Abraham Lincoln’s Speech at Peoria

1854

By: Angela Tafone

Abraham Lincoln• Born on February 12, 1809• On April 12, 1832 he enlisted in

New Salem’s local militia.• August 1832- entered in political

race for a seat in the Illinois General Assembly. He lost.

• 1834-1840: Was elected 4 times for Illinois General Assembly

• 1846:elected to a seat in the United States House of Representatives

• 1854: Gave Speech a Peoria• 1858: Lincoln- Douglas debates

• November 6,1860: Elected President of U.S.• 1861-Lincoln calls for volunteers for the Civil

War• 1863: Lincoln issued final Emancipation

Proclamation.• 1864: Re-elected to the Presidency• April 14,1865:Abraham Lincoln was shot in

Ford's Theatre. He died the next morning

Speech at Peoria• On Monday, October 16,1854, Senator Stephen Douglas gave

a speech which was followed up by Lincoln• Lincoln refuted the recent Kansas-Nebraska Act which had

been created by Senator Douglas and passed by President Pierce.

• He said, "I think, and shall try to show, that it is wrong; wrong in its direct effect, letting slavery into Kansas and Nebraska—and wrong in its prospective principle, allowing it to spread to every other part of the wide world, where men can be found inclined to take it. “

• “What I do say is, that no man is good enough to govern another man, without that other’s consent.”

Douglas vs. Lincoln

Douglas says…

• Lincoln assumed all the way through, that the principle of the Nebraska bill, would have the effect of extending slavery.

• Congressional intervention never prevented slavery, any where

• The principle of the Nebraska bill originated when God made man and placed good and evil before him.

• Government was made for the white people and not for the negroes.

Lincoln says…

• Douglas denied that this was intended, or that this effect would follow.

• The ordinance of ’87 • God did not place good and

evil before man, telling him to make his choice

• Douglas has no very vivid impression that the negro is a human; and consequently has no idea that there can be any moral question in legislating about him.

Bibliography• Abraham Lincoln Chronology." Topic Sites. 2009. 22 Sep 2009

<http://www.topicsites.com/abraham-lincoln/facts-info-history.htm>.• • "Abraham Lincoln." Sparknotes. 22 Sep 2009

<http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/lincoln/section5.rhtml>.• • American Anthropology Association, "Expansion of Slavery in the U.S.." 5/27/08. MSNBC. 22 Sep

2009 <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24714472>.• • "The Kansas-Nebraska Act." The History Place. 1996. 22 Sep 2009

<http://www.historyplace.com/lincoln/kansas.htm>.• • Northern Illinois University, "Lincoln's Peoria Speech." Abraham Lincoln Historical Digitization

Project. 2002. 22 Sep 2009 <http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/gal/lincolnpeoriaspeech1854.html>.• • "Speech at Peoria." Pre-Civil War. 2002-2009. The Lincoln Institute. 22 Sep 2009

<http://www.mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=11&subjectID=2>.• • "Speech on the Repeal of the Missouri Compromise." Teaching American History. 2006-2008.

Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University. 22 Sep 2009 <http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=51>.