Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v6.djvu/65

1860]        AT HARTFORD         43 Slavery the Enemy of the Free Workingmen. ''Abstract of Speech at Hartford, Conn. March 5, 1860. ''

Slavery is the great political question of the nation. Though all desire its settlement, it still remains the all-pervading question of the day. It has been so especially for the past six years. It is indeed older than the Revolution — rising, subsiding, then rising again, till '54, since which time it has been constantly augmenting. Those who occasioned the Lecompton imbroglio now admit that they see no end to it. It had been their cry that the vexed question was just about to be settled — "the tail of this hideous creature is just going out of sight." That cry is played out, and has ceased. Why, when all desire to have this controversy settled, can we not settle it satisfactorily? One reason is, we want it settled in different ways. Each faction has a different plan — they pull dif- ferent ways, and neither has a decided majority. In my humble opinion, the importance and mag- nitude of the question is underrated, even by our wisest men. If I be right, the first thing is to get a just estimate of the evil; then we can provide a cure. One-sixth, and a little more, of the popula- tion of the United States are slaves, looked upon as property, as nothing but property. The cash value of these slaves, at a moderate estimate, is $2,000,000,000. This amount of property value has a vast influence on the minds of its owners, very naturally. The same amount of property would have an equal influence upon us if owned in the North. Human nature is the same — people