Lincoln's Inaugurals, Addresses and Letters (Selections)

A. I do not stand pledged against the admission of a new State into the Union with such a constitution as the people of that State may see fit to make.

I do not mean to say that the scenes of the Revolution _are now_ or _ever will be_ entirely forgotten, but that, like everything else, they must fade upon the memory of the worl...

You say we are sectional. We deny it. That makes an issue; and the burden of proof is upon you. You produce your proof; and what is it? Why, that our party has no existence in y...

From this view of the subject, it appears that my calculations with regard to the navigation of the Sangamon, cannot be unfounded in reason; but whatever may be its natural adva...

My Friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything. Here I have liv...

To illustrate: Suppose refugees from the South and peace men of the North get together in convention, and frame and proclaim a compromise embracing a restoration of the Union. I...

In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without bein...

Address to the People of Sangamon County, March 9, 1832 The Perpetuation of our Political Institutions, January 27, 1837 Speech at Springfield, Illinois, June 16, 1858 Second Jo...

I have asked his attention to the evidence that he arrayed to prove that such a fatal blow was being struck, and to the facts which he brought forward in support of that charge-...

The Eulogy of Henry Clay of 1852 is of interest as being the only address of this kind that Lincoln ever delivered. It might perhaps better be called an appreciation, and becaus...

Again, if we reject Louisiana we also reject one vote in favor of the proposed amendment to the national Constitution. To meet this proposition it has been argued that no more t...