Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.

About this Item

Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2.
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
Rights/Permissions

The University of Michigan Library provides access to these materials for educational and research purposes, with permission from their copyright holder. If you decide to use any of these materials, you are responsible for making your own legal assessment and securing any necessary permission. If you have questions about the collection, please contact Abraham Lincoln Digital Collections at lincoln-feedback@umich.edu. If you have concerns about the inclusion of an item in this collection, please contact Library Information Technology at LibraryIT-info@umich.edu.

Cite this Item
"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 2." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed March 19, 2024.

Pages

Annotation

[1]   NH, IV, 225-36, and AD, NNP. Nicolay and Hay entitle this ``Fragment: Notes for Speeches [October 1, 1858?].'' The date is demonstrably several months too late by the references in the context. Obviously the piece was written prior to the House Divided Speech of June 16, 1858. The fact that Lincoln prepared and delivered a speech to the Republican County Convention at Edwardsville, Illinois, on May 18, 1858, suggests that this fragment may represent his survey of Republican political policy at that meeting, of which only a scanty newspaper report has been found (infra). It is possible, however, that the fragment was written several weeks earlier. It seems reasonably certain that the key reference and much of the argument in the identical language of the House Divided Speech was derived from this earlier speech fragment, or that the fragment was in part actually a preliminary draft of that speech. Although only one page representing the last two paragraphs of the manuscript has been located, Nicolay and Hay presumably had access to the document intact for the Complete Works.

[2]   Both papers came out against the Lecompton Constitution in November, 1857.

[3]   Douglas spoke in the Senate on December 9, 1857, the day following President Buchanan's message commending the Lecompton Constitution.

[4]   In Douglas' speech of December 9, 1857.

[5]   Douglas' speech on June 12, 1857, which Lincoln answered on June 26, 1857, supra.

[6]   Douglas was reported in the Morgan Journal to have accidentally ``dropped'' at the railway station at Jacksonville, during his visit of September 9, a resolution intended for adoption by Democratic meetings in endorsement of the Dred Scott decision and in opposition to ``Negro equality.'' The Democratic Jacksonville Sentinel (September 25) denounced the resolution as a hoax perpetrated by the Journal, but when the Morgan County Democratic Convention met, it adopted the resolution on October 10, as follows: ``Whereas certain black Republican papers of this State have published a resolution, said to have been written by Hon. S. A. Douglas . . . we adopt the resolution . . . to-wit: Resolved, That we approve of the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, in determining that negroes are not citizens, and are utterly opposed to placing negroes on an equality with white men, by allowing them to vote and hold office, and serve on juries, and testify in the courts against white men, and marry white women, as advocated by those who claim that the declaration of Independence asserts that white men and negroes were created equal by the Almighty. . . .'' (Jacksonville Sentinel, October 16, 1857).

[7]   Speaking at the dedication of a new Democratic Hall at Chicago, November 11, 1857, Douglas was reported as lamenting that ``Black Republicans . . . will allow the blacks to push us from our sidewalk (Oh!) and elbow us out of car seats (Oh? Oh!) and stink us out of our places of worship. . . .'' (Chicago Daily Democratic Press, November 12, 1857).

[8]   Douglas' bill to authorize the people of Kansas to form a constitution was reported December 18, 1857. Referred to the Committee on Territories, it was dropped in favor of the Administration bill, and later the English bill.

[9]   No speech or letter of 1857 records the specific language. Probably Lincoln expressed the belief numerous times after the Dred Scott Decision was announced. The belief is implicit in his speech at Springfield on June 26, 1857, supra.

[10]   The last two paragraphs have been edited from the single page of manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Library. See further discussion of the two pages of another fragment (c. August 21, 1858, infra) associated with this page.

Do you have questions about this content? Need to report a problem? Please contact us.