Introduction
Lincoln Honors Wilberforce and the Abolitionist
Cause
Lincoln eloquently states his opposition to slavery as an inhumane
practice in this undated speech fragment believed to be from the Lincoln-Douglas
Senate race of 1858 (GLC 05302). Through his moving rhetoric Lincoln
clearly states his belief in the ultimate demise of slavery while acknowledging
the nation’s economic dependence to the institution. Though Lincoln
spoke frequently during this campaign – a time in his career when
he came to the political forefront and that helped shape him into a
presidential candidate – very few Lincoln manuscripts survived
from this period. In this fragment, Lincoln compares the United States’
struggle to abolish slavery to Great Britain’s toil. He notes
that English abolitionists had fought for nearly one hundred years in
Parliament discussing the same arguments that American abolitionists
now faced and he praises their efforts; “School-boys know that
Wilbe[r]force … helped the [abolitionist] cause forward; but who
can now name a single man who labored to retard it?” Reading this
speech one observes that Lincoln felt the abolition of slavery would
be a slow process and that he might not live to see the end of slavery
in his lifetime. Considering this, he still proclaims strongly his unwavering
belief that its end must come. Lincoln also champions his commitment
to the cause and the pride he holds for his minor, though what would
become enormous, involvement, "I am proud, in my passing speck
of time, to contribute an humble mite to that glorious consummation,
which my own poor eyes may not last to see."
Krista Rupe, Special Projects Manager
Gilder Lehrman Collection
Transcript
I have never professed an indifference to the honors of official station;
and were I to do so now, I should only make myself ridiculous. Yet I have
never failed – do not now fail – to remember that in the republican
cause there is a higher aim than that of mere office – I have not
allowed myself to forget that the abolition of the Slave-trade by Great
Brittain [sic], was agitated a hundred years before it was a final success;
that the measure had it’s open fire-eating opponents; it’s
stealthy “don’t care” opponents; it’s dollars
and cent opponents; it’s inferior race opponents; it’s negro
equality opponents; and it’s religion and good order opponents;
that all these opponents got offices, and their adversaries got none –
But I have also remembered that [inserted: though] they blazed, like tallow-candles
for a century, at last they flickered in the socket, died out, stank in
the dark for a brief season, and were remembered no more, even by the
smell – School-boys know that Wilbe[r]force, and Granville Sharpe,
helped that cause forward; but who can now name a single man who labored
to retard it? Remembering these things I can not but regard it as possible
that the higher object of this contest may not be completely attained
within [2] the term of my [inserted: natural] life. But I can not doubt
either that it will come in due time. Even in this view, I am proud, in
my passing speck of time, to contribute an humble mite to that glorious
consummation, which my own poor eyes may [struck: never] [inserted: not]
last to see –
Item Description and Credits
GLC 05302. Abraham Lincoln, Speech fragment
concerning the abolition of slavery, c. July 1858.
For more information or to obtain copies, contact Ana Ramirez-Luhrs
at reference@gilderlehrman.com
or call (212) 787-6616 ext. 209.
Suggested Reading
For a list of books that have won the Institute's prestigious Lincoln
Book Prize, visit: http://www.gilderlehrman.org/historians/fellowship2.html
Other resources include:
Basler, Roy P., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln Vol.
2: 482 (Princeton, 1953).
Fehrenbacher, Don. Prelude to Greatness: Lincoln in the 1850s and
The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics
(Stanford University Press, 1997).
Lincoln, Abraham, Abraham Lincoln : Speeches and Writings 1832-1858
(Library of America, 1989).
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