President Abraham Lincoln: “Message to Special Session of Congress”
July 4, 1861
This is essentially a people’s contest. On the side of the Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men; to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government for whose existence we contend.
Source: Abraham Lincoln, “Special Session Message, July 4, 1861,” in A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, vol. 7, ed. James D. Richardson (New York: Bureau of National Literature, 1897), pp. 3227-29, 3231-32.
Internet Modern History Sourcebook- Fordham University
On May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act was signed into law. It provided the “fair chance in the race of life” for millions of settlers.
Read more at the National Park Service Homestead National Monument site.
The text of the Homestead Act can be found in the National Archives site.
Read more about Lincoln in Don’t Know Much About the American Preidents, Don’t Know Much About History,, and Don’t Know Much About the Civil War.
Don’t Know Much About the American Presidents
(September 18, 2012-Hyperion Books)
