Abraham Lincoln: “I have decided to call into the service an additional force of 300,000 men.”

but whereas information has recently been received which affords reasonable grounds to expect that Her Britannic Majesty's Government and the executive and legislative branches of the government of Canada have taken and will continue to…

I have always thought that all men should be free; but if any should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for themselves, and secondly those who desire it for others.

I am considering, and shall not fail to act when satisfied that action will be proper.

As a general rule I abstain from reading the reports of attacks upon myself, wishing not to be provoked by that to which I cannot properly offer an answer.