LINCOLN, Abraham (1809-1865). The Address of the Hon. Abraham Lincoln, in vindication of the policy of the framers of the Constitution and the Principles of the Republican Party, Delivered at Cooper Institute, February 27, 1860. New York: George F. Nesbitt & Co., 1860.

8vo. Original glazed printed wrappers, covers with vertical crease, rubbing or discoloration to covers as usual; in chemise.

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE OF LINCOLN'S FAMED COOPER UNION SPEECH, with p. 32 unnumbered (in 1907, a reprint that was almost indistinguishable from the original was reissued with an explanation laid in and p. 32 numbered).

"LET US HAVE FAITH THAT RIGHT MAKES MIGHT."

Lincoln's Cooper Union Address was a pivotal speech that significantly boosted his presidential candidacy leading up to the 6 November 1860 election. In this carefully researched and eloquent address, Lincoln argued against the expansion of slavery into the western territories, asserting that the majority of the Founding Fathers would have supported this position. He emphasized the Republican Party's conservative stance on slavery, stating, "Let all the guarantees those fathers gave it, be, not grudgingly, but fully and fairly, maintained". Lincoln also directly challenged the Southern states, declaring, "Your purpose, then, plainly stated, is that you will destroy the Government, unless you be allowed to construe and enforce the Constitution as you please, on all points in dispute between you and us". The speech concluded with the powerful words, "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it." Monaghan 68; Rubenstein, Abraham Lincoln: His Life in Print p. 103.

Provenance:

Louise Taper, Beverly Hills, California

Property from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Foundation