Lincoln Ami's SOA Lincoln Quote of the Day

"Whether slavery shall go into Nebraska, or other new territories, is not a matter of exclusive concern to the people who may go there. The whole nation is interested that the best use shall be made of these territories. We want them for the homes of free white people."

Peoria speech on Kansas-Nebraska Act, (October 16, 1854)


I'm always baffled by the need to dig up anything Lincoln may have said which detracts from his legacy. It's not as if, should one of these statements see the light of day, everyone turns in their Lincoln pennies, the Lincoln Memorial shrinks, we re-name the gazillion Lincoln Streets in this country or there's do-over of the entire war based on what a big fraud he must have been.
 
I'm always baffled by the need to dig up anything Lincoln may have said which detracts from his legacy. It's not as if, should one of these statements see the light of day, everyone turns in their Lincoln pennies, the Lincoln Memorial shrinks, we re-name the gazillion Lincoln Streets in this country or there's do-over of the entire war based on what a big fraud he must have been.
Imagine how you might react if his statues were widely vandalized by present-day Americans who have little genuine knowledge of his life.
 
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" At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Lyceum Address - January 27, 1838
 
I'm always baffled by the need to dig up anything Lincoln may have said which detracts from his legacy. It's not as if, should one of these statements see the light of day, everyone turns in their Lincoln pennies, the Lincoln Memorial shrinks, we re-name the gazillion Lincoln Streets in this country or there's do-over of the entire war based on what a big fraud he must have been.
To add to Phillip's quote, the next line: "This they can't be (free), to any considerable extent, if slavery shall be planted within them". Lincoln further talks of "the constitutional relations" between the slave and the free states. He says "We are under legal obligations to catch and return their runaway slaves to them...They have greatly the advantage over us".
 
We are under legal obligations to catch and return their runaway slaves to them...They have greatly the advantage over us".

I'm not being argumentative but I just do not know what you're saying? The FSA was not of Lincoln's making. One of the most shameful chapters in this country's history, and thankfully a disaster after it was of course also used to swipe free citizens claiming them as ' escaped ', instituted 1850, ten years previous to Lincoln's appearance on the national stage. That he tried to appease southern states into not leaving the Union by sometimes adhering to this law ( or advising it ) doesn't mean Lincoln supported it, and none of it means Lincoln somehow secretly supported enslaving humans. Repealed 1864 anyway.
 
John Ganson a New York Democrat and member of the House of Representatives from the Buffalo area supported the war. According to the memoirs of Chauncey Depew (a former Secretary of State from New York) he writes of Ganson and his meeting with Abraham Lincoln:

“He was a gentleman of the old school, of great dignity, and always immaculately dressed. He was totally bald and his face also devoid of hair. It was a gloomy period of the war and the reports from the front very discouraging. Congressman Ganson felt it his duty to see the president about the state of the country. He made a formal call and said to Mr. Lincoln: ‘Though I am a Democrat, I imperil my political future by supporting your war measures. I can understand that secrecy may be necessary in military operations, but I think I am entitled to know the exact conditions, good or bad, at the front’.”

[and Depew continues with President Lincoln’s reply]

“Mr. Lincoln looked at him earnestly for a minute and then said: ‘Ganson, how clean you shave!’ That ended the interview”

(an interesting answer to a question Lincoln did not want asked and please forgive me if this is somewhere else on the thread)
 
“The hen is the wisest of all the animal creation, because she never cackles until the egg is laid.”
Reply to General Hooker

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BTW, if anyone has their own favorite quote from our 16th president, please feel free to share it here! :thumbsup:

I know more than a few University historians who like to “quote” Lincoln’ infamous statement on Grant, whiskey, and other generals.

The usual quote is a myth, ….

See
Sears, Stephen W., Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac, 618.

“A widely circulated story had Lincoln where Grant got his liquor, so he could send some to his other generals. A good story, Lincoln said when asked about it, but not one of his. ‘He supposed it was charged to him to give it currency.’
 
I know more than a few University historians who like to “quote” Lincoln’ infamous statement on Grant, whiskey, and other generals.

The usual quote is a myth, ….

See
Sears, Stephen W., Lincoln’s Lieutenants: The High Command of the Army of the Potomac, 618.

“A widely circulated story had Lincoln where Grant got his liquor, so he could send some to his other generals. A good story, Lincoln said when asked about it, but not one of his. ‘He supposed it was charged to him to give it currency.’
I never knew that, thanks for the heads up. :smile:
 
I have reviewed several years of CWT threads, and the myth is posted and re-posted.

However, several threads provided a clearer view
 
I like this Lincoln quote

“I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it.”
 
And

“I am rather inclined to silence, and whether that be wise or not, it is at least more unusual nowadays to find a man who can hold his tongue than to find one who cannot.”
 
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We all know of Mr. Lincoln's intelligence, his common sense, and his eloquence. What I'm going to attempt is to post a quote from him each day. This will be the first :

This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave.
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Letter to Henry Pierce, April 6, 1859

I love the idea of a Daily Lincoln Quote!!

It gives Lincoln critics like myself a chance to pop off whenever we want.

In today's case I will give Lincoln the benefit of the doubt only because I have no clue to the proper context of the quote. Was he speaking from the heart, or was he speaking as calculating politico in search of the 1860 Republican Party nomination?
 
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