Quotes · Quote card
Quotation from The Lincoln-Douglas Debates by Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas
“Why can it not exist on the same principles on which our fathers made it?”
The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First Joint Debate, Ottawa (August 21, 1858), Douglas's opening speech (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text)
Douglas answers Lincoln's House Divided claim by asking why a Union that had lasted seventy years half slave and half free could not continue.
Citation: "Why can it not exist on the same principles on which our fathers made it?" — Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, First Joint Debate, Ottawa (August 21, 1858), Douglas's opening speech (Political Debates Between Lincoln and Douglas (Columbus: Follett, Foster, 1860), Internet Archive OCR text). (id lincoln-douglas-debates-q1)
Portrait: Abraham Lincoln O-77 matte collodion print, Alexander Gardner, Public domain.
