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Abraham Lincoln Quotes about Slavery

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If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.

Abraham Lincoln
Presidential, Civil War, Slavery
Letter to Albert G. Hodges, 4 Apr. 1864

I do but quote from one of those speeches when I declare that "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so."

Abraham Lincoln
Believe, Purpose, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.250, Wildside Press LLC

My paramount objective in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not to either save or destroy Slavery.

Abraham Lincoln
War, Struggle, Slavery
Letter to Horace Greeley, 22 Aug. 1862

We think slavery a great moral wrong, and while we do not claim the right to touch it where it exists, we wish to treat it as a wrong in the territories, where our votes will reach it.

Abraham Lincoln
Thinking, Wish, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln (2012). “Lincoln Speeches”, p.133, Penguin

Free labor has the inspiration of hope; pure slavery has no hope.

Abraham Lincoln
Inspiration, Slave Labor, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln, Mario Matthew Cuomo, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.160, Fordham Univ Press

This is a world of compensations; and he who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave.

Abraham Lincoln
Would Be, World, Slavery
Letter to Henry L. Pierce and Others, 6 Apr. 1859

We must free the slaves or be ourselves subdued.

Abraham Lincoln
Slavery, Slave
Abraham Lincoln, Bob Blaisdell (2005). “The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln: A Book of Quotations”, p.64, Courier Corporation

But, slavery is good for some people! ! ! As a good thing, slavery is strikingly peculiar, in this, that it is the only good thing which no man ever seeks the good of, for himself.

Abraham Lincoln
Men, People, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln, Terence Ball (2013). “Lincoln: Political Writings and Speeches”, p.226, Cambridge University Press

We believe that the spreading out and perpetuity of the institution of slavery impairs the general welfare. We believe - nay, we know, that that is the only thing that has ever threatened the perpetuity of the Union itself.

Abraham Lincoln
Believe, Slavery, Unions
Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.743, Jazzybee Verlag

Let there be no compromise on the question of extending slavery. If there be, all our labor is lost, and, ere long, must be done again.

Abraham Lincoln
Long, Done, Slavery
Ulysses S. Grant, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Stephen Crane, Jefferson Davis, Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Modern Library Civil War Bookshelf 5-Book Bundle: Personal Memoirs, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Red Badge of Courage, Jefferson Davis: The Essential Writings, The Life and Writings of Abraham Lincoln”, p.2681, Modern Library

I say now, however, as I have all the while said, that on the territorial question - that is, the question of extending slavery under the national auspices, - I am inflexible. I am for no compromise which assists or permits the extension of the institution on soil owned by the nation.

Abraham Lincoln
Slavery, Soil, Compromise
Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.197, Library of America

An inspection of the Constitution will show that the right of property in a slave in not "distinctly and expressly affirmed" in it.

Abraham Lincoln
Slavery, Constitution, Inspection

In those days, our Declaration of Independence was held sacred by all, and thought to include all; but now, to aid in the making the bondage of the negro universal and eternal, it is assailed, and sneered at, and construed, and hawked at, and torn, till, if its framers could rise from their graves, they could not at all recognize it.

Abraham Lincoln
Independence, Slavery, Sacred
Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 1: 1832-1858: Library of America #45”, p.396, Library of America

I wish all men to be free. I wish the material prosperity of the already free which I feel sure the extinction of slavery would bring.

Abraham Lincoln
Men, Wish, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln (2008). “The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln”, p.41, Wildside Press LLC

Slavery is wrong. If Slavery is right, all words, acts, laws, and Constitutions against it, are themselves wrong, and should be silenced, and swept away.

Abraham Lincoln
Law, Slavery, Constitution
Cooper Union Address, delivered 27 February 1860, New York, NY

I think that one of the causes of these repeated failures is that our best and greatest men have greatly underestimated the size of this question (slavery). They have constantly brought forward small cures for great sores-plasters too small to cover the wound. That is one reason that all settlements have proved so temporary-so evanescent.

Abraham Lincoln
Men, Thinking, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln (1989). “Abraham Lincoln: Speeches & Writings Part 2: 1859-1865: Library of America #46”, p.134, Library of America

I am a little uneasy about the abolishment of slavery in this District of Columbia.

Abraham Lincoln
War, Slavery, Littles
Abraham Lincoln (1999). “Lincoln on Lincoln”, p.127, University Press of Kentucky

I wish to see, in process of disappearing, that only thing which ever could bring this nation to civil war.

Abraham Lincoln
War, Wish, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln (2012). “The Complete Papers And Writings Of Abraham Lincoln (Biographically Annotated Edition)”, p.1401, Jazzybee Verlag

I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing, that no man desires for himself.

Abraham Lincoln
Men, Desire, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln, Mario Matthew Cuomo, G. S. Boritt (2004). “Lincoln on Democracy”, p.316, Fordham Univ Press

You know I dislike slavery; and you fully admit the abstract wrong of it.

Abraham Lincoln
Slavery, Abstract, Knows
Abraham Lincoln (2009). “The Portable Abraham Lincoln”, p.80, Penguin

The slave-breeders and slave-traders, are a small, odious and detested class, among you; and yet in politics, they dictate the course of all of you, and are as completely your masters, as you are the master of your own negroes.

Abraham Lincoln
Class, Slavery, Traders
Abraham Lincoln (2008). “Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln(1832-1865) (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)”, p.81, ReadHowYouWant.com

When Judge Douglas says that whoever, or whatever community, wants slaves, they have a right to have them, he is perfectly logical if there is nothing wrong in the institution; but if you admit that it is wrong, he cannot logically say that anybody has a right to do wrong.

Abraham Lincoln
Judging, Community, Slavery
Abraham Lincoln, Stephen A. Douglas, Paul M. Angle (1958). “The Complete Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858”, p.334, University of Chicago Press

Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery it could not continue.

Abraham Lincoln
Civil War, Slavery, Rebellion
Abraham Lincoln (2009). “The Portable Abraham Lincoln”, p.12, Penguin

We want, and must have, a national policy, as to slavery, which deals with it as being wrong.

Abraham Lincoln
Slavery, Want, Deals

If we cannot give freedom to every creature, let us do nothing that will impose slavery upon any other creature.

Abraham Lincoln
Giving, Slavery, Be A Slave
Abraham Lincoln (2008). “Speeches and Letters of Abraham Lincoln(1832-1865) (EasyRead Super Large 20pt Edition)”, p.198, ReadHowYouWant.com