Existing comment:
1861:
Limiting the Expansion of Slavery:
Because he believed that the Constitution did not give the president the power to abolish slavery, Lincoln vowed in his inaugural address on March 4, 1861, to uphold the Constitution: "I have no purpose, directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so."
For decades before 1861, debate raged over whether to protect slavery, to allow it in new territories, or to abolish it. While Congress argued, many slaves chose to emancipate themselves, sometimes with the help of abolitionists -- to escape slavery's brutality or the fear of being sold into the Deep South, or to reunite their family.
(Document) Letter from Lincoln to the governor of California, transmitting a proposed constitutional amendment to protect slavery, never adopted. March 16, 1861. Trying to forestall war, President James Buchanan encouraged and signed a joint congressional resolution to protect slavery; "No Amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any state, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said State." After taking office, Lincoln forwarded it, without comment, to the states to consider for ratification. |