I am very loath in any case to withhold my assent to the enjoyment of property acquired or located in good faith; but I do not admit that good faith in taking a negro to Kansas to be held in slavery is a probability with any man.
In a letter to Joshua Speed, Lincoln expressed his reluctance to deny property rights but asserted that taking an enslaved person to Kansas could not be considered an act of good faith.
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More from Abraham Lincoln
If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business.
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.
If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.
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