Abraham Lincoln to Elihu B. Washburne, 29 January 18591
Springfield Jany– 29. 1859Hon. E. B. Washburne.My dear SirI have just received your brother's speech sent me by yourself–2 I had read it before; and you will oblige me by presenting him with my respects,
and tell^ing^ him I doubly thank him for making it— first, because the points are so just and well
put; and next, because it is so well timed– We needed, from some one who can get the public attention, just such a speech just at this time–3 His objection to the Oregon constitution because it excludes free negroes, is the only thing I wish he had omitted–4
Your friend as everA. Lincoln3Israel Washburn Jr. delivered the referenced speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on January 10, 1859. Washburn dedicated his speech to defending the Republican Party, criticizing the Democratic Party, and justifying the Republican opposition to slavery and its extension beyond the
American South. Washburn juxtaposed the defining principles of the two parties--democracy
for the Republicans and aristocracy for the Democrats. Washburn accused the Democrats
of desiring an aristocracy that denies the “equal right of all men” and “divides mankind
into two classes—a governing and priviledged class, and a governed and disabled class”.
“A practical and authoritative exposition” of Democratic principles, Washburn argued,
was found in the pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution, which enshrine property rights, and therefore slavery, as higher than any values
written in the Declaration of Independence or the U.S. Constitution. To make this
point, he quoted the same provision within the Lecompton Constitution multiple times,
which read “The right of property is before and higher than any constitutional sanction;
and the right of an owner of a slave to such slave and its increase, is the same,
and as inviolable, as the right of the owner of any property whatsoever.”
Cong. Globe, 35th Cong., 2nd Sess., 299-302 (1859); The Republican Party: Speech of Mr. Washburn, of Maine. Delivered in the House of
Representatives, January 10, 1859 ([Washington DC]: [Buell & Blanchard], [1859]).
4Although the Republican Party was formed to prevent the expansion of slavery in the
United States with a goal to see its eventual end, members of the party were deeply
divided on how to achieve that goal and how aggressively to pursue it. Lincoln was
more cautious than some others within the party, such as Washburn, and was anxious
to keep the party united on its goals despite differences on policy.
A test of party unity came in the winter of 1858-1859 with the admission of Oregon
as a state. Delegates from the Oregon Territory met in a state constitutional convention on August 17, 1857. Democrats dominated
the convention, and the state constitution adopted on September 18, 1857 included
racial exclusion clauses for free blacks, mulattos, and Chinese immigrants. Article
one, section thirty-five, in particular, prohibited the residence of free blacks and
mulattoes in the state. Article eighteen set November 9, 1857 as the date for a special
election for acceptance or rejection of the constitution and gave voters the right
to decide for or against the constitution, slavery, and free blacks. Oregon voters
voted down slavery, but approved the constitution and exclusion of free blacks.
Congress took up a bill for statehood, but progress sputtered over questions of insufficient
population, discrimination against Chinese immigrants, and the prohibition of free
blacks. The latter issue became grounds for strong objection. Washburn was among
those opposed to the exclusion clause because it violated Republican principles.
The bill for statehood was still pending when Washburn made his speech on January
10, 1859. Washburn voted against the constitution on the final vote of February 12,
1859, but it Congress approved the constitution without amendment. Oregon became
a state on February 14, 1859. The Fourteenth Amendment abrogated the restrictions
on free black and mulattos, but Oregon voters did not vote to remove the exclusion
clause from the state constitution until 1926.
Michael Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln: A Life (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008), 1:563-64; Charles Henry Carey,
The Oregon Constitution and Proceedings and Debate of the Constitutional Convention
of 1857 (Salem, OR: State Printing Department, 1926), 27, 45-51; Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of Oregon, vol. 30 of The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft (San Francisco: The History Company, 1888), 2:423-29; Or Const. of 1857, art. 1 §
35; art 18; "An Act for the Admission of Oregon into the Union," 14 February 1859,
Statutes at Large of the United States
11 (1859): 383-84; Sam A. Kozer, comp., State of Oregon Blue Book and Official Directory 1925-1926 (Salem, OR: State Printing Department, 1925), 29; State of Oregon Blue Book and Official Directory 1927-1927 (Salem, OR: State Printing Department, 1927), 27.
Autograph Letter Signed, 1 page(s) Lincoln Collection, Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (Springfield, IL).