Cooper Union Address

On the night of February 27, 1860, Abraham Lincoln delivered one of his longest and most influential speeches. Speaking at New York City’s Cooper Institute to a capacity crowd of 1,500 primarily Republican Party members, Lincoln argued that Congress had the right to forbid slavery from expanding into the Western Territories. His address won the resounding approval of the Republican Party and was printed verbatim in New York newspapers the following day. Historians maintain that Lincoln’s Cooper Institute, or Cooper Union address, not only prompted the Republican Party to nominate Lincoln for president but helped propel him to victory.

At the time of Lincoln’s address, Republicans and Southern Democrats were fiercely divided over the issue of slavery. John Brown, a militant abolitionist, had conducted his raid on Harper’s Ferry in October of 1859—just months prior to Lincoln’s address—and had recently been found guilty of treason and hanged. Political tensions were high. Southern Democrats blamed Republicans for starting insurrections and rebellions like Brown’s. Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas wrote an article favoring a policy of “popular sovereignty,” which held that people in the Western Territories should be allowed to vote on whether they wanted to allow slavery in their states. Douglas contended that the Constitutional Founding Fathers did not believe that Congress had the right to regulate slavery. Lincoln, who did not approve of slavery and did not want its expansion into new territories, disagreed. Lincoln believed that Congress did have the right to regulate slavery. In the Cooper Union speech, Lincoln carefully addresses Douglas’s argument, counters it, and disproves it.

The Cooper Union speech consists of three major parts. In the first, Lincoln methodically describes his in-depth historical research into how the 39 Founding Fathers who later became members of Congress voted on slavery issues. Lincoln proves that the majority did vote, on different occasions, to restrict slavery. In the second part of his speech, Lincoln addresses people of the South, arguing against their common misconceptions and prejudices of Republicans, and showing that the Southern Democrats’ arguments for slavery are fallacious. The final section of Lincoln’s address urges members of the Republican Party to maintain calm but take a stand for their beliefs.



Lincoln begins his address by asserting that the real question at hand is, “Does the proper division of local from federal authority, or anything in the Constitution, forbid our Federal Government to control as to slavery in our Federal Territories?” Lincoln argues that the Constitution is the framework for the government, and nothing in federal authority or the Constitution stops Congress from controlling slavery in the territories. Lincoln meticulously examines the voting history of the individual Constitutional framers. He notes that the Pre-Constitutional Congress passed an Ordinance in 1787 prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory. In 1789, the First Congress unanimously supported the 1787 Ordinance, which was in fact signed by President George Washington. Lincoln looks at further voting patterns on slavery issues for both the Mississippi and Missouri Territories. He observes that a majority of 21 out of the 39 original Constitutional framers voted to regulate slavery.

Douglas and other pro-slavery advocates argue that the first 10 Constitutional amendments give new territories the right to decide whether they want slavery. Douglas points to the 10th Amendment, which says that any powers not granted to the States by the Constitution, or specifically prohibited by them belong to the States: this supports Douglas’s platform of popular sovereignty. Other proponents of slavery point to the Dred Scott case and Chief Justice Roger Taney’s support of the 5th Amendment. The decision in that case allowed slave owners to take their slaves into the newly created territories. Lincoln argues that Douglas is “presumptuous” to think that the First Congress would frame the Bill of Rights at the same time as the Ordinance against slavery in the Northwest Territory and make them inconsistent with each other. Lincoln argues that the Republican Party simply wants to follow the rules the Founding Fathers established: for the federal government to regulate slavery.

In the second part of his speech, Lincoln addresses the “Southern people” as “you” and refers to himself and the Republican Party as “we.” Lincoln denies the Southerners’ claims that the Republicans are “sectional.” He also maintains that although the South claims to have a conservative approach, it is really the Republicans who are conservative. The Republicans want to stick to the “old and tried” approach of the Founding Fathers. Lincoln accuses the Democrats of unanimously “rejecting and denouncing the old policy of the Fathers,” and rejecting the Constitution itself. He argues that the Democrats are out to “destroy the Government” by interpreting the Constitution however they want. Lincoln exclaims, “You will rule or ruin in all events.” The Democrats threaten to secede from the Union if a Republican president is elected and then blame the result on the Republicans. Lincoln likens that to extortion and robbery. He asserts again the federal government has the power to resist the extension of slavery.



Finally, Lincoln addresses the Republicans, urging them to “do nothing through passion and ill temper.” Lincoln explains that there is nothing the Republicans can do to satisfy the Southern Democrats except agree with them completely on the issue of slavery: something the Republicans are unwilling to do. The Southern Democrats want the Republicans to give up all opposition to slavery. Lincoln believes this stance would eventually lead to the elimination of the Free State Constitutions. He thinks the Southern Democrats will “demand a full national recognition” of slavery.

Lincoln tells the Republicans not to compromise themselves: that there is no middle ground between right and wrong. He urges them not to bow to threats. Lincoln concludes saying, “Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”