difference in construing this. I have by no means a thoroughly matured
judgment upon this subject, especially as to details; some general ideas
are about all. I have long thought it would be to our advantage to produce
any necessary article at home which can be made of as good quality and
with as little labor at home as abroad, at least by the difference of the
carrying from abroad. In such case the carrying is demonstrably a dead
loss of labor. For instance, labor being the true standard of value, is it
not plain that if equal labor get a bar of railroad iron out of a mine in
England and another out of a mine in Pennsylvania, each can be laid down
in a track at home cheaper than they could exchange countries, at least
by the carriage? If there be a present cause why one can be both made
and carried cheaper in money price than the other can be made without
carrying, that cause is an unnatural and injurious one, and ought
gradually, if not rapidly, to be removed. The condition of the treasury
at this time would seem to render an early revision of the tariff
indispensable. The Morrill [tariff] bill, now pending before Congress, may
or may not become a law. I am not posted as to its particular provisions,
but if they are generally satisfactory, and the bill shall now pass, there
will be an end for the present. If, however, it shall not pass, I suppose
the whole subject will be one of the most pressing and important for the
next Congress. By the Constitution, the executive may recommend measures
which he may think proper, and he may veto those he thinks improper, and
it is supposed that he may add to these certain indirect influences to
affect the action of Congress. My political education strongly inclines me
against a very free use of any of these means by the executive to control
the legislation of the country. As a rule, I think it better that Congress
should originate as well as perfect its measures without external bias. I
therefore would rather recommend to every gentleman who knows he is to be
a member of the next Congress to take an enlarged view, and post himself
thoroughly, so as to contribute his part to such an adjustment of the
tariff as shall produce a sufficient revenue, and in its other bearings,
so far as possible, be just and equal to all sections of the country and
classes of the people.
ADDRESS AT CLEVELAND, OHIO,
FEBRUARY 15, 1861
Mr. CHAIRMAN AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF CLEVELAND:--We have been marching
about two miles through snow, rain, and deep mud. The large numbers that
have turned out under these circumstances testify that you are in earnest
about something or other. But do I think so meanly of you as to suppose
that that earnestness is about me personally? I would be doing you an
injustice to suppose you did. You have assembled to testify your respect
for the Union, the Constitution, and the laws; and here let me say that it
is with you, the people, to advance the great cause of the Union and the
Constitution, and not with any one man. It rests with you alone. This fact
is strongly impressed upon my mind at present. In a community like this,
whose appearance testifies to their intelligence, I am convinced that the
cause of liberty and the Union can never be in danger. Frequent allusion
is made to the excitement at present existing in our national politics,
and it is as well that I should also allude to it here. I think that
there is no occasion for any excitement. 'The crisis, as it is called,
is altogether an artificial crisis. In all parts of the nation there are
differences of opinion on politics. There are differences of opinion even
here. You did not all vote for the person who now addresses you. What is
happening now will not hurt those who are farther away from here. Have
they not all their rights now as they ever have had? Do they not have
their fugitive slaves returned now as ever? Have they not the same
Constitution that they have lived under for seventy-odd years? Have they
not a position as citizens of this common country, and have we any power
to change that position? What, then, is the matter with them? Why all this
excitement? Why all these complaints?
As I said before, this crisis is all artificial! It has no foundation in
facts. It is not argued up, as the saying is, and cannot, therefore, be
argued down. Let it alone and it will go down of itself.
[Mr. Lincoln then said that they must be content with a few words from
him, as he was tired, etc. Having been given to understand that the
crowd was not all Republican, but consisted of men of all parties, he
continued:]
This is as it should be. If Judge Douglas had been elected and had been
here on his way to Washington, as I am to-night, the Republicans should
have joined his supporters in welcoming him, just as his friends have
joined with mine tonight. If all do not join now to save the good old
ship of the Union this voyage, nobody will have a chance to pilot her on
another voyage.
ADDRESS AT BUFFALO, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 16, 1861
Mr. MAYOR AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF BUFFALO AND THE STATE OF NEW YORK:--I
am here to thank you briefly for this grand reception given to me, not
personally, but as the representative of our great and beloved country.
Your worthy mayor has been pleased to mention, in his address to me, the
fortunate and agreeable journey which I have had from home, on my rather
circuitous route to the Federal capital. I am very happy that he was
enabled in truth to congratulate myself and company on that fact. It is
true we have had nothing thus far to mar the pleasure of the trip. We have
not been met alone by those who assisted in giving the election to me--I
say not alone by them, but by the whole population of the country through
which we have passed. This is as it should be. Had the election fallen
to any other of the distinguished candidates instead of myself, under the
peculiar circumstances, to say the least, it would have been proper for
all citizens to have greeted him as you now greet me. It is an evidence of
the devotion of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and
the perpetuity of the liberties of this country. I am unwilling on any
occasion that I should be so meanly thought of as to have it supposed for
a moment that these demonstrations are tendered to me personally. They are
tendered to the country, to the institutions of the country, and to the
perpetuity of the liberties of the country, for which these institutions
were made and created.
Your worthy mayor has thought fit to express the hope that I may be able
to relieve the country from the present, or, I should say, the threatened
difficulties. I am sure I bring a heart true to the work. For the ability
to perform it, I must trust in that Supreme Being who has never forsaken
this favored land, through the instrumentality of this great and
intelligent people. Without that assistance I shall surely fail; with it,
I cannot fail. When we speak of threatened difficulties to the Country,
it is natural that it should be expected that something should be said by
myself with regard to particular measures. Upon more mature reflection,
however, others will agree with me that, when it is considered that these
difficulties are without precedent, and have never been acted upon by any
individual situated as I am, it is most proper I should wait and see the
developments, and get all the light possible, so that when I do speak
authoritatively, I may be as near right as possible. When I shall speak
authoritatively, I hope to say nothing inconsistent with the Constitution,
the Union, the rights of all the States, of each State, and of each
section of the country, and not to disappoint the reasonable expectations
of those who have confided to me their votes. In this connection allow me
to say that you, as a portion of the great American people, need only to
maintain your composure, stand up to your sober convictions of right, to
your obligations to the Constitution, and act in accordance with those
sober convictions, and the clouds now on the horizon will be dispelled,
and we shall have a bright and glorious future; and when this generation
has passed away, tens of thousands will inhabit this country where only
thousands inhabit it now. I do not propose to address you at length; I
have no voice for it. Allow me again to thank you for this magnificent
reception, and bid you farewell.
ADDRESS AT ROCHESTER, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 18, 1861
I confess myself, after having seen many large audiences since leaving
home, overwhelmed with this vast number of faces at this hour of the
morning. I am not vain enough to believe that you are here from any
wish to see me as an individual, but because I am for the time being the
representative of the American people. I could not, if I would, address
you at any length. I have not the strength, even if I had the time, for a
speech at each of these many interviews that are afforded me on my way to
Washington. I appear merely to see you, and to let you see me, and to
bid you farewell. I hope it will be understood that it is from no
disinclination to oblige anybody that I do not address you at greater
length.
ADDRESS AT SYRACUSE, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 18, 1861.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I See you have erected a very fine and handsome
platform here for me, and I presume you expected me to speak from it. If
I should go upon it, you would imagine that I was about to deliver you
a much longer speech than I am. I wish you to understand that I mean no
discourtesy to you by thus declining. I intend discourtesy to no one.
But I wish you to understand that, though I am unwilling to go upon this
platform, you are not at liberty to draw inferences concerning any other
platform with which my name has been or is connected. I wish you long life
and prosperity individually, and pray that with the perpetuity of those
institutions under which we have all so long lived and prospered, our
happiness may be secured, our future made brilliant, and the glorious
destiny of our country established forever. I bid you a kind farewell.
ADDRESS AT UTICA, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 18, 1860
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I have no speech to make to you; and no time to
speak in. I appear before you that I may see you, and that you may see me;
and I am willing to admit that so far as the ladies are concerned I have
the best of the bargain, though I wish it to be understood that I do not
make the same acknowledgment concerning the men.
REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF ALBANY, NEW YORK
FEBRUARY 18, 1861.
MR. MAYOR:--I can hardly appropriate to myself the flattering terms in
which you communicate the tender of this reception, as personal to myself.
I most gratefully accept the hospitalities tendered to me, and will not
detain you or the audience with any extended remarks at this time. I
presume that in the two or three courses through which I shall have to go,
I shall have to repeat somewhat, and I will therefore only express to you
my thanks for this kind reception.
REPLY TO GOVERNOR MORGAN OF NEW YORK, AT ALBANY,
FEBRUARY 18, 1861.
GOVERNOR MORGAN:--I was pleased to receive an invitation to visit the
capital of the great Empire State of this nation while on my way to the
Federal capital. I now thank you, Mr. Governor, and you, the people of
the capital of the State of New York, for this most hearty and magnificent
welcome. If I am not at fault, the great Empire State at this time
contains a larger population than did the whole of the United States of
America at the time they achieved their national independence, and I was
proud--to be invited to visit its capital, to meet its citizens, as I now
have the honor to do. I am notified by your governor that this reception
is tendered by citizens without distinction of party. Because of this
I accept it the more gladly. In this country, and in any country where
freedom of thought is tolerated, citizens attach themselves to political
parties. It is but an ordinary degree of charity to attribute this act to
the supposition that, in thus attaching themselves to the various parties,
each man in his own judgment supposes he thereby best advances the
interests of the whole country. And when an election is past it is
altogether befitting a free people, as I suppose, that, until the next
election, they should be one people. The reception you have extended me
to-day is not given to me personally,--it should not be so,--but as the
representative, for the time being, of the majority of the nation. If the
election had fallen to any of the more distinguished citizens who received
the support of the people, this same honor should have greeted him that
greets me this day, in testimony of the universal, unanimous devotion
of the whole people to the Constitution, the Union, and to the perpetual
liberties of succeeding generations in this country.
I have neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater
length. I beg you will therefore accept my most grateful thanks for this
manifest devotion--not to me, but the institutions of this great and
glorious country.
ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW YORK, AT ALBANY,
FEBRUARY 18, 1861.
MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW
YORK:--It is with feelings of great diffidence, and, I may say, with
feelings of awe, perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, that I
meet you here in this place. The history of this great State, the renown
of those great men who have stood here, and have spoken here, and have
been heard here, all crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink from
any attempt to address you. Yet I have some confidence given me by the
generous manner in which you have invited me, and by the still more
generous manner in which you have received me, to speak further. You
have invited and received me without distinction of party. I cannot for
a moment suppose that this has been done in any considerable degree with
reference to my personal services, but that it is done in so far as I am
regarded, at this time, as the representative of the majesty of this great
nation. I doubt not this is the truth, and the whole truth of the case,
and this is as it should be. It is much more gratifying to me that this
reception has been given to me as the elected representative of a free
people, than it could possibly be if tendered merely as an evidence of
devotion to me, or to any one man personally.
And now I think it were more fitting that I should close these hasty
remarks. It is true that, while I hold myself, without mock modesty,
the humblest of all individuals that have ever been elevated to the
Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any one of them.
You have generously tendered me the support--the united support--of the
great Empire State. For this, in behalf of the nation--in behalf of the
present and future of the nation--in behalf of civil and religious liberty
for all time to come, most gratefully do I thank you. I do not propose
to enter into an explanation of any particular line of policy, as to our
present difficulties, to be adopted by the incoming administration. I deem
it just to you, to myself, to all, that I should see everything, that I
should hear everything, that I should have every light that can be brought
within my reach, in order that, when I do so speak, I shall have enjoyed
every opportunity to take correct and true ground; and for this reason I
do not propose to speak at this time of the policy of the Government. But
when the time comes, I shall speak, as well as I am able, for the good of
the present and future of this country for the good both of the North and
of the South--for the good of the one and the other, and of all sections
of the country. In the meantime, if we have patience, if we restrain
ourselves, if we allow ourselves not to run off in a passion, I still have
confidence that the Almighty, the Maker of the universe, will, through
the instrumentality of this great and intelligent people, bring us through
this as He has through all the other difficulties of our country. Relying
on this, I again thank you for this generous reception.
ADDRESS AT TROY, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 19, 1861
MR. MAYOR AND CITIZENS OF TROY:--I thank you very kindly for this great
reception. Since I left my home it has not been my fortune to meet
an assemblage more numerous and more orderly than this. I am the more
gratified at this mark of your regard since you assure me it is tendered,
not to the individual but to the high office you have called me to fill.
I have neither strength nor time to make any extended remarks on this
occasion, and I can only repeat to you my sincere thanks for the kind
reception you have thought proper to extend to me.
ADDRESS AT POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 19, 1861
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--It is altogether impossible I should make myself heard
by any considerable portion of this vast assemblage; but, although I
appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let you
see rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying that I am highly
gratified--as much here, indeed, under the circumstances, as I have been
anywhere on my route--to witness this noble demonstration--made, not
in honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time humbly, but
earnestly, represents the majesty of the nation.
This reception, like all the others that have been tendered to me,
doubtless emanates from all the political parties, and not from one alone.
As such I accept it the more gratefully, since it indicates an earnest
desire on the part of the whole people, with out regard to political
differences, to save--not the country, because the country will save
itself but to save the institutions of the country, those institutions
under which, in the last three quarters of a century, we have grown to
a great, and intelligent, and a happy people--the greatest, the
most intelligent, and the happiest people in the world. These noble
manifestations indicate, with unerring certainty, that the whole people
are willing to make common cause for this object; that if, as it ever must
be, some have been successful in the recent election and some have been
beaten, if some are satisfied and some are dissatisfied, the defeated
party are not in favor of sinking the ship, but are desirous of running it
through the tempest in safety, and willing, if they think the people have
committed an error in their verdict now, to wait in the hope of reversing
it and setting it right next time. I do not say that in the recent
election the people did the wisest thing, that could have been
done--indeed, I do not think they did; but I do say that in accepting the
great trust committed to me, which I do with a determination to endeavor
to prove worthy of it, I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole
country, for support; and with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as I
am, cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through the storm.
I have now only to thank you warmly for your kind attendance, and bid you
all an affectionate farewell.
ADDRESS AT HUDSON, NEW YORK.
FEBRUARY 19, 1860
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I see that you are providing a platform for me. I shall
have to decline standing upon it, because the president of the company
tells me that I shall not have time to wait until it is brought to me. As
I said yesterday, under similar circumstances at another gathering, you
must not draw the inference that I have any intention of deserting any
platform with which I have a legitimate connection because I do not stand
on yours. Allow me to thank you for this splendid reception, and I now bid
you farewell.
ADDRESS AT PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK,
FEBRUARY 19, 1861
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I have but a moment to stand before you to listen
to and return your kind greeting. I thank you for this reception, and for
the pleasant manner in which it is tendered to me by our mutual friends.
I will say in a single sentence, in regard to the difficulties that lie
before me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously and
unanimously sustained as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate I
shall be, I shall not fail; but without your sustaining hands I am sure
that neither I nor any other man can hope to surmount these difficulties.
I trust that in the course I shall pursue I shall be sustained not only
by the party that elected me, but by the patriotic people of the whole
country.
ADDRESS AT FISHKILL LANDING
FEBRUARY 19, 1861
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I appear before you not to make a speech. I have
not sufficient time, if I had the strength, to repeat speeches at every
station where the people kindly gather to welcome me as we go along. If I
had the strength, and should take the time, I should not get to Washington
until after the inauguration, which you must be aware would not fit
exactly. That such an untoward event might not transpire, I know you will
readily forego any further remarks; and I close by bidding you farewell.
REMARKS AT THE ASTOR HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, FEBRUARY 19, 1861
FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I have stepped before you merely in compliance with what
appears to be your wish, and not with the purpose of making a speech. I
do not propose making a speech this afternoon. I could not be heard by any
but a small fraction of you, at best; but, what is still worse than that,
I have nothing just now to say that is worthy of your hearing. I beg you
to believe that I do not now refuse to address you from any disposition to
disoblige you, but to the contrary. But, at the same time, I beg of you to
excuse me for the present.
ADDRESS AT NEW YORK CITY,
FEBRUARY 19, 1861
Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:--I am rather an old man to avail myself of
such an excuse as I am now about to do. Yet the truth is so distinct, and
presses itself so distinctly upon me, that I cannot well avoid it--and
that is, that I did not understand when I was brought into this room that
I was to be brought here to make a speech. It was not intimated to me that
I was brought into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry Clay had made
speeches, and where one in my position might be expected to do something
like those men or say something worthy of myself or my audience. I
therefore beg you to make allowance for the circumstances in which I
have been by surprise brought before you. Now I have been in the habit
of thinking and sometimes speaking upon political questions that have for
some years past agitated the country; and, if I were disposed to do so,
and we could take up some one of the issues, as the lawyers call them, and
I were called upon to make an argument about it to the best of my ability,
I could do so without much preparation. But that is not what you desire to
have done here to-night.
I have been occupying a position, since the Presidential election, of
silence--of avoiding public speaking, of avoiding public writing. I have
been doing so because I thought, upon full consideration, that was the
proper course for me to take. I am brought before you now, and required
to make a speech, when you all approve more than anything else of the fact
that I have been keeping silence. And now it seems to me that the response
you give to that remark ought to justify me in closing just here. I
have not kept silence since the Presidential election from any party
wantonness, or from any indifference to the anxiety that pervades the
minds of men about the aspect of the political affairs of this country. I
have kept silence for the reason that I supposed it was peculiarly proper
that I should do so until the time came when, according to the custom of
the country, I could speak officially.
I still suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this
country at this time is rapidly shifting its scenes--forbidding an
anticipation with any degree of certainty to-day of what we shall see
to-morrow--it is peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the
last minute, before I should take ground that I might be disposed, by the
shifting of the scenes afterward, also to shift. I have said several times
upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time does
come, I shall then take the ground that I think is right--right for the
North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for the whole country.
And in doing so I hope to feel no necessity pressing upon me to say
anything in conflict with the Constitution, in conflict with the continued
union of these States, in conflict with the perpetuation of the liberties
of this people, or anything in conflict with anything whatever that I have
ever given you reason to expect from me. And now, my friends, have I said
enough? [Loud cries of "No, no!" and, "Three cheers for LINCOLN!"] Now, my
friends, there appears to be a difference of opinion between you and me,
and I really feel called upon to decide the question myself.
REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY,
FEBRUARY 20, 1861