Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Speech fragment concerning the abolition of slavery [from 1858 Senate race?]
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC05302 Author/Creator: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Place Written: s.l. Type: Autograph manuscript Date: 1858/07 ca. Pagination: 2 p. ; 32 x 20.4 cm Order a Copy
Manuscript, probably the concluding portion of speech, possibly from the 1858 Senate campaign, concerning his expectation that slavery would eventually be abolished. Lincoln acknowledge his ambition for higher office but continues, "[i]n 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;... School-boys know that Wilbe[r]force, and Granville Sharp helped that cause forward; but who can now name a single man who labored to retard it? Remembering these things I can not regard it as possible that the higher object of this contest may not be completely attained within the term of my 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 not last to see."
Basler, Roy P. The Collected Works Of Abraham Lincoln. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), Vol. II 1848 - 1858, p. 482
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