The Lincoln-Douglas Debates Mr. Lincoln wrote to Senator Douglas on July 24, 1858: “Will it be agreeable to you to make an arrangement for you and myself to divide time, and address the same audience during the present canvass? Mr. [Norman B.] Judd, who will hand you this, is authorized to…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom […]

Speech at Springfield, July 17, 1858 “FELLOW CITIZENS: Another election, which is deemed an important one, is approaching, and, as I suppose, the Republican party will, without much difficulty elect their State ticket. But in regard to the Legislature, we the Republicans, labor under some disadvantages. In the first place, we…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom […]

Speech at Chicago, July 10, 1858 “My Fellow Citizens: On yesterday evening, upon the occasion of the reception given to Senator Douglas, I was furnished with a seat very convenient for hearing him, and was otherwise very courteously treated by him and his friends, and for which I…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Speech at Springfield, June 16, 1858 “Let any one who doubts, carefully contemplate that now almost complete combination — piece of machinery so to speak — compounded of the Nebraska doctrine, and the Dred Scott decision. Let him consider not only what work the machinery is adapted to do, and how well adapted; but also, […]

House Divided Speech “Douglas is working like a lion. He is stumping the state, everywhere present and everywhere appealing to his old lieges to stand by him. Never did feudal baron fight more desperately against the common superior of himself and his retainers.” So reported Chester P. Dewey of the… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Speech at Springfield, June 26, 1857 Historian Douglas Wilson wrote in Lincoln Before Washington: “In the Dred Scott speech at Springfield, Lincoln took what, for a Illinois politician seeking statewide support in 1857, must be regarded as a bold stand on…” Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Dred Scott The first major eruption in Mr. Lincoln’s and the nation’s attitude toward slavery was the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. The second major upheaval was the Supreme Court’s decision on the Dred Scott case… Abraham Lincoln and Freedom >

Speech at Kalamazoo, Michigan, August 27, 1856 Fellow countrymen: — Under the Constitution of the U.S. another Presidential contest approaches us. All over this land— that portion at least, of which I know much — the people are assembling to consider the proper course to be adopted by them. One of the first considerations is […]

Fragment on Sectionalism, July 23, 1856 It is constantly objected to [John C.] Fremont and [William] Dayton, that they are supported by a sectional party who, by their sectionalism, endanger the National Union. This objection, more than all others, causes men, really opposed to slavery extension, to hesitate. Practically, it is the most difficult objection […]

1856 In 1854, Mr. Lincoln avoided meeting with the organizers of the new Republican Party. In 1856, Mr. Lincoln was maneuvered into taking a leadership role by his law partner, William H. Herndon. Herndon wrote in his biography of Mr. Lincoln: “Finding himself drifting about with the disorganized elements that floated together after the angry […]