ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIS BOOK A FACSIMILE REPRODUC- WITH AN EXPLANATORY NOTE BY J. McCAN DAVIS NEW YORK: McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. 1904 US 6300.230.3 HARVARD Copyright, 1901, by First Impression, February, 1901 ABRAHAM LINCOLN-HIS BOOK. This book-the only one now or ever extant of its illustrious authorship-owes its existence to the political campaign of 1858, when the opposing candidates for United States Senator from Illinois were Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. The issue was slavery-whether, as Mr. Lincoln contended, it should be restricted to the states in which it already existed, or, as Judge Douglas advocated, it should be permitted to invade the new territories if agreeable to the people thereof. Mr. Lincoln, at that time, did not advocate emancipation. He made no demand for the liberation of the slaves then in bondage. He made no plea for negro citizenship. While he regarded slavery, as he had declared as early as 1837, as "founded on both injustice and bad policy," and of course hoped for it "ultimate extinction," he recognized its constitutional status in the states in which it then had an existence, and, without any purpose to disturb it there, raised his voice only against its further extension. His position, however, was constantly misstated by his opponents. Judge Douglas made the charge of "abolitionism," and the accusation was reiterated throughout the state, from the beginning to the end of the campaign, by Democratic orators and newspapers. It was charged that Lincoln stood for the equality of the races, politically and socially; and it was pointed out, with alarm and indignation, that should his doctrines prevail, there would be inevitable social and political chaos. Whites and blacks would intermarry promiscuously; the impassable line which had so long separated the two races would be wholly obliterated; the hated black man would be invested with political privileges which hitherto had been counted the white man's exclusive and sacred rights. |