My friends, I have detained you about as long as I desired to do, and I have only to say, let us discard all this quibbling about this man and the other man, this race and that race and the other race being inferior, and therefore they must be placed in an inferior position.
Concluding his address, Lincoln called for an end to arguments asserting the inferiority of certain races as justification for their subjugation.
Share
More from Abraham Lincoln
I believe that it is not only possible, but in fact easier, to do this without deciding or even considering whether these States have ever been out of the Union, than with it.
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.
Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Other voices in this conversation
