{"id":1399,"date":"2013-07-03T14:13:53","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T14:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?page_id=1399"},"modified":"2013-07-03T14:22:45","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T14:22:45","slug":"constitution","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/constitution\/","title":{"rendered":"“Constitution”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cooper Union Speech (February 27, 1860)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026 The sum of the whole is, that of our thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution<\/strong>, twenty-one—a clear majority of the whole—certainly understood that no proper division of local from federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution<\/strong>, forbade the Federal Government to control slavery in the federal territories; while all the rest probably had the same understanding. Such, unquestionably, was the understanding of our fathers who framed the original Constitution<\/strong>; and the text affirms that they understood the question \u2018better than we.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 It is surely safe to assume that the thirty-nine framers of the original Constitution<\/strong>, and the seventy-six members of the Congress which framed the amendments thereto, taken together, do certainly include those who may be fairly called \u2018our fathers who framed the Government under which we live.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so assuming, I defy any man to show that any one of them ever, in his whole life, declared that, in his understanding, any proper division of local from federal authority, or any part of the Constitution<\/strong>, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the federal territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI defy any one to show that any living man in the whole world ever did, prior to the beginning of the present century, (and I might almost say prior to the beginning of the last half of the present century,) declare that, in his understanding, any proper division of local from federal authority, or any part of the Constitution<\/strong>, forbade the Federal Government to control as to slavery in the federal territories.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you will break up the Union rather than submit to a denial of your Constitutional<\/strong> rights.\u00a0 That has a somewhat reckless sound; but it would be palliated, if not fully justified, were we proposing, by the mere force of numbers, to deprive you of some right, plainly written down in the Constitution<\/strong>. But we are proposing no such thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you make these declarations, you have a specific and well-understood allusion to an assumed Constitutional<\/strong> right of yours, to take slaves into the federal territories, and to hold them there as property. But no such right is specifically written in the Constitution<\/strong>. That instrument is literally silent about any such right. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right has any existence in the Constitution<\/strong>, even by implication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYour purpose, then, plainly stated, is, that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution<\/strong> as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us. You will rule or ruin in all events\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Inaugural Address (March 4, 1861)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026I hold, that in contemplation of universal law, and of the Constitution<\/strong>, the Union of these States is perpetual. Perpetuity is implied, if not expressed, in the fundamental law of all national governments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cContinue to execute all the express provisions of our national Constitution<\/strong>, and the Union will endure forever—it being impossible to destroy it, except by some action not provided for in the instrument itself\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u00a0<\/sup>therefore consider that, in view of the Constitution<\/strong> and the laws, the Union is unbroken; and, to the extent of my ability, I shall take care, as the Constitution<\/strong> itself expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but only as the declared purpose of the Union that it\u00a0will<\/i>\u00a0<\/sup>constitutionally<\/strong> defend, and maintain itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Plainly, the central idea of secession, is the essence of anarchy. A\u00a0<\/sup>majority, held in restraint by constitutional<\/strong> checks, and limitations, and always changing easily, with deliberate changes of popular opinions and sentiments, is the only true sovereign of a free people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fugitive slave clause of the Constitution<\/strong>, and the law for the suppression of the foreign slave trade, are each as well enforced, perhaps,\u00a0<\/sup> as any law can ever be in a community where the moral sense of the people imperfectly supports\u00a0<\/sup>the law itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch of you as are now dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution<\/strong> unimpaired, and, on the sensitive point, the laws of your own framing under it; while the new administration will have no immediate power, if it would, to change either.\u201d<\/p>\n

First Draft of Emancipation (July 22, 1862)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201c. . .That the object is to practically restore, thenceforward to be maintained, the constitutional<\/strong> relation between the general government, and each, and all the states, wherein that relation is now suspended, or disturbed; and that, for this object, the war, as it has been, will be, prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . I, as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, do order and declare that on the first day of January in the year of Our Lord one thousand, eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any state or states, wherein the constitutional<\/strong> authority of the United States shall not then be practically recognized, submitted to, and maintained, shall then, thenceforward, and forever, be free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Emancipation Proclamation (January 1, 1863)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cAnd upon this act, sincerely believed to be an\u00a0act of justice, warranted by the Constitution<\/strong>, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Albert Hodges (April 4, 1864)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cIt was in the oath I took that I would, to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution<\/strong> of the United States. I could not take the office without taking the oath. Nor was it my view that I might take an oath to get power, and break the oath in using the power.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI did understand however, that my oath to preserve the constitution<\/strong> to the best of my ability, imposed upon me the duty of preserving, by every indispensable means, that government—that nation—of which that constitution was the organic law. Was it possible to lose the nation, and yet preserve the constitution<\/strong>?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy general law life\u00a0and<\/i>\u00a0limb must be protected; yet often a limb must be amputated to save a life; but a life is never wisely given to save a limb. I felt that measures, otherwise unconstitutional<\/strong>, might become lawful, by becoming indispensable to the preservation of the constitution<\/strong>, through the preservation of the nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRight or wrong, I assumed this ground, and now avow it. I could not feel that, to the best of my ability, I had even tried to preserve the constitution<\/strong>, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution<\/strong> all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey declined the proposition; and I was, in my best judgment, driven to the alternative of either surrendering the Union, and with it, the Constitution<\/strong>, or of laying strong hand upon the colored element. I chose the latter. In choosing it, I hoped for greater gain than loss; but of this, I was not entirely confident.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Horace Greeley (August 22, 1862)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution<\/strong>. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be \u2018the Union as it was.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cooper Union Speech (February 27, 1860) \u201c\u2026 The sum of the whole is, that of our thirty-nine fathers who framed the original Constitution, twenty-one—a clear majority of the whole—certainly understood that no proper division of local from federal authority, nor any part of the Constitution, forbade the Federal Government to control slavery in the federal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1399","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1399"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1402,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1399\/revisions\/1402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}