrow of the federal Constitution and the Union, was clandestinely prepared during the winter of i860 and 1 86 1, and assumed an open organization in the form of a treasonable provisional government at Montgomery, in Alabama, on the 18 th day of February, 1861. On the 12 th day of April, 1861, the insurgents committed the flagrant act of civil war by the bombardment and capture of Fort Sum- ter, which cut off the hope of immediate conciliation. Imme- diately afterwards all the roads and avenues to this city were obstructed, and the capital was put into the condition of a siege. The mails in every direction were stopped, and the lines of telegraph cut off by the insurgents, and military and naval forces, which had been called out by the government for the defence of Washington, were prevented from reach- ing the city by organized and combined treasonable resis- tance in the State of Maryland. There was no adequate and effective organization for the public defence. Congress had indefinitely adjourned. There was no time to convene them. It became necessary for me to choose whether, using only the existing means, agencies, and processes which Congress had 1 Speech to a Massachusetts Delegation, 3/13/62, V, 158. HUMAN INTEREST 1 5 provided, I should let the government fall at once into ruin, or whether, availing myself of the broader powers conferred by the Constitution in cases of insurrection, I would make an effort to save it with all its blessings for the present age and for posterity. I thereupon summoned my constitutional advisers, the heads of all the departments, to meet on Sunday, the 20 th [2 1 st] day of April, 1 86 1 , at the office of the Navy Department, and then and there, with their unanimous concurrence, I directed that an armed revenue cutter should proceed to sea, to afford protection to the commercial marine, and espe- cially the California treasure ships then on their way to this coast. I also directed the commandant of the navy yard at Boston to purchase or charter and arm, as quickly as pos- sible, five steamships, for purposes of public defence. I direc- ted the commandant of the navy yard at Philadelphia to pur- chase, or charter and arm, an equal number for the same pur- pose. I directed the commandant at New York to purchase, or charter and arm, an equal number. Similar directions were given to Commodore DuPont, with a view to the open- ing of passages by water to and from the capital. I directed the several officers to take the advice and obtain the aid and efficient services in the matter of his excellency Edwin D. Morgan, the governor of New York, or, in his absence, George D.Morgan, William M. Evarts, R.M.Blatchford, and Moses H. Grinnell, who were, by my directions, espe- cially empowered by the Secretary of the Navy to act for his department in that crisis, in matters pertaining to the for- warding of troops and supplies for the public defence. On the same occasion I directed that Governor Morgan and Alexander Cummings, of the city of New York, should be authorized by the Secretary of War, Simon Cameron, to make all necessary arrangements for the transportation of i6 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN troops and munitions of war, in aid and assistance of the of- ficers of the army of the United States, until communication by mails and telegraph should be completely re-established between the cities of Washington and New York. No security was required to be given by them, and either of them was authorized to act in case of inability to consult with the other. On the same occasion I authorized and directed the Secre- tary of the Treasury to advance, without requiring security, two millions of dollars of public money to John A. Dix, George Opdyke, and Richard M. Blatchford, of New York, to be used by them in meeting such requisitions as should be directly consequent upon the military and naval measures necessary for the defence and support of the government, re- quiring them only to act without compensation, and report their transactions when duly called upon. The several departments of the government at that time contained so large a number of disloyal persons that it would have been impossible to provide safely, through official agents only, for the performance of the duties thus confided to citizens favorably known for their ability, loyalty, and patriotism. The several orders issued upon these occurrences were transmitted by private messengers, who pursued a circuitous way to the seaboard cities, inland, across the States of Penn- sylvania and Ohio and the northern lakes. I believe that by these and other similar measures taken in that crisis, some of which were without any authority of law, the government was saved from overthrow. I am not aware that a dollar of the public funds thus confided without authority of law to un- official persons was either lost or wasted, although appre- hensions of such misdirection occurred to me as objections to those extraordinary proceedings, and were necessarily overruled. HUMAN INTEREST 17 I recall these transactions now because my attention has been directed to a resolution which was passed by the House of Representatives on the 30 th day of last month, which is in these words: "Resolved, That Simon Cameron, late Secre- tary of War, by investing Alexander Cummings with the control of large sums of the public money, and authority to purchase military supplies without restriction, without re- quiring from him any guarantee for the faithful performance of his duties, when the services of competent public officers were available, and by involving the government in a vast number of contracts with persons not legitimately engaged in the business pertaining to the subject-matter of such con- tracts, especially in the purchase of arms for future delivery, has adopted a policy highly injurious to the public service, and deserves the censure of the House." Congress will see that I should be wanting equally in can- dor and in justice if I should leave the censure expressed in this resolution to rest exclusively or chiefly upon Mr. Came- ron. The same sentiment is unanimously entertained by the heads of departments, who participated in the proceedings which the House of Representatives has censured. It is due to Mr. Cameron to say that, although he fully approved the proceedings, they were not moved nor suggested by himself, and that not only the President but all the other heads of de- partments were at least equally responsible with him for whatever error, wrong, or fault was committed in the prem- ises. I The President on his Troubles It was a relief to be assured that the deputation were not ap- plicants for office, for his chief trouble was from that class of persons. The next most troublesome subject was Slavery. 1 To the Senate and House of Representatives, 5/26/62, V, 240-243. i8 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN He agreed with the memorialists, that Slavery was wrong, but in regard to the ways and means of its removal, his views probably differed from theirs. The quotation in the memorial, from his Springfield speech, was incomplete. It should have embraced another sentence, in which he indicated his views as to the effect upon Slavery itself of the resistance to its extension. l On Presidential Travels When birds and animals are looked at through a fog they are seen to disadvantage, and so it might be with you if I were to attempt to tell you why I went to see Gen. Scott. I can only say that my visit to West Point did not have the impor- tance which has been attached to it; but it [concerned] matters that you understand quite as well as if I were to tell you all about them. Now, I can only remark that it had nothing whatever to do with making or unmaking any Gen- eral in the country. [Laughter and applause.] The Secre- tary of War, you know, holds a pretty tight rein on the Press, so that they shall not tell more than they ought to, and I'm afraid that if I blab too much he might draw a tight rein on me. 2 Testimonial Dr. Zacharie has operated on my feet with great success, and considerable addition to my comfort. 3 On his Temper Gen. Schurz thinks I was a little cross in my late note to you. If I was, I ask pardon. If I do get up a little temper I have no sufficient time to keep it up. 4 1 Remarks to a Delegation of Progressive Friends, 6/20/62, V, 278. 2 Remarks at Jersey City, 6/24/62, V, 284. 3 Testimonial for Isachar Zacharie, 9/22/62, V, 436. 4 To Franz Sigel, 2/5/63, VI, 93. HUMAN INTEREST 1 9 Literary Critic Months ago I should have acknowledged the receipt of your book, and accompanying kind note ; and I now have to beg your pardon for not having done so. For one of my age, I have seen very little of the drama. The first presentation of Falstaff I ever saw was yours here, last winter or spring. Perhaps the best compliment I can pay is to say, as I truly can, I am very anxious to see it again. Some of Shakespeare's plays I have never read ; while others I have gone over perhaps as frequently as any unprofessional reader. Among the latter are Lear, Richard Third, Henry Eight, Hamlet, and especially Macbeth. I think nothing equals Macbeth. It is wonderful. Unlike you gentlemen of the profession, I think the soliloquy in Hamlet commencing "Q, my offence is rank" surpasses that commencing "To be, or not to be." But pardon this small attempt at criticism. I should like to hear you pronounce the opening speech of Richard the Third. Will you not soon visit Washington again? If you do, please call and let me make your personal acquaintance. 2 On Ridicule Yours of Oct. 22 nd. is received, as also was, in due course, that of Oct. 3rd. I look forward with pleasure to the fulfill- ment of the promise made in the former. Give yourself no uneasiness on the subject mentioned in that of the 22 nd. My note to you I certainly did not expect to see in print ; yet I have not been much shocked by the newspaper com- ments upon it. Those comments constitute a fair specimen of what has occurred to me through life. I have endured a great deal of ridicule without much malice ; and have receiv- 2 To James H. Hackett, 8/17/63, VI, 392-3. 20 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN ed a great deal of kindness, not quite free from ridicule. I am used to it. 1 On Humane Justice A poor widow, by the name of Baird, has a son in the Army, that for some offence has been sentenced to serve a long time without pay, or at most, with very little pay. I do not like this punishment of withholding pay - it falls so very hard upon poor families. After he has been serving in this way for several months, at the tearful appeal of the poor Mother, I made a direction that he be allowed to enlist for a new term, on the same conditions as others. She now comes, and says she can not get it acted upon. Please do it. 2 "God Bless the Women of America" Ladies and Gentlemen: I appear to say but a word. This ex- traordinary war in which we are engaged falls heavily upon all classes of people, 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. [Cheers.] In this extraordinary war extraordinary developments have manifested themselves, such as have not been seen in former wars; and amongst these manifestations nothing has been more remarkable than these fairs for the relief of suffering soldiers and their families. And the chief agents in these fairs are the women of America. [Cheers.] 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 1 To James H. Hackett, 1 1/2/63, VI, 558-559. 2 To Edwin M. Stanton, 3/1/64, VII, 217. HUMAN INTEREST 21 applied to the women of America, it would not do them ju- stice for their conduct during the war. I will close by saying God bless the women of America ! [Great applause.] 1 Testimonial Today I verbally told Colonel Worthington that I did not think him fit for a Colonel ; and now, upon his urgent request, I put it in writing. 2 On Oratory When the Speaker Has Nothing to Say Fellow-Citizens: I attended the fair at Philadelphia to-day in the hope that possibly it might aid something in swelling the contributions for the benefit of the soldiers in the field, who are bearing the harder part of this great national struggle in which w r e are engaged. [Applause.] I thought I might do this without impropriety. It did not even occur to me that a kind demonstration like this would be made to me. [A voice - "You are worthy of it," and cheers.] I do not really think it is proper in my position for me to make a political speech ; and having said at the Fair what I thought w r as proper for me to say there in reference to that subject, and being more of a politician than anything else, and having exhausted that branch of the subject at the fair, and not being prepared to speak on the other, I am without anything to say. I have real- ly appeared before you now more for the purpose of seeing you [A voice : "Three cheers for Honest Old Abe !"] and allow- ing you to see me a little while, [laughter] and, to show to you that I am not wanting in due consideration and respect for you, when you make this kind demonstration in my honor. At the same time I must beg of you to excuse me from saying anything further. 3 1 Remarks at Closing of Sanitary Fair, Washington, 3/18/64, VII, 253-254. 2 Memorandum Concerning Thomas Worthington, 3/31/64, VII, 276. 3 Speech at Philadelphia, 6/16/64, VII, 398. 22 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Advice to an Excited Mayor Yours of last night received. I have not a single soldier but whom is being disposed by the Military for the best protec- tion of all. By latest account the enemy is moving on Wash- ington. They can not fly to either place. Let us be vigilant but keep cool. I hope neither Baltimore or Washington will be sacked. 1 On Industriousness I am always for the man who wishes to work ; and I shall be glad for this man to get suitable employment at Calvary Depot, or elsewhere. 2 Condolence To a War Mother Dear Madam, - I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massa- chusetts, that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Re- public they died to save. I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished mem- ory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours, to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom. 3 1 To Thomas Swann and Others, 7/10/64, VII, 437-438. 2 Recommendation, 8/15/64, VII, 495. 3 To Mrs. Lydia Bixby, 11/21/64, VIII, 116-117. II ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS To the People of Sangamon County fellow-citizens : Having become a candidate for the honor- able office of one of your representatives in the next General Assembly of this state, in accordance with an established custom, and the principles of true republicanism, it becomes my duty to make known to you - the people whom I propose to represent - my sentiments with regard to local affairs. Time and experience have verified to a demonstration, the public utility of internal improvements. That the poorest and most thinly populated countries would be greatly benefitted by the opening of good roads, and in the clearing of navigable streams within their limits, is what no person will deny. But yet it is folly to undertake works of this or any other kind, without first knowing that we are able to finish them - as half finished work generally proves to be labor lost. There cannot justly be any objection to having rail roads and canals, any more than to other good things, provided they cost nothing. The only objection is to paying for them ; and the objection to paying arises from the want of ability to pay. With respect to the county of Sangamon, some more easy means of communication than w r e now possess, for the pur- pose of facilitating the task of exporting the surplus products of its fertile soil, and importing necessary articles from abroad, are indispensably necessary.... Upon the subject of education, not presuming to dictate any plan or system respecting it, I can only say that I view it as the most important subject which we as a people can be engaged in. That every man may receive at least, a moderate education, and thereby be enabled to read the histories of his 26 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN own and other countries, by which he may duly appreciate the value of our free institutions, appears to be an object of vital importance, even on this account alone, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read the scriptures and other works, both of a religious and moral nature, for themselves. For my part, I desire to see the time when education, and by its means, morality, sobriety, enterprise and industry, shall become much more general than at present, and should be gratified to have it in my power to contribute something to the ad- vancement of any measure which might have a tendency to accelerate the happy period. With regard to existing laws, some alternations are thought to be necessary. Many respectable men have suggested that our estray laws - the law respecting the issuing of executions, the road law, and some others, are deficient in their present form and require alterations. But considering the great prob- ability that the framers of those laws were wiser than my- self, I should prefer [not] meddling with them, unless they were first attacked by others, in which case I should feel it both a privilege and a duty to take that stand, which in my view, might tend most to the advancement of justice. But, Fellow-Citizens, I shall conclude. Considering the great degreee of modesty which should always attend youth, it is probable I have already been more presuming than be- comes me. However, upon the subjects of which I have treat- ed, I have spoken as I thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them ; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them. Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS T] great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed. I am young and unknown to many of you. I was born and have ever remained in the most humble walks of life. I have no wealthy or popular relations to recommend me. My case is thrown exlusively upon the independent voters of this county, and if elected they will have conferred a favor upon me, for which I shall be unremitting in my labors to compen- sate. But if the good people in their wisdom shall see fit keep me in the background, I have been too familiar with disappointments to be very much chagrined. Your friend and fellow-citizen, New Salem, March 9, 1832. A. Lincoln. 1 In your paper of last Saturday, I see a communication over the signature of "Many Voters," in which the candidates who are announced in the Journal, are called upon to "show their hands." Agreed. Here's mine ! I go for all sharing the privileges of the government, who assist in bearing its burthens. Consequently I go for admit- ting all whites to the right of suffrage, who pay taxes or bear arms, (by no means excluding females). If elected, I shall consider the whole people of Sangamon my constituents, as well those that oppose, as those that sup- port me. While acting as their representative, I shall be governed by their will, on all subjects upon which I have the means of knowing what their will is ; and upon all others, I shall do what my own judgment teaches me will best advance their interests. Whether elected or not, I go for distributing the 1 To the People of Sangamon County, 3/9/32, I, 5-9. 28 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN proceeds of the sales of the public lands to the several states, to enable our state, in common with others, to dig canals and construct railroads, without borrowing money and paying interest on it. If alive on the first Monday in November, I shall vote for Hugh L. White for President. 1 On President Polk As to the mode of terminating the war, and securing peace, the President is equally wandering and indefinite. First, it is to be done by a more vigorous prosecution of the war in the vital parts of the enemies country ; and, after apparently talk- ing himself tired on this point, the President drops down into a half despairing tone, and tells us that "with a people distracted and divided by contending factions, and a govern- ment subject to constant changes, by successive revolutions, the continued success of our arms may fail to secure a satisfactory peace [.]" Then he suggests the propriety of wheedling the Mexican people to desert the counsels of their own leaders, and trusting in our protection, to set up a government from which we can secure a satisfactory peace; telling us, that "this may become the only mode of obtaining such a peace" But soon he falls into doubt of this too ; and then drops back on to the already half abandoned ground of "more vigorous prosecution. ["] All this shows that the President is, in no wise, satisfied with his own positions. First he takes up one, and in attempting to argue us into it, he argues himself out of it ; then seizes another, and goes thorugh the same process ; and then, confused at being able to think of nothing new, he snatches up the old one again, which he has some time before cast off. His mind, tasked beyond its power, is running hither and thither, like some tortured creature, on a burning sur- 1 To Editor of the Sangamon Journal, 6/13/36, I, 48. ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 29 face, finding no position, on which it can settle down, and be at ease. I On Patronage I am kept very busy here ; and one thing that perplexes me more than most anything else, are the cases of Whigs calling on me to get them appointments to places in the army, from the President. There are two great obstacles in the way which they do not seem to understand - first, the President has no such appointments to give - and secondly, if he had, he could hardly be expected to give them to Whigs, at the solici- tation of a Whig Member of Congress. 2 On Presidential Powers Dear William : Your letter of the 29 th. Jany. was received last night. Being exclusively a constitutional argument, I wish to submit some reflections upon it in the same spirit of kindness that I know actuates you. Let me first state what I understand to be your position. It is, that if it shall become necessary, to repel inva- sion, the President may, without violation of the Constitu- tion, cross the line, and invade the territory of another country ; and that whether such necessity exists in any given case, the President is to be the sole judge. Before going further, consider well whether this is or is not your position. If it is, it is a position that neither the Pres- ident himself, nor any friend of him, so far as I know, has ever taken. Their only positions are first, that the soil was ours where hostilities commenced, and second, that whether it was rightfully ours or not, Congress had annexed it, and the President, for that reason was bound to defend it, both of which are as clearly proved to be false in fact, as you can 1 Speech in House of Representatives, 1/12/48, I, 441. » To J.R.Diller, 1/19/48, I, 444-445- 30 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN prove that your house is not mine. That soil was not ours ; and Congress did not annex or attempt to annex it. But to return to your position: Allow the President to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so, whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure. Study to see if you can fix any limit to his power in this respect, after you have given him so much as you propose. If, to-day, he should choose to say he thinks it necessary to invade Canada, to pre- vent the British from invading us, how could you stop him ? You may say to him, "I see no probability of the British invad- ing us" but he will say to you "be silent ; I see it, if you don't." The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and im- poverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions ; and they resolved to so frame the Con- sitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood. Write soon again. 1 On Preserving Friendship Among Politicians Dear Gillespie : Your letter of the 9 th. of June in which you manifest some apprehension that your writing directly to Gen. Taylor had been regarded as improper, was received by me at Washing- ton. I feel I owe you an apology for not answering it sooner. 1 To W.H.Herndon, 2/15/48, I, 45i~452- ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 3 1 You committed no error in writing directly to the President ; half the letters, or nearly so, on the subject of appointments, are so addressed. The President assorts them and sends them to the departments to which they belong respectively. Wheth- er he reads them first, or only so far as to ascertain what subject they are on, I have not learned. Mr. Edwards is angry with me ; and, in which, he is wronging me very much. He wrote a letter against me & in favor of Butterfield, which was filed in the Department. Ever since I discovered this, I have had a conflict of feeling, whether to write him or not ; and, so far, I have remained silent. If he knew of your letters to me of the 9 th. of May, and to the President of the 23 rd. I suspect he would be angry with you too. Both those letters would help defend me with him; but I will not hazzard your interest by letting him know of them. To avoid that, I write you a separate letter which I wish you would show him when it may be convenient. You will please accept my sincere thanks for the very flattering terms in which you speak of me in your letter to the President. I withdrew the papers on file in my behalf, by which means your letter is now in my possession. 1 On Military Candidates I suppose I can not reasonably hope to convince you that we have any principles. The most I can except, is to assure you that we think we have, and are quite contented with them. The other day, one of the gentlemen from Georgia (Mr. Iverson) an eloquent man, and a man of learning, so far as I could judge, not being learned, myself, came down upon us astonishingly. He spoke in what the Baltimore American calls the "scathing and withering style." At the end of his second severe flash, I was struck blind, and found myself 1 To Joseph Gillespie, 7/13/49, II, 57- 32 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN feeling with my fingers for an assurance of my continued phys- ical existence. A little of the bone was left, and I gradually revived. He eulogised Mr. Clay in high and beautiful terms, and then declared that we had deserted all our principles, and had turned Henry Clay out, like an old horse to root. This is terribly severe. It can not be answered by argument ; at least, I can not so answer it. I merely wish to ask the gen- tlemen if the Whigs are the only party he can think of, who sometimes turn old horses out to root. Is not a certain Mar- tin Van Buren, an old horse which your own party have turn- ed out to root ? and is he not rooting a little to your discom- fort about now ? But in not nominating Mr. Clay, we deserted our principles, you say. Ah ! in what? Tell us, ye men of prin- ciples, what principle we violated. We say you did violate principle in discarding Van Buren, and we can tell you how. You violated the primary, the cardinal, the one great living principle of all Democratic representative government - the principle, that the representative is bound to carry out the known will of his constituents. A large majority of the Bal- timore Convention of 1844, were, by their constituents, in- structed to procure Van Buren's nomination if they could. In violation, in utter, glaring contempt of this, you rejected him - rejected him, as the gentleman from New- York (Mr. Birdsall) the other day, expressly admitted, for availability - that same "General availability" which you charge upon us, and daily chew over here, as something exceedingly odious and umprincipled. But the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Iverson) gave us a second speech yesterday, all well consid- ered and put down in writing, in which Van Buren was scathed and withered a "few" for his present position and movements. I can not remember the gentleman's precise language ; but I do remember he put Van Buren down, down, till he got him where he was finally to "stink" and "rot." ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 33 Mr. Speaker, it is no business, or inclination of mine, to defend Martin Van Buren. In the war of extermination now waging between him and his old admirers, I say, devil take the hindmost - and the foremost. But there is no mistaking the origin of the breach ; and if the curse of "stinking" and "rotting" is to fall on the first and greatest violators of prin- ciple in the matter, I disinterestedly suggest, that the gentle- man from Georgia, and his present co-workers, are bound to take it upon themselves. But the gentleman from Georgia further says we have de- serted all our principles, and taken shelter under Gen. Tay- lor's military coat-tail ; and he seems to think this is exceed- ingly degrading. Well, as his faith is, so be it unto him. But can he remember no other military coat tail under which a certain other party have been sheltering for near a quarter of a century? Has he no acquaintance with the ample military coat tail of Gen. Jackson? Does he not know that his own party have run the five last Presidential races under that coat-tail ? and that they are now running the sixth, under the same cover ? Yes sir, that coat tail was used, not only for Gen. Jackson himself; but has been clung to, with the gripe of death, by every democratic candidate since. You have never ventured, and dare not now venture, from under it. Your campaign papers have constantly been "Old Hickories" with rude likenesses of the old general upon them ; hickory poles, and hickory brooms, your never-ending emblems; Mr. Polk himself was "Young Hickory" "Little Hickory" or something so ; and even now, your campaign paper here, is proclaiming that Cass and Butler are of the true "Hickory stripe." No sir, you dare not give it up. Like a horde of hungry ticks you have stuck to the tail of the Hermitage lion to the end of his life ; and you are still sticking to it, and drawing a loathsome sustenance from it, 34 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN after he is dead. A fellow once advertised that he had made a discovery by which he could make a new man out of an old one, and have enough of the stuff left to make a little yellow dog. Just such a discovery has Gen. Jackson's popularity been to you. You not only twice made President of him out of it, but you have had enough of the stuff left, to make Pres- idents of several comparatively small men since; and it is your chief reliance now to make still another. Mr. Speaker, old horses, and military coat-tails, or tails of any sort, are not figures of speech, such as I would be the first to introduce into discussions here ; but as the gentleman from Georgia has thought fit to introduce them, he, and you, are welcome to all you have made, or can make, by them. If you have any more old horses, trot them out ; any more tails, just cock them and come at us. I repeat, I would not introduce this mode of discussion here ; but I wish gentlemen on the other side to understand, that the use of degrading figures is a game at which they may not find themselves able to take all the winnings. ["We give it up"]. Aye, you give it up, and well you may ; but for a very different reason from that which you would have us under- stand. The point - the power to hurt - of all figures, consists in the truthfulness of their application ; and, understanding this, you may well give it up. They are weapons which hit you, but miss us. But in my hurry I was very near closing on the subject of military tails before I was done with it. There is one entire article of the sort I have not discussed yet ; I mean the mili- tary tail you democrats are now engaged in dovetailing onto the great Michigander. Yes sir, all his biographers (and they are legion) have him in hand, tying him to a military tail, like so many mischievous boys tying a dog to a bladder of beans. True, the material they have is very limited ; but they drive ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 35 at it, might and main. He Evaded Canada without resistance, and he Evaded it without pursuit. As he did both under orders, I suppose there was, to him, neither credit or discredit in them ; but they [are made to] constitute a large part of the tail. He was not at Hull's surrender, but he was close by; he was volunteer aid to Gen. Harrison on the day of the battle of the Thames ; and, as you said in 1840, Harrison was pick- ing huckleberries two miles off while the battle was fought, I suppose it is a just conclusion with you, to say Cass was aiding Harrison to pick huckleberries. This is about all, ex- cept the mooted question of the broken sword. Some authors say he broke it, some say he threw it away, and some others, who ought to know, say nothing about it. Perhaps it would be fair historical compromise to say, if he did not break it, he didn't do anything else with it. By the way, Mr. Speaker, did you know I am a military hero ? Yes sir ; in the days of the Black Hawk war, I fought, bled, and came away. Speaking of Gen. Cass' career, re- minds me of my own. I was not at Stillman's defeat, but I was about as near it, as Cass was to Hulls surrender, and, like him, I saw the place very soon afterwards. It is quite certain I did not break my sword, for I had none to break ; but I bent a musket pretty badly on one occasion. If Cass broke his sword the idea is, he broke it in de[s]peration ; I bent the musket by accident. If Gen. Cass went in advance of me in picking huckleberries, I guess I surpassed him in charges upon the wild onions. If he saw any live, fighting indians, it was more than I did; but I had a good many bloody struggles with the musquetoes ; and, although I never fainted from loss of blood, I can truly say I was often very hungry. Mr. Speaker, if I should ever conclude to doff what- ever our democratic friends may suppose there is of black cockade federalism about me, and thereupon, they shall take 3& PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN me up as their candidate for the Presidency, I protest they shall not make fun of me, as they have of Gen. Cass, by at- tempting to write me into a military hero. 1 On Post-Election Unity Friends and Fellow-Citizens: - Please excuse me, on this occasion, from making a speech. I thank you for the kind- ness and compliment of this call. I thank you, in common with all others, who have thought fit, by their votes, to in- dorse the Republican cause. I rejoice with you in the success which has, so far, attended that cause. Yet in all our rejoicing let us neither express, nor cherish, any harsh feeling towards any citizen who, by his vote, has differed with us. Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling. 2 On People and Politicians My fellow-countrymen. You call upon me for a speech ; I have none to give to you, and have not sufficient time to de- vote to it if I had. I suppose you are all Union men here, [Cheers and cries of "Right"] and I suppose that you are in favor of doing full justice to all, whether on that side of the river (pointing to the Kentucky shore), or on your own. [Loud cheering and cries of "We are."] If the politicians and leaders of parties were as true as the people, there would be little fear that the peace of the country would be disturbed. I have been selected to fill an important office for a brief pe- riod, and am now, in your eyes, invested with an influence which will soon pass away; but should my administration prove to be a very wicked one, or what is more probable, a 1 Speech in House of Representatives, 7/27/48, I, 507-510. 2 Remarks at Springfield, 111., 11/20/60, IV, 142-143. ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 37 very foolish one, if you, the people, are but true to yourselves and to the Constitution, there is but little harm I can do, thank God! 1 On Political Appeasement No man can be elected President without some opponents, as well as supporters ; and if when elected, he can not be in- stalled, till he first appeases his enemies, by breaking his pledges, and betraying his friends, this government, and all popular government, is already at an end. Demands for such surrender, once recognized, and yielded to, are without limit, as to nature, extent, or repetition. They break the only bond of faith between public, and public servant ; and they dis- tinctly set the minority over the majority. Such demands acquiesced in, would not merely be the ruin of a man, or a party ; but as a precendent they would ruin the government itself. I do not deny the possibility that the people may err in an election ; but if they do, the true [remedy] is in the next elec- tion, and not in the treachery of the person elected. 2 On Changing Horses 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 confidence which has been accorded to me, both by the convention and by the National League. I am not in- sensible at all to the personal compliment there is in this ; yet I do not allow myself to believe that any but a small por- tion of it is to be appropriated as a personal compliment. The convention and the nation, I am assured, are alike animated by a higher view of the interests of the country for the pres- ent and the great future, and that part I am entitled to 1 Remarks at Lawrenceburg, Ind., 2/12/61, IV, 197. 2 Fragment of Speech Intended for Kentuckians, [2/12/61], IV, 200. 38 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN 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 I have occupied for the last three years. I have not permitted myself, gentlemen, to conclude that I am the best man in the country ; but I am reminded, in this connection, of a story of an old Dutch farmer, who remarked to a com- panion once that "it was not best to swap horses when cros- sing streams." 1 On Personal Triumph Friends and Fellow-Citizens : Even before I had been inform- ed by you that this compliment was paid me by loyal citi- zens 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 subserved by the support of the present Administration. I do not pretend to say that you who think so embrace all the patriotism and loyalty of the country. But I do believe, and I trust, without personal interest, that the welfare of the country does require that such support and indorsement be given. I earnestly believe that the consequences of this day's work, if it be as you assure me 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 organization, have wrought for the best interests of their country and the world, not only for the present, but for all future ages. I am thankful to God for this approval of the people. But while deeply grateful for this mark of their con- 1 Reply to Delegation from the National Union League, 6/9/64, VII, 383-384. ON POLITICS AND POLITICIANS 39 fidence in me, if I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of personal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one opposed to me. It is no pleasure to me to triumph over any one ; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evi- dence of the people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights of humanity. 1 On Elections in War-Time 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 own existence, in great emergencies. On this point the present rebellion brought our republic to a severe test ; and a presidential election occuring in regu- lar course during the rebellion added not a little to the strain. If the loyal people, united, were put to the utmost of their strength by the rebellion, must they not fail when divided, and partially paralized, by a political war among themselves ? But the election was a necessity. We can not have free government without elections ; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election, it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. The strife of the election is but human nature practically applied to the facts of the case. What has 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 good. Let us, therefore, study the incidents of this, as philosophy to learn wisdom from, and none of them as wrongs to be revenged. But the election, along with its incidental, and undesirable strife, has done good too. It has demonstrated that a people's government can sustain an national election, in the midst of 1 Response to a Serenade, 1 1/8/64, VIII, 96. 40 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN 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 can- didates of the same party, he who is most devoted to the Union, and most opposed to treason, can receive most of the people's votes. It shows also... 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, re-unite in a common effort, to save our common country? For my own part I have striven, and shall strive to avoid placing any ob- stacle in the way. So long as I have been here I have not wil- lingly planted a thorn in any man's bosom. While I am deeply sensible to the high compliment of a re-election ; and duly grateful, as I trust, to Almighty God for having directed my countrymen to a right 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 towards those who have ? And now, let me close by asking three hearty cheers for our brave soldiers and seamen and their gallant and skilful commanders. 1 1 Response to a Serenade, 0/10/64, VIII, 100-xoi, Ill ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS Lincoln's 1837 Protest Resolutions upon the subject of domestic slavery having pas- sed both branches of the General Assembly at its present session, the undersigned hereby protest against the passage of the same. They believe that the institution of slavery is founded on both injustice and bad policy ; but that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends rather to increase than to abate its evils. They believe that the Congress of the United States has no power under the constitution, to interfere with the insti- tution of slavery in the different States. They believe that the Congress of the United States has the power, under the constitution, to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia ; but that that power ought not to be exercised unless at the request of the people of said District. The difference between these opinions and those contain- ed in the said resolutions, is their reason for entering this protest. Dan Stone A. Lincoln 1 On Slavery If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B. - why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A ? - You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color , then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own. 1 Protest on Slavery, 3/3/37, I, 74~75- 44 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN You do not mean color exactly ? - You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them ? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own. But, you say, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you. 1 On Popular Sovereignty and Slavery The sacred right of self-government, rightly understood, no one appreciated more than himself. But the Nebraska meas- ure, so far from carrying out that right, was the grossest vio- lation of it. The principle that men or States have the right of regulating their own affairs, is morally right and politically wise. Individuals held the sacred right to regulate their own family affairs ; communities might arrange their own internal matter to suit themselves ; States might make their own stat- utes, subject only to the Constitution of the whole country; - no one disagreed with this doctrine. It had, however, no application to the question at present at issue, namely wheth- er slavery, a moral, social and political evil, should or should not exist in territory owned by the Government, over which the Government had control, and which looked to the Government for protection - unless it be true that a negro is not a man ; if not, then it is no business of ours whether or not he is enslaved upon soil which belongs to us, any more than it is our business to trouble ourselves about the oyster-trade, cranberry-trade, or any other legitimate traffic carried on by the people in territory owned by the Government. If we admit that a negro is not a man, then it is right for the Gov- 1 Fragment, 7/1/54?, II, 222-223. ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 45 ernment to own him and trade in the race, and it is right to allow the South to take their peculiar institution with them and plant it upon the virgin soil of Kansas and Nebraska. If the negro is not a man, it is consistent to apply the sacred right of popular sovereignty to the question as to whether the people of the territories shall or shall not have slavery; but if the negro, upon soil where slavery is not legalized by law and sanctioned by custom, is a man, then there is not even the shadow of popular sovereignty in allowing the first settlers upon such soil to decide whether it shall be right in all future time to hold men in bondage there. 1 On Slavery and Property Rights It is said that the slaveholder has the same [political] right to take his negroes to Kansas that a freeman has to take his hogs or his horses. This would be true if negroes were property in the same sense that hogs and horses are. But is this the case? It is notoriously not so. Southern men do not treat their ne- groes as they do their horses. There are 400,000 free negroes in the United States. All the race came to this country as slaves. How came these negroes free? At $ 500 each, their value is $ 2,000,000. Can you find two million dollars worth of any other kind of property running about without an owner? These negroes are free, because their owners, in some way and at some time, felt satisfied that the creatures had mind, feeling, souls, family affections, hopes, joys, sorrows - some- thing that made them more than hogs or horses. Shall the Slaveholders require us to be more heartless and mean than they, and treat those beings as property which they themselves have never been able to treat so ? 2 1 Speech at Bloomington, III, 9/26/54, II, 239. 2 Speech at Springfield, 111., 10/4/54, H, 245-246. 46 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN On Slavery and World Opinion This declared indifference, but as I must think, covert real zeal for the spread of slavery, I can not but hate. I hate it be- cause of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it be- cause it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world - enables the enemies of free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites - causes the real friends of freedom to doubt our sincerity, and especially because it forces so many really good men amongst ourselves into an open war with the very fundamental principles of civil lib- erty - criticising the Declaration of Independence, and in- sisting that there is no right principle of action but self- interest. 1 On Difficulty of Negro Problem When southern people tell us they are no more responsible for the origin of slavery, than we ; I acknowledge the fact. When it is said that the institution exists ; and that it is very difficult to get rid of it, in any satisfactory way, I can under- stand and appreciate the saying. I surely will not blame them for not doing what I should not know how to do myself. If all earthly power were given me, I should not know what to do, as to the existing institution. My first impulse would be to free all the slaves, and send them to Liberia, - to their own native land. But a moment's reflection would convince me, that whatever of high hope (as I think there is) there may be in this, in the long run, its sudden execution is impossible. If they were all landed there in a day, they would all perish in the next ten days ; and there are not surplus shipping and sur- plus money enough in the world to carry them there in many times ten days. What then? Free them all, and keep them among us as underlings ? Is it quite certain that this betters 1 Speech at Peoria, 111., 10/16/54, II, 255. ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 47 their condition ? I think I would not hold one in slavery, at any rate ; yet the point is not clear enough for me to denounce people upon. What next ? Free them, and make them politi- cally and socially, our equals? My own feelings will not ad- mit of this ; and if mine would, we well know that those of the great mass of white people will not. Whether this feeling accords with justice and sound judgment, is not the sole question, if indeed, it is any part of it. A universal feeling, whether well or ill-founded, can not be safely disregarded. We can not, then, make them equals. It does seem to me that systems of gradual emancipation might be adopted ; but for their tardiness in this, I will not undertake to judge our brethren of the south. When they remind us of their constitutional rights, I acknowledge them, not grudgingly, but fully, and fairly ; and I would give them any legislation for the reclaiming of their fugitives, which should not, in its stringency, be more likely to carry a free man into slavery, than our ordinary criminal laws are to hang an innocent one. 1 On Slavery and Declaration of Independence My declarations upon this subject of negro slavery may be misrepresented, but can not be misunderstood. I have said that I do not understand the Declaration to mean that all men were created equal in all respects. They are not our equal in color ; but I suppose that it does mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects ; they are equal in their right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Certainly the negro is not our equal in color - perhaps not in many other respects ; still, in the right to put into his mouth the bread that his own hands have earned, he is the equal of every other man, white or black. In pointing out that more 1 Speech at Peoria, 111., 10/16/54, II, 255-256. 48 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN has been given you, you can not be justified in taking away the little which has been given him. All I ask for the negro is that if you do not like him, let him alone. If God gave him but little, that little let him enjoy. 1 At Galesburg the other day, I said in answer to Judge Doug- las, that three years ago there never had been a man, so far as I knew or believed, in the whole world, who had said that the Declaration of Independence did not include negroes in the therm "all men." I re-assert it to-day. I assert that Judge Douglas and all his friends may search the whole records of the country, and it will be a matter of great astonishment to me if they shall be able to find that one human being three years ago had ever uttered the astounding sentiment that the term "all men" in the Declaration did not include the negro. Do not let me be misunderstood. I know that more than three years ago there were men who, finding this assertion constantly in the way of their schemes to bring about the ascendancy and perpetuation of slavery, denied the truth of it, I know that Mr. Calhoun and all the politicians of his school denied the truth of the Declaration. I know that it ran along in the mouths of some Southern men for a period of years, ending at last in that shameful though rather forcible decla- ration of Pettit of Indiana, upon the floor of the United States Senate, that the Declaration of Independence was in that respect "a self-evident lie," rather than a self-evident truth. But I say, with a perfect knowledge of all this hawking at the Declaration without directly attacking it, that three years ago there never had lived a man who had ventured to assail it in the sneaking way of pretending to believe it and then as- serting it did not include the negro. [Cheers.] I believe the 1 Speech at Springfield, 111., 7/17/58, II, 520. ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 49 first man who ever said it was Chief Justice Taney in the Dred Scott case, and the next to him was our friend Stephen A. Douglas. [Cheers and laughter.] And now it has become the catch-word of the entire party. I would like to call upon his friends everywhere to consider how they have come in so short a time to view this matter in a way so entirely different from their former belief? to ask whether they are not being borne along by an irresistible current - whither they know not? [Great applause.] 1 On Dealing with Slavery Peacefully On this subject of treating it as a wrong, and limiting its spread, let me say a word. Has any thing ever threatened the existence of this Union save and except this very institution of Slavery ? What is it that w r e hold most dear amongst us ? Our own liberty and prosperity. What has ever threatened our liberty and prosperity save and except this institution of Slavery ? If this is true, how do you propose to improve the condition of things by enlarging Slavery - by spreading it out and making it bigger ? You may have a wen or a cancer upon your person and not be able to cut it out lest you bleed to death ; but surely it is no way to cure it, to engraft it and spread it over your whole body. That is no proper way of treating what you regard a wrong. You see this peaceful way of dealing with it as a wrong - restricting the spread of it, and not allowing it to go into new countries where it has not al- ready existed. That is the peaceful way, the old-fashioned way, the way in which the fathers themselves set us the example. 2 On the Real Issue of the Times Take all the argument made in favor of the system you have proposed, and it carefully excludes the idea that there is any- 1 Debate at Alton, 10/15/58, III, 301-302. 2 Debate at Alton, 10/15/58, III, 313. 50 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN thing wrong in the institution of slavery. The arguments to sustain that policy carefully excluded it. Even here to-day you heard Judge Douglas quarrel with me because I uttered a wish that it might sometime come to an end. Although Henry Clay could say he wished every slave in the United States was in the country of his ancestors, I am denounced by those pretending to respect Henry Clay for uttering a wish that it might sometime, in some peaceful way, come to an end. The Democratic policy in regard to that institution will not tolerate the merest breath, the slightest hint, of the least degree of wrong about it. Try it by some of Judge Doug- las' arguments. He says he "don't care whether it is voted up or voted down" in the Territories. I do not care myself in dealing with that expression, whether it is intended to be ex- pressive of his individual sentiments on the subject, or only of the national policy he desires to have established. It is alike valuable for my purpose. Any man can say that who does not see anything wrong in slavery, but no man can logically say it who does see a wrong in it ; because no man can logically say he dorUt care whether a wrong is voted up or voted down. He may say he dorCt care whether an indifferent thing is vot- ed up or voted down, but he must logically have a choice between a right thing and a wrong thing. He contends that whatever community wants slaves has a right to have them. So they have if it is not a wrong. But if it is a wrong, he can- not say people have a right to do wrong. He says that upon the score of equality, slaves should be allowed to go in a new Territory, like other property. This is strictly logical if there is no difference between it and other property. If it and other property are equal, his argument is entirely logical. But if you insist that one is wrong and the other right, there is no use to institute a comparison between right and wrong. You may turn over everything in the Democratic policy from begin- ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 51 ning to end, whether in the shape it takes on the statute book, in the shape it takes in the Dred Scott decision, in the shape it takes in conversation or the shape it takes in short maxim- like arguments - it everywhere carefully exludes the idea that there is anything wrong in it. That is the real issue. That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles - right and wrong - throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time ; and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the di- vine right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it develops itself. It is the same spirit that says, "You work and toil and earn bread, and I'll eat it." [Loud applause.] No matter in what shape it comes, whether from the mouth of a king who seeks to bestride the people of his own nation and live by the fruit of their labor, or from one race of men as an apology for enslaving another race, it is the same tyrannical principle. I was glad to express my gratitude at Qiiincy, and I re-express it here to Judge Douglas - that he looks to no end of the institution of slavery. That will help the people to see where the struggle really is. It will hereafter place with us all men who really do wish the wrong may have end. And whenever w 7 e can get rid of the fog which obscures the real question - when we can get Judge Douglas and his friends to avow a policy looking to its perpetuation - we can get out from among them that class of men and bring them to the side of those who treat it as a wrong. Then there will soon be an end of it, and that end will be its "ultimate extinction." Whenever the issue can be distinctly made, and all extra- neous matter thrown out so that men can fairly see the real difference between the parties, this controversy will soon be UNIVERSITY OF ILLfftOI* LIBRARY 52 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN settled, and it will be done peaceably too. There will be no war, no violence. It will be placed again where the wisest and best men of the world, placed it. Brooks of South Carolina once declared that when this Constitution was framed, its framers did not look to the institution existing until this day. When he said this, I think he stated a fact that is fully borne out by the history of the times. But he also said they were better and wiser men than the men of these days ; yet the men of these days had experience which they had not, and by the invention of the cotton gin it became a necessity in this country that slavery should be perpetual. I now say that willingly or unwillingly, purposely or without purpose, Judge Douglas has been the most prominent instrument in chang- ing the position of the institution of slavery which the fa- thers of the government expected to come to an end ere this - and putting it upon Brooks' cotton gin basis, [Great applause.] - placing it where he openly confesses he has no desire there shall ever be an end of it. [Renewed applause.] l On Compensated Emancipation My dear Sir : I am grateful to the New- York Journals, and not less so to the Times than to others, for their kind notices of the late special Message to Congress. Your paper, however, intimates that the proposition, though well-intentioned, must fail on the score of expense. I do hope you will reconsider this. Have you noticed the facts that less than one half-day's cost of this war would pay for all the slaves in Delaware, at four hundred dollars per head ? - that eighty-seven days cost of this war would pay for all in Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Kentucky, and Missouri at the same price? Were those states to take the step, do you doubt that it would shorten the war more than eighty-seven days, and thus be an 1 Debate at Alton, 10/15/58, III, 314-316. ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 53 actual saving of expense. Please look at these things, and con- sider whether there should not be another article in the Times? 1 Gentlemen. After the adjournment of Congress, 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 can not justifiably waive, to make this appeal to you. I intend no reproach or complaint when I assure you that in my opinion, 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 potent, 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 can not, much longer maintain the contest. But you can not di- vest them of their hope to ultimately have you with them so long as you show a determination to perpetuate the institu- tion 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 considera- tion ; 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 u Can you, for your states, do better than to take the course I urge? Discarding punctillio, and max- ims adapted to more manageable times, and looking only to the unprecedentedly stern facts of our case, can you do 1 To Henry J.Raymond, 3/9/62, V, 152-153- 54 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN better in any possible event? ["] You prefer that the constitu- tional relation of the states to the nation shall be practically restored, without disturbance of the institution ; and if this were done, my whole duty, in this respect, under the consti- tution, and my oath of office, would be performed. But it is not done, and we are trying to accomplish it by war. The inci- dents of the war can not be avoided. If the war continue long, as it must, if the object be not sooner attained, the in- stitution in your states will be extinguished by mere friction and abrasion - by the mere incidents of the war. It will be gone, and you will have nothing valuable in lieu of it. Much of it's 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 ere long 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 another's throats. I do not speak of emancipation at once, but of a decision at once to emancipate gradually. Room in South America for colonization, 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. Gen. Hunter is an honest man. He was, and I hope, still is, my friend. I val- ued him none the less for his agreeing with me in the general ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 55 wish that all men everywhere, could be free. He proclaimed all men free within certain states, and I repudiated the pro- clamation. He expected more good, and less harm from the measure, than I could believe would follow. Yet in repudia- ting it, I gave dissatisfaction, if not offence, 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 re- lieve me, and much more, can relieve the country, in this im- portant point. Upon these considerations I have again beg- ged your attention to the message of March last. Before leav- ing the Capital, consider and discuss it among yourselves. You are patriots and statesmen; and, as such, I pray you, consider this proposition ; and, at the least, commend it to the consideration 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 boldest action to bring it speedy relief. Once re- lieved, it's form of government is saved to the world ; it's be- loved history, and cherished memories, are vindicated ; and it's happy future fully assured, and rendered inconceivably grand. To you, more than to any others, the previlege is given, to assure that happiness, and swell that grandeur, and to link your own names therewith forever. 1 On Colonization You and we are different races. We have between us a broad- er difference than exists between almost any other two ra- ces. Whether it is right or wrong I need not discuss, but this physical difference is a great disadvantage to us both, as I 1 Appeal to Border State Representatives to Favor Compensated Eman- cipation, 7/12/62, V, 317-319. 56 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN think your race suffer very greatly, many of them by living among us, while ours suffer from your presence. In a word we suffer on each side. If this is admitted, it affords a reason at least why we should be separated. You here are freemen I suppose. A Voice : Yes, sir. The President - Perhaps you have long been free, or all your lives. Your race are suffering, in my judgment, the greatest wrong inflicted on any people. But even when you cease to be slaves, you are yet far removed from being placed on an equality with the white race. You are cut off from many of the advantages which the other race enjoy. The aspi- ration 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 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.... See our present condition - the country engaged in war ! - our white men cutting one another's throats, none knowing how far it will extend ; and then consider what we know to be the truth. But for your race among us there could not be war, although many men engaged on either side do not care for you one way or the other. Nevertheless, I repeat, without the institution of Slavery and the colored race as a basis, the war could not have an existence. It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated. I know that there are free men among you, who even if they could better their condition are not as much inclined to go out of ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 57 the country as those, who being slaves could obtain their freedom on this condition. I suppose one of the principal dif- ficulties in the way of colonization is that the free colored man cannot see that his comfort would be advanced by it. You may believe you can live in Washington or elsewhere in the United States the remainder of your life [as easily], or perhaps more so than you can in any foreign country, and hence you may come to the conclusion that you have nothing to do with the idea of going to a foreign country. This is (I speak in no unkind sense) an extremely selfish view of the case. But you ought to do something to help those who are not so fortunate as yourselves. There is an unwillingness on the part of our people, harsh as it may be, for you free colored people to remain with us. Now, if you could give a start to white people, you would open a wide door for many to be made free. If we deal with those who are not free at the be- ginning, and whose intellects are clouded by Slavery, we have very poor materials to start with. If intelligent colored men, such as are before me, would move in this matter, much might be accomplished. It is exceedingly important that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed. There is much to encourage 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 some- thing can be done to ameliorate the condition of those who have been subject to the hard usage of the world. It is difficult to make a man miserable while he feels he is worthy of him- self, 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 future. Gen. 58 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Washington himself endured greater physical hardships than if he had remained a British subject. Yet he was a happy man, because he was engaged in benefiting his race - something for the children of his neighbors, having none of his own. The colony of Liberia has been in existence a long time. In a certain sense it is a success. The old President of Li- beria, Roberts, has just been with me - the first time I ever saw him. He says they have within the bounds of that colony between 300,000 and 400,000 people, or more than in some of our old States.... 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 out- number those deceased. The question is if the colored people are persuaded to go anywhere, why not there ? One reason for an unwilligness 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 at- tachment you may have toward our race. It does not strike me that you have the greatest reason to love them. But still you are attached to them at all events. The place I am thinking about having for a colony is in Central America. It is nearer to us than Liberia - not much more than one-fourth as far as Liberia, and within seven day's run by steamers. Unlike Liberia it is on a great line of travel - it is a highway. The country is a very excellent one for any people, and with great natural resources and advantages, and especially because of the similarity of climate with your native land - thus being suited to your physical condition. The particular place I have in view is to be a great high- way 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 ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 59 world. Again, there is evidence of very rich coal mines. A certain amount of coal is valuable in any country, and there may be more than enough for the wants of the country. Why I attach so much importance to coal is, it will afford an op- portunity to the inhabitants for immediate employment till they get ready to settle permanently in their homes. If you take colonists where there is no good landing, there is a bad show ; and so where there is nothing to cultivate, and of which to make a farm. But if something is started so that you can get your daily bread as soon as 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 country, including the coal mines. We have been mistaken all our lives if we do not know whites as well as blacks look to their self-interest. Unless among those defi- cient of intellect everybody you trade with makes something. You meet with these things here as elsewhere. If such persons have what will be an advantage to them, the question is whether it cannot be made of advantage to you. You are intelligent, and know that success does not as much depend on external help as on self-reliance. Much, therefore, depends 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 provisions made that you shall not be wronged. If you will engage in the enterprise I will spend some of the money intrusted to me. I am not sure you will succeed. The Govern- ment may lose the money, but we cannot succeed unless we try ; but we think, with care, we can succeed. The political affairs in Central America are not in quite as satisfactory condition as I wish. There are contending fac- 6o PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN tions 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. Besides, I would endeavor to have you made 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 chil- dren, who are willing to go, when I present evidence of en- couragement and protection. Could I get a hundred tolerably intelligent men, with their wives and children, 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 commencement. I want you to let me know whether this can be done or not. This is the practical part of my wish to see you. These are subjects of very great 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 sucessfully 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" l On Problems of Emancipation I am approached with the most opposite opinions and ad- vice, and that by religious men, who are equally certain that 1 Address on Colonization to a Deputation of Negroes, 8/14/62, V, ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 61 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 de- sire to know the will of Providence in this matter. And if I can learn what it is I will do it! These are not, however, the days of miracles, and I suppose it will be granted that I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of the case, ascertain what is 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 gentlemen of standing and intelligence (naming one or two of the num- ber) from New York called, as a delegation, on business con- nected 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 know, also, that the last session of Congress had a decided majority of anti-slavery men, yet they could not unite on this policy. And the same is true of the religious 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 Senator Wilson, a few days since, that he met with no- thing so discouraging as the evident sincerity of those he was among in their prayers. But we will talk over the merits of the case. What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as we are now situated ? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet! Would 62 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the Con- stitution in the rebel States? Is there a single court, or magi- strate, or individual that would be influenced by it there? And what reason is there to think it would have any greater effect upon the slaves than the late law of Congress, which I approved, and which offers protection and freedom to the slaves of rebel masters who come within our lines ? Yet I cannot learn that that law has caused a single slave to come over to us. And suppose they could be induced by a proclama- tion 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 ? Gen. 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 Gen. Butler is feeding the whites also by the thousand; for it nearly amounts to a famine there. If, now, the pressure of the war should call off our forces from New Orleans to defend some other point, what is to prevent the masters from reducing the blacks to slav- ery 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 / am very ungenerously attacked 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 Greel- ey 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 ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 63 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 insurrection and massacre at the South. I view the matter as a practical war measure, to be decided upon according to the advantages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion. 1 On Effect of Emancipation Proclamation Your kind letter of the 25 th is just received. It is known to some that while I hope something from the proclamation, my expectations are not as sanguine as are those of some friends. The time for its effect southward has not come ; but northward the effect should be instantaneous. It is six days old, and while commendation in newspapers and by distinguished individuals is all that a vain man could wish, the stocks have declined, and the troops come forward more slowly than ever. This, looked soberly in the face, is not very satisfactory. We have fewer troops in the field at the end of six days than we had at the beginning - the attrition among the old outnumbering the addition by the new. The North responds to the proclamation sufficiently in breath; but breath alone kills no rebels. I wish I could write more cheerfully ; nor do I thank you the less for the kindness of your letter. 2 On Negro Voting I congratulate you on having fixed your name in history as the first-free-state Governor of Louisiana. Now you are about to have a Convention which, among other things, will 1 Reply to Emancipation Memorial Presented by Chicago Christians of All Denominations, 9/13/62, V, 419-421. 2 To Hannibal Hamlin, 9/28/62, V, 444. 64 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN probably define the elective franchise. I barely suggest for your private consideration, whether some of the colored people may not be let in - as, for instance, the very intelligent, and especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks. They would probably help, in some trying time to come, to keep the jewel of liberty within the family of freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public, but to you alone. 1 I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Con- sider if you know any good thing, that no man desires for himself. 2 On the importance of Colored Troops Your inviting me to attend a Union Mass Meeting at Buffalo is received. Much is being said about peace ; and no man de- sires peace more ardently than I. Still I am yet unprepared to give up the Union for a peace which, so achieved, could not be of much duration. The preservation of our Union was not the sole avowed object for which the war was commenced. It was commenced for precisely the reverse object - to de- stroy our Union. The insurgents commenced it by firing upon the Star of the West, and on Fort Sumpter, and by other sim- ilar acts. It is true, however, that the administration accep- ted the war thus commenced, for the sole avowed object of preserving our Union; and it is not true that it has since been, or will be, prosecuted by this administration, for any other object. In declaring this, I only declare what I can know, and do know to be true, and what no other man can know to be false. In taking the various steps which have led to my present position in relation to the war, the public interest and my 1 To Michael Hahn, 3/13/64, VII, 243. 2 On Slavery, 3/22/64, VII, 260. ON SLAVERY AND ITS PROBLEMS 65 private interest, have been perfectly parallel, because in no other way could I serve myself so well, as by truly serving the Union. The whole field has been open to me, where to choose. No place-hunting necessity has been upon me urg- ing me to seek a position of antagonism to some other man, irrespective of whether such position might be favorable or unfavorable to the Union. Of course I may err in judgment, but my present position in reference to the rebellion is the result of my best judgment, and according to that best judgment, it is the only position upon which any Executive can or could save the Union. Any substantial departure from it insures the success of the rebel- lion. An armistice - a cessation of hostilities - is the end of the struggle, and the insurgents would be in peaceable pos- session of all that has been struggled for. Any different policy in regard to the colored man, deprives us of his help, and this is more than we can bear. We can not spare the hundred and forty or fifty thousand now serving us as soldiers, seamen, and laborers. This is not a question of sentiment or taste, but one of physical force which may be measured and estimated as horse-power and Steam-power are measured and estimat- ed. Keep it and you can save the Union. Throw it away, and the Union goes with it. Nor is it possible for any Administra- tion to retain the service of these people with the express or implied understanding that upon the first convenient occa- sion, they are to be re-inslaved. It can not be ; and it ought not to be. 1 1 To Isaac M. Schermerhorn, 9/12/64, VIII, 1-2. IV OxN LAW AND ITS PROFESSION On the Practice of Law I am not an accomplished lawyer. I find quite as much ma- terial for a lecture in those points wherein I have failed, as in those wherein I have been moderately successful. The lead- ing rule for the lawyer, as for the man of every other calling, is diligence. Leave nothing for to-morrow which can be done to-day. Never let your correspondence fall behind. Whatever piece of business you have in hand, before stopping, do all the labor pertaining to it which can then be done. When you bring a common-law suit, if you have the facts for doing so, write the declaration at once. If a law point be involved, exam- ine the books, and note the authority you rely on upon the declaration itself, where you are sure to find it when wanted. The same of defenses and pleas. In business not likely to be litigated, - ordinary collection cases, foreclosures, partitions, and the like, - make all examinations of titles, and note them, and even draft orders and decrees in advance. This course has a triple advantage ; it avoids omissions and neglect, saves your labor when once done, performs the labor out of court when you have leisure, rather than in court when you have not. Extemporaneous speaking should be practised and cultivated. It is the lawyer's avenue to the public. However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business if he cannot make a speech. And yet there is not a more fatal error to young lawyers than relying too much on speech-making. If any one, upon his rare pow- ers of speaking, shall claim an exemption from the drudg- ery of the law, his case is a failure in advance. Discourage litigation. Persuade your neighbors to com- 70 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN promise whenever you can. Point out to them how the nom- inal winner is often a real loser - in fees, expenses, and waste of time. As a peacemaker the lawyer has a superior op- portunity of being a good man. There will still be business enough. Never stir up litigation. A worse man can scarcely be found than one who does this. Who can be more nearly a fiend than he who habitually overhauls the register of deeds in search of defects in titles, whereon to stir up strife, and put money in his pocket? A moral tone ought to be infused into the profession which should drive such men out of it.... There is a vague popular belief that lawyers are necessarily dishonest. I say vague, because when we consider to what extent confidence and honors are reposed in and conferred upon lawyers by the people, it appears improbable that their impression of dishonesty is very distinct and vivid. Yet the impression is common, almost universal. Let no young man choosing the law for a calling for a moment yield to the popu- lar belief- resolve to be honest at all events ; and if in your own judgment you cannot be an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest without being a lawyer. Choose some other occupation , rather than one in the choosing of which you do, in advance, consent to be a knave. l On How to Become a Lawyer I have just reached home, and found your letter of the 23 rd. ult. I am from home too much of my time, for a young man to read law with me advantageously. If you are resolutely de- termined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already. It is but a small matter whether you read with any body or not. I did not read with any one. Get the books, and read and study them till you understand them 1 Fragment: Notes for a Law Lecture, 7/1/50?, II, 81-82. ON LAW 71 in their principal features ; and that is the main thing. It is of no consequence to be in a large town while you are read- ing. I read at New-Salem, which never had three hundred people living in it. The books, and your capacity for under- standing them, are just the same in all places. Mr. Dummer is a very clever man and an excellent lawyer (much better than I, in law-learning) ; and I have no doubt he will cheerfully tell you what books to read, and also loan you the books. Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing. Very truly Your friend. 1 Yours of the 14th. of July, desiring a situation in my law office, was received several days ago. My partner, Mr. Hern- don, controls our office in this respect, and I have known of his declining at least a dozen application like yours within the last three months. If you wish to be a lawyer, attach no consequence to the place you are in, or the person you are with ; but get books, sit down anywhere, and go to reading for yourself. That will make a lawyer of you quicker than any other way. 2 1 To Isham Reavis, 1 1/5/55, H> 3 2 7- * To William H. Grigsby, 8/3/58, II, 535. V ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. We find our- selves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the erath, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salu- brity of climate. We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions, conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty, than any of which the history of former times tells us. We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquire- ment or establishment of them - they are a legacy bequeath- ed us, by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now la- mented and departed race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves, us, of this goodly land ; and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys, a political edifice of liberty and equal rights ; 'tis ours only, to transmit these, the former, un- profaned by the foot of an invader ; the latter, undecayed by the lapse of time, and untorn by usurpation - to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task of gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to pos- terity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform. How, then, shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger ? By what means shall we for- tify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never ! All 76 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expec- ted ? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of free- men, we must live through all time, or die by suicide. I hope I am over wary ; but if I am not, there is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing dis- regard for law which pervades the country ; the growing dis- position to substitute the vvdld and furious passions, in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts ; and the worse than savage mobs, for the executive ministers of justice. This disposition is awfully fearful in any community ; and that it now exists in ours, though grating to our feelings to admit, it would be a violation of truth, and an insult to our intelligence, to deny. Accounts of outrages committed by mobs, form the every- day news of our times. They have pervaded the country, from New England to Louisiana ; - they are neither peculiar to the eternal snows of the former, nor the burning suns of the lat- ter ; - they are not the creature of climate - neither are they confined to the slaveholding, or the non-slaveholding States. Alike, they spring up among the pleasure hunting masters of Southern slaves, and the order loving citizens of the land of steady habits. Whatever, then, their cause may be, it is com- mon to the whole country.... But you are, perhaps, ready to ask, "What has this to do with the perpetuation of our political institutions?" I answer, it has much to do with it. Its direct consequences are, com- paratively speaking, but a small evil ; and much of its danger ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 77 consists, in the proneness of our minds, to regard its direct, as its only consequences.... By the operation of this mobocratic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, and particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed - I mean the attachment of the People. Whenever this effect shall be produced among us ; whenever the vicious portion of pop- ulation shall be permitted to gather in bands of hundreds and thousands, and burn churches, ravage and rob provision stores, throw printing presses into rivers, shoot editors, and hang and burn obnoxious persons at pleasure, and with im- punity ; depend on it, this Government cannot last.... I know the American People are much attached to their Government ; - 1 know they would suffer much for its sake ; - I know they would endure evils long and patiently, before they would ever think of exchanging it for another. Yet, notwithst- anding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregar- ded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property, are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the Government is the na- tural consequence ; and to that, sooner or later, it must come. Here then, is one point at which danger may be expected. The question recurs "how shall we fortify against it?" The answ r er is simple. Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country ; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy-six did to the support of the Declar- ation of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor... Let reverence for the laws, be breathed by every American mother, to the lisping babe, that prattles 78 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN on her lap - let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges ; - let it be written in Primmers, spelling books, and in Almanacs ; - let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation ; and let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues, and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. While ever a state of feeling, such as this, shall universally, or even, very generally prevail throughout the nation, vain will be every effort, and fruitless every attempt, to subvert our national freedom... But, it may be asked, why suppose danger to our political institutions? Have we not preserved them for more than fifty years? And why may we not for fifty times as long? We hope there is no sufficient reason. We hope all dangers may be overcome ; but to conclude that no danger may ever arise, would itself be extremely dangerous. There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tend- ency, which have not existed heretofore ; and which are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed, and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment ; now, it is understood to be a successful one. Then, all that sought ce- lebrity and fame, and distinction, expected to find them in the success of that experiment. Their all was staked upon it : - their destiny was inseparably linked with it. Their ambition aspired to display before an admiring world, a practical dem- onstration of the truth of a proposition, which had hitherto been considered, at best no better, than problematical; ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 79 namely, the capability of a people to govern themselves. If they succeeded, they were to be immortalized ; their names were to be transferred to counties and cities, and rivers and moun- tains ; and to be revered and sung, and toasted through all time. If they failed, they were to be called knaves and fools, and fanatics for a fleeting hour ; then to sink and be forgotten. They succeeded. The experiment is successful ; and thou- sands have won their deathless names in making it so. But the game is caught ; and I believe it is true, that with the catching, end the pleasures of the chase. This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is already appropriated. But new reapers will arise, and they, too, will seek a field. It is to deny, what the history of the world tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambition and talents will not continue to spring up amongst us. And, when they do, they will as naturally seek the gratification of their ruling passion, as others have so done before them.... Another reason which once was; but which, to the same extent, is now no more, has done much in maintaining our in- stitutions thus far. I mean the powerful influence which the interesting scenes of the revolution had upon the passions of the people as distinguished from their judgment.... But this state of feeling must fade, is fading, has faded, with the circumstances that produced it. I do not mean to say, that the scenes of the revolution are now or ever will be entirely forgotten ; but that like every thing else, they must fade upon the memory of the world, and grow more and more dim by the lapse of time. In history, we hope, they will be read of, and recounted, so long as the bible shall be read ; - but even granting that they will, their influence cannot be what it heretofore has been. 1 1 Address Before the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, 111., 1/27/38, I, 108-115. 8o PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN On Right of Revolution Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up and shake off the existing govern- ment, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable, - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government, may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much of the territory as they inhabit. More than this, a major- ity of any portion of such people may revolutionize, putting down a minority, intermingled with, or near about them, who may oppose their movement. Such minority, was pre- cisely the case, of the tories of our own revolution. It is a quality of revolutions not to go by old lines, or old laws ; but to break up both, and make new ones. 1 On Government The legitimate object of government, is to do for a commu- nity of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all y or can not, so well do, for themselves - in their separate, and individual capacities. In all that the people can individually do as well for them- selves, government ought not to interfere. The desirable things which the individuals of a people can not do, or can not well do, for themselves, fall into two clas- ses : those which have relation to wrongs, and those which have not. Each of these branch off into an infinite variety of subdivisions. The first - that in relation to wrongs - embraces all crimes, misdemeanors, and non-performance of contracts. The other embraces all which, in its nature, and without wrong, requires 1 Speech in House of Representatives, 1/12/48, I, 438-439. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 01 combined action, as public roads and highways, public schools, charities, pauperism, orphanage, estates of the de- ceased, and the machinery of government itself. From this it appears that if all men were just, there still would be some y though not so much, need of government. Government is a combination of the people of a country to effect certain objects by joint effort. The best framed and best administered governments are necessarily expensive, while by errors in frame and maladministration most of them are more onerous than they need be, and some of them very oppressive. Why, then, should we have government? Why not each individual take to himself the whole fruit of his la- bor, without having any of it taxed away, in services, corn, or money, Why not take just so much land as he can culti- vate with his own hands, without buying it of any one? The legitimate object of government is "to do for the people what needs to be done, but which they can not, by indiv- idual effort, do at all, or do so well, for themselves." There are many such things - some of them exist independently of the injustice in the world. Making and maintaining roads, bridges, and the like ; providing for the helpless young and afflicted ; common schools ; and disposing of deceased men's property, are instances . But a far larger class of objects springs from the injustice of men. If one people will make war upon another, it is a necessity with that other to unite and cooperate for defense. Hence the military department. If some men will kill, or beat, or constrain others, or despoil them of property, by force, fraud, or noncompliance with contracts, it is a common ob- ject with peaceful and just men to prevent it. Hence the criminal and civil departments. Most governments have been based, practically, on the de- nial of equal rights of men, as I have, in part, stated them ; 82 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN ours began, by affirming those rights. They said, some men are too ignorant^ and vicious to share in government. We proposed to give all a chance ; and we expected the weak to grow stronger, the ignorant, wiser ; and all better, and hap- pier together. 1 On Causes of Greatness of the United States We are a great empire. We are eighty years old. We stand at once the wonder and admiration of the whole world, and we must enquire what it is that has given us so much prosperity, and we shall understand that to give up that one thing, would be to give up all future prosperity. This cause is that every man can make himself. It has been said that such a race of prosperity has been run nowhere else. We find a people on the North-east, who have a different government from ours, being ruled by a Queen. Turning to the South, we see a people who, while they boast of being free, keep their fellow beings in bondage. Compare our Free States with either, shall we say here that we have no interest in keeping that principle alive, shall we say - "Let it be." No - we have an interest in the maintenance of the principles of the Govern- ment, and without this interest, it is worth nothing. I have noticed in Southern newspapers, particularly the Richmond Enquirer ', the Southern view of the Free States. They insist that slaverly has a right to spread. They defend it upon prin- ciple. They insist that their slaves are far better off than North- ern freemen. What a mistaken view do these men have of Northern laborers ! They think that men are always to re- main laborers here - but there is no such class. The man who labored for another last year, this year labors for himself, and next year he will hire others to labor for him. These men don't understand when they think in this manner of Northern 1 Fragments, 7/1/54, II, 220-222. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 83 free labor. When these reasons can be introduced, tell me not that we have no interest in keeping the Territories free for the settlement of free laborers. 1 On American Opportunity Now irrespective of the moral aspect of this question as to whether there is a right or wrong in enslaving a negro, I am still in favor of our new Territories being in such a condition that white men may find a home - may find some spot where they can better their condition - where they can settle upon new soil and better their condition in life. [Great and contin- ued cheering.] I am in favor of this not merely, (I must say it here as I have elsewhere), for our own people who are born amongst us, but as an outlet for free white people everywhere, the world over - in which Hans and Baptiste and Patrick, and all other men from all the world, may find new homes and better their conditions in life. [Loud and long continued applause.] 2 The Spirit of American Institutions Understanding the spirit of our institutions to aim at the ele- vation of men, I am opposed to whatever tends to degrade them. I have some little notoriety for commiserating the op- pressed condition of the negro ; and I should be strangely in- consistent if I could favor any project for curtailing the exi- sting rights of white men, even though born in different lands, and speaking different languages from myself. 3 On the Basis of Government I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, and with the address of your constituents, in the declaration that working men are 1 Speech at Kalamazoo, Mich., 8/27/56, II, 364. 2 Debate at Alton, 10/15/58, III, 312. 3 To Theodore Canisius, 5/17/59, III, 380. 84 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN the basis of all governments. That remark is due to them more than any other class, for the reason that there are more of them than any other class. And as your address is presented to me not only on behalf of workingmen, but especially of Germans, I may say a word as to classes. I hold the value of life is to improve one's condition. Whatever is calculated to advance the condition of the honest, struggling laboring man, so far as my judgment will enable me to judge of a cor- rect thing, I am for that thing. An allusion has been made to the Homestead Law. I think it worthy of consideration, and that the wild lands of the country should be distributed so that every man should have the means and opportunity of benefitting his condition. [Cheers.] I have said I do not desire to enter into details, nor will I. In regard to Germans and foreigners, I esteem foreigners no better than other people, nor any worse. [Laughter and cheers.] They are all of the great family of men, and if there is one shackle upon any of them, it would be far better to lift the load from them than to pile additional loads upon them. [Cheers.] And, inasmuch as the continent of America is com- paratively a new country, and the other countries of the world are old countries, there is more room here, comparati- vely speaking, than there is there ; and if they can better their condition by leaving their old homes, there is nothing in my heart to forbid them coming ; and I bid them all God speed. [Cheers.] ' The Central Idea of America I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing here in the place where were collected together the wisdom, the patriotism, the devotion to principle, from which sprang the 1 Speech to Germans at Cincinnati, 2/ 12/61, IV, 203. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 85 institutions under which we live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of restoring peace to our distracted country. I can say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments which orginated, and were given to the world from this hall in which we stand. I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. [Great cheering.] I have often pondered over the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and adopted that Declaration of Independence - I have pondered over the toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army, who achieved that Independence. [Applause.] I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the mother land; but something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time. [Great applause.] It was that which gave promise that in due time the weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance. [Cheers.] This is the sentiment embodied in that Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that ba- sis ? If it can, I will consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to save it. If it can't be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But, if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle - I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it. [Applause.] 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, 00 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN there will be no blood shed unless it be forced upon the Gov- ernment. The Government will not use force unless force is used against it. [Prolonged applause and cries of "That's the proper sentiment."] 1 On War and the People 1 recommend that you give the legal means for making this contest a short, and a decisive one - that you authorize to be applied to the work, at least three hundred thousand men, and three hundred millions of dollars. That number of men is less than one twelfth of those of proper ages, within those regions where all are willing to engage ; and the sum is less than an eighteenth of the money-value owned by the men who are ready to devote the whole. A right result will be worth more to the world than ten times the men, and ten times the money. The evidence reaching us from the people leaves no doubt that the material for the work is abundant ; and that it needs only the hand of legislation to give it legal sanction ; and the hand of the Executive to give it practical shape and efficiency. The departments here have had more trouble to avoid receiving troops faster than they could pro- vide them than from any other cause. In a word, the people will save their government, if the government itself will allow them. 2 On the War as a Test of Democracy This issue embraces more than the fate of these United States. It presents to the whole family of man, the question, whether a constitutional republic, or a democracy - a govern- ment of the people, by the same people - can, or cannot, maintain its territorial integrity, against its own domestic foes. It presents the question, whether discontented indivi- 1 Speech in Independance Hall, Philadelphia, 2/22/61, IV, 240-241. 2 Fragment of Draft of Message to Congress, 7/4/61, IV, 420-421. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 87 duals, too few in numbers to control administration, accord- ing to organic law, in any case, can always, upon the pre- tences made in this case, or on any other pretences, or arbi- trarily, without any pretence, break up their Government, and thus practically put an end to free government upon the earth. It forces us to ask: "Is there, in all republics, this in- herent, and fatal weakness?" "Must a government, of neces- sity, be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?" 1 The War "a People's Contest" It may be affirmed, without extravagance, that the free insti- tutions we enjoy, have developed the powers, and improved the condition, of our whole people, beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a striking, and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the government has now on foot, was never before known, without a soldier in it, but who had taken his place there, of his own free choice. But more than this : there are many single Regiments whose mem- bers, one and another, possess full practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, professions, and whatever else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the world ; and there is scarce- ly one, from which there could not be selected, a President, a Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a Court, abundantly competent to administer the government itself. Nor do I say this is not true, also, in the army of our late friends, now ad- versaries, in this contest ; but if it is, so much better the rea- son why the government, which has conferred such benefits on both them and us, should not be broken up. Whoever, in any section, proposes to abandon such a government, would do well to consider, in deference to what principle it is, that he does it -what better he is likely to get in its stead - wheth- 1 Message to Congress, 7/4/61, IV, 426. OO PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN er the substitute will give, or be intended to give, so much of good to the people. There are some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some Declarations of Independence ; in which, unlike the good old one, penned by Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of which, unlike our good old one, signed by Washington, they omit "We, the People," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view, the rights of men, and the authority of the people ? This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to ele- vate the condition of men - to lift artificial weights from all shoulders - to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all - to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life. Yielding to partial, and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the government for whose existence we contend 1 . On War and Popular Government Our popular government has often been called an experi- ment. Two points in it, our people have already settled - the successful establishing, and the successful administering of it. One still remains - its successful maintenance against a formi- dable [internal] attempt to overthrow it. It is now for them to demonstrate to the world, that those who can fairly carry an election, can also suppress a rebellion - that ballots are the rightful, and peaceful, successors of bullets ; and that when ballots have fairly, and constitutionally, decided, there can be no successful appeal, back to bullets ; that there can be no 1 Message to Congress, 7/4/61, IV, 437-438. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 89 successful appeal, except to ballots themselves, at succeeding elections. Such will be a great lesson of peace ; teaching men that what they cannot take by an election, neither can they take it by a war - teaching all, the folly of being the begin- ners of a war. l On War Aims On this whole proposition, - including the appropriation of money with the acquisition of territory, does not the expe- diency amount to absolute necessity - that, without which the government itself cannot be perpetuated ? The war contin- ues. In considering the policy to be adopted for suppres- sing the insurrection, I have been anxious and careful that the inevitable conflict for this purpose shall not degenerate into a violent and remorseless revolutionary struggle. I have therefore, in every case, thought it proper to keep the integ- rity of the Union prominent as the primary object of the contest on our part, leaving all questions which are not of vital military importance to the more deliberate action of the legislature. 2 On the Insurrection and Popular Government It continues to develop that the insurrection is largely, if not exclusively a war upon the first principle of popular govern- ment - the rights of the people. Conclusive evidence of this is found in the most grave and maturely considered public documents, as well as in the general tone of the insurgents. In those documents we find the abridgement of the existing right of suffrage and the denial to the people of all right to participate in the selection of public officers, except the leg- islative boldly advocated, with labored arguments to prove that large control of the people in government, is the source 1 Message to Congress, 7/4/61, IV, 439. 2 Annual Message to Congress, 1 2/3/61, V, 48-49. 90 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN of all political evil. Monarchy itself is sometimes hinted at as a possible refuge from the power of the people . In my present position, I could scarcely be justified were I to omit raising a warning voice against this approach of re- turning despotism. It is not needed, nor fitting here, that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions ; but there is one point, with its connexions, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effort to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connexion with capital ; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it, induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next consider- ed whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers, or what we call slaves. And further it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer, is fixed in that condition for life. Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed ; nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless. Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and de- serves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation between labor and capital, producing mutual benefits. The ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 91 error is in assuming that the whole labor of community exists within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid labor themselves, and, with their capital, hire or buy another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class - neither work for others, nor have others working for them. In most of the southern States, a majority of the whole people of all colors are neither slaves nor mas- ters ; while in the northern a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their families - wives, sons, and daugh- ters - work for themselves, on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a con- siderable number of persons mingle their own labor with capital - that is, they labor with their own hands, and also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again : as has already been said, there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condition for life. Many independent men everywhere in these States, a few years back in their lives, were hired labor- ers. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just, and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way to all - gives hope to all, and consequent energy, and progress, and improvement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty - none less inclined to take, or touch, aught which they have not honestly earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power which they already possess, 92 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN 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. l Lincoln's Determination I am a patient man - always willing to forgive on the Chris- tian terms of repentance ; and also to give ample time for repentance. Still I must save this government if possible. What I cannot do, of course I mil not do ; but it may as well be understood once for all, that I shall not surrender this game leaving any available card unplayed. 2 On America's Democratic Responsibility I have received the new year's address which you have sent me with a sincere appreciation of the exalted and humane sentiments by which it was inspired. As those sentiments are manifestly the enduring support of the free institutions of England, so I am sure also that they constitute the only reliable basis for free institutions through- out the world. The resource, advantages, and powers of the American people are very great, and they have, consequently, succeed- ed to equally great responsibilities. It seems to have devolv- ed upon them to test whether a government established on the principles of human freedom, can be maintained against an effort to build upon the exclusive foundation of human bondage. They will rejoice with me in the new evidences which your proceedings furnish, that the magnanimity they are exhibit- ing is justly estimated by the true friends of freedom and humanity in foreign countries. 1 Annual Message to Congress, 1 2/3/61, V, 51-53. 2 To Reverdy Johnson, 7/26/62, V, 343. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 93 Accept my best wishes for your individual welfare, and for the welfare and happiness of the whole British people. ' "Government of the People, by the People, for the People" Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those w r ho 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 can not dedicate - we can not consecrate - we can not 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 v/hat they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freeedom - and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 2 1 To the Workingmen of London, 2/2/63, VI, 88-89. 2 Gettysburg Address, 11/19/63, VII, 23. 94 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Soldiers Fight for All Time to Come I suppose you are going home to see your families and friends. For the service you have done in this great struggle in which we are engaged I present you sincere thanks for myself and the country. I almost always feel inclined, when I 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 this great and free gov- ernment, which we have enjoyed all our lives. I beg you to remember this, not merely for my sake, but for yours. I hap- pen temporarily to occupy this big White House. I am a liv- ing witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father's child has. It is in order that each of you may have through this free government which we have en- joyed, an open field and a fair chance for your industry, enter- prise 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 ines- timable jewel. 1 "Nowhere in the World" Soldiers of the 148 th Ohio : - I am most happy to meet you on this occasion. I understand that it has been your honorable privilege to stand, for a brief period, in the defense of your country, and that now you are on your way to your homes. I congratulate you, and those who are waiting to bid you welcome home from the war ; and permit me, in the name of the people, to thank you for the part you have taken in this struggle for the life of the nation. You are soldiers of the Re- 1 Speech to One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment, 8/22/64, VII, 512. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 95 public, everywhere honored and respected. Whenever I ap- pear before a body of soldiers, I feel tempted to talk to them of the nature of the struggle in which we are engaged. I look upon it as an attempt on the one hand to overwhelm and destroy the national existence, while, on our part, we are striv- ing to maintain the government and institutions of our fa- thers, to enjoy them ourselves, and transmit them to our children and our children's children forever. To do this the constitutional administration of our govern- ment must be sustained, and I beg of you not to allow your minds os your hearts to be diverted from the support of all necessary measures for that purpose, by any miserable pica- yune arguments addressed to your pockets, or inflammatory appeals made to your passions or 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 rendered by all. But this government must be preserved in spite of the acts of any man or set of men. It is worthy your every effort. Nowhere in the world is presented a government of so much liberty and equality. To the humblest and poorest amongst us are held out the highest privileges and positions. The present moment finds me at the White House, yet there is as good a chance for your children as there was for my father's. Again I admonish you not to be turned from your stern purpose of defending your beloved country and its free insti- tutions by any arguments urged by ambitious and designing men, but stand fast to the Union and the old flag. Soldiers, I bid you God-speed to your homes. l 1 Speech to One Hundred Forty-eighth Ohio Regiment, 8/31/64, VII, 528-529. 96 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN We are not enemies Fellow citizens of the United States : In compliance with a custom as old as the government it- self, I appear before you to address you briefly, and to take, in your presence, the oath prescribed by the Constitution of the United States, to be taken by the President "before he enters on the execution of his office." I do not consider it necessary, at present, for me to discuss those matters of administration about which there is no spe- cial anxiety, or excitement. Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States, that by the accession of a Republican Admi- nistration, their property, and their peace, and personal secu- rity, are to be endangered. There has never been any reason- able cause for such apprehension. Indeed, the most ample evidence to the contrary has all the while existed, and been open to their inspection. It is found in nearly all the published speeches of him who now addresses you. I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slav- ery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so." Those who nominated and elected me did so with full knowledge that I had made this, and many similar declarations, and had never recanted them. And more than this, they placed in the platform, for my acceptance, and as a law to themselves, and to me, the clear and emphatic resolution which I now read : " Resolved, That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of the States, and especially the right of each State to order and control its own domestic institutions according to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to that balance of power on which the perfection and endurance of our political fabric depend; and we denounce the lawless invasion by armed ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 97 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 suceptible, that the property, peace and security of no section are to be in anywise endangered by the now incoming Administration. I add too, that all the protec- tion which, consistently with the Constitution and the laws, can be given, will be cheerfully given to all the States when lawfully demanded, for whatever cause - as cheerfully to one section, as to another. There is much controversy about the delivering up of fu- gitives from service or labor. The clause I now read is as plainly written in the Constitution as any other of its provi- sions : "No person held to service or labor in one State, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." It is scarcely questioned that this provision was intended by those who made it, for the reclaiming of what we call fu- gitive slaves ; and the intention of the law-giver is the law. All members of Congress swear their support to the whole Constitution - to this provision as much as to any other. To the proposition, then, that slaves whose cases come within the terms of this clause, "shall be delivered up," their oaths are unanimous. Now, if they would make the effort in good temper, could they not, with nearly equal unanimity, frame and pass a law, by means of which to keep good that unani- mous oath ? There is some difference of opinion whether this clause should be enforced by national or by state authority; but 98 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN surely that difference is not a very material one. If the slave is to be surrendered, it can be of but little consequence to him, or to others, by which authority it is done. And should any one, in any case, be content that his oath shall go unkept, on a merely unsubstantial controversy as to how it shall be kept? Again, in any law upon this subject, ought not all the safe- guards of liberty known in civilized and human jurispru- dence 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 guarranties that "The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States?" I take the official oath today, with no mental reservations, and with no purpose to construe the Constitution or laws, by any hypercritical rules. And while I do not choose now to specify particular acts of Congress as proper to be enforced, I do suggest, that it will be much safer for all, both in official and private stations, to conform to, and abide by, all those acts which stand unrepealed, than to violate any of them, trusting to find impunity in having them held to be uncon- stitutional. It is seventy-two years since the first inauguration of a President under our national Constitution. During that pe- riod fifteen different and greatly distinguished citizens, have, in succession, administered the executive branch of the gov- ernment. They have conducted it through many perils ; and, generally, with great success. Yet, with all this scope for pre- cedent, I now enter upon the same task for the brief consti- tutional term of four years, under great and peculiar diffi- culty. A disruption of the Federal Union heretofore only menaced, is now formidably attempted. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 99 I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpe- tuity 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 execute all the express provi- sions of our national Constitution, and the Union will en- dure forever - it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself. Again, if the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade, by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it - break it, so to speak ; but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles, we find the pro- position that, in legal contemplation, the Union is perpetual, confirmed by the history of the Union itself. The Union is much older than the Constitution. It was formed in fact, by the Articles of Association in 1774. It was matured and con- tinued by the Declaration of Independence in 1776. It was further matured and the faith of all the then thirteen States expressly plighted and engaged that it should be perpetual, by the Articles of Confederation in 1778. And finally, in 1787, one of the declared objects for ordaining and establishing the Constitution, was "toforrn a more perfect unionT But if 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 Consitution, 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 resol- ves and ordinances to that effect are legally void ; and that 100 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN acts of violence, within any State or States, against the author- ity of the United States, are insurrectionary or revolutionary, according to circumstances. I therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution and the laws, the Union is unbroken ; and, to the extent of my abil- ity, I shall take care, as the Constitution itself expressly en- joins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully exe- cuted in all the States. Doing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part ; and I shall perform it, so far as practicable, unless my rightful masters, the American people, shall with- hold the requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner, direct the contrary. I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it will constitutionally defend, and maintain itself. In doing this there needs to be no bloodshed or violence ; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority. The power confided to me, will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property, and places belonging to the government, and to collect the duties and imposts ; but beyond what may be necessary for these objects, there will be no invasion - no using of force against, or among the people anywhere. Where hostility to the United States, in any interior locality, shall be so great and so universal, as to prevent competent resident citizens from holding the Federal offices, there will be no attempt to force obnoxious strangers among the people for that object. While the strict legal right may exist in the government to enforce the exercise of these offices, the attempt to do so would be so irritating, and so nearly impracticable with all, 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 every- where shall have that sense of perfect security which is most ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 101 favorable to calm thought and reflection. The course here in- dicated will be followed, unless current events, and expe- rience, shall show a modification, or change, to be proper; and in every case and exigency, my best discretion will be exercised, according to circumstances actually existing, and with a view and a hope of a peaceful solution of the national troubles, and the restoration of fraternal sympathies and affections. That there are persons in one section, or another who seek to destroy the Union at all events, and are glad of any pre- text to do it, I will neither affirm or deny ; but if there be such, I need address no word to them. To those, however, who really love the Union, may I not speak? Before entering upon so grave a matter as the destruction of our national fabric, with all its benefits, its memories, and its hopes, would it not be wise to ascertain precisely why we do it? Will you hazard so desperate a step, while there is any possibility that any portion of the ills you fly from, have no real existence ? Will you, while the certain ills you fly to, are greater than all the real ones you fly from? Will you risk the commission of so fearful a mistake ? All profess to be content in the Union, if all constitutional rights can be maintained. Is it true, then, that any right, plainly written in the Constitution, has been denied ? I think not. Happily the human mind is so constituted, that no party can reach to the audacity of doing this. Think, if you can, of a single instance in which a plainly written provision of the Constitution has ever been denied. If, by the mere force of numbers, a majority should deprive a minority of any clearly written constitutional right, it might, in a moral point of view, justify revolution - certainly would, if such right were a vital one. But such is not our case. All the vital rights of minorities, and of individuals, are so plainly assured to them, 102 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN by affirmations and negations, guarranties and prohibitions, in the Constitution, that controversies never arise concerning them. But no organic law can ever be framed with a provi- sion specifically applicable to every question which may occur in practical administration. No foresight can anticipate, nor any document of reasonable length contain express provi- sions for all possible questions. Shall fugitives from labor be surrendered by national or by State authority ? The Consti- tution does not expressly say. May Congress prohibit slavery in the territories? The constitution does not expressly say. Must Congress protect slavery in the territories? The Con- stitution does not expressly say. From questions of this class spring all our constitutional controversies, and we divide upon them into majorities and minorities. If the minority will not acquiesce, the majority must, or the government must cease. There is no other alter- native; 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 control- led by such minority. For instance, why may not any portion of a new confederacy, a year or two hence, arbitrarily secede again, precisely as portions of the present Union now claim to secede from it. All who cherish disunion sentiments, are now being educated to the exact temper of doing this. Is there such perfect identity of interests among the States to compose a new Union, as to produce harmony only, and prevent renewed secession ? Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of an- archy. A majority, held in restraint by constitutional checks, and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS IO3 sovereign of a free people. Whoever rejects it, does, of ne- cessity, fly to anarchy or to despotism. Unanimity is impos- sible ; the rule of a minority, as a permanent arrangement, is wholly inadmissable ; so that, rejecting the majority principle, anarchy, or despotism in some form, is all that is left. I do no forget the position assumed by some, that consti- tutional 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 consider- ation, in all parallel cases, by all other departments of the government. And while it is obviously possible that such de- cision may be erroneous in any given case, still the evil effect following it, being limited to that particular case, with the chance that it may be over-ruled, and never become a prece- dent for other cases, can better be borne than could the evils of a different practice. At the same time the candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government, upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made, in ordinary litigation between parties, in personal actions, the people will have ceased, to be their own rulers, having, to that extent, practically resigned their government, into the hands of that eminent tribunal. Nor is there, in this view, any assault upon the court, or the judges. It is a duty, from which they may not shrink, to decide cases properly brought before them ; and it is no fault of theirs, if others seek to turn their decisions to political purposes. One section of our country believes slavery is right y and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is wrong, and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute. The fugitive slave clause of the Constitution, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade, are 104 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN each as well enforced, perhaps, as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports the law itself. The great body of the people abide by the dry legal obligation in both cases, and a few break over in each. This, I think, cannot be perfectly cured ; and it would be worse in both cases after the separation of the sec- tions, than before. The foreign slave trade, now imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately revived without restriction, in one section ; while fugitive slaves, now only partially sur- rendered, would not be surrendered at all, by the other. Physically speaking, we cannot separate. We cannot re- move our respective sections from each other, nor build an impassable wall between them. A husband and wife may be divorced, and go out of the presence, and beyond the reach of each other ; but the different parts of our country cannot do this. They cannot but remain face to face ; and intercourse, either amicable or hostile, must continue between them. Is it possible then to make that intercourse more advantageous, or more satisfactory, after separation than before ? Can aliens make treaties easier than friends can make laws? Can treaties be more faithfully enforced between aliens, than laws can among friends ? Suppose you go to war, you cannot fight al- ways ; 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 exi- sting government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember, or overthrow it. I can not be ignorant of the fact that many worthy, and patriotic citizens are desirous of having the na- tional constitution amended. While I make no recommenda- tion of amendments, I fully recognize the rightful authority ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS 105 of the people over the whole subject, to be exercised in either of the modes prescribed in the instrument itself; and I should, under existing circumstances, favor, rather than oppose, a fair opportunity being afforded the people to act upon it. I will venture to add that, to me, the convention mode seems preferable, in that it allows amendments to orginate with the people themselves, instead of only permitting them to take, or reject, propositions, originated by others, not especially chosen for the purpose, and which might not be precisely such, as they would wish to either accept or refuse. I understand a proposed amendment to the Constitution - which amendment, however, I have not seen, has passed Congress, to the effect that the federal government, shall never interfere with the domestic institutions of the States, including that of persons held to service. To avoid miscon- struction of what I have said, I depart from my purpose not to speak of particular amendments, so far as to say that, hol- ding such a provision to now be implied constitutional law, I have no objection to its being made express, and irrevo- cable. 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, un- impaired by him, to his successor. Why should there not be a patient confidence in the ulti- mate justice of the people ? Is there any better, or equal hope, in the world ? In our present differences, is either party with- out faith of being in the right? If the Almight Ruler of na- tions, with his eternal truth and justice, be on your side of io6 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN the North, or on yours of the South, that truth, and that ju- stice, will surely prevail, by the judgment of this great tri- bunal, 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 vigilence, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government, in the short space of four years. My countrymen, one and all, think calmly and well, upon this whole subject. Nothing valuable can be lost by taking time. If there be an object to hurry any of you, in hot haste, to a step which you would never take deliberately 9 that ob- ject will be frustrated by taking time ; but no good object can be frustrated by it. Such of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it ; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either. If it were admitted that you who are dissatis- fied, hold the right side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty. In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict, without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn one to "preserve, protect and defend" it. ON AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS IO7 I am loth to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, streching 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. 2 2 First Inaugural Address, 3/4/61, IV, 262-271. VI ON LIBERTY On Temperance as Liberty It is not much in the nature of man to be driven to any thing ; still less to be driven about that which is exclusively his own business ; and least of all, where such driving is to be submitted to, at the expense of pecuniary interest, or burning appetite.... If the relative grandeur of revolutions shall be estimated by the great amount of human misery they alleviate, and the small amount they inflict, then, indeed, will this [temperance revolution] be the grandest the world shall ever have seen. Of our political revolution of '76, we all are justly proud. It has given us a degreee of political freedom, far exceeding that of any other of the nations of the earth. In it the world has found a solution of that long mooted problem, as to the capability of man to govern himself. In it was the germ which has vege- tated, and still is to grow and expand into the universal liber- ty of mankind. But with all these glorious results, past, present, and to come, it had its evils too. It breathed forth famine, swam in blood and rode on fire ; and long, long after, the orphan's cry, and the widow's wail, continued to break the sad silence that ensued. These were the price, the inevitable price, paid for the blessings it bought. Turn now, to the temperance revolution. In it, we shall find a stronger bondage broken ; a viler slavery, manumit- ted; a greater tyrant deposed. 1 On Popular Sovreignty and Liberty Thus, with the author of the declaration of Independence, 1 Temperance Address, 2/22/42, I, 272-279. 112 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN the policy of prohibiting slavery in new territory orginated. Thus, away back of the constitution, in the pure fresh, free breath of the revolution, the State of Virginia, and the Na- tional congress put that policy in practice. Thus through sixthy odd of the best years of the republic did that policy steadily work to its great and beneficent end.... But now new light breaks upon us. Now congress declares this ought never to have been ; and the like of it, must never be again. The sacred right of self government is grossly violated by it ! We even find some men, who drew their first breath and every other breath of their lives, under this very restriction, now live in dread of absolute suffocation, if they should be restric- ted in the "sacred right" of taking slaves to Nebraska. That perfect liberty they sigh for - the liberty of making slaves of other people - Jefferson never thought of; their own father never thought of; they never thought of themselves, a year ago. How fortunate for them, they did not sooner become sensible of their great misery ! Oh, how difficult it is to treat with respect, such assaults upon all we have ever really held sacred . 1 I insist, that if there is any thing which it is the duty of the whole people to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity of their own liberties and institutions. And if they shall think, as I do, that the extension of slavery endangers them, more than any, or all other causes, how recreant to themselves, if they submit the question, and with it, the fate of their country, to a mere hand-full of men, bent only on tem- porary self-interest. If this question of slavery extension were an insignificant one - one having no power to do harm - it might be shuffled aside in this way. But being, as it is, the 1 Speech at Peoria, 111., 10/16/54, II, 249-250. ON LIBERTY 113 great Behemoth of danger, shall the strong gripe of the na- tion be loosened upon him, to entrust him to the hands of such feeble keepers ? l On the Bulwark of American Liberty My friends, I have endeavored to show you the logical con- sequences of the Dred Scott decision, which holds that the people of a Territory cannot prevent the establishment of Slavery in their midst. I have stated what cannot be gainsayed - that the grounds upon which this decision is made are equally applicable to the Free States as to the Free Territor- ies, and that the peculiar reasons put forth by Judge Doug- las for endorsing this decision, commit him in advance to the next decision, and to all other decisions emanating from the same source. Now, when by all these means you have succeeded in dehumanizing the negro ; when you have put him down, and made it forever impossible for him to be but as the beasts of the field ; when you have extinguished his soul, and placed him where the ray of hope is blown out in darkness like that which broods over the spirits of the dam- ned ; are you quite sure the demon which you have roused will not turn and rend you? What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of them may be turned against our liber- ties, without making us stronger or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the 1 Speech at Peoria, 111., 10/16/54, II, 270. 1 14 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN seeds of despotism around your own doors. Familiarize your- selves with the chains of bondage, and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises. And let me tell you, all these things are prepared for you with the logic of history, if the elections shall promise that the next Dred Scott decision and all future decisions will be quietly acquiesced in by the people. - [Loud applause.] l On Liberty and Racial Equality Now a few words in regard to these extracts from speeches of mine, which Judge Douglas has read to you, and which he supposes are in very great contrast to each other. Those speech- es have been before the public for a considerable time, and if they have any inconsistency in them, if there is any conflict in them the public have been able to detect it. When the Judge says, in speaking on this subject, that I make speeches of one sort for the people of the Northern end of the State, and of a different sort for the Southern people, he assumes that I do not understand that my speeches will be put in print and read North and South. I knew all the while that the speech that I made at Chicago and the one I made at Jonesboro and the one at Charleston, would all be put in print and all the reading and intelligent men in the community would see them and know all about my opinions. And I have not supposed, and do not now suppose, that there is any conflict whatever between them. ["They are all good speeches!" "Hurrah for Lincoln !"] But the Judge will have it that if we do not confess that there is a sort of inequality between the white and black races, which justifies us in making them slav- 1 Speech at Edwards ville, 111., 9/1 1/58, III 95-96. ON LIBERTY 115 es, we must, then, insist that there is a degree of equality that requires us to make them our wives. [Loud applause, and cries, "Give it to him" ; "Hit him again."] Now, I have all the while taken a broad distinction in regard to that mat- ter ; and that is all there is in these different speeches which he arrays here, and the entire reading of either of the speeches will show that that distinction was made. Perhaps by taking two parts of the speech, he could have got up as much of a conflict as the one he has found. I have ail the while maintain- ed, that in so far as it should be insisted that there was an equality between the white and black races that should pro- duce a perfect social and political equality, it w r as an impos- sibility. This you have seen in my printed speeches, and with it I have said, that in their right to "life, liberty and the pur- suit of happiness," as proclaimed in that old Declaration, the inferior races are our equals. [Long-continued cheering.] And these declarations I have constantly made in reference to the abstract moral question, to contemplate and consider when we are legislating about any new country which is not already cursed with the actual presence of the evil - slavery. I have never manifested any impatience with the necessities that spring from the actual presence of black people amongst us, and the actual existence of slavery amongst us where it does already exist ; but I have insisted that, in legislating for new countries, where it does not exist, there is no just rule other than that of moral and abstract right ! With reference to those new countries, those maxims as to the right of a people to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness," were the just rules to be constantly referred to. There is no misun- derstanding this, except by men interested to misunderstand it. [Applause.] I take it that I have to address an intelligent and reading community, who will peruse what I say, weigh it, and then judge whether I advance improper or unsound n6 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN views, or whether I advance hypocritical, and deceptive, and contrary views in different portions of the country. I believe myself to be guilty of no such thing as the latter, though, of course, I cannot claim that I am entirely free from all error in the opinions I advance. I Ladies and Gentlemen - Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we can not fail to note that the world moves. Looking upon these many people, assembled here, to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the Union, it occurs at once that three years ago, the same soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. The change from then till now, is both great, and gratifying. Blessings on the brave men who have wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for it. But Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore. The change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. When the war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it would last till now. Each looked for the end, in some way, long ere to-day. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be much affected by the war. But here we are ; the war has not ended, and slav- ery has been much affected - how much needs not now to be recounted. So true is it that man proposes, and God dis- poses. But we can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it ; and seeing it, in this case, we feel more hopeful and confident for the future. The world has never had a good definition of the word lib- erty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty ; but in using the same word 1 Debate at Galesburg, 10/7/58, III, 221-222. ON LIBERTY 117 we do not all mean the same thing. With some the word lib- erty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with him- self, and the product of his labor ; while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two not only different, but incompatible things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompat- ible names - liberty and tyranny. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of lib- erty, 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 processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and be- wailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Recently, as it seems, the people of Maryland have been doing something to define liberty ; and thanks to them that, in what they have done, the wolf's dictionary has been repudiated. 1 Address at Sanitary Fair, Baltimore, 4/18/64, VII, 301-302. VII ON RELIGION To the Voters of the Seventh Congressional District fellow citizens : A charge having got into circulation in some of the neighborhoods of this District, in substance that I am an open scoffer at Christianity, I have by the advice of some friends concluded to notice the subject in this form. That I am not a member of any Christian Church, is true ; but I have never denied the truth of the Scriptures ; and I have never spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular. It is true that in early life I was inclined to believe in what I understand is called the "Doctrine of Necessity" - that is, that the human mind is impelled to action, or held in rest by some power, over which the mind itself has no control ; and I have some- times (with one, two or three, but never publicly) tried to maintain this opinion in argument. The habit of arguing thus, however, I have entirely left off for more than five years. And I add here, I have always understood this same opinion to be held by several of the Christian denominations. The fore- going, is the whole truth, briefly stated, in relation to myself, upon this subject. I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion. Leaving the higher matter of eternal consequen- ces, between him and his Maker, I still do not think any man has the right thus to insult the feelings, and injure the morals, of the community in which he may live. If, then, I was guilty of such conduct, I should blame no man who should condemn me for it; but I do blame those, whoever they 122 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN may be, who falsely put such a charge in circulation against me. 1 On Government and Churches I have written before, and now repeat, the United States Government must not undertake to run the churches. When an individual in a church or out of it becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked, but the churches as such must take care of themselves. It will not do for the Unit- ed States to appoint trustees, supervisors, or other agents for the churches. I add if the military have military need of the church building, let them keep it ; otherwise let them get out of it, and leave it and its owners alone except for causes that justifiy the arrest of any one. 2 On the Bible This occasion would seem fitting for a lenghty response to the address which you have just made. I would make one, if pre- pared ; 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 sentiment with me that all mankind should be free. So far as able, within my sphere, I have always acted as I believed 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 the Saviour gave to the world was communi- cated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, 1 Handbill Replying to Charges of Infidelity, 7/31/46, 1, 382. 2 Memorandum about Churches, 3/4/64, VII, 223. ON RELIGION 123 here and hereafter, 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. I 1 Reply to Loyal Colored People of Baltimore upon Presentation of a Bible, 9/7/64, VII, 542. VIII ON LABOR Free and Slave Labor He said it was agreed, on every hand, that labor was the great source from whence all our comforts and necessaries were derived. There is a difference of opinion among political eco- nomists, about the elements of labor in society. Some men say that there is a necessary connection between labor and ca- pital, and this connection draws within it the whole of the labor of the community. They assume that nobody works unless capital excites them to work. They say there are but two ways : the one is to hire men, and to allow them to labor by their own consent ; the other is to buy the men and drive them to it, and that is slavery. Assuming that, they proceed to discuss the question of whether the laborers themselves are better off in the condition of slaves or of hired laborers. They generally decide that they are better off as slaves. They have no responsibility on them then, and when they get old, they are taken care of. In the State of Indiana, of all that is produced, seven-eighths of it is produced by the hands of men who work upon their own ground ; and no more than one- eighth is produced by hired men. The condition of the hired man was not worse than that of the slave. The speaker himself had been a hired man twenty-eight years ago. He didn't think he was worse off than a slave. He might not be doing as much good as he could, but he was now working for himself. He thought the whole thing was a mis- take. There was a certain relation between capital and labor, and it was proper that it existed. Men who were industrious and sober, and honest in the pursuit of their own interests, 128 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN should after a while accumulate capital, and after that should be allowed to enjoy it in peace, and if they chose, when they had accumulated capital, to use it to save themselves from actual labor and hire other people to labor for them, it was right. They did not wrong the man they employed, for they found men who have not their own land to work upon or shops to work in, and who were benefitted by working for them as hired laborers, receiving their capital for it. If a hired laborer worked as a true man, he saved means to buy land of his own, a shop of his own, and to increase his property. For a new beginner, this was the true, genuine principle of free labor. A few men that own capital, hire others, and thus establish the relation of capital and labor rightfully. The hired laborer, with his ability to become an employer, must have every precedence over him who labors under the inducement of force. 1 On Capital and Labor A few men own capital ; and that few avoid labor themselves, and with their capital, hire, or buy, another few to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class - neither work for others, nor have others working for them. Even in all our slave States, except South Carolina, a majority of the whole people of all colors, are neither slaves nor masters. In these Free States, a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men, with their families - wives, sons and daughters - work for themselves, on their farms, in their houses and in their shops, taking the whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on the one hand, nor of hirelings or slaves on the other. It is not forgotten that a considerable number of per- sons mingle their own labor with capital ; that is, labor with their own hands, and also buy slaves or hire freemen to labor Speech at Indianapolis, 9/19/59, III, 468-469. ON LABOR 129 for them ; but this is only a mixed, and not a distinct class. No principle stated is disturbed by the existence of this mixed class. Again, as has already been said, the opponents of the "mud-sill" theory insist that there is not, of necessity, any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that condi- tion for life. There is demonstration for saying this. Many in- dependent men, in this assembly, doubtless a few years ago were hired laborers. And their case is almost if not quite the general rule. The prudent, penniless beginner in the world, labors for wages awhile, saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land, for himself; then labors on his own account another while, and at length hires another new beginner to help him. This, say its advocates, is free labor - the just and generous, and prosperous system, which opens the way for all - gives hope to all, and energy, and progress, and improvement of condi- tion to all. If any continue through life in the condition of the hired laborer, it is not the fault of the system, but because of either a dependent nature which prefers it, or improvidence, folly, or singular misfortune. * On Unity of Working People None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion as the w r orking people. Let them beware of prejudice, work- ing division and hostility among themselves. The most not- able 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 human sym- pathy, 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 1 Address before the Wisconsin State Agricultural Society, Milwaukee, 9/30/59, III, 478-479- 130 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN of property. Property is the fruit of labor - property is de- sirable - is a positive good in the world. That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and enterprize. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another ; but let him la- bor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built. l 1 Reply to New York Workingmen's Democratic Republican Associa- tion, 3/21/64, VII, 259-260. IX ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR On the Absurdity of Disunion I have told you what we mean to do. I want to know, now, when that thing takes place, what you mean to do. I often hear it intimated that you mean to divide the Union when- ever a Republican, or anything like it, is elected President of the United States. [A voice, "That is so."] "That is so," one of them says. I wonder if he is a Kentuckian? [A voice, "He is a Douglas man."] Well, then, I want to know what you are going to do with your half of it ? [Applause and laughter.] Are you going to split the Ohio down through, and push your half off a piece? Or are you going to keep it right along- side of us outrageous fellows? Or are you going to build up a wall some way between your country and ours, by which that moveable property of yours can't come over here any more, to the danger of losing it ? Do you think you can better your- selves on that subject, by leaving us here under no obligation whatever to return those specimens of your moveable prop- erty that come hither ? You have divided the Union because we would not do right with you as you think, upon that sub- ject ; when we cease to be under obligations to do anything for you, how much better off do you think you will be ? Will you make war upon us and kill us all? Why, gentlemen, I think you are as gallant and as brave men as live ; that you can fight as bravely in a good cause, man for man, as any other people living ; that you have shown yourselves capable of this upon various occassions ; but, man for man, you are not bet- ter than we are, and there are not so many of you as there are of us. [Loud cheering.] You will never make much of a hand at whipping us. If we were fewer in numbers than you, I 134 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN think that you could whip us ; if we were equal it would likely be a drawn battle ; but being inferior in numbers, you will make nothing by attempting to master us. l On Foreign Intervention A disloyal portion of the American people have, during the whole year, been engaged in an attempt to divide and destroy the Union. A nation which endures factious domestic divi- sion, is exposed to disrespect abroad ; and one party, if not both, is sure, sooner or later, to invoke foreign intervention. Nations, thus tempted to interfere, are not always able to resist the counsels of seeming expediency, and ungenerous ambition, although measures adopted under such influences seldom fail to be unfortunate and injurious to those adopting them. 2 On the War, After the Peninsula Failure My view of the present condition of the War is about as fol- lows: The evacuation of Corinth, and our delay by the flood in the Chicahominy, has enabled the enemy to concentrate too much force in Richmond for McClellan to successfully attack. In fact there soon will be no substantial rebel force any where else. But if we send all the force from here to McClellan, the enemy will, before we can know of it, send a force from Richmond and take Washington. Or, if a large part of the Western Army be brought here to McClellan, they will let us have Richmond, and retake Tennessee, Ken- tucky, Missouri &c. What should be done is to hold what we have in the West, open the Mississippi, and, take Chatanooga & East Tennessee, without more - a reasonable force should, in every event, be kept about Washington for it's protection. 1 Speech at Cincinnati, 9/17/59, III, 453-454. 2 Annual Message to Congress, 1 2/3/61, V, 36. ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR I35 Then let the country give us a hundred thousand new troops in the shortest possible time, which added to McClellan, di- rectly or indirectly, will take Richmond, without endange- ring any other place which we now hold - and will substan- tially end the war. I expect to maintain this contest until suc- cessful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me ; and I would publicly appeal to the country for this new force, were it not I fear a general panic and stampede would follow - so hard is it to have a thing understood as it really is. I think the new force should be all, or nearly all infantry, principally because such can be raised most cheaply and quickly. l On Neutralism Sir : The copy of a letter addressed to yourself by Mr. Thom- as J.Durant, has been shown to me. The writer appears to be an able, a dispassionate, and an entirely sincere man. The first part of the letter is devoted to an effort to show r that the Secession Ordinance of Louisiana was adopted against the will of a majority of the people. This is probably true ; and in that fact may be found some instruction. Why did they allow the Ordinance to go into effect? Why did they not assert themselves ? Why stand passive and allow themselves to be trodden down by a minority ? Why did they not hold popular meetings, and have a convention of their own, to express and enforce the true sentiment of the state ? If preorganization was against them then, why not do this now, that the United States Army is present to protect them? The paralysis - the dead palsy - of the government in this whole struggle is, that this class of men will do nothing for the government, nothing for themselves, except demanding that the government shall not strike its open enemies, lest they be struck by accident ! 1 To W.H. Seward, 6/28/62, V, 291-292. I36 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN Mr. Durant complains that in various ways the relation of master and slave is disturbed by the presence of our Army ; and he considers it particularly vexatious that this, in part, is done under cover of an act of Congress, while constitutional guaranties are suspended on the plea of military necessity. The truth is, that what is done, and omitted, about slaves, is done and omitted on the same military necessity. It is a mili- tary necessity to have men and money ; and we can get nei- ther, in sufficient numbers, or amounts, if we keep from, or drive from, our lines, slaves coming to them. Mr. Durant cannot be ignorant of the pressure in this direction ; nor of my efforts to hold it within bounds till he, and such as he shall have time to help themselves. I am not posted to speak understanding^ on all the police regulations of which Mr. Durant complains. If experience shows any one of them to be wrong, let them be set right. I think I can perceive, in the freedom of trade, which Mr. Durant urges, that he would relieve both friends and enemies from the pressure of the blockade. By this he would serve the enemy more effectively than the enemy is able to serve himself. I do not say or believe that to serve the enemy is the purpose of Mr. Durant ; or that he is conscious of any purpose, other than national and patriotic ones. Still, if there were a class of men who, having no choice of sides in the contest, were anxious only to have quiet and comfort for themselves while it rages, and to fall in with the victorious side at the end of it, without loss to themselves, their advice as to the mode of conducting the contest would be precisely such as his is. He speaks of no duty - apparently thinks of none - resting upon Union men. He even thinks it injurious to the Union cause that they should be restrained in trade and passage without taking sides. They are to touch neither a sail nor a pump, but to be merely passengers, - dead-heads at ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 1 37 that - to be carried snug and dry, throughout the storm, and safely landed right side up. Nay, more ; even a mutineer is to go untouched lest these sacred passengers receive an acci- dental wound. Of course the rebellion will never be suppressed in Loui- siana, if the professed Union men there will neither help to do it, nor permit the government to do it without their help. Now, I think the true remedy is very different from what is suggested by Mr. Durant. It does not lie in rounding the rough angles of the war, but in removing the necessity for the war. The people of Louisiana who wish protection to person and property, have but to reach forth their hands and take it. Let them, in good faith, reinaugurate the national authority, and set up a State Government conforming thereto under the constitution. They know to do it, and can have the pro- tection of the Army while doing it. The Army will be with- drawn so soon as such State government can dispense with its presence ; and the people of the State can then upon the old Constitutional terms, govern themselves to their own liking. This is very simple and easy. If they will not do this, if they prefer to hazard all for the sake of destroying the government, it is for them to consider whether it is probable I will surrender the government to save them from losing all. If they decline what I suggest, you scarcely need to ask what I will do. What would you do in my position ? Would you drop the war where it is ? Or, would you prosecute it in future, with elder-stalk squirts, charged with rose water? Would you deal lighter blows rather than heavier ones? Would you give up the contest, leaving any available means unapplied. I am in no boastful mood. I shall not do more than I can, and I shall do all I can to save the government, which is my sworn duty as well as my personal inclination. I shall do no- I3§ PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN thing in malice. What I deal with is too vast for malicious dealing. l Lincoln Discusses the War with a Swiss Scholar Dear Sir : Your very acceptable letter dated Orbe, Canton de Vaud, Switzerland 18 th of July 1862 is received. The moral eifect was the worst of the affair before Richmond ; and that has run its course downward ; we are now at a stand, and shall soon be rising again, as we hope. I believe it is true that in men and material, the enemy suffered more than we, in that series of conflicts ; while it is certain he is less able to bear it. With us every soldier is a man of character and must be treated with more consideration than is customary in Europe. Hence our great army for slighter causes than could have prevailed there has dwindled rapidly, bringing the necessity for a new call, earlier than was anticipated. We shall easily obtain the new levy, however. Be not alarmed if you shall learn that we shall have resorted to a draft for part of this. It seems strange, even to me, but it is true, that the Govern- ment is now pressed to this course by a popular demand. Thousands who wish not to personally enter the service are nevertheless anxious to pay and send substitutes, provided they can have assurance that unwilling persons similarly sit- uated will be compelled to do like wise. Besides this, volun- teers mostly choose to enter newly forming regiments, while drafted men can be sent to fill up the old ones, wherein, man for man, they are quite doubly as valuable. You ask "why is it that the North with her great armies, so often is found, with inferiority of numbers, face to face with the armies of the South?" While I painfully know the fact, a military man, which I am not, would better answer the question. The fact I know, has not been overlooked ; and 1 To Cuthbert Bullitt, 7/28/62, V, 344-346. ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR I39 I suppose the cause of its continuance lies mainly in the other facts that the enemy holds the interior, and we the exterior lines ; and that we operate where the people convey informa- tion to the enemy, while he operates where they convey none to us. I have received the volume and letter which you did me the honor of addressing to me, and for which please accept my sincere thanks. You are much admired in America for the ability of your writings, and much loved for your generosity to us, and your devotion to liberal principles generally. You are quite right, as to the importance to us, for its bearing upon Europe, that we should achieve military suc- cesses ; and the same is true for us at home as well as abroad. Yet it seems unreasonable that a series of successes, extending through half-a-year, and clearing more than a hundred thou- sand square miles of country, should help us so little, while a single half-defeat should hurt us so much. But let us be patient. I am very happy to know that my course has not conflicted with your judgment, of propriety and policy. I can only say that I have acted upon my best convictions without selfishness or malice, and that by the help of God, shall continue to do so. Please be assured of my highest respect and esteem. * On War Aims I have just read yours of the 19 th. addressed to myself through the New- York Tribune. If there be in it any state- ments, or assumption of fact, which I may know to be erro- neous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now and here, argue against them. If there be per- ceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial zone, I waive it in 1 To Agenor-Etienne de Gasparin, 8/4/62, V, 355-356. 140 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always suppos- ed to be right. As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored ; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it ; and if I could save it by freeing some and leav- ing others alone I would also do that. What I do about slav- ery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors ; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall ap- pear to be true views. I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty ; and I intend no modification of my oft-expres- sed personal wish that all men every where could be free. I We cannot Escape History I do not forget the gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the nation by the Chief Magis- 1 To Horace Greeley, 8/22/62, V, 388-389. ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR I4I trate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience than I, in the conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect to yourselves, in any undue earnestness I may seem to display.... The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country. Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Con- gress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. W 7 e - even we here - hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free - honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best, hope of earth. Other means may succeed ; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, gen- erous, just - a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and God must forever bless. 1 To Manchester Workingmen I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the address and resolutions which you sent to me on the eve of the new year. When I came, on the fourth day of March, 1861, through a free and constitutional election, to preside in the govern- 1 Annual Message to Congress, 12/ 1/62, V, 536-537. 142 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN ment of the United States, the country was found at the verge of civil war. Whatever might have been the cause, or whosoever the fault, one duty paramount to all others was be- fore me, namely, to maintain and preserve at once the Consti- tution and the integrity of the federal republic. A conscien- tious purpose to perform this duty is a key to all the measures of administration which have been, and to all which will hereafter be pursued. Under our form of government, and my official oath, I could not depart from this purpose if I would. It is not always in the power of governments to enlarge or restrict the scope of moral results which follow the policies that they may deem it necessary for the public safety, from time to time, to adopt. I have understood well that the duty of self-preservation rests solely with the American people. But I have at the same time been aware that favor or disfavor of foreign nations might have a material influence in enlarging and prolonging the struggle with disloyal men in which the country is enga- ged. A fair examination of history has seemed to authorize a belief that the past action and influences of the United States were generally regarded as having been beneficent towards mankind. I have therefore reckoned upon the forbearance of nations. Circumstances, to some of which you kindly allude, induced me especially to expect that if justice and good faith should be practiced by the United States, they would en- counter no hostile influence on the part of Great Britain. It is now a pleasant duty to acknowledge the demonstration you have given of your desire that a spirit of peace and amity to- wards this country may prevail in the councils of your Queen, who is respected and esteemed in your own country only more than she is by the kindred nation which has its home on this side of the Atlantic. I know and deeply deplore the sufferings which the work- ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR I43 ingmen at Manchester and in all Europe are called to endure in this crisis. It has been often and studiously represented that the attempt to overthrow this government, which was built upon the foundation of human rights, and to substitute for it one which should rest exclusively on the basis of human slavery, was likely to obtain the favor of Europe. Through the actions of our disloyal citizens the workingmen of Europe have been subjected to a severe trial, for the purpose of forc- ing their sanction to that attempt. Under these circumstan- ces, I cannot but regard your decisive utterance upon the question as an instance of sublime Christian heroism which has not been surpassed in any age or in any country. It is, in- deed, an energetic and reinspiring assurance of the inherent power of truth and of the ultimate and universal triumph of justice, humanity, and freedom. I do not doubt that the sen- timents you have expressed will be sustained by your great nation, and on the other hand, I have no hesitation in assur- ing you that they will excite admiration, esteem, and the most reciprocal feelings of friendship among the American people. I hail this interchange of sentiment, therefore, as an augury that, whatever else may happen, whatever misfortune may befall your country or my own, the peace and friendship which now exist between the two nations will be, as it shall be my desire to make them, perpetual. 1 The President Writes Home Your letter inviting me to attend a mass-meeting of uncon- ditional Union-men, to be held at the Capital of Illinois, on the 3d day of September, has been received. It would be very agreeable to me, to thus meet my old friends, at my own home ; but I can not, just now, be absent from here, so long as a visit there, would require. 1 To the Workingmen of Manchester, England, 1/19/63, VI, 63-65. 144 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN The meeting is to be of all those who maintain uncondi- tional devotion to the Union ; and I am sure my old political friends will thank me for tendering, as I do, the nation's gratitude to those other noble men, whom no partizan malice, or partizan hope, can make false to the nation's life. There are those who are dissatisfied with me. To such I would say : You desire peace ; and you blame me that we do not have it. But how can we attain it ? There are but three conceivable ways. First, to suppress the rebellion by force of arms. This, I am trying to do. Are you for it? If you are, so far we are agreed. If you are not for it, a second way is, to give up the Union. I am against this. Are your for it? If you are, you should say so plainly. If you are not for force, nor yet for dissolution, there only remains some imaginable com- promise. I do not believe any compromise embracing the maintenance of the Union, is now possible. All I learn, leads to a directly opposite belief. The strength of the rebellion, is its military - its army. That army dominates all the country, and all the people, within its range. Any offer of terms made by any man or men within that range, in opposition to that army, is simply nothing for the present ; because such man or men, have no power whatever to enforce their side of a com- promise, if one were made with them. To illustrate - suppose refugees from the South, and peace men of the North, get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compro- mise embracing a restoration of the Union ; in what way can that compromise be used to keep Lee's army out of Pennsyl- vania ? Meade's army can keep Lee's army out of Pennsyl- vania ; and, I think, can ultimately drive it out of existence. But no paper compromise, to which the controllers of Lee's army are not agreed, can, at all, affect that army. In an effort at such compromise we should waste time, which the enemy would improve to our disadvantage ; and that would be all. ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 145 A compromise, to be effective, must be made either with those who control the rebel army, or with the people first liberated from the domination of that army, by the success of our own army. Now allow me to assure you, that no word or intimation, from that rebel army, or from any of the men controlling it, in relation to any peace compromise, has ever come to my knowledge or belief. All charges and insinuations to the contrary, are deceptive and groundless. And I promise you, that if any such proposition shall hereafter come, it shall not be rejected, and kept a secret from you. I freely acknowl- edge myself the servant of the people, according to the bond of service - the United States constitution ; and that, as such, I am responsible to them. But, to be plain, you are dissatisfied with me about the negro. Quite likely there is a difference of opinion between you and myself upon that subject. I certainly wish that all men could be free, while I suppose you do not. Yet I have neither adopted, nor proposed any measure, which is not con- sistent with even your view, provided you are for the Union. I suggested compensated emancipation; to which you re- plied you wished not to be taxed to buy negroes. But I had not asked you to be taxed to buy negroes, except in such way, as to save you from greater taxation to save the Union exclu- sively by other means. You dislike the emancipation proclamation ; and, perhaps, would have it retracted. You say it is unconstitutional - I think differently. I think the constitution invests its command- er-in-chief, with the law of war, in time of war. The most that can be said, if so much, is, that slaves are property. Is there - has there ever been - any question that by the law of war, property, both of enemies and friends, may be taken when needed? And is it not needed whenever taking it, helps us, or hurts the enemy? Armies, the world over, destroy I46 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN enemies' property when they can not use it ; and even destroy their own to keep it from the enemy. Civilized belligerents do all in their power to help themselves, or hurt the enemy, except a few things regarded as barbarous or cruel. Among the exceptions are the massacre of vanquished foes, and non-combatants, male and female. But the proclamation, as law, either is valid, or is not valid. If it is not valid, it needs no retraction. If it is valid, it can not be retracted, any more than the dead can be brought to life. Some of you profess to think its retraction would operate favorably for the Union. Why better after the retraction, than before the issue ? There was more than a year and a half of trial to suppress the rebellion before the proclamation issued, the last one hundred days of which passed under an explicit notice that it was coming, unless averted by those in revolt, returning to their allegiance. The war has certainly progres- sed as favorably for us, since the issue of the proclamation as before. I know as fully as one can know the opinions of others, that some of the commanders of our armies in the field who have given us our most important successes, believe the emancipation policy, and the use of colored troops, consti- tute the heaviest blow yet dealt to the rebellion ; and that, at least one of those important successes, could not have been achieved when it was, but for the aid of black soldiers. Among the commanders holding these views are some who have never had any affinity with what is called abolitionism, or with republican party politics ; but who hold them purely as mili- tary opinions. I submit these opinions as being entitled to some weight against the objections, often urged, that emanci- pation, and arming the blacks, are unwise as military meas- ures, and were not adopted, as such, in good faith. You say you will not fight to free negroes. Some of them seem willing to fight for you ; but, no matter. Fight you, then, ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 1 47 exclusively to save the Union. I issued the proclamation on purpose to aid in saving the Union. Whenever you shall have conquered all resistance to the Union, if I shall urge you to continue fighting, it will be an apt time, then, for you to de- clare you will not fight to free negroes. I thought that in your struggle for the Union, to whatever extent the negroes should cease helping the enemy, to that extent it weakened the enemy in his resistence to you. Do you think differently? I thought that whatever negroes can be got to do as soldiers, leaves just so much less for white sol- diers to do, in saving the Union. Does is appear otherwise to you? But negroes, like other people, act upon motives. Why should they do anything for us, if we will do nothing for them? If they stake their lives for us, they must be prompted by the strongest motive - even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must be kept. The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the sea. Thanks to the great North- West for it. Nor yet wholly to them. Three hundred miles up, they met New-England, Empire, Key-Stone, and Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The Sunny South too, in more colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot, their part of the history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great na- tional one ; and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it. And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud, even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more bravely, and well done, than at An- tietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and on many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle Sam's Web-feet be forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the narrow muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they have been, and made their tracks. Thanks I48 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN to all. For the great republic - for the principle it lives by, and keeps alive - for man's vast future, - thanks to all. Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon, and come to stay ; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that, among free men, there can be no successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet ; and that they who take such appeal are sure to lose their case, and pay the cost. And then, there will be some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue, and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have helped mankind on to its great consummation; while, I fear, there will be some white ones, unable to forget that, with malignant heart, and deceitful speech, they have strove to hinder it. Still let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy final triumph. Let us be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that a just God, in his own good time, will give us the rightful result. l On Emancipation and Absolutism Knowing your great anxiety that the emancipation proclama- tion shall now be applied to certain parts of Virginia and Louisiana which were exempted from it last January, I state briefly what appear to me to be difficulties in the way of such a step. The original proclamation has no constitutional or legal justification, except as a military measure. The exemp- tions were made because the military necessity did not apply to the exempted localities. Nor does that necessity apply to them now any more than it did then. If I take the step must I not do so, without the argument of military necessity, and so, without any argument, except the one that I think the measure politically expedient, and morally right? Would I 1 To James C. Conkling, 8/26/63, VI, 406-410. ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 1 49 not thus give up all footing upon constitution or law? Would I not thus be in the boundless field of absolutism? Could this pass unnoticed, or unresisted ? Could it fail to be perceived that without any further stretch, I might do the same in Del- aware, Maryland, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri ; and even change any law in any state ? Would not many of our own friends shrink away appalled ? Would it not lose us the elections, and with them, the very cause we seek to advance ? x On Anticipated Defeat This morning, as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this Administration will not be re-elected. Then it will be my duty to so co-operate with the President elect, as to save the Union between the election and the inauguration; as he will have secured his election on such ground that he can not possibly save it afterwards. 2 To Bind Up the Nation's Wounds 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 declara- tions have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself; and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encour- aging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 1 To Salmon P. Chase, 9/2/63, VI, 428-442 . 2 Memorandum Concerning His Probable Failure of Re-election, 8/23/64, VII, 5H- 150 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago, all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil-war. All dreaded it - all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted alto- gether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war-seeking to dissolve the Union, and divide effects, by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war ; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive ; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came. One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the Southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was, somehow, the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war ; while the government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargment of it. Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipa- ted that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even be- fore, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God ; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wring- ing 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. u Woe unto the world because of offences ! for it must needs be that offences come ; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh !" If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 151 which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him ? Fondly do we hope - fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of un- requited 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 firm- ness 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 a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations. l A Righteous and Speedy Peace We meet this evening, not in sorrow, but in gladness of heart. The evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond, and the surren- der of the principal insurgent army, give hope of a righteous and speedy peace whose joyous expression can not be re- strained. In the midst of this, however, He from Whom all blessings flow, must not be forgotten. A call for a national thanksgiving is being prepared, and will be duly promulgated. Nor must those whose harder part gives us the cause of re- joicing, be overlooked. Their honors must not be parcelled 1 Second Inaugural Address, 3/4/65, VIII, 332-333. 152 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN out with others. I myself, was near the front, and had the high pleasure of transmitting much of the good news to you ; but no part of the honor, for plan or execution, is mine. To Gen. 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 re-inauguration of the na- tional authority - reconstruction - which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more close- ly upon our attention. It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike the case of a 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 mould from, disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a small additional embarrass- ment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and means of reconstruction. As a general rule, I abstain from reading the reports of at- tacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I can not properly offer an answer. In spite of this precaution, however, it comes to my knowledge that I am much censured for some supposed agency in setting up, and seeking to sustain, the new State Government of Louisiana. In this I have done just so much as, and no more than, the public knows.... We all agree that the seceded States, so called, are out of their proper practical relation with the Union ; and that the sole object of the government, civil and military, in regard to those States is to again get them into that proper practical relation. I believe it is not only possible, but in fact, easier to do this, without deciding, or even considering, whether these states have even been out of the Union than with it. Finding themselves safely at home, it would be utterly immaterial ON UNION, DISUNION, AND THE WAR 1 53 whether they had ever been abroad. Let us all join in doing the acts necessary to restoring the proper practical relations between these states and the Union ; and each forever after, innocently indulge his own opinion whether, in doing the acts, he brought the States from without, into the Union, or only gave them proper assistance, they never having been out of it.... What has been said of Louisiana will apply generally to other States. And yet so great peculiarities pertain to each state ; and such important and sudden changes occur in the same state; and, withal, so new and unprecedented is the whole case, that no exclusive, and inflexible plan can safely be prescribed as to details and colatterals. Such exclusive, and inflexible plan, would surely become a new entanglement. Important principles may, and must, be inflexible. In the present "situation" as the phrase goes, it may be my duty to make some new announcement to the people of the South. I am considering, and shall not fail to act, when satis- fied that action will be proper. I 1 Last Public Address, 4/1 1/65, VIII, 399-405. X ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR On Red Tape and Military Protocol I suppose I ought to admit that I had much to do with the matter of which you complain. The committee came here some time last week, saying there were fourteen Regiments in N.Y. city, not within the 38 you were organizing; that something must be done with them, - that they could not safely keep them longer, nor safe- ly disband them, I could not see - can not yet - how it could wrong you, or the Regiments you were raising, for these 14 to move forward at once, provided yours, too, would be receiv- ed when ready. But aware of my own ignorance in military matters, I sent to Genl. Scott to get his opinion whether the thing could be safely done, both as to the question of confu- sion, and also whether the Govt, could advantageously keep and use the whole. His answer that the whole should come - of the 14k] 5 to come here, & 9 to Fortress Monroe. I thought the whole difficulty was solved, and directed an order to be made accordingly. I was even pleased with it ; because I had been trying for two weeks to begin the collecting of a force at Fortress Monroe, and it now appeared as if this would begin. Next day & after the committee had gone, I was brought to fear that a squabble was to arise between you and the committee, by which neither your Regiments nor theirs, would move in any reasonable time ; to avoid which, I wrote one of the committee - Mr. Russell - to send them at once. I am very loth to do any wrong; but I do not see yet wherein this was a wrong. I certainly did not know that any Regiments especially un- 158 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN der your control were to be sent forward by the committee ; but I do not perceive the substantial wrong, even in such a case. That it may be a technical wrong, I can readily under- stand - but we are in no condition to waste time on techni- calities. The enthusiastic uprising of the people in our cause, is our great reliance ; and we can not safely give it any check, even though it overflows, and runs in channels not laid down in any chart. 1 On Perplexities of Military Politics I have just received, and read, your letter of the 20 th. The purport of it is that we lost the late elections, and the admin- istration is failing, because the war is unsuccessful ; and that I must not flatter myself that I am not justly to blame for it. I certainly know that if the war fails, the administration fails, and that I will be blamed for it, whether I deserve it or not. And I ought to be blamed, if I could do better. You think I could do better ; therefore you blame me already. I think I could not do better ; therefore I blame you for blaming me. I understand you now to be willing to accept the help of men, who are not republicans, provided they have "heart in it." Agreed. I want no others. But who is to be the judge of hearts, or of "heart in it" ? If I must discard my own judg- ment, and take yours, I must also take that of others ; and by the time I should reject all I should be advised to reject, I should have none left, republicans, or others - not even your- self. For, be assured, my dear sir, there are men who have "heart in it" that think you are performing your part as poorly as you think I am performing mine. I certainly have been dissatisfied with the slowness of Buell and McClellan ; but before I relieved them I had great fears I should not find 1 To Gov. Edwin D.Morgan of New York, 5/20/61, IV, 375. ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR 1 59 successors to them, who would do better ; and I am sorry to add, that I have seen little since to relieve those fears. I do not clearly see the prospect of any more rapid movements. I fear we shall at least find out that the difficulty is in our case, rath- er than in particular generals. I wish to disparage no one - certainly not those who sympathize with me ; but I must say I need success more than I need sympathy, and that I have not seen the so much greater evidence of getting success from my sympathizers, than from those who are denounced as the contrary. It does seem to me that in the field the two classes have been very much alike, in what they have done, and what they have failed to do. In sealing their faith with their blood, Baker, an[d] Lyon, and Bohlen, and Richardson, republi- cans, did all that men could do ; but did they any more than Kearny, and Stevens, and Reno, and Mansfield, none of whom were republicans, and some at least of whom, have been bitterly, and repeatedly, denounced to me as secession sympathizers? I will not perform the ungrateful task of com- paring cases of failure. In answer to your question "Has it not been publicly stat- ed in the newspapers, and apparently proved as a fact, that from the commencement of the war, the enemy was contin- ually supplied with information by some of the confidential subordinates of as important an officer as Adjutant General Thomas?" I must say "no" so far as my knowledge extends. And I add that if you can give any tangible evidence upon that subject, I will thank you to come to the City and do so. l The President Advises Gen. Hooker I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course I have done this upon what appear to me to be sufficient reasons. And yet I think it best for you to know 1 To Carl Schurz, 11/24/62, V, 509-510. i6o PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN that there are some things in regard to which, I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe you to be a brave and a skilful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right. You are ambitious, which within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm. But I think that during Gen. Burn- side's command of the Army, you have taken counsel of your ambition, and thwarted him as much as you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country, and to a most merito- rious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship. The government will support you to the utmost of its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticising their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good of an army, while such a spirit prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories. ' On Limitation of Civil Liberties Gentlemen. Your letter of May 19th, inclosing the resolu- tions of a public meeting held at Albany, N. Y. on the 19 th. of the same month, was received several days ago. 1 To Joseph Hooker, 1/26/63, VI, 78-79. ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR l6l The resolutions, as I understand them, are resolvable into two propositions - first, the expression of a purpose to sus- tain the cause of the Union, to secure peace through vic- tory, and to support the administration in every constitution- al, and lawful measure to suppress the rebellion; and sec- ondly, a declaration of censure upon the administration for supposed unconstitutional action, such as the making of mili- tary arrests. And, from the two propositions a third is deduced, which is, that the gentlemen composing the meeting are resolved on doing their part to maintain our common government and country, despite the folly or wickedness, as they may con- ceive, of any administration. This position is eminently pa- triotic, and as such, I thank the meeting, and congratulate the nation for it. My own purpose is the same ; so that the meeting and myself have a common object, and can have no difference, except in the choice of means or measures, for effecting that object. And here I ought to close this paper, and would close it, if there were no apprehension that more injurious conse- quences, than any merely personal to myself, might follow the censures systematically cast upon me for doing what, in my view of duty, I could not forbear. The resolutions prom- ise to support me in every constitutional and lawful meas- ure to suppress the rebellion ; and I have not knowingly em- ployed, nor shall knowingly employ, any other. But the meet- ing, by their resolutions, assert and argue, that certain mili- tary arrests and proceedings following them for which I am ultimately responsible, are unconstitutional. I think they are not... Prior to my installation here it had been inculcated that any State had a lawful right to secede from the national Union ; and that it would be expedient to exercise the right, when- 1 62 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN ever the devotees of the doctrine should fail to elect a Presi- dent to their own liking. I was elected contrary to their lik- ing ; and accordingly, so far as it was legally possible, they had taken seven states out of the Union, had seized many of the United States Forts, and had fired upon the United States' Flag, all before I was inaugurated ; and, of course, before I had done any official act whatever. The rebellion thus began soon, ran into the present civil war, and in certain respects, it began on very unequal terms between the parties. The insurgents had been preparing for it more than thirty years,while the government had taken no steps to resist them. The former had carefully considered all the means which could be turned to their account. It undoubtedly was a well pondered reliance with them that in their own unrestricted effort to destroy Union, constitution, and law, all together, the government would, in great degree, be restrained by the same constitution and law, from arresting their progress. Their sympathizers pervaded all departments of the govern- ment, and nearly all communities of the people. From this material, under cover of "Liberty of speech" "Liberty of the press" and "Habeas corpus" they hoped to keep on foot amongst us a most efficient corps of spies, informers, sup- plyers, and aiders and abettors of their cause in a thousand ways. They knew that in times such as they were inaugu- rating, by the constitution itself, the "Habeas corpus" might be suspended ; but they also knew they had friends who would make a question as to who was to suspend it ; meanwhile their spies and others might remain at large to help on their cause. Or if, as has happened, the executive should suspend the writ, without ruinous waste of time, instances of arresting innocent persons might occur, as are always likely to occur in such cases ; and then a clamor could be raised in regard to this, which might be, at least, of some service to the insur- ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR 163 gent cause. It needed no very keen perception to discover this part of the enemies' programme, as soon as by open hos- tilities their machinery was fairly put in motion. Yet, thor- oughly imbued with a reverence for the guaranteed rights of individuals, I was slow to adopt the strong measures, which by degrees I have been forced to regard as being with- in the exceptions of the constitution, and as indispensable to the public Safety. Nothing is better known to history than that courts of justice are utterly incompetent to such cases. Civil courts are organized chiefly for trials of individuals, or, at most, a few individuals acting in concert ; and this in quiet times, and on charges of crimes well defined in the law. Even in times of peace, bands of horse-thieves and robbers fre- quently grow too numerous and powerful for the ordinary courts of justice. But what comparison, in numbers, have such bands ever borne to the insurgent sympathizers even in many of the loyal states. Again, a jury too frequently have at least one member, more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor. And yet again, he who dissuades one man from volunteering, or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the Union cause as much as he who kills a union soldier in battle. Yet this dissuasion, or inducement, may be so conducted as to be no defined crime of which any civil court would take cognizance. Ours is a case of Rebellion - so called by the resolutions before me - in fact, a clear, flagrant, and gigantic case of Re- bellion.... I understand the meeting, whose resolutions I am consid- ering, to be in favor of suppressing the rebellion by mili- tary force - by armies. Long experience has shown that ar- mies can not be maintained unless desertion shall be pun- ished by the severe penalty of death. The case requires, and the law and the constitution, sanction this punishment. Must 164 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN I shoot a simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to desert? This is none the less injurious when effected by get- ting a father, or brother, or friend, into a public meeting, and there working upon his feelings, till he is persuaded to write the soldier boy, that he is fighting in a bad cause, for a wicked administration of a contemptible government, too weak to arrest and punish him if he shall desert. I think that in such a case, to silence the agitator, and save the boy, is not only constitutional, but, withal, a great mercy... In giving the resolutions that earnest consideration which you request of me, I can not overlook the fact the meeting speak as "Democrats." Nor can I, with full respect of their known intelligence, and the fairly presumed deliberation with which they prepared their resolutions, be permitted to suppose that this occurred by accident, or in any way other than that they preferred to designate themselves "Democrats" rather than "American citizens." In this time of national peril I would have preferred to meet you upon a level one step higher than any party platform ; because I am sure that from such more elevated position, we could do better battle for the country we all love, than we possibly can from those lower ones, where from the force of habit, the prejudices of the past, and selfish hopes of the future, we are sure to ex- pend much of our ingenuity and strength, in finding fault with, and aiming blows at each other. But since you have de- nied me this, I will yet be thankful, for the country's sake, hat not all Democrats have done so.... As the war progresses, it appears to me, opinion, and action, which were in great confusion at first, take shape, and fall into more regular channels; so that the necessity for arbi- trary dealing with them gradually decreases. I have every reason to desire that it would cease altogether ; and far from ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR 1 65 the least is my regard for the opinions and wishes of those who, like the meeting at Albany, declare their purpose to sus- tain the government in every constitutional and lawful meas- ure to suppress the rebellion. Still, I must continue to do so much as may seem to be required by the public safety. l On the Government^ s Iron Hand In using the strong hand, as now compelled to do, the gov- ernment has a difficult duty to perform. At the very best, it will by turns do both too little and too much. It can properly have no motive of revenge, no purpose to punish merely for punishment's sake. While we must, by all available means, prevent the overthrow of the government, we should avoid planting and cultivating too many thorns in the bosom of society. 2 On his Use of Power I am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think and feel. And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right to act officially upon this judgment and feeling. It was in the oath I took that I would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and de- fend the Constitution of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power. I understood, too, that in ordinary civil administration this oath even forbade me to practically in- dulge my primary abstract judgment on the moral question of slavery. I had publicly declared this many times, and in many ways. And I aver that, to this day, I have done no of- ficial act in mere deference to my abstract judgment and feel- 1 To Erastus Corning and Others, [6-i2]-63, VI, 260-269. 2 To Edwin M. Stanton, 3/18/64, VII, 255. i66 PHILOSOPHY OF LINCOLN ing on slavery. I did understand however, that my oath to preserve the constitution to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government - that nation - of which that consti- tution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation, and yet preserve the constitution? By general law life and limb must be protected ; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life ; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional, might be- come lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the constitution, through the preservation of the nation. Right or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I have even tried to preserve the constitution, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution all together. When, early in the war, Gen. Fremont attempted military emancipation, I for- bade it, because I did not yet think the indispensable neces- sity had come... When, in March, and May, and July 1862 I made earnest, and successive appeals to the border states to favor compensated emancipation, I believed the indispen- sable necessity for military emancipation, and arming the blacks would come, unless averted by that measure. They declined the proposition ; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it the Constitution, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hop- ed for greater gain than loss ; but of this, I was not entirely confident. More than a year of trial now shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force, - no loss by it any how or any where. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite a hun- dred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers. These ON CIVIL LIBERTIES, RED TAPE, AND THE WAR 1 67 are palpable facts, about which, as facts, there can be no cav- illing. We have the men ; and we could not have had them without the measure. And now let any Union man who complains of the meas- ure, test himself by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms ; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he can not face his case so stated, it is only because he can not face the truth.... I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years struggle the nation's condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. 1 1 To Albert G.Hodges, 4/4/64, VII, 281-282. io 3 2 3 /35i'59 Other titles of interest from F ale oris Wing: The Septuagint Bible - the oldest text of the Old Testament that has come down to us, all other commonly used texts of the Hebrew Bible depending on post-Christian manu- scripts going back no further than the ioth Century A. D. in their extant forms. The Sep- tuagint Bible, translated from pre-Christian MSS in pre-Christian times, and now into English by Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress and friend of Washing- ton, bears an authenticity no other text can claim. Its wording, and not that of the later, post-Christian Hebrew texts is followed by Jesus whenever He quotes the Old Testament. The Septuagint is also of deep interest to Jew- ish readers, as preserving a pre-Christian man- uscript tradition, the originals of which are either lost to us or as yet undiscovered. Thom- son's translation is here enlarged by Dr. C. A. Muses, to include all the text of the Book of Esther. The Falcon's Wing edition has received the praise of Biblical scholars such as the in- ternationally acclaimed reviewers of the Society for Old Testament Study and Professor Dr. Paul Kahle, now at Oxford. Six dollars and fifty cents. Eleven Years of Bible Bibliography The Book Lists of the Society for Old Testa- ment Study, under the distinguished editorship of Professor H. H. Rowley of the University of Manchester. A fascinating guide. Seven dollars and fifty cents. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Dr. William E. Baringer, currently on leave from the University of Florida where he serves as professor of history and social sciences, was appointed June 5, 1958 as executive director 'of the national Lincoln Sesquicentennial Commission, Washington, D. C. As a recognized historian and Lincoln scholar, Tulane University (New Orleans, Louisiana) had earlier appointed him to its faculty as assistant professor of history where he remained during the 1942-43 school term. He relinquished the univer- j sity post to accept the position as executive secretary of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Springfield, Illinois from 1943 to 1947. Professor Baringer is a member of Kappa Delta Pi, Phi Alpha Theta and Mu Pi Sigma fraternities. He is the author of three books on the life of Abraham Lincoln, which are : A House Dividing (1945), Lincoln's Rise to Power (1937), and Lincoln's Van- dalia (1949). A native of Jamestown, Indiana, Dr. Baringer attended the public schools of Indianapolis, Indiana and Urbana, Illinois and was graduated from the University of Illinois with the successive degrees of B. S., A.M. and Ph.D. Before moving to the higher education scene, Professor Baringer began his teaching career at Thornburn Junior High School, Urbana, Illinois while completing work for his doctorate degree at the University of Illinois. During this period, he wrote his first book. An associate summed up the author's distinctive characteristics when he said, "Dr. Baringer is a brilliant historian of incisive mentality, thoroughly addicted to historical honesty and common sense, giving vent to sound intuitive opinion with feirless conviction." FALCON'S WING P&ESS