{"id":1452,"date":"2013-07-03T16:57:22","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T16:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?page_id=1452"},"modified":"2013-07-03T16:57:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T16:57:22","slug":"now","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/now\/","title":{"rendered":"“Now”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln (April 16, 1848)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cIn this troublesome world, we are never quite satisfied. When you were here, I thought you hindered me some in attending to business; but now<\/b>, having nothing but business—no variety—it has grown exceedingly tasteless to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know I told you in last sunday’s letter, I was going to make a little speech during the week; but the week has passed away without my getting a chance to do so; and now<\/b> my interest in the subject has passed away too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advice to William Herndon (July 10, 1848)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI suppose I am now<\/b> one of the old men—and I declare on my veracity, which I think is good with you, that nothing could afford me more satisfaction than to learn that you and others of my young friends at home, were\u00a0 <\/sup>doing battle in the contest, and endearing themselves to the people, and taking a stand far above any I have ever been able to reach, in their admiration.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, in what I have said, I am sure you will suspect nothing but sincere friendship. I would save you from a fatal error. You have been a laborious, studious young man. You are far better informed on almost all subjects than I have ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to John Johnston (January 12, 1851)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cShe says she has just returned from your house; and that Father is very low, and will hardly recover. She also says you have written me two letters; and that although you do not expect me to come now<\/b>, you wonder that I do not write.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou already know I desire that neither Father or Mother shall be in want of any comfort either in health or sickness while they live; and I feel sure you have not failed to use my name, if necessary, to procure a doctor, or any thing else for Father in his present sickness. My business is such that I could hardly leave home now<\/b>, if it were not, as it is, that my own wife is sick-abed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSay to him that if we could meet now<\/b>, it is doubtful whether it would not be more painful than pleasant; but that if it be his lot to go now<\/b>, he will soon have a joyous [meeting] with many loved ones gone before; and where the rest of us, through the help of God, hope ere-long to join them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Richard Yates (August 18, 1854)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI wish to have the matter we spoke of settled and working to its consummation. I understand that our friend B. S. Edwards is entirely satisfied now<\/b>, and when I can assure myself of this perfectly I would like, by your leave, to get an additional paragraph into the Journal, about as follows:\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Norman Judd (October 20, 1858)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI now<\/b> have a high degree of confidence that we shall succeed, if we are not over-run with fraudulent votes to a greater extent than usual. On alighting from the cars and walking three squares at Naples on Monday, I met about fifteen Celtic gentlemen, with black carpet-sacks in their hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the great remaining part of the campaign, is finding a way to head this thing off. Can it be done at all? I have a\u00a0bare suggestion. When there is a known body of these voters, could not a true man, of the \u201cdetective<\/i>\u201d class, be introduced among them in disguise, who could, at the nick of time, control their votes?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201c\u2018Our fathers, when they framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now<\/b><\/i>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo those who now<\/b> so declare, I give, not only \u2018our fathers who framed the Government under which we live,\u2019 but with them all other living men within the century in which it was framed, among whom to search, and they shall not be able to find the evidence of a single man agreeing with them\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026But enough!\u00a0Let all who believe that \u2018our fathers, who framed the Government under which we live, understood this question just as well, and even better, than we do now<\/b>,\u2019 speak as they spoke, and act as they acted upon it. This is all Republicans ask—all Republicans desire—in relation to slavery.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now<\/b>, if they would listen—as I suppose they will not—I would address a few words to the Southern people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026A few words now<\/b> to Republicans\u2026. Wrong as we think slavery is, we can yet afford to let it alone where it is, because that much is due to the necessity arising from its actual presence in the nation; but can we, while our votes will prevent it, allow it to spread into the National Territories, and to overrun us here in these Free States?\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Grace Bedell (October 19, 1860)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cAs to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affectation if I were to begin it now<\/b>?\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cThis, I think, cannot be perfectly cured; and it would be worse in both cases\u00a0after<\/i>\u00a0the separation of the sections, than before. The foreign slave trade, now<\/b> imperfectly suppressed, would be ultimately\u00a0<\/sup>revived without restriction, in one section; while fugitive slaves, now<\/b> only partially surrendered, would not be surrendered at all, by the other.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSuch of you as are now<\/b> dissatisfied, still have the old Constitution 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

Letter to Joseph Hooker (January 26, 1863)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI have heard, in such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the Army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not\u00a0for<\/i>\u00a0this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. Only those generals who gain successes, can set up dictators. What I now<\/b> ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI much fear that the spirit which you have aided to infuse into the Army, of criticising their Commander, and withholding confidence from him, will now<\/b> turn upon you. I shall assist you as far as I can, to put it down. Neither you, nor Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army, while such a spirit prevails in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now<\/b>, beware of rashness. Beware of rashness, but with energy, and sleepless vigilance, go forward, and give us victories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Ulysses S. Grant (January 19, 1865)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cPlease read and answer this letter as though I was not President, but only a friend.\u00a0My son, now<\/b> in his twenty second year, having graduated at Harvard, wishes to see something of the war before it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Williamson Durley (October 3, 1845)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cIf the whig abolitionists of New York had voted with us last fall, Mr. Clay would now<\/b> be president, whig principles in the ascendent, and Texas not annexed; whereas by the division, all that either had at stake in the contest, was lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c. . . While, on the other hand, I hold it to be equally clear, that we should never knowingly lend ourselves directly or indirectly, to prevent that slavery from dying a natural death—to find new places for it to live in, when it can no longer exist in the old. Of course I am not now<\/b> considering what would be our duty, in cases of insurrection among the slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n

House Divided Speech (June 16, 1858)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cIf we could first know\u00a0where<\/i>\u00a0we are, and\u00a0whither<\/i>\u00a0we are tending, we could then better judge\u00a0what<\/i>\u00a0to do, and\u00a0how<\/i>\u00a0to do it.
\nWe are now<\/b> far into the\u00a0fifth<\/i>\u00a0year, since a policy was initiated, with the\u00a0avowed<\/i>\u00a0object, and\u00a0confident<\/i>\u00a0promise, of putting an end to slavery agitation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo meet and overthrow the power of that dynasty, is the work now<\/b> before all those who would prevent that consummation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey<\/i>\u00a0do\u00a0not<\/i>\u00a0tell us, nor has\u00a0he<\/i>\u00a0told us, that he\u00a0wishes<\/i>\u00a0any such object to be effected. They wish us to\u00a0infer<\/i>\u00a0all, from the facts, that he now<\/b> has a little quarrel with the present head of the dynasty; and that he has regularly voted with us, on a single point, upon which, he and we, have never differed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Now, as ever, I wish to not\u00a0misrepresent<\/i>\u00a0Judge Douglas’\u00a0position<\/i>, question his\u00a0motives<\/i>, or do ought that can be personally offensive to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut clearly, he is not\u00a0now<\/i><\/b>\u00a0with us—he does not\u00a0pretend<\/i>\u00a0to be—he does not\u00a0promise<\/i>\u00a0to\u00a0ever<\/i>\u00a0be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid we brave all\u00a0then<\/i>,\u00a0<\/sup> to\u00a0falter<\/i>\u00a0now<\/b>?—now<\/i><\/b>—when that same enemy is\u00a0wavering<\/i>, dissevered and belligerent?\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 relation between the general government, and each, and all the states, wherein that relation is now<\/b> suspended, or disturbed; and that, for this object, the war, as it has been, will be, prosecuted.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cNow, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, . . . in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, towit:\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

\u201cMore than a year of trial now<\/b> shows no loss by it in our foreign relations, none in our home popular sentiment, none in our white military force,—no loss by it any how or anywhere. On the contrary, it shows a gain of quite a hundred and thirty thousand soldiers, seamen, and laborers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now<\/b> let any Union man who complains of the measure, test himself by writing down in one line that he is for subduing the rebellion by force of arms; and in the next, that he is for taking these hundred and thirty thousand men from the Union side, and placing them where they would be but for the measure he condemns. If he can not face his case so stated, it is only because he can not face the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, at the end of three years struggle the nation’s condition is not what either party, or any man devised, or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither it is tending seems plain. If God now<\/b> wills the removal of a great wrong, and wills also that we of the North as well as you of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, impartial history will find therein new cause to attest and revere the justice and goodness of God.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lyceum Address (January 27, 1838)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201c\u2026That our government should have been maintained in its original form from its establishment until now<\/b>, is not much to be wondered at. It had many props to support it through that period, which now<\/b> are decayed, and crumbled away. Through that period, it was felt by all, to be an undecided experiment; now<\/b>, it is understood to be a successful one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now<\/b> and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now<\/b> and here, argue against them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gettysburg Address (November 19, 1863)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cNow we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second Inaugural Address (March 4, 1865)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cNow, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention, and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now<\/b> wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Letter to Mary Todd Lincoln (April 16, 1848) \u201cIn this troublesome world, we are never quite satisfied. When you were here, I thought you hindered me some in attending to business; but now, having nothing but business—no variety—it has grown exceedingly tasteless to me.\u201d \u201cYou know I told you in last sunday’s letter, I was […]<\/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-1452","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1452","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=1452"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1452\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1454,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1452\/revisions\/1454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1452"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}