The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete

A >> Abraham Lincoln >> The Writings of Abraham Lincoln, Complete


I have neither the voice nor the strength to address you at any greater
length. I beg you will therefore accept my most grateful thanks for this
manifest devotion--not to me, but the institutions of this great and
glorious country.




ADDRESS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW YORK, AT ALBANY,

FEBRUARY 18, 1861.

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF NEW
YORK:--It is with feelings of great diffidence, and, I may say, with
feelings of awe, perhaps greater than I have recently experienced, that I
meet you here in this place. The history of this great State, the renown
of those great men who have stood here, and have spoken here, and have
been heard here, all crowd around my fancy, and incline me to shrink from
any attempt to address you. Yet I have some confidence given me by the
generous manner in which you have invited me, and by the still more
generous manner in which you have received me, to speak further. You have
invited and received me without distinction of party. I cannot for a
moment suppose that this has been done in any considerable degree with
reference to my personal services, but that it is done in so far as I am
regarded, at this time, as the representative of the majesty of this
great nation. I doubt not this is the truth, and the whole truth of the
case, and this is as it should be. It is much more gratifying to me that
this reception has been given to me as the elected representative of a
free people, than it could possibly be if tendered merely as an evidence
of devotion to me, or to any one man personally.

And now I think it were more fitting that I should close these hasty
remarks. It is true that, while I hold myself, without mock modesty, the
humblest of all individuals that have ever been elevated to the
Presidency, I have a more difficult task to perform than any one of them.

You have generously tendered me the support--the united support--of the
great Empire State. For this, in behalf of the nation--in behalf of the
present and future of the nation--in behalf of civil and religious
liberty for all time to come, most gratefully do I thank you. I do not
propose to enter into an explanation of any particular line of policy, as
to our present difficulties, to be adopted by the incoming
administration. I deem it just to you, to myself, to all, that I should
see everything, that I should hear everything, that I should have every
light that can be brought within my reach, in order that, when I do so
speak, I shall have enjoyed every opportunity to take correct and true
ground; and for this reason I do not propose to speak at this time of the
policy of the Government. But when the time comes, I shall speak, as well
as I am able, for the good of the present and future of this country for
the good both of the North and of the South--for the good of the one and
the other, and of all sections of the country. In the meantime, if we
have patience, if we restrain ourselves, if we allow ourselves not to run
off in a passion, I still have confidence that the Almighty, the Maker of
the universe, will, through the instrumentality of this great and
intelligent people, bring us through this as He has through all the other
difficulties of our country. Relying on this, I again thank you for this
generous reception.




ADDRESS AT TROY, NEW YORK,

FEBRUARY 19, 1861

MR. MAYOR AND CITIZENS OF TROY:--I thank you very kindly for this great
reception. Since I left my home it has not been my fortune to meet an
assemblage more numerous and more orderly than this. I am the more
gratified at this mark of your regard since you assure me it is tendered,
not to the individual but to the high office you have called me to fill.
I have neither strength nor time to make any extended remarks on this
occasion, and I can only repeat to you my sincere thanks for the kind
reception you have thought proper to extend to me.




ADDRESS AT POUGHKEEPSIE, NEW YORK,

FEBRUARY 19, 1861

FELLOW-CITIZENS:--It is altogether impossible I should make myself heard
by any considerable portion of this vast assemblage; but, although I
appear before you mainly for the purpose of seeing you, and to let you
see rather than hear me, I cannot refrain from saying that I am highly
gratified--as much here, indeed, under the circumstances, as I have been
anywhere on my route--to witness this noble demonstration--made, not in
honor of an individual, but of the man who at this time humbly, but
earnestly, represents the majesty of the nation.

This reception, like all the others that have been tendered to me,
doubtless emanates from all the political parties, and not from one
alone. As such I accept it the more gratefully, since it indicates an
earnest desire on the part of the whole people, with out regard to
political differences, to save--not the country, because the country will
save itself but to save the institutions of the country, those
institutions under which, in the last three quarters of a century, we
have grown to a great, and intelligent, and a happy people--the greatest,
the most intelligent, and the happiest people in the world. These noble
manifestations indicate, with unerring certainty, that the whole people
are willing to make common cause for this object; that if, as it ever
must be, some have been successful in the recent election and some have
been beaten, if some are satisfied and some are dissatisfied, the
defeated party are not in favor of sinking the ship, but are desirous of
running it through the tempest in safety, and willing, if they think the
people have committed an error in their verdict now, to wait in the hope
of reversing it and setting it right next time. I do not say that in the
recent election the people did the wisest thing, that could have been
done--indeed, I do not think they did; but I do say that in accepting the
great trust committed to me, which I do with a determination to endeavor
to prove worthy of it, I must rely upon you, upon the people of the whole
country, for support; and with their sustaining aid, even I, humble as I
am, cannot fail to carry the ship of state safely through the storm.

I have now only to thank you warmly for your kind attendance, and bid you
all an affectionate farewell.




ADDRESS AT HUDSON, NEW YORK.

FEBRUARY 19, 1860

FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I see that you are providing a platform for me. I shall
have to decline standing upon it, because the president of the company
tells me that I shall not have time to wait until it is brought to me. As
I said yesterday, under similar circumstances at another gathering, you
must not draw the inference that I have any intention of deserting any
platform with which I have a legitimate connection because I do not stand
on yours. Allow me to thank you for this splendid reception, and I now
bid you farewell.




ADDRESS AT PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK,

FEBRUARY 19, 1861

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I have but a moment to stand before you to listen
to and return your kind greeting. I thank you for this reception, and for
the pleasant manner in which it is tendered to me by our mutual friends.
I will say in a single sentence, in regard to the difficulties that lie
before me and our beloved country, that if I can only be as generously
and unanimously sustained as the demonstrations I have witnessed indicate
I shall be, I shall not fail; but without your sustaining hands I am sure
that neither I nor any other man can hope to surmount these difficulties.
I trust that in the course I shall pursue I shall be sustained not only
by the party that elected me, but by the patriotic people of the whole
country.




ADDRESS AT FISHKILL LANDING

FEBRUARY 19, 1861

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN:--I appear before you not to make a speech. I have
not sufficient time, if I had the strength, to repeat speeches at every
station where the people kindly gather to welcome me as we go along. If I
had the strength, and should take the time, I should not get to
Washington until after the inauguration, which you must be aware would
not fit exactly. That such an untoward event might not transpire, I know
you will readily forego any further remarks; and I close by bidding you
farewell.




REMARKS AT THE ASTOR HOUSE, NEW YORK CITY, FEBRUARY 19, 1861

FELLOW-CITIZENS:--I have stepped before you merely in compliance with
what appears to be your wish, and not with the purpose of making a
speech. I do not propose making a speech this afternoon. I could not be
heard by any but a small fraction of you, at best; but, what is still
worse than that, I have nothing just now to say that is worthy of your
hearing. I beg you to believe that I do not now refuse to address you
from any disposition to disoblige you, but to the contrary. But, at the
same time, I beg of you to excuse me for the present.




ADDRESS AT NEW YORK CITY,

FEBRUARY 19, 1861

Mr. CHAIRMAN AND GENTLEMEN:--I am rather an old man to avail myself of
such an excuse as I am now about to do. Yet the truth is so distinct, and
presses itself so distinctly upon me, that I cannot well avoid it--and
that is, that I did not understand when I was brought into this room that
I was to be brought here to make a speech. It was not intimated to me
that I was brought into the room where Daniel Webster and Henry Clay had
made speeches, and where one in my position might be expected to do
something like those men or say something worthy of myself or my
audience. I therefore beg you to make allowance for the circumstances in
which I have been by surprise brought before you. Now I have been in the
habit of thinking and sometimes speaking upon political questions that
have for some years past agitated the country; and, if I were disposed to
do so, and we could take up some one of the issues, as the lawyers call
them, and I were called upon to make an argument about it to the best of
my ability, I could do so without much preparation. But that is not what
you desire to have done here to-night.

I have been occupying a position, since the Presidential election, of
silence--of avoiding public speaking, of avoiding public writing. I have
been doing so because I thought, upon full consideration, that was the
proper course for me to take. I am brought before you now, and required
to make a speech, when you all approve more than anything else of the
fact that I have been keeping silence. And now it seems to me that the
response you give to that remark ought to justify me in closing just
here. I have not kept silence since the Presidential election from any
party wantonness, or from any indifference to the anxiety that pervades
the minds of men about the aspect of the political affairs of this
country. I have kept silence for the reason that I supposed it was
peculiarly proper that I should do so until the time came when, according
to the custom of the country, I could speak officially.

I still suppose that, while the political drama being enacted in this
country at this time is rapidly shifting its scenes--forbidding an
anticipation with any degree of certainty to-day of what we shall see
to-morrow--it is peculiarly fitting that I should see it all, up to the
last minute, before I should take ground that I might be disposed, by the
shifting of the scenes afterward, also to shift. I have said several
times upon this journey, and I now repeat it to you, that when the time
does come, I shall then take the ground that I think is right--right for
the North, for the South, for the East, for the West, for the whole
country. And in doing so I hope to feel no necessity pressing upon me to
say anything in conflict with the Constitution, in conflict with the
continued union of these States, in conflict with the perpetuation of the
liberties of this people, or anything in conflict with anything whatever
that I have ever given you reason to expect from me. And now, my friends,
have I said enough? [Loud cries of "No, no!" and, "Three cheers for
LINCOLN!"] Now, my friends, there appears to be a difference of opinion
between you and me, and I really feel called upon to decide the question
myself.




REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY,

FEBRUARY 20, 1861

Mr. MAYOR:--It is with feelings of deep gratitude that I make my
acknowledgments for the reception that has been given me in the great
commercial city of New York. I cannot but remember that it is done by the
people who do not, by a large majority, agree with me in political
sentiment. It is the more grateful to me because in this I see that for
the great principles of our Government the people are pretty nearly or
quite unanimous. In regard to the difficulties that confront us at this
time, and of which you have seen fit to speak so becomingly and so
justly, I can only say I agree with the sentiments expressed. In my
devotion to the Union I hope I am behind no man in the nation. As to my
wisdom in conducting affairs so as to tend to the preservation of the
Union, I fear too great confidence may have been placed in me. I am sure
I bring a heart devoted to the work. There is nothing that could ever
bring me to consent--willingly to consent--to the destruction of this
Union (in which not only the great city of New York, but the whole
country, has acquired its greatness), unless it would be that thing for
which the Union itself was made. I understand that the ship is made for
the carrying and preservation of the cargo; and so long as the ship is
safe with the cargo, it shall not be abandoned. This Union shall never be
abandoned, unless the possibility of its existence shall cease to exist
without the necessity of throwing passengers and cargo overboard. So
long, then, as it is possible that the prosperity and liberties of this
people can be preserved within this Union, it shall be my purpose at all
tunes to preserve it. And now, Mr. Mayor, renewing my thanks for this
cordial reception, allow me to come to a close.




ADDRESS AT JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY

FEBRUARY 21, 1860

MR. DAYTON AND GENTLEMEN OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY:--I shall only thank
you briefly for this very kind reception given me, not personally, but as
the temporary representative of the majesty of the nation. To the
kindness of your hearts, and of the hearts of your brethren in your
State, I should be very proud to respond, but I shall not have strength
to address you or other assemblages at length, even if I had the time to
do so. I appear before you, therefore, for little else than to greet you,
and to briefly say farewell. You have done me the very high honor to
present your reception courtesies to me through your great man a man with
whom it is an honor to be associated anywhere, and in owning whom no
State can be poor. He has said enough, and by the saying of it suggested
enough, to require a response of an hour, well considered. I could not in
an hour make a worthy response to it. I therefore, ladies and gentlemen
of New Jersey, content myself with saying, most heartily do I indorse all
the sentiments he has expressed. Allow me, most gratefully, to bid you
farewell.




REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY,

FEBRUARY 21, 1861.

MR. MAYOR:--I thank you for this reception at the city of Newark. With
regard to the great work of which you speak, I will say that I bring to
it a heart filled with love for my country, and an honest desire to do
what is right. I am sure, however, that I have not the ability to do
anything unaided of God, and that without His support and that of this
free, happy, prosperous, and intelligent people, no man can succeed in
doing that the importance of which we all comprehend. Again thanking you
for the reception you have given me, I will now bid you farewell, and
proceed upon my journey.




ADDRESS IN TRENTON AT THE TRENTON HOUSE,

FEBRUARY 21, 1861

I have been invited by your representatives to the Legislature to visit
this the capital of your honored State, and in acknowledging their kind
invitation, compelled to respond to the welcome of the presiding officers
of each body, and I suppose they intended I should speak to you through
them, as they are the representatives of all of you; and if I were to
speak again here, I should only have to repeat in a great measure much
that I have said, which would be disgusting to my friends around me who
have met here. I have no speech to make, but merely appear to see you and
let you look at me; and as to the latter I think I have greatly the best
of the bargain. My friends, allow me to bid you farewell.




ADDRESS TO THE SENATE OF NEW JERSEY

FEBRUARY 21, 1861

MR. PRESIDENT AND GENTLEMEN OF THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY:--I
am very grateful to you for the honorable reception of which I have been
the object. I cannot but remember the place that New Jersey holds in our
early history. In the Revolutionary struggle few of the States among the
Old Thirteen had more of the battle-fields of the country within their
limits than New Jersey. May I be pardoned if, upon this occasion, I
mention that away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being
able to read, I got hold of a small book, such a one as few of the
younger members have ever seen Weems's Life of Washington. I remember all
the accounts there given of the battle-fields and struggles for the
liberties of the country; and none fixed themselves upon my imagination
so deeply as the struggle here at Trenton, New Jersey. The crossing of
the river, the contest with the Hessians, the great hardships endured at
that time, all fixed themselves on my memory more than any single
Revolutionary event; and you all know, for you have all been boys, how
these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking
then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more
than common that these men struggled for. I am exceedingly anxious that
that thing that something even more than national independence, that
something that held out a great promise to all the people of the world to
all time to come--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 that struggle was made; and I
shall be most happy indeed if I shall be a humble instrument in the hands
of the Almighty, and of this his almost chosen people, for perpetuating
the object of that great struggle. You give me this reception, as I
understand, without distinction of party. I learn that this body is
composed of a majority of gentlemen who, in the exercise of their best
judgment in the choice of a chief magistrate, did not think I was the
man. I understand, nevertheless, that they come forward here to greet me
as the constitutionally elected President of the United States--as
citizens of the United States to meet the man who, for the time being, is
the representative of the majesty of the nation--united by the single
purpose to perpetuate the Constitution, the union, and the liberties of
the people. As such, I accept this reception more gratefully than I could
do did I believe it were tendered to me as an individual.




ADDRESS TO THE ASSEMBLY OF NEW JERSEY,

FEBRUARY 21, 1861

MR. SPEAKER AND GENTLEMEN: I have just enjoyed the honor of a reception
by the other branch of this Legislature, and I return to you and them my
thanks for the reception which the people of New Jersey have given
through their chosen representatives to me as the representative, for the
time being, of the majesty of the people of the United States. I
appropriate to myself very little of the demonstrations of respect with
which I have been greeted. I think little should be given to any man, but
that it should be a manifestation of adherence to the Union and the
Constitution. I understand myself to be received here by the
representatives of the people of New Jersey, a majority of whom differ in
opinion from those with whom I have acted. This manifestation is
therefore to be regarded by me as expressing their devotion to the Union,
the Constitution, and the liberties of the people.

You, Mr. Speaker, have well said that this is a time when the bravest and
wisest look with doubt and awe upon the aspect presented by our national
affairs. Under these circumstances you will readily see why I should not
speak in detail of the course I shall deem it best to pursue. It is
proper that I should avail myself of all the information and all the time
at my command, in order that when the time arrives in which I must speak
officially, I shall be able to take the ground which I deem best and
safest, and from which I may have no occasion to swerve. I shall endeavor
to take the ground I deem most just to the North, the East, the West, the
South, and the whole country. I shall take it, I hope, in good temper,
certainly with no malice toward any section. I shall do all that may be
in my power to promote a peaceful settlement of all our difficulties. The
man does not live who is more devoted to peace than I am, none who would
do more to preserve it, but it may be necessary to put the foot down
firmly. And if I do my duty and do right, you will sustain me, will you
not? [Loud cheers, and cries of "Yes, yes; we will."] Received as I am by
the members of a Legislature the majority of whom do not agree with me in
political sentiments, I trust that I may have their assistance in
piloting the ship of state through this voyage, surrounded by perils as
it is; for if it should suffer wreck now, there will be no pilot ever
needed for another voyage.

Gentlemen, I have already spoken longer than I intended, and must beg
leave to stop here.




REPLY TO THE MAYOR OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

FEBRUARY 21, 1861

MR. MAYOR AND FELLOW-CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA:--I appear before you to
make no lengthy speech, but to thank you for this reception. The
reception you have given me to-night is not to me, the man, the
individual, but to the man who temporarily represents, or should
represent, the majesty of the nation. It is true, as your worthy mayor
has said, that there is great anxiety amongst the citizens of the United
States at this time. I deem it a happy circumstance that this
dissatisfied portion of our fellow-citizens does not point us to anything
in which they are being injured or about to be injured; for which reason
I have felt all the while justified in concluding that the crisis, the
panic, the anxiety of the country at this time is artificial. If there be
those who differ with me upon this subject, they have not pointed out the
substantial difficulty that exists. I do not mean to say that an
artificial panic may not do considerable harm; that it has done such I do
not deny. The hope that has been expressed by your mayor, that I may be
able to restore peace, harmony, and prosperity to the country, is most
worthy of him; and most happy, indeed, will I be if I shall be able to
verify and fulfil that hope. I promise you that I bring to the work a
sincere heart. Whether I will bring a head equal to that heart will be
for future times to determine. It were useless for me to speak of details
of plans now; I shall speak officially next Monday week, if ever. If I
should not speak then, it were useless for me to do so now. If I do speak
then, it is useless for me to do so now. When I do speak, I shall take
such ground as I deem best calculated to restore peace, harmony, and
prosperity to the country, and tend to the perpetuity of the nation and
the liberty of these States and these people. Your worthy mayor has
expressed the wish, in which I join with him, that it were convenient for
me to remain in your city long enough to consult your merchants and
manufacturers; or, as it were, to listen to those breathings rising
within the consecrated walls wherein the Constitution of the United
States and, I will add, the Declaration of Independence, were originally
framed and adopted. I assure you and your mayor that I had hoped on this
occasion, and upon all occasions during my life, that I shall do nothing
inconsistent with the teachings of these holy and most sacred walls. I
have never asked anything that does not breathe from those walls. All my
political warfare has been in favor of the teachings that come forth from
these sacred walls. May my right hand forget its cunning and my tongue
cleave to the roof of my mouth if ever I prove false to those teachings.
Fellow-citizens, I have addressed you longer than I expected to do, and
now allow me to bid you goodnight.




ADDRESS IN THE HALL OF INDEPENDENCE, PHILADELPHIA,

FEBRUARY 22, 1861

MR. CUYLER:--I am filled with deep emotion at finding myself standing
here, in this place, where were collected together the wisdom, the
devotion to principle, from which sprang the institutions under which we
live. You have kindly suggested to me that in my hands is the task of
restoring peace to the present distracted condition of the country. I can
say in return, sir, that all the political sentiments I entertain have
been drawn, so far as I have been able to draw them, from the sentiments
which originated and were given to the world from this hall. I have never
had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments
embodied in the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered over
the dangers which were incurred by the men who assembled here and framed
and adopted that Declaration of Independence. I have pondered over the
toils that were endured by the officers and soldiers of the army who
achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what great
principle or idea it was that kept the confederacy so long together. It
was not the mere matter of separation of the colonies from the
motherland, but that sentiment in the Declaration of Independence which
gave liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but, I hope, to
the world for all future time. It was that which gave promise that in due
time the weight would be lifted from the shoulders of all men. This is
the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my
friends, can the country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I will
consider myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can help to
save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly
awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that
principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot
than surrender it. Now, in my view of the present aspect of affairs,
there need be no bloodshed or war. There is no necessity for it. I am not
in favor of such a course, and I may say, in advance, that there will be
no bloodshed unless it is forced upon the Government, and then it will be
compelled to act in self-defence.