“If this country cannot be saved without giving up the principle of Liberty, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.” _From Mr. Lincoln’s Speech at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, February 21, 1861._ “I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.” _Springfield, Illinois, June, 1858._ “I am exceedingly anxious that this Union, the Constitution, and the liberties of the people shall be perpetuated in accordance with the original idea for which the Revolution was made.” _Trenton, New Jersey, February 21, 1861._ “Having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.” _Message, July 5, 1861._ “In giving freedom to the slaves, we assure freedom to the free; honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve.” _Message, December 1, 1862._ “I hope peace will come soon, and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future time.” _Springfield Letter, August 26, 1863._ “The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here; but it can never forget what the brave men, living and dead, did here.” _Speech at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863._ “I shall not attempt to retract or modify the Emancipation Proclamation, nor shall I return to slavery any person who is free by the terms of that proclamation, or by any of the Acts of Congress.” _Amnesty Proclamation, December 8, 1863._ “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me.” _Letter to A. G. Hodges, April 4, 1864._ “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.” _Last Inaugural, March 4, 1865._ [Illustration] LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SIXTEENTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. CONTAINING HIS EARLY HISTORY AND POLITICAL CAREER; TOGETHER WITH THE SPEECHES, MESSAGES, PROCLAMATIONS AND OTHER OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATIVE OF HIS EVENTFUL ADMINISTRATION. BY FRANK CROSBY, MEMBER OF THE PHILADELPHIA BAR. “LET ALL THE ENDS THOU AIM’ST AT BE THY COUNTRY’S, THY GOD’S AND TRUTH’S; THEN IF THOU FALL’ST THOU FALL’ST A BLESSED MARTYR.” NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BOOK COMPANY 310-318 SIXTH AVENUE DEDICATED TO THE GOOD AND TRUE OF THE NATION REDEEMED--REGENERATED--DISENTHRALLED. PREFACE. An attempt has been made in the following pages to portray Abraham Lincoln, mainly in his relations to the country at large during his eventful administration.