"I do not understand that because I do not want a negro woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. My understanding is that I can just let her alone."
— Slavery

January 1, 1970

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Added on April 10, 2026
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RacismHuman rights abusesSlavery
Original Language: English

Sources

Abraham Lincoln, fourth debate with Senator Stephen A. Douglas, Charleston, Illinois, September 18, 1858; in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953), vol. 3, p. 146. Lincoln used similar wording in a speech in Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857: "Now I protest against that counterfeit logic which concludes that, because I do not want a black woman for a slave I must necessarily want her for a wife. I need not have her for either. I can just leave her alone".—Collected