considering your suggestions as to my reaching Washington somewhat earlier
than is usual. It seems to me the inauguration is not the most dangerous
point for us. Our adversaries have us now clearly at disadvantage on the
second Wednesday of February, when the votes should be officially counted.
If the two houses refuse to meet at all, or meet without a quorum of each,
where shall we be? I do not think that this counting is constitutionally
essential to the election, but how are we to proceed in the absence of
it? In view of this, I think it is best for me not to attempt appearing in
Washington till the result of that ceremony is known.
It certainly would be of some advantage if you could know who are to be
at the heads of the War and Navy departments, but until I can ascertain
definitely whether I can get any suitable men from the South, and who, and
how many, I can not well decide. As yet, I have no word from Mr. Gilmer
in answer to my request for an interview with him. I look for something on
the subject, through you, before long.
Yours very truly,
A. LINCOLN.
TO W. H. SEWARD.
(Private.)
SPRINGFIELD, ILL., January 12, 1861
HON. W. H. SEWARD.
MY DEAR SIR:--Yours of the 8th received. I still hope Mr. Gilmer will, on
a fair understanding with us, consent to take a place in the Cabinet. The
preference for him over Mr. Hunt or Mr. Gentry is that, up to date--he
has a living position in the South, while they have not. He is only better
than Winter Davis in that he is farther south. I fear, if we could get, we
could not safely take more than one such man--that is, not more than one
who opposed us in the election--the danger being to lose the confidence
of our own friends. Your selection for the State Department having become
public, I am happy to find scarcely any objection to it. I shall have
trouble with every other Northern Cabinet appointment--so much so that I
shall have to defer them as long as possible to avoid being teased into
insanity, to make changes.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN
TO E. D. MORGAN
SPRINGFIELD, ILL. FEB. 4, 1861
SIR:--Your letter of the 30th ult. inviting me, on behalf of the
Legislature of New York, to pass through that State on my way to
Washington, and tendering me the hospitalities of her authorities and
people, has been duly received. With the feelings of deep gratitude to
you and them for this testimonial of regard and esteem I beg you to notify
them that I accept the invitation so kindly tendered.
Your obedient servant,
A. LINCOLN
P.S.--Please let the ceremonies be only such as to take the least time
possible. A. L.
PATRONAGE CLAIMS
TO THURLOW WEED
SPRINGFIELD, ILL., February 4, 1861
DEAR SIR:--I have both your letter to myself and that to Judge Davis,
in relation to a certain gentleman in your State claiming to dispense
patronage in my name, and also to be authorized to use my name to advance
the chances of Mr. Greeley for an election to the United States Senate.
It is very strange that such things should be said by any one. The
gentleman you mention did speak to me of Mr. Greeley in connection with
the senatorial election, and I replied in terms of kindness toward Mr.
Greeley, which I really feel, but always with an expressed protest that
my name must not be used in the senatorial election in favor of or against
any one. Any other representation of me is a misrepresentation.
As to the matter of dispensing patronage, it perhaps will surprise you
to learn that I have information that you claim to have my authority to
arrange that matter in New York. I do not believe you have so claimed; but
still so some men say. On that subject you know all I have said to you is
"justice to all," and I have said nothing more particular to any one. I
say this to reassure you that I have not changed my position.
In the hope, however, that you will not use my name in the matter, I am,
Yours truly,
A. LINCOLN.
FAREWELL ADDRESS AT SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS,
FEBRUARY 11, 1861
MY FRIENDS:--One who has never been placed in a like position cannot
understand my feelings at this hour, nor the oppressive sadness I feel at
this parting. For more than twenty-five years I have lived among you, and
during all that time I have received nothing but kindness at your hands.
Here the most cherished ties of earth were assumed. Here my children were
born, and here one of them lies buried. To you, my friends, I owe all that
I have, all that I am. All the strange checkered past seems to crowd upon
my mind. To-day I leave you. I go to assume a task more difficult than
that which devolved upon General Washington. Unless the great God who
assisted him shall be with and aid me I cannot prevail; but if the same
almighty arm that directed and protected him shall guide and support me I
shall not fail; I shall succeed. Let us pray that the God of our fathers
may not forsake us now. To Him I commend you all. Permit me to ask that
with equal sincerity and faith you will all invoke His wisdom and goodness
for me.
With these words I must leave you; for how long I know not. Friends, one
and all, I must now wish you an affectionate farewell.
REMARKS AT TOLONO, ILLINOIS, FEBRUARY 11, 1861
I am leaving you on an errand of national importance, attended, as you are
aware, with considerable difficulties. Let us believe, as some poet has
expressed it, "Behind the cloud the sun is still shining." I bid you an
affectionate farewell.
REPLY TO ADDRESS OF WELCOME, INDIANAPOLIS,
INDIANA, FEBRUARY 11, 1861
GOVERNOR MORTON AND FELLOW CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF INDIANA:
Most heartily do I thank you for this magnificent reception, and while
I cannot take to myself any share of the compliment thus paid, more
than that which pertains to a mere instrument, an accidental instrument,
perhaps I should say, of a great cause, I yet must look upon it as a most
magnificent reception, and as such most heartily do thank you for it.
You have been pleased to address yourself to me chiefly in behalf of
this glorious Union in which we live, in all of which you have my hearty
sympathy, and, as far as may be within my power, will have, one and
inseparable, my hearty consideration. While I do not expect, upon this
occasion, or until I get to Washington, to attempt any lengthy speech,
I will only say to the salvation of the Union there needs but one single
thing--the hearts of a people like yours.
The people--when they rise in mass in behalf of the Union and the
liberties of their country, truly may it be said, "The gates of hell
cannot prevail against them." In all trying positions in which I shall be
placed--and, doubtless, I shall be placed in many such--my reliance will
be placed upon you and the people of the United States; and I wish you to
remember, now and forever, that it is your business, and not mine; that if
the union of these States and the liberties of this people shall be lost,
it is but little to any one man of fifty-two years of age, but a great
deal to the thirty millions of people who inhabit these United States, and
to their posterity in all coming time. It is your business to rise up and
preserve the Union and liberty for yourselves, and not for me.
I desire they should be constitutionally performed. I, as already
intimated, am but an accidental instrument, temporary, and to serve but
for a limited time; and I appeal to you again to constantly bear in mind
that with you, and not with politicians, not with Presidents, not with
office-seekers, but with you is the question, Shall the Union and shall
the liberties of this country be preserved to the latest generations?
ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF INDIANA, AT INDIANAPOLIS,
FEBRUARY 12, 1861
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE STATE OF INDIANA:--I am here to thank you much for
this magnificent welcome, and still more for the generous support given
by your State to that political cause which I think is the true and just
cause of the whole country and the whole world.
Solomon says there is "a time to keep silence," and when men wrangle by
the mouth with no certainty that they mean the same thing while using the
same word, it perhaps were as well if they would keep silence.
The words "coercion" and "invasion" are much used in these days, and often
with some temper and hot blood. Let us make sure, if we can, the meaning
of those who use them. Let us get the exact definitions of these words,
not from dictionaries, but from the men themselves, who certainly
deprecate the things they would represent by the use of the words.
What, then, is coercion? What is invasion? Would the marching of an army
into South Carolina, without the consent of her people, and with hostile
intent toward them, be invasion? I certainly think it would, and it would
be coercion also, if the South Carolinians were forced to submit. But if
the United States should merely hold and retake its own forts and other
property, and collect the duties on foreign importations, or even withhold
the mails from places where they were habitually violated, would any or
all of these things be invasion or coercion? Do our professed lovers
of the Union, who spitefully resolve that they will resist coercion and
invasion, understand that such things as these, on the part of the United
States, would be coercion or invasion of a State? If so, their idea of
means to preserve the object of their great affection would seem to be
exceedingly thin and airy. If sick, the little pills of the homoeopathist
would be much too large for it to swallow. In their view, the Union, as a
family relation, would seem to be no regular marriage, but rather a sort
of "free-love" arrangement, to be maintained on passional attraction.
By the way, in what consists the special sacredness of a State? I speak
not of the position assigned to a State in the Union by the Constitution,
for that is a bond we all recognize. That position, however, a State
cannot carry out of the Union with it. I speak of that assumed primary
right of a State to rule all which is less than itself, and to ruin all
which is larger than itself. If a State and a county, in a given case,
should be equal in number of inhabitants, in what, as a matter of
principle, is the State better than the county? Would an exchange of
name be an exchange of rights? Upon what principle, upon what rightful
principle, may a State, being no more than one fiftieth part of the
nation in soil and population, break up the nation, and then coerce a
proportionably large subdivision of itself in the most arbitrary way? What
mysterious right to play tyrant is conferred on a district of country,
with its people, by merely calling it a State? Fellow-citizens, I am not
asserting anything. I am merely asking questions for you to consider. And
now allow me to bid you farewell.
INTENTIONS TOWARD THE SOUTH
ADDRESS TO THE MAYOR AND CITIZENS OF
CINCINNATI, OHIO, FEBRUARY 12, 1861
Mr. MAYOR, AND GENTLEMEN:--Twenty-four hours ago, at the capital of
Indiana, I said to myself, "I have never seen so many people assembled
together in winter weather." I am no longer able to say that. But it
is what might reasonably have been expected--that this great city of
Cincinnati would thus acquit herself on such an occasion. My friends, I am
entirely overwhelmed by the magnificence of the reception which has been
given, I will not say to me, but to the President-elect of the United
States of America. Most heartily do I thank you, one and all, for it.
I have spoken but once before this in Cincinnati. That was a year previous
to the late Presidential election. On that occasion, in a playful
manner, but with sincere words, I addressed much of what I said to the
Kentuckians. I gave my opinion that we, as Republicans, would ultimately
beat them as Democrats, but that they could postpone that result longer by
nominating Senator Douglas for the Presidency than they could by any other
way. They did not, in any true sense of the word, nominate Mr. Douglas,
and the result has come certainly as soon as ever I expected. I also told
them how I expected they would be treated after they should have been
beaten, and I now wish to call their attention to what I then said upon
that subject. I then said:
"When we do as we say, beat you, you perhaps want to know what we will
do with you. I will tell you, as far as I am authorized to speak for the
Opposition, what we mean to do with you. We mean to treat you, as near
as we possibly can, as Washington, Jefferson, and Madison treated you.
We mean to leave you alone, and in no way to interfere with your
institutions; to abide by all and every compromise of the Constitution,
and, in a word, coming back to the original proposition, to treat you
so far as degenerate men, if we have degenerated, may, according to the
example of those noble fathers, Washington, Jefferson, and Madison.
"We mean to remember that you are as good as we; that there is no
difference between us other than the difference of circumstances. We mean
to recognize and bear in mind always that you have as good hearts in
your bosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and treat you
accordingly."
Fellow-citizens of Kentucky--friends and brethren, may I call you in my
new position?--I see no occasion and feel no inclination to retract a word
of this. If it shall not be made good, be assured the fault shall not be
mine.
ADDRESS TO THE GERMAN CLUB OF CINCINNATI, OHIO,
FEBRUARY 12, 1861
Mr. CHAIRMAN:--I thank you and those whom you represent for the compliment
you have paid me by tendering me this address. In so far as there is an
allusion to our present national difficulties, which expresses, as you
have said, the views of the gentlemen present, I shall have to beg pardon
for not entering fully upon the questions which the address you have now
read suggests.
I deem it my duty--a duty which I owe to my constituents--to you,
gentlemen, that I should wait until the last moment for a development of
the present national difficulties before I express myself decidedly as to
what course I shall pursue. I hope, then, not to be false to anything that
you have expected of me.
I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, that the working men are the basis of all
governments, for the plain reason that they are all the more numerous,
and as you added that those were the sentiments of the gentlemen present,
representing not only the working class, but citizens of other callings
than those of the mechanic, I am happy to concur with you in these
sentiments, not only of the native-born citizens, but also of the Germans
and foreigners from other countries.
Mr. Chairman, I hold that while man exists it is his duty to improve not
only his own condition, but to assist in ameliorating the condition of
mankind; and therefore, without entering upon the details of the question,
I will simply say that I am for those means which will give the greatest
good to the greatest number.
In regard to the Homestead law, I have to say that, in so far as the
government lands can be disposed of, I am in favor of cutting up the wild
lands into parcels, so that every poor man may have a home.
In regard to the Germans and foreigners, I esteem them no better than
other people, nor any worse. It is not my nature, when I see a people
borne down by the weight of their shackles--the oppression of tyranny--to
make their life more bitter by heaping upon them greater burdens; but
rather would I do all in my power to raise the yoke than to add anything
that would tend to crush them.
Inasmuch as our own country is extensive and new, and the countries of
Europe are densely populated, if there are any abroad who desire to make
this the land of their adoption, it is not in my heart to throw aught in
their way to prevent them from coming to the United States.
Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I will bid you an affectionate farewell.
ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF OHIO AT COLUMBUS
FEBRUARY 13, 1861
Mr. PRESIDENT AND Mr. SPEAKER, AND GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
OHIO:--It is true, as has been said by the president of the Senate, that
very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to which the
votes of the American people have called me. I am deeply sensible of that
weighty responsibility. I cannot but know what you all know, that without
a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, there has
fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his
Country; and so feeling, I can turn and look for that support without
which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I turn,
then, and look to the American people and to that God who has never
forsaken them. Allusion has been made to the interest felt in relation to
the policy of the new administration. In this I have received from some
a degree of credit for having kept silence, and from others some
deprecation. I still think that I was right.
In the varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, and without
a precedent which could enable me to judge by the past, it has seemed
fitting that before speaking upon the difficulties of the country I should
have gained a view of the whole field, being at liberty to modify and
change the course of policy as future events may make a change necessary.
I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. It is a
good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going
wrong. It is a consoling circumstance that when we look out there is
nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different views upon
political questions, but nobody is suffering anything. This is a most
consoling circumstance, and from it we may conclude that all we want is
time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this
people.
Fellow-citizens, what I have said I have said altogether extemporaneously,
and I will now come to a close.
ADDRESS AT STEUBENVILLE, OHIO,
FEBRUARY 14, 1861
I fear that the great confidence placed in my ability is unfounded.
Indeed, I am sure it is. Encompassed by vast difficulties as I am, nothing
shall be wanting on my part, if sustained by God and the American people.
I believe the devotion to the Constitution is equally great on both sides
of the river. It is only the different understanding of that instrument
that causes difficulty. The only dispute on both sides is, "What are their
rights?" If the majority should not rule, who would be the judge? Where
is such a judge to be found? We should all be bound by the majority of
the American people; if not, then the minority must control. Would that be
right? Would it be just or generous? Assuredly not. I reiterate that
the majority should rule. If I adopt a wrong policy, the opportunity for
condemnation will occur in four years' time. Then I can be turned out, and
a better man with better views put in my place.
ADDRESS AT PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
FEBRUARY 15, 1861
I most cordially thank his Honor Mayor Wilson, and the citizens of
Pittsburg generally, for their flattering reception. I am the more
grateful because I know that it is not given to me alone, but to the cause
I represent, which clearly proves to me their good-will, and that sincere
feeling is at the bottom of it. And here I may remark that in every short
address I have made to the people, in every crowd through which I have
passed of late, some allusion has been made to the present distracted
condition of the country. It is natural to expect that I should say
something on this subject; but to touch upon it at all would involve
an elaborate discussion of a great many questions and circumstances,
requiring more time than I can at present command, and would, perhaps,
unnecessarily commit me upon matters which have not yet fully developed
themselves. The condition of the country is an extraordinary one, and
fills the mind of every patriot with anxiety. It is my intention to
give this subject all the consideration I possibly can before specially
deciding in regard to it, so that when I do speak it may be as nearly
right as possible. When I do speak I hope I may say nothing in opposition
to the spirit of the Constitution, contrary to the integrity of the Union,
or which will prove inimical to the liberties of the people, or to the
peace of the whole country. And furthermore, when the time arrives for me
to speak on this great subject, I hope I may say nothing to disappoint the
people generally throughout the country, especially if the expectation has
been based upon anything which I may have heretofore said. Notwithstanding
the troubles across the river [the speaker pointing southwardly across the
Monongahela, and smiling], there is no crisis but an artificial one. What
is there now to warrant the condition of affairs presented by our friends
over the river? Take even their own view of the questions involved, and
there is nothing to justify the course they are pursuing. I repeat, then,
there is no crisis, excepting such a one as may be gotten up at any time
by turbulent men aided by designing politicians, My advice to them, under
such circumstances, is to keep cool. If the great American people only
keep their temper on both sides of the line, the troubles will come to
an end, and the question which now distracts the country will be settled,
just as surely as all other difficulties of a like character which have
originated in this government have been adjusted. Let the people on both
sides keep their self-possession, and just as other clouds have cleared
away in due time, so will this great nation continue to prosper as
heretofore. But, fellow-citizens, I have spoken longer on this subject
than I intended at the outset.
It is often said that the tariff is the specialty of Pennsylvania.
Assuming that direct taxation is not to be adopted, the tariff question
must be as durable as the government itself. It is a question of national
housekeeping. It is to the government what replenishing the meal-tub is
to the family. Every varying circumstances will require frequent
modifications as to the amount needed and the sources of supply. So
far there is little difference of opinion among the people. It is as to
whether, and how far, duties on imports shall be adjusted to favor home
production in the home market, that controversy begins. One party insists
that such adjustment oppresses one class for the advantage of another;
while the other party argues that, with all its incidents, in the long run
all classes are benefited. In the Chicago platform there is a plank upon
this subject which should be a general law to the incoming administration.
We should do neither more nor less than we gave the people reason
to believe we would when they gave us their votes. Permit me,
fellow-citizens, to read the tariff plank of the Chicago platform, or
rather have it read in your hearing by one who has younger eyes.
[Mr. Lincoln's private secretary then read Section 12 of the Chicago
platform, as follows:]
"That, while providing revenue for the support of the General Government
by duties upon imports, sound policy requires such an adjustment of these
imposts as will encourage the development of the industrial interest of
the whole country; and we commend that policy of national exchanges which
secures to working-men liberal wages, to agriculture remunerating prices,
to mechanics and manufacturers adequate return for their skill, labor, and
enterprise, and to the nation commercial prosperity and independence."