structure of government. It is assumed that labor is avail-
able only in connection with capital ; that nobody labors unless
somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces 15
him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is
best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to
work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it
without their consent. Having proceeded thus far, it is naturally
concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we 20
call slaves. And, further, it is assumed that whoever is once a
hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as
assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed
for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assump- 25
tions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is
only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor
had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and de-
serves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, 30



78 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

which are as worthy of protection as any other rights. Nor is
it denied that there is, and probably always will be, a relation
between labor and capital producing mutual benefits. The error
is in assuming that the whole labor of the community exists
5 within that relation. A few men own capital, and that few avoid
labor themselves, and with their capital hire or buy another few
to labor for them. A large majority belong to neither class —
neither work for others nor have others working for them. In
most of the Southern states a majority of the whole people, of

lo all colors, are neither slaves nor masters ; while in the Northern
a large majority are neither hirers nor hired. Men with their
families — wives, sons, and daughters — work for themselves,
on their farms, in their houses, and in their shops, taking the
whole product to themselves, and asking no favors of capital on

15 the one hand, nor of hired laborers or slaves on the other. It
is not forgotten that a considerable number of persons mingle
their own labor with capital — that is, they labor with their own
hands and also buy or hire others to labor for them ; but this
is only a mLxed and not a distinct class. No principle stated is

20 disturbed by the existence of this mixed class.

Again, as has already been said, there is not, of necessity,
any such thing as the free hired laborer being fixed to that con-
dition for life. Many independent men ever)^where in these
states, a few years back in their lives, were hired laborers. The

25 prudent, penniless beginner in the world labors for wages awhile,
saves a surplus with which to buy tools or land for himself,
then labors on his own account another while, and at length
hires another new beginner to help him. This is the just and
generous and prosperous system which opens the way to all —

30 gives hope to all, and consequent energy and progress and im-
provement of condition to all. No men living are more worthy
to be trusted than those who toil up from poverty — none less
inclined to take or touch aught which they have not honestly
earned. Let them beware of surrendering a political power



MESSAGE TO CONGRESS



79



which they already possess, and which, if surrendered, will surely
be used to close the door of advancement against such as they,
and to fix new disabilities and burdens upon them, till all of -
liberty shall be lost. ...

MESSAGE TO CONGRESS RECOMMENDING
COMPENSATED EMANCIPATION

(March 6, 1862)

Fellow Citizens of the Senate a?id House of Representatives : 5
I recommend the adoption of a joint resolution by your honor-
able bodies, which shall be substantially as follows :

Resolved, That the United States ought to cooperate with any
state which may adopt gradual abolishment of slavery, giving to such
state pecuniary aid, to be used by such state, in its discretion, to 10
compensate for the inconveniences, public and private, produced by
such change of system.

If the proposition contained in the resolution does not meet
the approval of Congress and the country, there is the end ;
but if it does command such approval, I deem it of importance 15
that the states and people immediately interested should be at
once distinctly notified of the fact, so that they may begin to
consider whether to accept or reject it. The federal govern-
ment would find its highest interest in such a measure, as one
of the most efficient means of self-preservation. The leaders of 20
the existing insurrection entertain the hope that this govern-
ment will ultimately be forced to acknowledge the independence
of some part of the disaffected region, and that all the slave
states north of such part will then say, '' The Union for which
we have struggled being already gone, we now choose to go 25
with the Southern section." To deprive them of this hope sub-
stantially ends the rebellion ; and the initiation of emancipation
completely deprives them of it as to all the states initiating it.



80 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

The point is not that all the states tolerating slavery would very
soon^ if at all, initiate emancipation ; but that while the offer is
equally made to all, the more Northern shall, by such initiation,
make it certain to the more Southern that in no event will the
5 former ever join the latter in their proposed confederacy. I
say '' initiation " because, in my judgment, gradual and not
sudden emancipation is better for all. In the mere financial or
pecuniary view, any member of Congress, with the census tables
and treasury reports before him, can readily see for himself

10 how very soon the current expenditures of this war would pur-
chase, at fair valuation, all the slaves in any named state. Such
a proposition on the part of the general government sets up no
claim of a right by federal authority to interfere with slavery within
state limits, referring, as it does, the absolute control of the sub-

15 ject in each case to the state and its people immediately interested.
It is proposed as a matter of perfectly free choice with them.

In the annual message, last December, I thought fit to say,
'' The Union must be preserved, and hence all indispensable
means must be employed." I said this not hastily, but deliber-

20 ately. War has been made, and continues to be, an indispen-
sable means to this end. A practical reacknowledgment of the
national authority would render the war unnecessary, and it
would at once cease. If, however, resistance continues, the war
must also continue ; and it is impossible to foresee all the inci-

25 dents which may attend and all the ruin which may follow it.
Such as may seem indispensable, or may obviously promise great
efficiency, toward ending the struggle, must and will come.

The proposition now made, though an offer only, I hope it
may be esteemed no offense to ask whether the pecuniary con-

30 sideration tendered would not be of more value to the states
and private persons concerned than are the institution and
property in it, in the present aspect of affairs ?

While it is true that the adoption of the proposed resolution
would be merely initiatory, and not within itself a practical



LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY 8 1

measure, it is recommended in the hope that it would soon lead
to important practical results. In full view of my great respon-
sibility to my God and to my countr\-, I earnestly beg the
attention of Congress and the people to the subject.

Abraham Lincolx

LETTER TO HORACE GREELEY

Executive Mansion

TT TT i-. Washington, August 22, 1862

Hon. Horace Greeley ^ ^

Dear Sir : I have just read yours of the 19th, addressed to 5
myself through the New York Tribune. If there be in it any state-
ments or assumptions of fact which I may know to be erroneous.
I do not, now and here, controvert them. If 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 perceptible in it 10
an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an
old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.

As to the policy I ''seem to be pursuing,'' as you sav, I have
not meant to leave any one in doubt.

I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest wav 15
under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can
be restored, the nearer the Union will be "" the Union as it was."
If there be those who would not save the Union unless thev
could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them.
If there be those who would not save the LTnion unless they 20
could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with
them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the
Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could
save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it ; and
if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and 25
if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I
would also do that. What I do about slavery and the colored
race, I do because I believe it helps to .save the Union ; and
what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help



82 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what
I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I
shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to cor-
rect errors when shown to be errors, and I shall adopt new
5 views so fast as they shall appear to be true views. I have here
stated my purpose according to my view of official duty, and I
intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that

all men, everywhere, could be free.

Yours

A. Lincoln

SABBATH OBSERVANCE

(November 15. 1862)
The President, commander in chief of the army and navy,

10 desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by
the officers and men in the military and naval service. The im-
portance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the
sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming defer-
ence to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due

15 regard for the Divine Will, demand that Sunday labor in the
army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.
The discipline and character of the national forces should not
suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperiled, by the profana-
tion of the day or name of the Most High. '' At this time of

20 public distress" — adopting the words of Washington in 1776
— " men may find enough to do in the service of God and
their country without abandoning themselves to vice and im-
morality." The first general order issued by the Father of his
Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the

25 spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever
be defended. " The general hopes and trusts that every officer
and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a Christian
soldier, defending the dearest rights and liberties of his country."

Abraham Lincoln

Official : E. D. Townsend, Assistant Adjutant General



EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE 83

EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE
(December i, 1862)

. . . Among the friends of the Union there is great diver-
sity of sentiment and of policy in regard to slavery and the
African race amongst us. Some would perpetuate slavery ;
some would abolish it suddenly, and without compensation ;
some would abolish it gradually, and with compensation ; some 5
would remove the freed people from us, and some would retain
them with us ; and there are yet other minor diversities. Be-
cause of these diversities we waste much strength in struggles
among ourselves. By mutual concession we should harmonize
and act together. This would be compromise ; but it would be 10
compromise among the friends, and not with the enemies, of the
Union. These articles are intended to embody a plan of such
mutual concessions. If the plan shall be adopted, it is assumed
that emancipation will follow at least in several of the states.

As to the first article, the main points are : first, the emanci- 1 5
pation ; secondly, the length of time for consummating it —
thirt^'-seven years ; and, thirdly, the compensation.

The emancipation will be unsatisfactor}^ to the advocates of
perpetual slavers- ; but the length of time should greatly miti-
gate their dissatisfaction. The time spares both races from the 20
evils of sudden derangement — in fact, from the necessity of
any derangement ; while most of those whose habitual course
of thought will be disturbed by the measure will have passed
away before its consummation. They will never see it. Another
class will hail the prospect of emancipation, but will deprecate 25
the length of time. They will feel that it gives too little to the
now living slaves. But it really gives them much. It saves
them from the vagrant destitution which must largely attend
immediate emancipation in localities where their numbers are
very great ; and it gives the inspiring assurance that their pos- 30
terity shall be free forever. The plan leaves to each state



84 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

choosing to act under it to abolish slavery now, or at the end
of the century, or at any intermediate time, or by degrees ex-
tending over the whole or any part of the period ; and it obliges
no two states to proceed alike. It also provides for compensa-
5 tion, and generally the mode of making it. This, it would seem,
must further mitigate the dissatisfaction of those who favor
perpetual slavery, and especially of those who are to receive
the compensation. Doubtless some of those who are to pay,
and not to receive, will object. Yet the measure is both just

lo and economical. In a certain sense the liberation of slaves is
the destruction of property — property acquired by descent or
by purchase, the same as any other property. It is no less true
for having been often said, that the people of the South are not
more responsible for the original introduction of this property

1 5 than are the people of the North ; and when it is remembered
how unhesitatingly we all use cotton and sugar and share the
profits of dealing in them, it may not be quite safe to say that
the South has been more responsible than the North for its
continuance. If, then, for a common object this property is to

20 be sacrificed, is it not just that it be done at a common charge ?

And if, with less money, or money more easily paid, we can

preserve the benefits of the Union by this means than we can

by the war alone, is it not also economical to do it ? Let us

consider it, then. Let us ascertain the sum we have expended

25 in the war since compensated emancipation was proposed last
March, and consider whether, if that measure had been promptly
accepted by even some of the slave states, the same sum would
not have done more to close the war than has been otherwise
done. If so, the measure would save money, and in that view

30 would be a prudent and economical measure. Certainly it is
not so easy to pay something as it is to pay nothing ; but it is
easier to pay a large sum than it is to pay a larger one. And
it is easier to pay any sum when we are able, than it is to
pay it before we are able. The war requires large sums, and



EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE 85

requires them at once. The aggregate sum necessary' for com-
pensated emancipation of course would be large. But it would
require no ready cash, nor the bonds even, any faster than the
emancipation progresses. This might not, and probably would
not, close before the end of the thirty-seven years. At that 5
time we shall probably have 100,000,000 of people to share
the burden, instead of 31,000,000 as now. And not only so,
but the increase of our population may be expected to continue
for a long time after that period, as rapidly as before, because
our territory will not have become full. I do not state this in- 10
considerately. At the same ratio of increase which we have
maintained, on an average, from our first national census in
1790 until that of i860, we should in 1900 have a population
of 103,208,415. And why may we not continue that ratio far
beyond that period ? Our abundant room — our broad national 15
homestead — is our ample resource. Were our territory as
limited as are the British Isles, ver}' certainly our population
could not expand as stated. Instead of receiving the foreign-
born as now, we should be compelled to send part of the
native-bom away. But such is not our condition. We have 20
2,963,000 square miles. Europe has 3,800,000, with a popula-
tion averaging 73-^ persons to the square mile. Why may not
our country, at the same time, average as many .'' Is it less
fertile ? Has it more waste surface, by mountains, rivers, lakes,
deserts, or other causes ? Is it inferior to Europe in any natural 25
advantage ? If, then, we are at some time to be as populous as
Europe, how soon ? As to when this may be, we can judge by
the past and the present ; as to when it will be, if ever, depends
much on whether we maintain the Union. Several of our states
are already above the average of Europe — 73^ to the square 30
mile. Massachusetts has 157; Rhode Island, 133; Connecticut,
99 ; New York and New Jersey, each 80. Also two other great
states, Pennsylvania and Ohio, are not far below, the former
having 63 and the latter 59. The states already above the



86 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

European average, except New York, have increased in as
rapid a ratio since passing that point as ever before, while no
one of them is equal to some other parts of our country in
natural capacity for sustaining a dense population.
5 Taking the nation in the aggregate, we find its population
and ratio of increase for the several decennial periods to be as
follows :

1790 3^929>827

1800 55305»937 35-02 per cent ratio of increase

1810 7,239,814 36.45

1820 9,638,131 33.13

1830 12,866,020 33-49 " "

1840 17,069,453 32.67 " "

1850 23,191,876 35.87

i860 31,443,790 35.58

This shows an average decennial increase of 34.60 per cent
in population through the seventy years from our first to our
ID last census yet taken. It is seen that the ratio of increase at no
one of these seven periods is either two per cent below or two
per cent above the average, thus showing how inflexible, and
consequently how reliable, the law of increase in our case is.
Assuming that it will continue, gives the following results : -

1870 42,323,341

1880 56,967,216

1890 76,677,872

1900 103,208,415

1910 138,918,526

1920 186,984,335

1930 251,680,914



I



These figures show that our country may be as populous as
Europe now is at some point between 1920 and 1930 — say
about 1925 — our territory, at 73-g- persons to the square mile,
being of capacity to contain 217,186,000.



EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE 8/

And we will reach this, too, if we do not ourselves relinquish
the chance by the folly and evils of disunion, or by long and
exhausting war springing from the only great element of national
discord among us. While it cannot be foreseen exactly how-
much one huge example of secession, breeding lesser ones in- 5
definitely, would retard population, civilization, and prosperity,
no one can doubt that the extent of it would be very great and
injurious.

The proposed emancipation would shorten the war, perpetu-
ate peace, insure this increase of population, and proportionately 10
the wealth of the country. With these, we should pay all the
emancipation would cost, together with our other debt, easier
than we should pay our other debt without it. If we had allowed
our old national debt to run at six per cent per annum, simple
interest, from the end of our Revolutionary struggle until to- 15
day, without paying anything on either principle or interest,
each man of us would owe less upon that debt now than each
man owed upon it then ; and this because our increase of men,
through the whole period, has been greater than six per cent
— has run faster than the interest upon the debt. Thus, time 20
alone relieves a debtor nation, so long as its population increases
faster than unpaid interest accumulates on its debt.

This fact would be no excuse for delaying payment of what
is justly due ; but it shows the great importance of time in this
connection — the great advantage of a policy by which we shall 25
not have to pay, until we number a hundred millions, what by
a different policy we would have to pay now, when we number
but thirty-one millions. In a word, it shows that a dollar will
be much harder to pay for the war than will be a dollar for
emancipation on the proposed plan. And then the latter will 30
cost no blood, no precious life. It will be a saving of both.

As to the second article, I think it would be impracticable to
return to bondage the class of persons therein contemplated.
Some of them doubtless, in the property sense, belong to



88 ABRAHAM LINCOLN

loyal owners ; and hence provision is made in this article for
compensating such.

The third article relates to the future of the freed people. It
does not oblige, but merely authorizes, Congress to aid in col-
5 onizing such as may consent. This ought not to be regarded
as objectionable, on the one hand or on the other, insomuch
as it comes to nothing unless by the mutual consent of the
people to be deported, and the American voters through their
representatives in Congress.

lo I cannot make it better known than it already is, that I

strongly favor colonization. And yet I wish to say there is an

objection urged against free colored persons remaining in the

country which is largely imaginary, if not sometimes malicious.

It is insisted that their presence would injure and displace

15 white labor and white laborers. If there ever could be a proper
time for mere catch arguments, that time surely is not now. In
times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they
would not willingly be responsible through time and in eternity.
Is it true, then, that colored people can displace any more

20 white labor by being free than by remaining slaves ? If they
stay in their old places, they jostle no white laborers ; if they
leave their old places, they leave them open to white laborers.
Logically, there is neither more nor less of it. Emancipation,
even without deportation, would probably enhance the wages of

25 white labor, and very surely would not reduce them. Thus, the
customary amount of labor would still have to be performed :
the freed people would surely not do more than their old propor-
tion of it, and very probably for a time would do less, leaving
an increased part to white laborers, bringing their labor into

30 greater demand, and consequently enhancing the wages of it.
With deportation, even to a limited extent, enhanced wages to
white labor is mathematically certain. Labor is like any other
commodity in the market — increase the demand for it, and
you increase the price of it. Reduce the supply of black labor by



EXTRACT FROM ANNUAL MESSAGE 89

colonizing the black laborer out of the countr}^-, and by precisely so
much you increase the demand for, and wages of, white labor.

But it is dreaded that the freed people will swarm forth and
cover the whole land ? Are they not already in the land ? Will
liberation make them any more numerous ? Equally distributed 5
among the whites of the whole country, and there would be but
one colored to seven whites. Could the one in any way greatly
disturb the seven .? There are many communities now having
more than one free colored person to seven whites, and this
without any apparent consciousness of evil from it. The Dis- 10
trict of Columbia, and the states of Marj'land and Delaware,
are all in this condition. The District has more than one free
colored to six whites ; and yet in its frequent petitions to Con-
gress I believe it has never presented the presence of free
colored persons as one of its grievances. But why should 15
emancipation south send the free people North ? People of any
color seldom run unless there be something to run from. Here-
tofore colored people, to some extent, have fled North from
bondage ; and now, perhaps, from both bondage and destitu-
tion. But if gradual emancipation and deportation be adopted, 20
they will have neither to flee from. Their old masters will give
them wages at least until new laborers can be procured ; and
the freedmen, in turn, will gladly give their labor for the wages
till new homes can be found for them in congenial climes and

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13