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Lincoln's Statehouse Speeches

On September 16, 1859, Abraham Lincoln addressed a small crowd from the east terrace of the Statehouse. In his first Ohio speech, Lincoln repeated his conviction that "a house divided against itself cannot stand" and took issue with Democrat Stephen Douglas' concept of "popular sovereignty". Published and widely circulated as an addendum to the Lincoln-Douglas Debates, Lincoln's Columbus speech helped stake a firm position for the Republican Party in the 1860 presidential campaign that followed. Lincoln twice returned to Columbus: once on February 13, 1861 to address a joint session of the legislature prior to his inauguration, and one last time, on April 29, 1865. From 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m., Lincoln's body lay in state in the Rotunda as 50,000 mourners filed through the Statehouse to pay their respects.

CAMPAIGN SPEECH FROM THE EAST STEPS OF THE STATEHOUSE
SEPTEMBER 16, 1859
Due to the length of Abraham Lincoln's first Ohio Statehouse speech, it is available in pdf format.

Lincoln's First Statehouse Speech (PDF)

ADDRESS TO THE OHIO GENERAL ASSEMBLY
FEBRUARY 13, 1861
Mr. President and Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of The General Assembly:- It is true, as has been said by the President of the Senate, that very great responsibility rests upon me in the position to which the votes of the American people have called me. I am deeply sensible of that weighty responsibility. I cannot but know what you all know, that, without a name, perhaps without a reason why I should have a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his country and so feeling I cannot but turn and look for the support without which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I turn, then, and look to the American people and to that God who has never forsaken them. Allusion has been made to the interest felt in relation to the policy of the new administration. In this I have received from some a degree of credit for having kept silence, and from others some deprecation. I still think that I was right. In the varying and repeatedly shifting scenes of the present, and without a precedent which could enable me to judge by the past, it has seemed fitting that before speaking upon the difficulties of the country, I should have gained a view of the whole field, to be sure, after all, being at liberty to modify and change the course of policy, as future events may make a change necessary. I have not maintained silence from any want of real anxiety. It is a good thing that there is no more than anxiety, for there is nothing going wrong. It is consoling circumstance that when we look out there is nothing that really hurts anybody. We entertain different views upon political questions, but nobody is suffering anything. This is a most consoling circumstance, and from it we may conclude that all we want is time, patience, and a reliance on that God who has never forsaken this people. Fellow citizens, what I have said, I have said altogether extemporaneously, and I will now come to a close.

PUBLIC SPEECH FROM THE STATEHOUSE STEPS
FEBRUARY 13, 1861
Ladies and Gentlemen, I appear before you only to address you briefly. I shall do little else than to thank you for this very kind reception, to greet you and bid you farewell. I should not find strength, if I were otherwise inclined, to repeat speeches of very great length, upon every occasion similar to this- although few so large- which will occur on my way to the Federal Capital. The General Assembly of the great State Ohio has just done me the honor to receive me, and to hear a few broken remarks from myself. Judging from what I see, I infer that that reception was one of without party distinction, and one of entire kindness-one that had nothing in it beyond a feeling of the citizenship of the United States of America. Knowing, as I do, that any crowd, drawn together as this has been, is made up of the citizens near about, and that in this county of Franklin there is great difference of political sentiment, and those agreeing with me having a little the shortest row, [laughter] from this, and the circumstance I have mentioned, I infer that you do me the honor to meet me here without distinction of party. I think this is as it should be. Many of you who were not favorable to the election of myself to the Presidency were favorable to the election of the distinguished Senator from the State in which I reside. If Senator Douglas had been elected to the Presidency in the late contest, I think my friends would have joined heartily in meeting and greeting him in his passage through your Capital, as you have me to-day [sic]. If any of the other candidates had been elected, I think it would have been altogether becoming and proper for all to have joined in showing honor, quite as well to the office, and the country, as to the man. The people are themselves honored by such a concentration. I am doubly thankful that you have appeared here to give me this greeting. It is not much to me, for I shall very soon pass away from you; but we have a large country and a large future before us, and the manifestations of good will towards the government, and affection for the Union which you may exhibit are of immense value to you and your posterity forever. [Applause.] In this point of view it is that I thank you most heartily for the exhibition you have given me, and with this allow me to bid you an affectionate farewell. [Deafening applause and cheers.]