Fragment on the Constitution and Union
By: Lucas E. Morel
After his election to the presidency in November of 1860, Abraham Lincoln received a letter from Alexander H. Stephens, the future Vice President of the Confederacy. They were fellow Whigs when Lincoln served in the House of Representatives from 1847 to 1849. Writing after South Carolina claimed to have seceded from the United States on December 20th, Stephens asked Lincoln on December 30th to do what he could 鈥渢o save our common country.鈥 Quoting Proverbs 25:11, Stephens suggested to Lincoln, 鈥淎 word fitly spoken by you now would be like 鈥榓pples of gold in pictures of silver.鈥欌i
Lincoln, however, thought that any statement issued as president-elect would simply be misconstrued by his enemies and exacerbate the national crisis. He, therefore, had decided not to give any speech clarifying his positions on slavery, secession, or the fugitive slave law before his March 4th inauguration.ii Reflecting upon Stephens鈥檚 biblical allusion prompted Lincoln to jot a note to himself that explained what the nation needed was not new words from its new president but old words from men of old, the words of the Declaration of Independence. In short, the 鈥渨ord fitly spoken鈥 had already been uttered, or at least written: 鈥淲e hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.鈥
Lincoln had read a newspaper account of Stephens鈥檚 speech to the Georgia legislature arguing against secession. In that November 14, 1860, speech, Stephens highlighted Georgia鈥檚 鈥渦nrivalled prosperity in the Union鈥 as a reason to stay in the Union. Given their significant exports of cotton, he pointed to the state鈥檚 鈥渇oreign trade鈥 as 鈥渢he foundation of all our prosperity,鈥 which owed its increase to 鈥渢he protection of the navy.鈥 In sum, Stephens thought 鈥渟uch rapid progress in the development of wealth, and all the material resources of national power and greatness, as the Southern States have under the general government,鈥 they owed to the American union.iii But where Stephens highlighted the constitutional union as the sine qua non of American prosperity, Lincoln credited a higher cause.
In the note to himself, Lincoln acknowledged, 鈥淲ithout the Constitution and the Union, we could not have attained the result,鈥 but added that 鈥渆ven these, are not the primary cause of our great prosperity.鈥iv He attributed America鈥檚 success not to a governmental system but to 鈥渁 philosophical cause,鈥 an idea 鈥渆ntwining itself more closely about the human heart.鈥 Lincoln thought the Constitution and union existed for the sake of something higher, what he called 鈥渢he principle of 鈥楲iberty to all.鈥欌 That principle summarized the noble ideals of the Declaration, a principle he clarified for himself at a time when the nation was perilously divided over the meaning of both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Lincoln saw the union of American states and the Constitution as the setting or 鈥減icture of silver鈥 created to secure the equal rights鈥攖he 鈥渁pple of gold鈥濃攖hat all men and women possessed by nature. However, some Americans had lost sight of this. Having postponed the abolition of black slavery for so long, some had come to believe that liberty belonged only to white people. This disagreement over the purpose of the American union and Constitution led to the electoral crisis of 1860.
For South Carolina and eventually the other ten slaveholding states that seceded, equality and the Constitution had a meaning that would be undermined by Lincoln鈥檚 presidency and the growing Republican representation in Congress. Equality did not refer to the equal humanity of all people but to 鈥渢he equal rights of the states鈥 under a federal constitution understood as a compact among 鈥渇ree, sovereign and independent states.鈥v Seceding states claimed that denying their citizens the right to take enslaved people to federal territories, as they feared the incoming Republican administration would do, would 鈥渄eprive us of an equal enjoyment of the common Territories of the republic.鈥vi
In his fragment, Lincoln observed, 鈥淣o oppressed, people will fight, and endure, as our fathers did, without the promise of something better, than a mere change of masters.鈥 If liberty belonged to all by nature, then those possessing that liberty had every incentive to erect a government to protect the liberty of each member of the community. It was that principle, Lincoln observed, 鈥渢hat clears the path for all鈥攇ives hope to all鈥攁nd by consequence, enterprize, and industry to all.鈥 Lincoln believed the 鈥渆xpression of that principle, in our Declaration of Independence鈥 was 鈥渕ost happy and fortunate鈥 precisely because it gave incentive to Americans to fight to establish 鈥渇ree government鈥 and their 鈥渃onsequent prosperity.鈥vii
Lincoln hoped 鈥渢hat neither picture, or apple shall ever be . . . broken.鈥viii By this he meant actions like South Carolina鈥檚 鈥渢o dissolve the union between the State of South Carolina and other states united with her under the compact entitled, 鈥楾he Constitution of the United States of America.鈥欌ix South Carolina thought it could leave the Union if the Constitution no longer served the purposes for which they thought it was established. The state鈥檚 December 20, 1860, secession ordinance therefore repealed its original ratification of the Constitution and declared that its union with the other American states was 鈥渉ereby dissolved.鈥
Lincoln, on the other hand, believed the federal constitution was a real government, not a mere compact or league of sovereign states that endured only by the good faith of each state. South Carolina had broken the 鈥減icture of silver鈥 by rejecting the outcome of a constitutional election and insisting their citizens were no longer obligated to obey the federal government. Most importantly, South Carolina 鈥渂ruised鈥 the apple by maintaining that enslavement of black people violated no moral law. Without a return to the Founders鈥 efforts to put slavery 鈥渋n the course of ultimate extinction,鈥 Lincoln thought the American union would not be 鈥渨orthy of the saving.鈥x
But as bad as the southern interpretation of the Declaration and Constitution was, Lincoln thought a more pressing danger lurked in a policy promoted by his Illinois rival, Senator Stephen A. Douglas鈥攏amely, the policy of popular sovereignty. To Douglas, the summum bonum of America was not the equal rights of every human being鈥斺淟iberty to all鈥濃攂ut merely the local expression of the will of white people. He argued that the enslavement of black people should be decided by the local white populations of territories or states, not by Congress, and steadfastly maintained a neutral stance towards the morality of slavery. The consent principle of the Declaration鈥攚hich Douglas affirmed as 鈥渁 sacred right of suffrage鈥 and 鈥渢hat great principle of self-government鈥濃攚as thereby neutered as a moral expression of the liberty belonging to every human being.xi
Lincoln thought this understanding of the federal government divorced the connection between the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It 鈥渂lurred鈥 or 鈥渂ruised鈥 the apple of gold by viewing the Constitution simply as a mechanism for uniting diverse American states but without a clear vision of 鈥渢he blessings of liberty鈥 to which that 鈥渕ore perfect union鈥 was devoted.[xii] As he stated in his 1854 Peoria Address, it would be 鈥渟ad evidence that, feeling prosperity we forget right鈥攖hat liberty, as a principle, we have ceased to revere.鈥xiii
Lincoln therefore argued that the most urgent need was not to refute slave-owning southerners but to thwart Douglas鈥檚 efforts to get white northerners not to care about the expansion of slavery in the federal territories. 鈥淚 said that this insidious Douglas popular sovereignty is the measure that now threatens the purpose of the Republican Party, to prevent slavery from being nationalized in the United States.鈥xiv The insidious aspect of Douglas鈥檚 rhetoric owed to his repeated claim of indifference toward the spread of racial slavery. This meant that slavery鈥檚 expansion would not require a positive argument. Simply persuade white Northerners not to care what happens to black people in the federal territories, and slavery would spread as far as self-interest could carry it.
Lincoln believed that if northerners accepted Douglas鈥檚 popular sovereignty, it would not be long before politicians argued for the repeal of the ban on the importation of slaves, there being no principled difference between allowing slavery to enter federal territory and permitting their purchase where they could be bought the cheapest鈥攐verseas. It would require only a simple change in law to relaunch the nation in the international slave trade. Lincoln called attention to this corrupting influence of Douglas鈥檚 rhetoric, 鈥渢his gradual and steady debauching of public opinion,鈥 what he would later refer to as 鈥渢he plausible sugar-coated name of . . . 鈥榩opular sovereignty.鈥欌xv
Lincoln鈥檚 鈥淔ragment on the Constitution and the Union鈥 shows that as important as the Constitution and union of American states were, they existed to fulfill the higher ends spelled out in the Declaration of Independence. Only by remaining committed to securing 鈥淟iberty to all,鈥 which Lincoln believed required stopping the spread of slavery and putting it 鈥渙n the course of ultimate extinction,鈥 could the nation fulfill the promise of American independence.
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i Alexander H. Stephens cited in a footnote to Lincoln, 鈥淭o Alexander H. Stephens,鈥 December 22, 1860, ed. Roy P. Basler, 8 vols., Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (online edition by Abraham Lincoln Association; orig. publ. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 4:161n1.
ii See, for example, Abraham Lincoln, 鈥淭o Truman Smith,鈥 November 10, 1860, Collected Works, 4:138; Lincoln, 鈥淭o Nathaniel P. Paschall,鈥 November 16, 1860, Collected Works, 4:139鈥40; Lincoln, 鈥淭o Henry J. Raymond,鈥 November 28, 1860, Collected Works, 4:145鈥46; Lincoln, 鈥淭o John A. Gilmer,鈥 December 15, 1860, Collected Works, 4:151鈥53.
iii Lincoln, 鈥淭o Alexander H. Stephens,鈥 November 30, 1860, Collected Works, 4:146; Alexander H. Stephens, 鈥淯nion Speech of 1860,鈥 Georgia Legislature, November 14, 1860, in Confederate Records of the State of Georgia, comp. Allen D. Candler, 1:194鈥95 (Atlanta, GA: Chas. P. Bird, State Printer, 1909), (accessed June 27, 2022).
iv Lincoln, 鈥淔ragment on the Constitution and the Union,鈥 c. January, 1861, Collected Works, 4:168鈥69 (for Lincoln texts, all emphases in original).
v See for example 鈥淪outh Carolina Declaration of the Causes of Secession,鈥 December 24, 1860, (accessed June 27, 2022).
vi See for example 鈥淕eorgia Declaration of Secession,鈥 January 29, 1861, (accessed June 27, 2022).
vii Lincoln, 鈥淔ragment on the Constitution and the Union,鈥 4:169. See also Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at Kalamazoo,鈥 August 27, 1856, Collected Works, 2:364: 鈥淲e stand at once the wonder and admiration of the whole world, and we must enquire what it is that has given us so much prosperity, and we shall understand that to give up that one thing, would be to give up all future prosperity. This cause is that every man can make himself.鈥
viii Lincoln, 鈥淔ragment on the Constitution and the Union,鈥 4:168鈥69.
ix 鈥淪outh Carolina Ordinance of Secession,鈥 December 20, 1860, (accessed June 27, 2022); 鈥淪outh Carolina Declaration of the Causes of Secession鈥 (December 24, 1860), (accessed June 27, 2022).
x Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at Chicago, Illinois,鈥 July 10, 1858, Collected Works, 2:491; Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at Peoria, Illinois, October 16, 1854, Collected Works, 2:276.
xi Stephen A. Douglas, December 30, 1845, speech quoted in Martin H. Quitt, Stephen A. Douglas and Antebellum Democracy (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 94; Stephen A. Douglas, 鈥淒ouglas at Chicago, July 9, 1858,鈥 in Angle, Created Equal? 12. For the most authoritative commentary on Douglas and popular sovereignty, see Jaffa, Crisis of the House Divided, chaps. 2 and 16.
xii Preamble, U.S. Constitution.
xiii Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at Peoria, Illinois,鈥 October 16, 1854, Collected Works, 2:274.
xiv Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at Columbus, Ohio,鈥 September 16, 1859, Collected Works, 3:423.
xv Lincoln, 鈥淪peech at New Haven, Connecticut,鈥 March 6, 1860, Collected Works, 4:18.