Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters Part 10

The speeches, which were all extempore, as far as the actual form is concerned, were later collected from the newspaper reports, and after some slight revision by the authors were published in 1860 in Columbus, Ohio. This volume, from which the present text is taken, contained in addition a number of speeches delivered by Lincoln and Douglas earlier in 1858 and two speeches made by Lincoln in Ohio in 1859. Lincoln's statement at the close of a letter to the publishers, accompanying the copy for the book, is characteristic and interesting: "I wish the reprint to be precisely as the copies I send, without any comment whatever." This Columbus issue was used as a Republican campaign doc.u.ment and large numbers were sold.

The Freeport Debate, the second in the series, was held on the afternoon of August 27. With the exception of the Galesburg Debate, it was the most largely attended of the seven meetings, and in its effect upon the campaign it is now regarded as the most important.

_Judge Douglas and myself_. In the informal speeches Lincoln frequently committed errors of speech like this. Even during the presidential period he shows a marked tendency to use the cleft infinitive. But in the carefully written addresses the language is almost always correct.

_Fugitive Slave law_. This statute was pa.s.sed in 1850 for the stricter regulation of the return of escaped slaves to their owners. In his answer to this question Lincoln showed clearly that he was not an Abolitionist, as that term was then understood.

_Question 2_. Douglas' reply to this question was as follows: "I answer emphatically, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois that in my opinion the people of a territory can, by lawful means, exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a State Const.i.tution." It is claimed that this question was put by Lincoln in spite of the protests of several of his friends, who believed that it would give Douglas an advantage. But here, as in the equally feared Springfield Speech, Lincoln proved his superior sagacity. Douglas' affirmative answer probably gained him the senators.h.i.+p, but it certainly lost him the presidency two years later.

_First Republican State Convention_. The reference is to a meeting held in Springfield, which was addressed by Owen Lovejoy. Lincoln was not present on this occasion. Recent investigation seems to show that there was no foundation for the charge that this was exclusively a meeting of Abolitionists, but that it included many men who held the same political views as Lincoln. Douglas honestly believed that the resolutions read by him at the Ottawa meeting were genuine and he was greatly chagrined at the mistake.

_By an amendment_. This amendment was offered by Douglas.

THE COOPER INSt.i.tUTE ADDRESS.

This address, Lincoln's first important direct message to the people of the East, was very carefully prepared. The text in this volume is taken from _The Tribune Tract_, issued as a campaign doc.u.ment.

The Northwestern Territory. The district comprising the present States of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin, had been ceded to the national government by the original States.

"_Black Republicans_." Douglas constantly referred to his opponents under this t.i.tle. In the Ottawa Debate he affirmed that in 1854 Lincoln and Trumbull had arranged to form "an Abolition party, under the name and disguise of a Republican party."

"_Popular sovereignty_." This principle is defined by Douglas as follows: "My principle is to recognize each State of the Union as independent, sovereign, and equal in its sovereignty."

_Harper's Ferry! John Brown!_ John Brown was a New Englander, who had taken an active part in the Kansas disorders in 1856. During the summer of 1859 he engaged in an attempt to free the slaves of Virginia.

After capturing the a.r.s.enal at Harper's Ferry, he was overpowered by a body of marines and with the survivors of his "army," was hanged. By the extreme anti-slavery people he was regarded as a martyr, the best expression of this spirit being given by Mrs. Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic." In a speech in Congress of January 16, 1860, Senator Douglas had stated his "firm and deliberate conviction that the Harper's Ferry crime was the natural, logical, inevitable result of the doctrines and teachings of the Republican party."

_The Southampton insurrection_. The reference is to a slave insurrection which occurred in 1831 in Southampton, Va.

_Helper's Book_. Hinton P. Helper, a North Carolinian of the so-called poor white cla.s.s, was the author of a book on the effects of slavery, ent.i.tled _The Impending Crisis in the South_. The special reference is to the recent agreement among sixty-four Republican representatives to publish a compendium of the book for circulation in doubtful States.

THE FAREWELL SPEECH.

This beautiful little address was delivered from the platform of the car that bore the President-elect away from his old home. It has been preserved in two slightly differing versions, neither of which probably exactly reproduces the words used. The Springfield papers, which were followed by Herndon, gave an inaccurate report that robbed the speech of much of its rare beauty.

THE FIRST INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

The First Inaugural was carefully written in Springfield a month before its delivery. Contrary to his usual practice in public speaking, Lincoln read from the MS. The address was enthusiastically received by an immense audience a.s.sembled front of the Capitol and the general impression produced at the North was favorable. By the Southern and the Abolition press it was severely criticised, both with regard to its form and its content.

_The mystic chords of memory_. This pa.s.sage was suggested by Mr.

Seward, to whom the address had been submitted for criticism. The customary usury of genius was paid for the verbal loan.

RESPONSE TO SERENADE.

This speech was delivered before a delegation of New Yorkers, who called at the White House on the evening of March 4. Two other similar responses have been preserved from the same day. The present address is reprinted here for the first time, from the New York _Times_.

LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY.

Greeley's letter of August 19, which was headed "The Prayer of Twenty Millions," began as follows: "I do not intrude to tell you--for you must know already--that a great proportion of those who triumphed in your election, and of all who desire the unqualified suppression of the Rebellion now desolating our country, are sorely disappointed and deeply pained by the policy you seem to be pursuing." That Lincoln had good reason to complain of "an impatient and dictatorial tone" is sufficiently shown by the closing sentence, "I entreat you to render hearty and unequivocal obedience to the laws of the land." The following issue of the _Tribune_ contained a long editorial on the same subject. The influence of the _Tribune_ in the Northern States was immense, and Lincoln realized the importance of making a clear statement of his policy to its readers.

SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS.

After a long statement about the conditions of the finances and of the different departments, the President devoted the remainder of the s.p.a.ce to the discussion of compensated emanc.i.p.ation, on which he had already made a recommendation earlier in the year in a special message to Congress. The concluding paragraph is in the elevated style of the Inaugurals.

THE EMANc.i.p.aTION PROCLAMATION.

The first draft of the Proclamation was submitted to the Cabinet in the preceding July, with the remark that he had fully determined to issue it immediately. Secretary Seward suggested that its issue be postponed until it could be given to the country supported by some military success. The President saw the force of the suggestion and waited until after the battle of Antietam. The Preliminary Proclamation was dated September 22, 1862. In a reply to a serenade two days later the President said: "I can only trust in G.o.d I have made no mistake."

_Upon military necessity_. This phrase was inserted in the concluding sentence, which had been suggested by Secretary Chase, as furnis.h.i.+ng the only authority by which the President felt that he could free the slaves of the enemy. The Proclamation did not refer to those slaves held by persons who were not in rebellion.

LETTER TO J. C. CONKLING.

Mr. Conkling was a personal friend of the President, and the formal letter was accompanied by the following note:

"MY DEAR CONKLING:

"I cannot leave here now. Herewith is a letter instead. You are one of the best public readers. I have but one request--read it very slowly and now G.o.d bless you, and all good Union men."

In spite of precautions, the letter was published in the New York _Evening Post_ several days before the meeting.

I know as fully as one can know. The portion of the paragraph from these words to the end was not in the original letter, but was added by telegraph.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS.

The standard text of the address does not agree exactly either with the original written form or with the form in which it was delivered, but it is a combination of these, made by Lincoln a few days later. In the contemporary newspaper reports it was variously referred to as an address, a speech, and remarks.

_Government of the people_. The thought contained in this sentence was not original with Lincoln, but it has been traced back through several centuries. It was probably suggested to Lincoln by the following pa.s.sage in an address by Theodore Parker, which he is known to have read: "Democracy is direct self-government over all the people, for all the people, by all the people."

THE SECOND INAUGURAL ADDRESS.