To Mrs. Horace Mann1Jump to section
Madam, Washington, April 5, 1864.
The petition of persons under eighteen, praying that I would free all slave children, and the heading of which petition it appears you wrote, was handed me a few days since by Senator Sumner. Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy, and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it. Yours truly
A. LINCOLN
Annotation
[1] ADfS, DLC-RTL; ALS-F, ISLA. See Lincoln to Sumner, infra. The ``Petition of the Children of the United States; that the President will free all slave children'' bears one hundred ninety-five signatures (DLC-RTL). In reply to Lincoln's letter, forwarded by Senator Sumner, Mrs. Mann wrote: ``It was wholly without my knowledge that my name was sent to you in connection with the petition of persons under eighteen in Concord . . . but I cannot regret it, since it has given me this precious note from your hand. . . . We intend immediately to scatter fac-similes of your sweet words to the children like apple blossoms all over the country---and we look with more hope than ever for the day when perfect justice shall be decreed, which shall make every able bodied colored man spring to the defence of the nation which it is plain the white man alone cannot save. . . .'' (Ibid.).
In deference to Mrs. Mann's desire to remain anonymous, the facsimiles, which were widely distributed, show instead of ``Mrs. Horace Mann'' ``Mrs.---(of Concord Mass.).''