The Public Record
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. A member of the Republican Party, he is best known for leading the nation through the Civil War and for his efforts to abolish slavery, notably through the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. Lincoln's leadership during this tumultuous period helped to preserve the Union and set the stage for the eventual passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, which formally abolished slavery in the United States.
In answer to the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 17th of July last, requesting the communication of correspondence relating to the arrest of a part of the crew of the brig Sumter at Tangier, Morocco, I herewith transmit a…
In compliance with the resolution of the Senate of the United States of the 13th of March last, requesting a copy of the correspondence relative to the attempted seizure of Mr. Fauchet by the commander of the Africa within the waters of…
I most cordially recommend that Commander John L. Worden, United States Navy, receive a vote of thanks of Congress for the eminent skill and gallantry exhibited by him in the late remarkable battle between the United States ironclad…
The obligation of this Government to make amends therefor could not be questioned if the injury resulted from any fault on the part of the San Jacinto.
I recommend an appropriation of this sum for the benefit of the owners of the Jules et Marie.
In fact, it would ere long force reunion, however much of blood and treasure the separation might have cost....
Our national strife springs not from our permanent part, not from the land we inhabit, not from our national homestead.
In the production of provisions, grains, grasses, and all which proceed from them, this great interior region is naturally one of the most important in the world.
There is no possible severing of this but would multiply and not mitigate evils among us.
The fiery trial through which we pass will light us down, in honour or dishonour, to the latest generation.
As part of one nation, its people now find, and may for ever find, their way to Europe by New York, to South America and Africa by New Orleans, and to Asia by San Francisco.
The way is plain, peaceful, generous, just,--a way which, if followed, the world will for ever applaud, and God must for ever bless.
But separate our common country into two nations, as designed by the present rebellion, and every man of this great interior region is thereby cut off from one or more of these outlets,--not perhaps by a physical barrier, but by…
True to themselves, they will not ask where a line of separation shall be, but will vow rather that there shall be no such line.
In all its adaptations and aptitudes, it demands union and abhors separation.
The struggle has been, of course, contemplated by foreign nations with reference less to its own merits than to its supposed and often exaggerated effects and consequences resulting to those nations themselves.
I deem it my duty to recommend an appropriation in behalf of the owners of the Norwegian bark Admiral P. Tordenskiold.
In giving freedom to the slave, we assure freedom to the free – honorable alike in what we give, and what we preserve.
The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.
The immense mineral resources of some of those Territories ought to be developed as rapidly as possible.
The treaty with Great Britain for the suppression of the slave trade has been put into operation with a good prospect of complete success.
We must think anew, act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves from the past, and then we shall save our country.
Politicians like Abraham Lincoln
