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    The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858
    The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858
    The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858
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    The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858

    By Abraham Lincoln

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    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) is one of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country’s most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the “Westerner” who educated himself and became a self made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln successfully navigated the Union through the Civil War but didn’t live to witness his own accomplishment, becoming the first president assassinated when he was killed at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth.


    As impressive as his presidency was, one of his most lasting legacies was his writing. In addition to masterful writing for everything from orders to his generals and condolences to the aggrieved Mrs. Bixby, his Second Inaugural Address and Gettysburg Address are considered masterpieces that rate among the greatest writings in American history. Perhaps Lincoln’s most impressive feat is that he was able to convey so much with so few words; after famous orator Edward Everett spoke for hours at Gettysburg, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address only took a few minutes.


    In the generation after the Civil War, Lincoln became an American deity and one of the most written about men in history. Understandably, all of his writings and papers were intently scoured and collected, and they’ve been preserved in seven volumes of Papers and Writings. 
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherKrill Press
    Release dateDec 18, 2015
    ISBN9781518340994
    The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858
    Author

    Abraham Lincoln

    Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865) was the sixteenth president of the United States and a pioneer in abolishing slavery. Lincoln was born into poverty in Hardin County, Kentucky. As a young man, he fought in the Black Hawk War, during which he made strong political connections. In 1834, Lincoln was elected to the Illinois state legislature as a member of the Whig Party. He then devoted much of his time to studying law, which eventually led to his single term in the United States House of Representatives. In 1856, Lincoln joined the Republican Party, using his position as a platform to speak against slavery in the Confederacy. Four years later, he was elected president. The Civil War erupted shortly after. In 1862, Lincoln delivered his famous Emancipation Proclamation, successfully freeing slaves in the Confederacy. Lincoln penned many more speeches and essays, most famously his Gettysburg Address. John Wilkes Booth, a Confederacy sympathizer, assassinated Lincoln at the Ford’s Theatre in 1865.  

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      Book preview

      The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln - Abraham Lincoln

      THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VOLUME 3, 1858

      ..................

      Abraham Lincoln

      FIREWORK PRESS

      Thank you for reading. In the event that you appreciate this book, please consider sharing the good word(s) by leaving a review, or connect with the author.

      This book is a work of nonfiction and is intended to be factually accurate.

      All rights reserved. Aside from brief quotations for media coverage and reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced or distributed in any form without the author’s permission. Thank you for supporting authors and a diverse, creative culture by purchasing this book and complying with copyright laws.

      Copyright © 2015 by Abraham Lincoln

      Interior design by Pronoun

      Distribution by Pronoun

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Introduction

      The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume Three

      THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES I

      SPEECH AT CHICAGO, JULY 10, 1858.

      IN REPLY TO SENATOR DOUGLAS

      SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD, JULY 17, 1858.

      DELIVERED SATURDAY EVENING

      CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN LINCOLN AND DOUGLAS

      MR. LINCOLN TO MR. DOUGLAS.

      CHICAGO, ILL., July 24, 1558.

      Mr. DOUGLAS TO Mr. LINCOLN.

      BEMENT, PLATT Co., ILL., July 30, 1858.

      Mr. LINCOLN TO Mr. DOUGLAS.

      SPRINGFIELD, July 31, 1858. HON. S. A. DOUGLAS:

      FIRST JOINT DEBATE, AT OTTAWA,

      AUGUST 21, 1858

      SECOND JOINT DEBATE, AT FREEPORT,

      AUGUST 27, 1858

      Mr. LINCOLN’S REJOINDER.

      THIRD JOINT DEBATE, AT JONESBORO,

      SEPTEMBER 15, 1858

      INTERROGATORIES:

      CAMPBELL’S REPLY.

      The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858

      By

      Abraham Lincoln

      The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume 3, 1858

      Published by Firework Press

      New York City, NY

      First published 1858

      Copyright © Firework Press, 2015

      All rights reserved

      Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

      About Firework Press

      Firework Press prints and publishes the greatest books about American history ever written, including seminal works written by our nation’s most influential figures.

      INTRODUCTION

      ..................

      ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1809–1865) IS ONE of the most famous Americans in history and one of the country’s most revered presidents. Schoolchildren can recite the life story of Lincoln, the Westerner who educated himself and became a self made man, rising from lawyer to leader of the new Republican Party before becoming the 16th President of the United States. Lincoln successfully navigated the Union through the Civil War but didn’t live to witness his own accomplishment, becoming the first president assassinated when he was killed at Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth.

      As impressive as his presidency was, one of his most lasting legacies was his writing. In addition to masterful writing for everything from orders to his generals and condolences to the aggrieved Mrs. Bixby, his Second Inaugural Address and Gettysburg Address are considered masterpieces that rate among the greatest writings in American history. Perhaps Lincoln’s most impressive feat is that he was able to convey so much with so few words; after famous orator Edward Everett spoke for hours at Gettysburg, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address only took a few minutes.

      In the generation after the Civil War, Lincoln became an American deity and one of the most written about men in history. Understandably, all of his writings and papers were intently scoured and collected, and they’ve been preserved in seven volumes of Papers and Writings. This edition of The Papers and Writings of Abraham Lincoln: Volume Three covers 1858, particularly the Senate race against the Little Giant, Stephen Douglas. Lincoln’s speeches and parts of their famous debates are included in this volume.

      THE PAPERS AND WRITINGS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VOLUME THREE

      ..................

      THE LINCOLN-DOUGLAS DEBATES I

      ..................

      POLITICAL SPEECHES & DEBATES OF LINCOLN WITH DOUGLAS In the Senatorial Campaign of 1858 in Illinois SPEECH AT SPRINGFIELD, JUNE 17, 1858

      [The following speech was delivered at Springfield, Ill., at the close of the Republican State Convention held at that time and place, and by which Convention Mr. LINCOLN had been named as their candidate for United States Senator. Mr. DOUGLAS was not present.]

      Mr. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION:—If we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the States, old as well as new, North as well as South.

      Have we no tendency to the latter condition?

      Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete legal combination-piece of machinery, so to speak compounded of the Nebraska doctrine and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider, not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted, but also let him study the history of its construction, and trace, if he can, or rather fail, if he can, to trace the evidences of design, and concert of action, among its chief architects, from the beginning.

      The new year of 1854 found slavery excluded from more than half the States by State Constitutions, and from most of the National territory by Congressional prohibition. Four days later, commenced the struggle which ended in repealing that Congressional prohibition. This opened all the National territory to slavery, and was the first point gained.

      But, so far, Congress only had acted, and an indorsement by the people, real or apparent, was indispensable to save the point already gained, and give chance for more.

      This necessity had not been overlooked, but had been provided for, as well as might be, in the notable argument of squatter sovereignty, otherwise called sacred right of self-government, which latter phrase, though expressive of the only rightful basis of any government, was so perverted in this attempted use of it as to amount to just this: That if any one man choose to enslave another, no third man shall be allowed to object. That argument was incorporated into the Nebraska Bill itself, in the language which follows:

      It being the true intent and meaning of this Act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States.

      Then opened the roar of loose declamation in favor of squatter sovereignty, and sacred right of self-government. But, said opposition members, let us amend the bill so as to expressly declare that the people of the Territory may exclude slavery. Not we, said the friends of the measure, and down they voted the amendment.

      While the Nebraska Bill was passing through Congress, a law case, involving the question of a negro’s freedom, by reason of his owner having voluntarily taken him first into a free State, and then into a territory covered by the Congressional Prohibition, and held him as a slave for a long time in each, was passing through the United States Circuit Court for the District of Missouri; and both Nebraska Bill and lawsuit were brought to a decision in the same month of May, 1854. The negro’s name was Dred Scott, which name now designates the decision finally made in the case. Before the then next Presidential election, the law case came to, and was argued in, the Supreme Court of the United States; but the decision of it was deferred until after the election. Still, before the election, Senator Trumbull, on the floor of the Senate, requested the leading advocate of the Nebraska Bill to state his opinion whether the people of a territory can constitutionally exclude slavery from their limits; and the latter answers: That is a question for the Supreme Court.

      The election came. Mr. Buchanan was elected, and the indorsement, such as it was, secured. That was the second point gained. The indorsement, however, fell short of a clear popular majority by nearly four hundred thousand votes,(approximately 10% of the vote) and so, perhaps, was not overwhelmingly reliable and satisfactory. The outgoing President, in his last annual message, as impressively as possible echoed back upon the people the weight and authority of the indorsement. The Supreme Court met again, did not announce their decision, but ordered a reargument. The Presidential inauguration came, and still no decision of the court; but the incoming President, in his inaugural address, fervently exhorted the people to abide by the forth-coming decision, whatever it might be. Then, in a few days, came the decision.

      The reputed author of the Nebraska Bill finds an early occasion to make a speech at this capital indorsing the Dred Scott decision, and vehemently denouncing all opposition to it. The new President, too, seizes the early occasion of the Silliman letter to indorse and strongly construe that decision, and to express his astonishment that any different view had ever been entertained!

      At length a squabble springs up between the President and the author of the Nebraska Bill, on the mere question of fact, whether the Lecompton Constitution was or was not in any just sense made by the people of Kansas; and in that quarrel the latter declares that all he wants is a fair vote for the people, and that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up. I do not understand his declaration, that he cares not whether slavery be voted down or voted up, to be intended by him other than as an apt definition of the policy he would impress upon the public mind,—the principle for which he declares he has suffered so much, and is ready to suffer to the end. And well may he cling to that principle! If he has any parental feeling, well may he cling to it. That principle is the only shred left of his original Nebraska doctrine. Under the Dred Scott decision squatter sovereignty squatted out of existence, tumbled down like temporary scaffolding; like the mould at the foundry, served through one blast, and fell back into loose sand; helped to carry an election, and then was kicked to the winds. His late joint struggle with the Republicans, against the Lecompton Constitution, involves nothing of the original Nebraska doctrine. That struggle was made on a point—the right of a people to make their own constitution—upon which he and the Republicans have never differed.

      The several points of the Dred Scott decision, in connection with Senator Douglas’s care not policy, constitute the piece of machinery, in its present state of advancement. This was the third point gained. The working points of that machinery are:

      Firstly, That no negro slave, imported as such from Africa, and no descendant of such slave, can ever be a citizen of any State, in the sense of that term as used in the Constitution of the United States. This point is made in order to deprive the negro, in every possible event, of the benefit of that provision of the United States Constitution which declares that The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States.

      Secondly, That, subject to the Constitution of the United States, neither Congress nor a Territorial Legislature can exclude slavery from any United States Territory. This point is made in order that individual men may fill up the Territories with slaves, without danger of losing them as property, and thus to enhance the chances of permanency to the institution through all the future.

      Thirdly, That whether the holding a negro in actual slavery in a free State makes him free, as against the holder, the United States courts will not decide, but will leave to be decided by the courts of any slave State the negro may be forced into by the master. This point is made, not to be pressed immediately; but, if acquiesced in for a while, and apparently indorsed by the people at an election, then to sustain the logical conclusion that what Dred Scott’s master might lawfully do with Dred Scott, in the free State of Illinois, every other master may lawfully do with any other one, or one thousand slaves, in Illinois, or in any other free State.

      Auxiliary to all this, and working hand in hand with it, the Nebraska doctrine, or what is left of it, is to educate and mould public opinion, at least Northern public opinion, not to care whether slavery is voted down or voted up. This shows exactly where we now are; and partially, also, wither we are tending.

      It will throw additional light on the latter, to go back and run the mind over the string of historical facts already stated. Several things will now appear less

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