{"id":1480,"date":"2013-07-03T17:54:03","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T17:54:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/?page_id=1480"},"modified":"2013-07-03T18:13:36","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T18:13:36","slug":"right","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/right\/","title":{"rendered":"“Right”"},"content":{"rendered":"

First Campaign Statement (March 9, 1832)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cHowever, upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right<\/b>, than at all times wrong, so soon as I discover my opinions to be erroneous, I shall be ready to renounce them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handbill on Infidelity (July 31, 1846)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office, whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion. Leaving the higher matter of eternal consequences, between him and his Maker, I still do not think any man has the right<\/b> thus to insult the feelings, and injure the morals, of the community in which he may live.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cBut you will break up the Union rather than submit to a denial of your Constitutional right<\/b>s.\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<\/b>, plainly written down in the Constitution. 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 right<\/b> of yours, to take slaves into the federal territories, and to hold them there as property. But no such right<\/b> is specifically written in the Constitution. That instrument is literally silent about any such right<\/b>. We, on the contrary, deny that such a right<\/b> has any existence in the Constitution, even by implication.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us be diverted by none of those sophistical contrivances wherewith we are so industriously plied and belabored—contrivances such as groping for some middle ground between the right<\/b> and the wrong, vain as the search for a man who should be neither a living man nor a dead man—such as a policy of \u201cdon’t care\u201d on a question about which all true men do care—such as Union appeals beseeching true Union men to yield to Disunionists, reversing the divine rule, and calling, not the sinners, but the right<\/b>eous to repentance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT, AND IN THAT FAITH, LET US, TO THE END, DARE TO DO OUR DUTY AS WE UNDERSTAND IT.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cDoing this I deem to be only a simple duty on my part; and I shall perform it, so far as practicable, unless my right<\/b>ful masters, the American people, shall withhold the requisite means, or, in some authoritative manner,\u00a0direct the contrary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026One section of our country\u00a0<\/sup>believes slavery is\u00a0right<\/i><\/b>, and ought to be extended, while the other believes it is\u00a0wrong<\/i>, and ought not to be extended. This is the only substantial dispute.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it were admitted that you who are dissatisfied, hold the right<\/b> side in the dispute, there still is no single good reason for precipitate action. Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him, who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust, in the best way, all our present difficulty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Letter to Reverdy Johnson (July 26, 1862)<\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cThe people of Louisiana—all intelligent people every where—know full well, that I never had a wish to touch the foundations of their society, or any right<\/b> of theirs. With perfect knowledge of this, they forced a necessity upon me to send armies among them, and it is their own fault, not mine, that they are annoyed by the presence of General Phelps.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI believe you to be a brave and a skilful soldier, which, of course, I like. I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in which you are right<\/b>. You have confidence in yourself, which is a valuable, if not an indispensable quality. You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cI am naturally anti-slavery. If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong. I can not remember when I did not so think, and feel. And yet I have never understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted right<\/b> to act officially upon this judgment and feeling.\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, if, to save slavery, or any minor matter, I should permit the wreck of government, country, and Constitution all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cIf there be in it any inferences which I may believe to be falsely drawn, I do not now 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<\/b>.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

\u201cTo strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union, even by war; while the government claimed no right<\/b> to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

First Campaign Statement (March 9, 1832) \u201cHowever, upon the subjects of which I have treated, I have spoken as I thought. I may be wrong in regard to any or all of them; but holding it a sound maxim, that it is better to be only sometimes right, than at all times wrong, so soon […]<\/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-1480","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1480","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=1480"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1480\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1480\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housedivided.dickinson.edu\/sites\/lincoln\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}