Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860].

About this Item

Title: Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860].
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.
Link to this Item: http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln3
Cite this Item: "Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 3 [Aug. 21, 1858-Mar. 4, 1860]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln3. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 12, 2024.

Pages

Page 514

To Alonzo J. Grover1Jump to section

A. J. Grover, Esq Springfield, Ills.
My dear Sir: Jany. 15. 1860

Yours of the 9th. was duly received. In my joint debate with Douglas, at Freeport, Aug. 27. 1858, I said about all I have ever publicly said concerning the Fugitive slave law of 1850, and you can find it in print in the report of that debate. I said then in substance, and have often said, I think Congress has constitutional power to enact a Fugitive slave law; that the law of 1850 appears to me objectionable in some of its provisions; but whether it is unconstitutional in any of it's provisions, I do not remember that I have ever undertaken to decide. I should be glad to see you, and to talk with you more fully than I can write. Yours truly

A. LINCOLN

Annotation

[1] ALS, IHi. Alonzo J. Grover, lawyer and abolitionist of Earlville, Illinois, a member of the Republican committee of LaSalle County, wrote on January 9, 1860, asking Lincoln's views on the constitutionality of the Fugitive Slave Law (DLC-RTL).

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