Remarks at Troy, New York1Jump to section
Mr. Mayor and Fellow Citizens of Troy, New York:---I am here to thank you for this noble demonstration of the citizens of Troy, and I accept this flattering reception with feelings of profound gratefulness. Since having left home, I confess, sir, having seen large assemblages of the people, but this immense gathering more than exceeds anything I have ever seen before. Still, fellow citizens, I am not so vain as to suppose that you have gathered to do me honor as an individual, but rather as the representative for the fleeting time of the American people. I have appeared only that you might see me and I you, and I am not sure but that I have the best of the sight.
Again thanking you, fellow citizens, I bid you an affectionate farewell.
Annotation
[1] Troy Daily Budget, February 19, 1861. The New York Herald and Tribune, February 20, report Lincoln's remarks at Troy with considerable verbal variance from the Budget, and between themselves. The import is the same, however, and the variations are scarcely worth collating. Lincoln was welcomed by Mayor Isaac McConihe.