Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech, May 29, 1856: A Souvenir of the Eleventh Annual Lincoln Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York, at the Waldorf, February 12, 1897 — John Shaqi
Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech, May 29, 1856: A Souvenir of the Eleventh Annual Lincoln Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York, at the Waldorf, February 12, 1897Lincoln, Abraham
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Abraham Lincoln's Lost Speech, May 29, 1856: A Souvenir of the Eleventh Annual Lincoln Dinner of the Republican Club of the City of New York, at the Waldorf, February 12, 1897
Lincoln, Abraham
Slavery -- Kansas
And not only so, but the framers of the Constitution were particular
to keep out of that instrument the word “slave,” the reason being
that slavery would ultimately come to an end, and they did not wish
to have any reminder that in this free country human beings were ever
prostituted to slavery. [Applause.] Nor is it any argument that we are
superior and the negro inferior--that he has but one talent while we
have ten. Let the negro possess the little he has in independence; if
he has but one talent, he should be permitted to keep the little he
has. [Applause.] But slavery will endure no test of reason or logic;
and yet its advocates, like Douglas, use a sort of bastard logic,
or noisy assumption, it might better be termed, like the above, in
order to prepare the mind for the gradual, but none the less certain,
encroachments of the Moloch of slavery upon the fair domain of freedom.
But however much you may argue upon it, or smother it in soft phrases,
slavery can only be maintained by force--by violence. The repeal of the
Missouri Compromise was by violence. It was a violation of both law and
the sacred obligations of honor, to overthrow and trample underfoot
a solemn compromise, obtained by the fearful loss to freedom of one
of the fairest of our Western domains. Congress violated the will and
confidence of its constituents in voting for the bill; and while public
sentiment, as shown by the elections of 1854, demanded the restoration
of this compromise, Congress violated its trust by refusing, simply
because it had the force of numbers to hold on to it. And murderous
violence is being used now, in order to force slavery on to Kansas; for
it cannot be done in any other way. [Sensation.]
The necessary result was to establish the rule of violence--force,
instead of the rule of law and reason; to perpetuate and spread
slavery, and, in time, to make it general. We see it at both ends
of the line. In Washington, on the very spot where the outrage was
started, the fearless Sumner is beaten to insensibility, and is now
slowly dying; while senators who claim to be gentlemen and Christians
stood by, countenancing the act, and even applauding it afterward in
their places in the Senate. Even Douglas, our man, saw it all and was
within helping distance, yet let the murderous blows fall unopposed.
Then, at the other end of the line, at the very time Sumner was being
murdered, Lawrence was being destroyed for the crime of Freedom. It
was the most prominent stronghold of liberty in Kansas, and must give
way to the all-dominating power of slavery. Only two days ago, Judge
Trumbull found it necessary to propose a bill in the Senate to prevent
a general civil war and to restore peace in Kansas.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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