Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861].

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Title
Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861].
Author
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865.
Publication
New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press
1953.
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http://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4
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"Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. Volume 4 [Mar. 5, 1860-Oct. 24, 1861]." In the digital collection Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/lincoln4. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 20, 2025.

Pages

February 21, 1861

Ladies and gentlemen of the State of New-Jersey, I shall only thank you briefly for this very kind and cordial reception---not as given to me individually, but as to the representative of the chief magistracy of this great nation. I cannot make any speech now to

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you, as I shall be met frequently to-day in the same manner as you have received me here, and, therefore, have not the strength to address you at length. I am here before you care-worn, for little else than to greet you, and to say farewell. You have done me the very high honor to present your reception of me through your own great man---a man with whom it is an honor to be associated anywhere---a man with whom no State could be poor. [Applause, long continued.] His remarks of welcome, though brief, deserve an hour's well-considered reply; but time, and the obligations before me, render it necessary for me to close my remarks---allow me to bid you a kind and grateful farewell.

Mr. Lincoln's remarks were received with demonstrations of applause, and the waving of handkerchiefs.

Loud calls were then made for Vice-President Hamlin; but it was announced that he was not present, and would be detained in New-York till to-morrow.

Then followed a rush to shake hands with Mr. Lincoln, and in the rush and crush the policemen and reporters were nearly annihilated. Loud cries were kept up for ``Lincoln, Lincoln,'' and to quiet the crowd Mr. Lincoln once more came to the front of the platform and said:

There appears to be a desire to see more of me, and I can only say that from my position, especially when I look around the gallery (bowing to the ladies), I feel that I have decidedly the best of the bargain, and in this matter I am for no compromises here. [Applause and much laughter.]

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