See also Wikipedia, and
https://rogerjnorton.com/Lincoln63.html
I defy you to actually read this, and then try to assure
me, who have read his debates with Douglas, that it, or something very like it, was not written and delivered by
Lincoln.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S
LOST SPEECH
MAY 29, 1856
A SOUVENIR OF THE ELEVENTH
ANNUAL LINCOLN DINNER OF
THE REPUBLICAN CLUB OF THE
CITY OF NEW YORK, AT THE
WALDORF, FEBRUARY 12, 1897
NEW YORK
PRINTED FOR THE COMMITTEE
1897
A^
[
TUE NEW Y«K^
PUBLIC LlSii-Ul\^
8275B
Copyright, 1896, by Sarah A. Whitney
THE DE VINNE PRESS
THE REPUBLICAN CLUB
Of the City of New York
President.
ARTHUR L. MERRIAM.
First Vice-President. Second Vice-President.
ELLIS H. ROBERTS. W. M. K. OLCOTT.
Third Vice-President.
LOUIS STERN.
Recording Secretary. Corresponding Secretary.
JOHN A. BUTTON. JAMES L. WANDLING.
Treasurer.
J. EDGAR LEAYCRAFT.
^
LINCOLN DINNER COMMITTEE
(i^v For '897
K ELIHU ROOT, Chairman.
f^ MORTIMER C.ADDOMS. JOHN R. TRESIDDER.
^ Treasurer. Secretary.
,^ EDMUND WETMORE. J. CLARKE THOMAS.
WILLIAM C. ROBERTS. CORNELIUS N. BLISS.
Ex Officio.
rHE lost speech of Abraham Lincoln
was delivered at the first Republican
State Convention of Illinois, at Blootnington,
on the 2gth of May, 1 8 §6. The excite-
ment caused among the audience by the speech
was so great that the reporters forgot to take
their notes, and for many years it was gen-
erally supposed that no record of the speech
had been preserved. It appears, however,
that Mr. H. C. Whitney, then a young
lawyer of Illinois, did take notes of the
speech, which he preserved; and after a lapse
of forty years they were transcribed and
were published in ''McC lures Magazine''
for September, i8g6, together with a letter
from Mr. Joseph Me dill, of the " Chicago
Tribune," who was present at the Conven-
tion atid confirms the accuracy of Mr. Whit-
ney s report.
By the kijid consent of Mr. Whitney, and
through the courtesy of Mr. S. S. McClure,
the speech is now reproduced by the Repub-
lican Club of the City of New York as a
souvenir of Lincoln for its Annual Dinner
on the 1 2th of February, iSgj.
LINCOLN'S LOST SPEECH
R. Chairman and Gen-
tlemen : I was over at
— [Cries of " Platform ! "
''Take the platform !"]
I say, that while I was
at Danville Court, some of our friends of
anti-Nebraska got together in Springfield
and elected me as one delegate to repre-
sent old Sangamon with them in this
convention, and I am here certainly as a
sympathizer in this movement and by
virtue of that meeting and selection. But
we can hardly be called delegates strictly,
inasmuch as, properly speaking, we repre-
2 9
Lincoln's Lost Speech
sent nobody but ourselves. I think it
altogether fair to say that we have no
anti-Nebraska party in Sangamon, al-
though there is a good deal of anti-Ne-
braska feeling there ; but I say for myself,
and I think I may speak also for my col-
leagues, that we who are here fully ap-
prove of the platform and of all that has
been done [A voice : " Yes ! "] ; and even
if we are not regularly delegates, it will
be right for me to answer your call to
speak. I suppose we truly stand for the
public sentiment of Sangamon on the
great question of the repeal, although we
do not yet represent many numbers who
have taken a distinct position on the ques-
tion.
We are in a trying time — it ranges
above mere party — and this movement to
call a halt and turn our steps backward
needs all the help and good counsels it
can get; for unless popular opinion makes
itself very strongly felt, and a change is
made in our present course, blood will Jlow
lO
Lincoln s Lost Speech
on account of Nebraska^ and brother s hand
will be raised against brother ! [The last
sentence was uttered in such an earnest,
impressive, if not indeed tragic, manner
as to make a cold chill creep over me.
Others gave a similar experience.]
I have listened w^ith great interest to the
earnest appeal made to Illinois men by
the gentleman from Lawrence [James S.
Emery] who has just addressed us so elo-
quently and forcibly. I was deeply moved
by his statement of the wrongs done to
free-State men out there. I think it just
to say that all true men North should sym-
pathize with them, and ought to be will-
ing to do any possible and needful thing
to right their wrongs. But we must not
promise what we ought not, lest we be
called on to perform what we cannot; we
must be calm and moderate, and consider
the whole difficulty, and determine what
is possible and just. We must not be led
by excitement and passion to do that which
our sober judgments would not approve in
1 1
Lincoln s Lost Speech
our cooler moments. We have higher
aims; we will have more serious business
than to dally with temporary measures.
We are here to stand firmly for a prin-
ciple — to stand firmly for a right. We
know that great political and moral wrongs
are done, and outrages committed, and we
denounce those wrongs and outrages, al-
though we cannot, at present, do much
more. But we desire to reach out be-
yond those personal outrages and establish
a rule that will apply to all, and so prevent
any future outrages.
We have seen to-day that every shade
of popular opinion is represented here, with
Freedofn, or rather Free- Soil, as the basis.
We have come together as in some sort
representatives of popular opinion against
the extension of slavery into territory now
free in fact as well as by law, and the
pledged word of the statesmen of the na-
tion who are now no more. We come —
we are here assembled together — to pro-
test as well as we can against a great
12
Lincoln's Lost Speech
wrong, and to take measures, as well as
we now can, to make that wrong right ; to
place the nation, as far as it may be possi-
ble now, as it was before the repeal of
the Missouri Compromise ; and the plain
way to do this is to restore the Compro-
mise, and to demand and determine that
Kansas shall be free ! [Immense applause.]
While we affirm, and reaffirm, if necessary,
our devotion to the principles of the Dec-
laration of Independence, let our practical
work here be limited to the above. We
know that there is not a perfect agreement
of sentiment here on the public questions
which might be rightfully considered in
this convention, and that the indignation
which we all must feel cannot be helped;
but all of us must give up something for
the good of the cause. There is one de-
sire which is uppermost in the mind, one
wish common to us all — to which no dis-
sent will be made ; and I counsel you ear-
nestly to bury all resentment, to sink all
personal feeling, make all things work to
13
Lincoln's Lost Speech
a common purpose in which we are united
and agreed about, and which all present
will agree is absolutely necessary — which
must be done by any rightful mode if there
be such : Slavery jnust be kept out of Kan-
sas! [Applause.] The test — the pinch —
is right there. If we lose Kansas to free-
dom, an example will be set which will
prove fatal to freedom in the end. We,
therefore, in the language of the Bible,
must "lay the axe to the root of the tree."
Temporizing will not do longer; now is
the time for decision — for firm, persistent,
resolute action. [Applause.]
The Nebraska bill, or rather Nebraska
law, is not one of wholesome legislation,
but was and is an act of legislative usur-
pation, whose result, if not indeed inten-
tion, is to make slavery national ; and
unless headed off in some effective way,
we are in a fair way to see this land of
boasted freedom converted into a land
of slavery in fact. [Sensation.] Just open
your two eyes, and see if this be not so.
Lincolris Lost Speech
I need do no more than state, to command
universal approval, that almost the entire
North, as well as a large following in the
border States, is radically opposed to the
planting of slavery in free territory. Prob-
ably in a popular vote throughout the
nation nine-tenths of the voters in the free
States, and at least one-half in the border
States, if they could express their senti-
ments freely, would vote NO on such an
issue ; and it is safe to say that two-thirds
of the votes of the entire nation would be
opposed to it. And yet, in spite of this
overbalancing of sentiment in this free
country, we are in a fair way to see Kan-
sas present itself for admission as a slave
State. Indeed, it is a felony, by the local
law of Kansas, to deny that slavery exists
there even now. By every principle of
law, a negro in Kansas is free ; yet the
bogus legislature makes it an infamous
crime to tell him that he is free ! ^
1 Statutes of Kansas, 1855, Chapter 151, Sec. 12. If any-
free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or maintain
15
Lincoln s Lost Speech
The party lash and the fear of ridicule
will overawe justice and liberty ; for it is
a singular fact, but none the less a fact,
and well known by the most common ex-
perience, that men will do things under
the terror of the party lash that they
would not on any account or for any con-
sideration do otherwise ; while men who
will march up to the mouth of a loaded
cannon without shrinking will run from
the terrible name of " Abolitionist," even
when pronounced by a worthless creature
whom they, with good reason, despise.
For instance — to press this point a little
— Judge Douglas introduced his anti-Ne-
that persons have not the right to hold slaves in this Terri-
tory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish,
write, circulate . . . any book, paper, magazine, pam-
phlet, or circular containing any denial of the right of per-
sons to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be
deemed guilty o^ felony, and punished by imprisonment at
hard labor for a term of not less than two years.
Sec, 13. No person who is conscientiously opposed to hold-
ing slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of any prose-
cution for any violation of any Sections of this Act.
16
Lincoln s Lost Speech
braska bill in January ; and we had an
extra session of our legislature in the suc-
ceeding February, in which were seventy-
five Democrats; and at a party caucus,
fully attended, there were just three votes,
out of the whole seventy-five, for the
measure. But in a few days orders came
on from Washington, commanding them
to approve the measure; the party lash
was applied, and it was brought up again
in caucus, and passed by a large majority.
The masses were against it, but party
necessity carried it; and it was passed
through the lower house of Congress
against the will of the people, for the
same reason. Here is where the greatest
danger lies — that, while we profess to be
a government of law and reason, law will
give way to violence on demand of this
awful and crushing power. Like the
great Juggernaut — I think that is the
name — the great idol, it crushes every-
thing that comes in its way, and makes a
— or as I read once, in a black-letter law
3 17
Lincoln s Lost Speech
book, "a slave is a human being who is
legally not a person but a thing.''' And if
the safeguards to liberty are broken down,
as is now attempted, when they have made
things of all the free negroes, how long,
think you, before they will begin to make
things of poor white men ? [Applause.]
Be not deceived. Revolutions do not go
backward. The founder of the Demo-
cratic party declared that all men were
created equal. His successor in the lead-
ership has written the word "white" be-
fore men, making it read " all white men
are created equal." Pray, will or may not
the Know-nothings, if they should get in
power, add the word " protestant," mak-
ing it read *'^ all protestant white men''?
Meanwhile the hapless negro is the
fruitful subject of reprisals in other quar-
ters. John Pettit, whom Tom Benton
paid his respects to, you will recollect, calls
the immortal Declaration "a self-evident
lie"; while at the birthplace of freedom
— in the shadow of Bunker Hill and of
i8
Lincoln s Lost speech
the "cradle of liberty," at the home
of the Adamses and Warren and Otis —
Choate, from our side of the house, dares
to fritter away the birthday promise of lib-
erty by proclaiming the Declaration to be
"a string of glittering generalities"; and
the Southern Whigs, working hand in hand
with pro-slavery Democrats, are making
Choate's theories practical. Thomas Jef-
ferson, a slaveholder, mindful of the moral
element in slavery, solemnly declared that
he "trembled for his country when he re-
membered that God is just"; while Judge
Douglas, with an insignificant wave of the
hand, *' don't care whether slavery is voted
up or voted down." Now, if slavery is
right, or even negative, he has a right to
treat it in this trifling manner. But if
it is a moral and political wrong, as all
Christendom considers it to be, how can
he answer to God for this attempt to spread
and fortify it ? [Applause.]
But no man, and Judge Douglas no
more than any other, can maintain a nega-
19
Lincoln s Lost Speech
tive, or merely neutral, position on this
question ; and, accordingly, he avows that
the Union was made by white men andy^r
white men and their descendants. As mat-
ter of fact, the first branch of the proposi-
tion is historically true ; the government
was made by white men, and they were
and are the superior race. This I admit.
But the corner-stone of the government,
so to speak, was the declaration that "tf//
men are created equal," and all entitled to
"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
[Applause.]
And not only so, but the framers of
the Constitution were particular to keep
out of that instrument the word "slave,"
the reason being that slavery would ulti-
mately come to an end, and they did not
wish to have any reminder that in this
free country human beings were ever pros-
tituted to slavery. [Applause.] Nor is it
any argument that we are superior and
the negro inferior — that he has but one
talent while we have ten. Let the negro
20
Lincoln s Lost Speech
possess the little he has in independence ;
if he has but one talent, he should be
permitted to keep the little he has.
[Applause.] But slavery will endure no
test of reason or logic ; and yet its advo-
cates, like Douglas, use a sort of bastard
logic, or noisy assumption, it might better
be termed, like the above, in order to pre-
pare the mind for the gradual, but none
the less certain, encroachments of the
Moloch of slavery upon the fair domain
of freedom. But however much you may
argue upon it, or smother it in soft phrases,
slavery can only be maintained by force —
by violence. The repeal of the Missouri
Compromise was by violence. It was a
violation of both law and the sacred obli-
gations of honor, to overthrow and trample
underfoot a solemn compromise, obtained
by the fearful loss to freedom of one of
the fairest of our Western domains. Con-
gress violated the will and confidence of
its constituents in voting for the bill; and
while public sentiment, as shown by the
21
Liincolri s Lost Speech
elections of 1854, demanded the restora-
tion of this compromise, Congress violated
its trust by refusing, simply because it had
the force of numbers to hold on to it.
And murderous violence is being used
now, in order to force slavery on to Kan-
sas; for it cannot be done in any other
way. [Sensation.]
The necessary result was to establish
the rule of violence — force, instead of the
rule of law and reason ; to perpetuate and
spread slavery, and, in time, to make it
general. We see it at both ends of the
line. In Washington, on the very spot
where the outrage was started, the fearless
Sumner is beaten to insensibility, and is
now slowly dying ; while senators who
claim to be gentlemen and Christians
stood by, countenancing the act, and even
applauding it afterward in their places in
the Senate. Even Douglas, our man, saw
it all and was within helping distance, yet
let the murderous blows fall unopposed.
Then, at the other end of the line, at the
22
Lincoln s Lost Speech
very time Sumner was being murdered,
Lawrence was being destroyed for the
crime of Freedom. It was the most prom-
inent stronghold of Hberty in Kansas,
and must give way to the all-dominating
power of slavery. Only two days ago,
Judge Trumbull found it necessary to
propose a bill in the Senate to prevent a
general civil war and to restore peace in
Kansas.
We live in the midst of alarms ; anxiety
beclouds the future ; we expect some new
disaster with each newspaper we read.
Are we in a healthful political state } Are
not the tendencies plain ? Do not the
signs of the times point plainly the way
in which we are going ? [Sensation.]
In the early days of the Constitution
slavery was recognized, by South and
North alike, as an evil, and the division
of sentiment about it was not controlled
by geographical lines or considerations of
climate, but by moral and philanthropic
views. Petitions for the abolition of slav-
es
Lincoln s Lost Speech
ery were presented to the very first Con-
gress by Virginia and Massachusetts ahke.
To show the harmony which prevailed, I
will state that a fugitive slave law was
passed in 1793, with no dissenting voice
in the Senate, and but seven dissenting
votes in the House. It was, however, a
wise law, moderate, and, under the Con-
titution, a just one. Twenty-five years
later, a more stringent law was proposed
and defisated; and thirty-five years after
that, the present law, drafted by Mason of
Virginia, was passed by Northern votes.
I am not, just now, complaining of this
law, but I am trying to show how the
current sets ; for the proposed law of
1 8 17 was far less offensive than the pres-
ent one. In 1774 the Continental Con-
gress pledged itself, without a dissenting
vote, to wholly discontinue the slave trade,
and to neither purchase nor import any
slave ; and less than three months before
the passage of the Declaration of Indepen-
dence, the same Congress which adopted
24
Lincoln s Lost Speech
that Declaration unanimously resolved
" that no slave be imported into any of the
thirteen United Colonic s'' [Great applause.]
On the second day of July, 1776, the
draft of a Declaration of Independence
was reported to Congress by the commit-
tee, and in it the slave trade was charac-
terized as "an execrable commerce," as
"a piratical warfare," as the "opprobrium
of infidel powers," and as "a cruel war
against human nature." [Applause.] All
agreed on this except South Carolina and
Georgia, and in order to preserve har-
mony, and from the necessity of the case,
these expressions were omitted. Indeed,
abolition societies existed as far south as
Virginia; and it is a well-known fact
that Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lee,
Henry, Mason, and Pendleton were quali-
fied abolitionists, and much more radical
on that subject than we of the Whig and
Democratic parties claim to be to-day.
On March i, 1784, Virginia ceded to the
confederation all its lands lying northwest
4 25
Lincoln s Lost Speech
of the Ohio River. Jefferson, Chase of
Maryland, and Howell of Rhode Island, as
a committee on that and territory there-
after to be ceded, reported that no slavery
should exist after the year 1800. Had
this report been adopted, not only the
Northwest, but Kentucky, Tennessee, Ala-
bama, and Mississippi also would have
been free; but it required the assent of
nine States to ratify it. North Carolina
was divided, and thus its vote was lost;
and Delaware, Georgia, and New Jersey
refused to vote. In point of fact, as it
was, it was assented to by six States.
Three years later, on a square vote to ex-
clude slavery from the Northwest, only
one vote, and that from New York, was
against it. And yet, thirty-seven years
later, five thousand citizens of Illinois out
of a voting mass of less than twelve thou-
sand, deliberately, after a long and heated
contest, voted to introduce slavery in Illi-
nois; and, to-day, a large party in the
free State of Illinois are willing to vote to
26
Lincoln s Lost Speech
fasten the shackles of slavery on the fair
domain of Kansas, notwithstanding it re-
ceived the dowry of freedom long before
its birth as a political community. I re-
peat, therefore, the question : Is it not
plain in what direction we are tending?
[Sensation.] In the colonial time. Mason,
Pendleton, and Jefferson were as hostile
to slavery in Virginia as Otis, Ames, and
the Adamses were in Massachusetts; and
Virginia made as earnest an effort to get
rid of it as old Massachusetts did. But
circumstances were against them, and they
failed; but not that the good will of its
leading men was lacking. Yet within less
than fifty years Virginia changed its tune,
and made negro-breeding for the cotton
and sugar States one of its leading indus-
tries. [Laughter and applause.]
In the Constitutional Convention,
George Mason of Virginia made a more
violent abolition speech than my friends
Lovejoy or Codding would desire to make
here to-day — a speech which could not
27,
Lincolris Lost Speech
be safely repeated anywhere on Southern
soil in this enlightened year. But while
there were some differences of opinion on
this subject even then, discussion was al-
lowed; but as you see by the Kansas slave
code, which, as you know, is the Mis-
souri slave code merely ferried across the
river, it is a felony to even express an
opinion hostile to that foul blot in the
land of Washington and the Declaration
of Independence. [Sensation.]
In Kentucky — my State — in 1849, ^^
a test vote, the mighty influence of Henry
Clay and many other good men there
could not get a symptom of expression in
favor of gradual emancipation on a plain
issue of marching toward the light of
civilization with Ohio and Illinois ; but
the State of Boone and Hardin and Henry
Clay, with a nigger under each arm, took
the black trail toward the deadly swamps
of barbarism. Is there — can there be —
any doubt about this thing? And is there
any doubt that we must all lay aside our
28
Lincoln s Lost Speech
prejudices and march, shoulder to shoul-
der, in the great army of Freedom ? [Ap-
plause.]
Every Fourth of July our young orators
all proclaim this to be "the land of the
free and the home of the brave ! " Well,
now, when you orators get that off next
year, and maybe this very year, how
would you like some old grizzled farmer
to get up in the grove and deny it?
[Laughter.] How would you like that ?
But suppose Kansas comes in as a slave
State, and all the " border ruffians " have
barbecues about it, and free-State men
come trailing back to the dishonored
North, like whipped dogs with their tails
between their legs, it is — ain't it? — evi-
dent that this is no more the " land of the
free " ; and if we let it go so, we won't
dare to say " home of the brave " out
loud. [Sensation and confusion.]
Can any man doubt that, even in spite
of the people's will, slavery will triumph
through violence, unless that will be made
29
Lincoln s Lost Speech
manifest and enforced? Even Governor
Reeder claimed at the outset that the con-
test in Kansas was to be fair, but he got
his eyes open at last; and I believe that,
as a result of this moral and physical vio-
lence, Kansas will soon apply for admis-
sion as a slave State. And yet we can't
mistake that the people don't want it so,
and that it is a land which is free both by
natural and political law. No law^ is free
law I Such is the understanding of all
Christendom. In the Somerset case, de-
cided nearly a century ago, the great Lord
Mansfield held that slavery was of such a
nature that it must take its rise in posi-
tive (as distinguished from natural) law;
and that in no country or age could it be
traced back to any other source. Will
some one please tell me where is the posi-
tive law that establishes slavery in Kan-
sas .? [A voice: "The bogus laws."] Aye,
the bogus laws ! And, on the same prin-
ciple, a gang of Missouri horse-thieves
could come into Illinois and declare horse-
30
Lincoln s Lost Speech
stealing to be legal [laughter], and it
would be just as legal as slavery is in Kan-
sas. But by express statute, in the land
of Washington and Jefferson, we may
soon be brought face to face with the dis-
creditable fact of showing to the world by
our acts that we prefer slavery to freedom
— darkness to light! [Sensation.]
It is, I believe, a principle in law that
when one party to a contract violates it so
grossly as to chiefly destroy the object for
which it is made, the other party may re-
scind it. I will ask Browning if that ain't
good law. [Voices: "Yes!"] Well, now
if that be right, I go for rescinding the
whole, entire Missouri Compromise and
thus turning Missouri into a free State;
and I should like to know the difference
— should like for any one to point out the
difference — between our making a free
State of Missouri and their making a slave
State of Kansas. [Great applause.] There
ain't one bit of diflference, except that our
way would be a great mercy to humanity.
31
Lincoln's Lost Speech
But I have never said — and the Whig
party has never said — and those who op-
pose the Nebraska bill do not as a body
say, that they have any intention of inter-
fering with slavery in the slave States.
Our platform says just the contrary. We
allow slavery to exist in the slave States, —
not because slavery is right or good, but
from the necessities of our Union. We
grant a fugitive slave law because it is so
"nominated in the bond"; because our
fathers so stipulated — had to — and we
are bound to carry out this agreement.
But they did not agree to introduce slav-
ery in regions where it did not previously
exist. On the contrary, they said by their
example and teachings that they did not
deem it expedient — did not consider it
right — to do so; and it is wise and right
to do just as they did about it [Voices:
"Good!"], and that is what we propose
— not to interfere with slavery where it
exists (we have never tried to do it), and
to give them a reasonable and efficient
32
Lincoln s Lost Speech
fugitive slave law. [A voice: "No!"] I
say YES! [Applause.] It was part of the
bargain, and I 'm for living up to it; but
I go no further; I 'm not bound to do
more, and I won't agree any further.
[Great applause.]
We, here in Illinois, should feel espe-
cially proud of the provision of the Mis-
souri Compromise excluding slavery from
what is now Kansas; for an Illinois man,
Jesse B. Thomas, was its father. Henry
Clay, who is credited with the authorship
of the Compromise in general terms, did
not even vote for that provision, but only
advocated the ultimate admission by a sec-
ond compromise; and Thomas was, be-
yond all controversy, the real author of
the "slavery restriction" branch of the
Compromise. To show the generosity of
the Northern members toward the South-
ern side: on a test vote to exclude slavery
from Missouri, ninety voted not to ex-
clude, and eighty-seven to exclude, every
vote from the slave States being ranged
5 33
Lincoln s Lost Speech
with the former and fourteen votes from
the free States, of whom seven were from
New England alone; while on a vote to
exclude slavery from what is now Kansas,
the vote was one hundred and thirty-four
/or, to forty-two against. The scheme,
as a whole, was, of course, a Southern
triumph. It is idle to contend otherwise,
as is now being done by the Nebraskaites ;
it was so shown by the votes and quite as
emphatically by the expressions of repre-
sentative men. Mr. Lowndes of South
Carolina was never known to commit a
political mistake; his was the great judg-
ment of that section ; and he declared
that this measure " would restore tranquil-
lity to the country — a result demanded by
every consideration of discretion, of mod-
eration, of wisdom, and of virtue." When
the measure came before President Mon-
roe for his approval, he put to each mem-
ber of his cabinet this question : ** Has
Congress the constitutional power to pro-
hibit slavery in a Territory?" And John
34
Lincoln s Lost speech
C. Calhoun and William H. Crawford
from the South, equally with John Quincy
Adams, Benjamin Rush, and Smith Thomp-
son from the North, alike answered, " Tes ! "
without qualification or equivocation ; and
this measure, of so great consequence to
the South, was passed ; and Missouri was,
by means of it, finally enabled to knock
at the door of the Republic for an open
passage to its brood of slaves. And, in
spite of this. Freedom's share is about to
be taken by violence — by the force of
misrepresentative votes, not called for by
the popular will. What name can I, in
common decency, give to this wicked
transaction? [Sensation.]
But even then the contest was not over ;
for when the Missouri constitution came
before Congress for its approval, it forbade
any free negro or mulatto from entering
the State. In short, our Illinois " black
laws " were hidden away in their constitu-
tion [Laughter], and the controversy was
thus revived. Then it was that Mr. Clay's
Lincoln s Lost Speech
talents shone out conspicuously, and the
controversy that shook the Union to its
foundation was finally settled to the satis-
faction of the conservative parties on both
sides of the line, though not to the ex-
tremists on either, and Missouri was ad-
mitted by the small majority of six in the
lower House. How great a majority, do
you think, would have been given had
Kansas also been secured for slavery ? [A
voice: "A majority the other way. "J *'A
majority the other way," is answered. Do
you think it would have been safe for a
Northern man to have confronted his con-
stituents after having voted to consign both
Missouri and Kansas to hopeless slavery ?
And yet this man Douglas, who misrep-
resents his constituents and who has ex-
erted his highest talents in that direction,
will be carried in triumph through the
State and hailed with honor while ap-
plauding that act. [Three groans tor
*'Z)z/^/"] And this shows whither we
are tending. This thing of slavery is
36
Lincoln s Lost Speech
more powerful than its supporters — even
than the high priests that minister at its
altar. It debauches even our greatest men.
It gathers strength, like a rolling snow-
ball, by its own infamy. Monstrous crimes
are committed in its name-by persons col-
lectively which they would not dare to
commit as individuals. Its aggressions
and encroachments almost surpass belief.
In a despotism, one might not wonder to
see slavery advance steadily and remorse-
lessly into new dominions; but is it not
wonderful, is it not even alarming, to see
its steady advance in a land dedicated to
the proposition that **all men are created
equal"? [Sensation. I
It yields nothing itself; it keeps all it
has, and gets all it can besides. It really
came dangerously near securing Illinois in
1824; it did get Missouri in 1821. The
first proposition was to admit what is now
Arkansas and Missouri as one slave State.
But the territory was divided, and Arkan-
sas came in, without serious question, as a
37
Lincoln s Lost Speech
slave State ; and afterwards Missouri, not
as a sort of equality, yr^^, but also as a slave
State. Then we had Florida and Texas ;
and now Kansas is about to be forced into
the dismal procession. [Sensation.] And
so it is wherever you look. We have not
forgotten — it is but six years since — how
dangerously near California came to being
a slave State. Texas is a slave State, and
four other slave States may be carved from
its vast domain. And yet, in the year
1829, slavery was abolished throughout
that vast region by a royal decree of the
then sovereign of Mexico. Will you please
tell me by what right slavery exists in
Texas to-day ? By the same right as, and
no higher or greater than, slavery is seeking
dominion in Kansas : by political force —
peaceful, if that will suffice ; by the torch
(as in Kansas) and the bludgeon (as in
the Senate chamber), if required. And
so history repeats itself; and even as slav-
ery has kept its course by craft, intimida-
tion, and violence in the past, so it will
38
Lincoln s Lost Speech
persist, in my judgment, until met and
dominated by the will of a people bent on
its restriction.
We have, this very afternoon, heard bit-
ter denunciations of Brooks in Washing-
ton, and Titus, Stringfellow, Atchison,
Jones, and Shannon in Kansas — the bat-
tle-ground of slavery. I certainly am not
going to advocate or shield them ; but they
and their acts are but the necessary out-
come of the Nebraska law. We should
reserve our highest censure for the authors
of the mischief, and not for the catspaws
which they use. I believe it was Shake-
speare who said, " Where the offence lies,
there let the axe fall " ; and, in my opinion,
this man Douglas and the Northern men
in Congress who advocate "Nebraska"
are more guilty than a thousand Joneses
and Stringfellows, with all their murder-
ous practices, can be. [Applause.]
We have made a good beginning here
to-day. As our Methodist friends would
say, " I feel it is good to be here." While
39
Lincoln s Lost Speech
extremists may find some fault with the
moderation of our platform, they should
recollect that "the battle is not always to
the strong, nor the race to the swift." In
grave emergencies, moderation is generally
safer than radicalism ; and as this strug-
gle is likely to be long and earnest, we
must not, by our action, repel any who are
in sympathy with us in the main, but rather
win all that we can to our standard. We
must not belittle nor overlook the facts of
our condition — that we are new and com-
paratively weak, while our enemies are
entrenched and relatively strong. They
have the administration and the political
power ; and, right or wrong, at present
they have the numbers. Our friends who
urge an appeal to arms with so much force
and eloquence, should recollect that the
government is arrayed against us, and that
the numbers are now arrayed against us as
well ; or, to state it nearer to the truth,
they are not yet expressly and affirmatively
for us ; and we should repel friends rather
40
Lincoln s Lost Speech
than gain them by anything savoring of
revolutionary methods. As it novi^ stands,
we must appeal to the sober sense and
patriotism of the people. We will make
converts day by day ; we will grow strong
by calmness and moderation; we will
grow strong by the violence and injustice
of our adversaries. And, unless truth be
a mockery and justice a hollow lie, we
will be in the majority after a while, and
then the revolution which we will ac-
complish will be none the less radical
from being the result of pacific measures.
The battle of freedom is to be fought out
on principle. Slavery is a violation of the
eternal right. We have temporized with
it from the necessities of our condition ;
but as sure as God reigns and school chil-
dren read that black foul lie can
NEVER BE CONSECRATED INTO God's HAL-
LOWED TRUTH ! [Immense applause last-
ing some time.] One of our greatest
difficulties is, that men who know that
slavery is a detestable crime and ruinous to
6 41
Lincoln s Lost Speech
the nation, are compelled, by our peculiar
condition and other circumstances, to ad-
vocate it concretely, though damning it
in the raw. Henry Clay was a brilliant
example of this tendency; others of our
purest statesmen are compelled to do so ;
and thus slavery secures actual support
from those who detest it at heart. Yet
Henry Clay perfected and forced through
the Compromise which secured to slavery
a great State as well as a political advan-
tage; not that he hated slavery less, but
that he loved the whole Union more. As
long as slavery profited by his great Com-
promise, the hosts of pro-slavery could not
sufficiently cover him with praise ; but
now that this Compromise stands in their
way —
. . . they never mention him.
His name is never heard :
Their lips are now forbid to speak
That once familiar word.
They have slaughtered one of his most
cherished measures, and his ghost would
arise to rebuke them. [Great applause.]
42
Lincoln s Lost Speech
Two years ago, at Springfield, Judge
Douglas avowed that Illinois came into
the Union as a slave State, and that slav-
ery was weeded out by the operation of
his great, patent, everlasting principle of
"popular sovereignty." [Laughter.] Well,
now, that argument must be answered, for
it has a little grain of truth at the bottom.
I do not mean that it is true in essence,
as he would have us believe. It could
not be essentially true if the ordinance of
'87 was valid. But, in point of fact, there
were some degraded beings called slaves
in Kaskaskia and the other French settle-
ments when our first State constitution
was adopted; that is a fact, and I don't
deny it. Slaves were brought here as
early as 1720, and were kept here in spite
of the ordinance of 1787 against it. But
slavery did not thrive here. On the con-
trary, under the influence of the ordinance,
the number decreased fifty-one from i 8 1 o
to 1820; while under the influence of
squatter sovereignty, right across the river
43
Lincoln s Lost Speech
in Missouri, they increased seven thousand
two hundred and eleven in the same time ;
and slavery finally faded out in Illinois,
under the influence of the law of freedom,
while it grew stronger and stronger in
Missouri, under the law or practice of
"popular sovereignty." In point of fact,
there were but one hundred and seventeen
slaves in Illinois one year after its admis-
sion, or one to every four hundred and
seventy of its population ; ^ or, to state it in
another way, if Illinois was a slave State
in 1820, so were New York and New
Jersey much greater slave States from
having had greater numbers, slavery hav-
ing been established there in very early
times. But there is this vital difference
between all these States and the judge's
Kansas experiment: that they sought to
disestablish slavery which had been already
established, while the judge seeks, so far
1 It is singular that Mr. Lincoln, usually so accurate,
should have been entirely mistaken in his statistics at this
point.— H. C. W.
44
Lincoln s Lost Speech
as he can, to disestablish freedom, which
had been established there by the Missouri
Compromise. [Voices: "Good!"]
Now, let us harmonize, my friends, and
appeal to the moderation and patriotism
of the people; to the sober second thought;
to the awakened public conscience. The
repeal of the sacred Missouri Compromise
has installed the weapons of violence : the
bludgeon, the incendiary torch, the death-
dealing rifle, the bristling cannon — the
weapons of kingcraft, of the Inquisition,
of ignorance, of barbarism, of oppression.
We see its fruits in the dying bed of the
heroic Sumner; in the ruins of the "Free
State" hotel; in the smoking embers of
the " Herald of Freedom " ; in the free-
State Governor of Kansas chained to a
stake on freedom's soil like a horse-thief,
for the crime of freedom. [Applause.]
We see it in Christian statesmen, and
Christian newspapers, and Christian pul-
pits applauding the cowardly act of a low
bully, WHO CRAWLED UPON HIS VICTIM
45
Lincolris Lost Speech
BEHIND HIS BACK AND DEALT THE DEADLY
BLOW. [Sensation and applause.] We
note our political demoralization in the
catch-words that are coming into such
common use; on the one hand, "free-
dom-shriekers," and sometimes " freedom-
screechers " [Laughter] ; and, on the
other hand, " border ruffians," and that
fully deserved. And the significance of
catch-words cannot pass unheeded, for
they constitute a sign of the times. Every-
thing in this world "jibes " in with every-
thing else, and all the fruits of this Ne-
braska bill are like the poisoned source
from which they come. I will not say
that we may not sooner or later be com-
pelled to meet force by force; but the
time has not yet come, and if we are true
to ourselves, may never come. Do not
mistake that the ballot is stronger than
the bullet. Therefore let the legions of
slavery use bullets ; but let us wait patiently
till November, and fire ballots at them
in return; and by that peaceful policy
46
Lincoln s Lost Speech
I believe we shall ultimately win. [Ap-
plause.]
It was by that policy that here in Illi-
nois the early fathers fought the good fight,
and gained the victory. In 1824 the free
men of our State, led by Governor Coles
(who was President Madison's private sec-
retary), determined that those beautiful
groves should never reecho the dirge of
one who has no title to himself. By their
resolute determination, the winds that
sweep across our broad prairies shall never
cool the parched brow, nor shall the un-
fettered streams that bring joy and glad-
ness to our free soil water the tired feet,
of a slave ; but so long as those heavenly
breezes and sparkling streams bless the
land, or the groves and their fragrance or
their memory remain, the humanity to
which they minister shall be forever
FREE ! [Great applause.] Palmer, Yates,
Williams, Browning, and some more in
this convention came from Kentucky to
Illinois (instead of going to Missouri), not
47
Lincoin's Lost Speech
only to better their conditions, but also to
get away from slavery. They have said so
to me, and it is understood among us Ken-
tuckians that we don't like it one bit.
Now, can we, mindful of the blessings of
liberty which the early men of Illinois left
to us, refuse a like privilege to the free
men who seek to plant Freedom's banner
on our Western outposts ? ["No! No!"]
Should we not stand by our neighbors who
seek to better their conditions in Kansas
and Nebraska? ["Yes! Yes!"] Can we
as Christian men, and strong and free our-
selves, wield the sledge or hold the iron
which is to manacle anew an already op-
pressed race? ["No! No!"] "Woe
unto them," it is written, "that decree
unrighteous decrees and that write griev-
ousness which they have prescribed." Can
we afford to sin any more deeply against
human liberty? ["No! No!"]
One great trouble in the matter is, that
slavery is an insidious and crafty power,
and gains equally by open violence of the
48
Lincoln s Lost Speech
brutal as well as by sly management of the
peaceful. Even after the ordinance of
1787, the settlers in Indiana and Illinois
(it was all one government then) tried to
get Congress to allow slavery temporarily,
and petitions to that end were sent from
Kaskaskia, and General Harrison, the
Governor, urged it from Vincennes, the
capital. If that had succeeded, good-by to
liberty here. But John Randolph of Vir-
ginia made a vigorous report against it ;
and although they persevered so well as to
get three favorable reports for it, yet the
United States Senate, with the aid of some
slave States, finally squelched it for good.
[Applause.] And that is why this hall is
to-day a temple for free men instead of a
negro livery-stable. [Great applause and
laughter.] Once let slavery get planted
in a locality, by ever so weak or doubtful
a title, and in ever so small numbers, and
it is like the Canada thistle or Bermuda
grass — you can't root it out. You yourself
may detest slavery ; but your neighbor has
7 49
8275B
Lincoln s Lost Speech
five or six slaves, and he is an excellent
neighbor, or your son has married his
daughter, and they beg you to help save
their property, and you vote against your
interest and principles to accommodate a
neighbor, hoping that your vote will be on
the losing side. And others do the same;
and in those ways slavery gets a sure foot-
hold. And when that is done the whole
mighty Union — the force of the Nation
is committed to its support. And that
very process is working in Kansas to-day.
And you must recollect that the slave
property is worth a billion of dollars;
while free-State men must work for sen-
timent alone. Then there are **blue
lodges" — as they call them — every-
where doing their secret and deadly work.
It is a very strange thing, and not solv-
able by any moral law that I know of,
that if a man loses his horse, the whole
country will turn out to help hang the
thief; but if a man but a shade or two
darker than I am is himself stolen, the
5°
Lincoln s Lost Speech
same crowd will hang one who aids in re-
storing him to liberty. Such are the in-
consistencies of slavery, where a horse is
more sacred than a man; and the essence
oi squatter or popular sovereignty — I don't
care how you call it — is that if one man
chooses to make a slave of another, no
third man shall be allowed to object. And
if you can do this in free Kansas, and it
is allowed to stand, the next thing you
will see is ship-loads of negroes from
Africa at the wharf at Charleston; for one
thing is as truly lawful as the other; and
these are the bastard notions we have got
to stamp out, else they will stamp us out.
[Sensation and applause.]
The Union is undergoing a fearful strain ;
but it is a stout old ship, and has weathered
many a hard blow, and "the stars in their
courses," aye, an invisible power, greater
than the puny efforts of men, will fight for
us. But we ourselves must not decline the
burden of responsibility, nor take counsel
of unworthy passions. Whatever duty urges
51
Lincoln s Lost Speech
us to do or to omit, must be done or
omitted; and the recklessness with which
our adversaries break the laws, or counsel
their violation, should afford no example
for us. Therefore, let us revere the Dec-
laration of Independence; let us continue
to obey the Constitution and the laws; let
us keep step to the music of the Union.
Let us draw a cordon, so to speak, around
the slave States, and the hateful institution,
like a reptile poisoning itself, will perish
by its own infamy. [Applause.]
But we cannot be free men if this is, by
our national choice, to be a land of slav-
ery. Those who deny freedom to others
deserve it not for themselves; and, under
the rule of a just God, cannot long retain
it. [Loud applause.]
Did you ever, my friends, seriously re-
flect upon the speed with which we are
tending downwards? Within the memory
of men now present the leading statesmen
of Virginia could make genuine, red-hot
abolitionist speeches in old Virginia; and,
52
Lincoln s Lost Speech
as I have said, now even in "free Kansas"
it is a crime to declare that it is "free
Kansas." The very sentiments that I and
others have just uttered would entitle us,
and each of us, to the ignominy and se-
clusion of a dungeon; and yet I suppose
that, like Paul, we were " free born."
But if this thing is allowed to continue,
it will be but one step further to impress
the same rule in Illinois. [Sensation.]
The conclusion of all is, that we must
restore the Missouri Compromise. We
must highly resolve that Kansas must be
free I [Great applause.] We must rein-
state the birthday promise of the Repub-
lic; we must reaffirm the Declaration of
Independence ; we must make good in es-
sence as well as in form Madison's avowal
that "the word slave ought not to appear
in the Constitution"; and we must even
go further, and decree that only local law,
and not that time-honored instrument,
shall shelter a slave-holder. We must
make this a land of liberty in fact, as it is
53
Lincoln s Lost Speech
in name. But in seeking to attain these
results — so indispensable if the liberty
which is our pride and boast shall endure
— we will be loyal to the Constitution
and to the "flag of our Union," and no
matter what our grievance — even though
Kansas shall come in as a slave State; and
no matter what theirs — even if we shall
restore the Compromise — we will say
TO THE Southern disunionists, We
won't go out of the Union, and you
SHA'N'T!!! [This was the cHmax; the
audience rose to its feet en masse^ ap-
plauded, stamped, waved handkerchiefs,
threw hats in the air, and ran riot for sev-
eral minutes. The arch-enchanter who
wrought this transformation looked, mean-
while, like the personification of political
justice.]
But let us, meanwhile, appeal to the
sense and patriotism of the people, and
not to their prejudices; let us spread the
floods of enthusiasm here aroused all over
these vast prairies, so suggestive of free-
54
Lincoln s Lost Speech
dom. Let us commence by electing the
gallant soldier [Colonel Bissell] governor,
who stood for the honor of our State alike
on the plains and amidst the chaparral of
Mexico and on the floor of Congress,
while he defied the Southern Hotspur;
and that will have a greater moral effect
than all the border ruffians can accomplish
in all their raids on Kansas. There is
both a power and a magic in popular
opinion. To that let us now appeal ; and
while, in all probability, no resort to force
will be needed, our moderation and for-
bearance will stand us in good stead when,
if ever, we must make an appeal to
BATTLE AND TO THE GoD OF HOSTS ! !
[Immense applause and a rush for the
orator.]
ss
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