Lincoln, Abraham. Fragment on Sectionalism

This document is a photostat of Abraham Lincoln’s speech on sectionalism in the United States written July 23, 1856. Lincoln delivered this speech on October 1, 1856, in support of Republican presidential candidate John C. Frémont.

In his “Fragment on Sectionalism,” Lincoln argued that the Republican Party was not sectional and disunionist, but that the matter of slavery itself was inherently sectionalist, as it split the nation by region rather than party. Several manuscript copies of this speech were given to Mary Todd Lincoln’s Cousin, Mrs. Elizabeth Todd Grimsley (“Cousin Lizzie”), who later gave the copies to Lincoln’s family and friends. The manuscript copy from which these photostats were taken was given to Lincoln’s friend Colonel Robert B. Latham, and was later inherited by his son, William W. Latham.

John C. Frémont (1830-1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and Senator from California who served as the first Republican Party nominee for president in 1856. Throughout his career as an explorer, Frémont led several expeditions out west, mapping out the Oregon Trail and other areas of the Western frontier. In between expeditions, Frémont fought in the Mexican-American War and was appointed major in command of the California Battalion. In 1849, Frémont was elected by the first California legislature to represent the state in the United States Senate; he held this position for only 175 days. In 1856, Frémont was nominated as the Republican Party’s first presidential candidate, in which he ran on a platform opposing slavery and its spread to the western territories. Though Frémont had the support of notable Republicans, including Abraham Lincoln, his bid for the presidency was unsuccessful, as he lost the election to James Buchanan.

This collection includes a photostat of a manuscript copy of Abraham Lincoln’s speech on sectionalism in support of John C. Frémont’s 1856 presidential campaign. Included with the photostat copy is an excerpt from the American Art Association Inc.’s “Historical American Autographs,” which contextualizes the speech and the political climate in which it was delivered. Also included in this collection is a note from William W. Latham describing his father’s friendship with Abraham Lincoln, and a typescript of an 1860 letter from Paul M. Angle’s “New Letters and Papers of Lincoln” addressed to Robert B. Latham’s nephew, George Latham from Abraham Lincoln. This collection also contains a piece of the cover of its original Lincoln Room cataloged housing.

Lincoln’s “Fragment on Sectionalism” was acquired by the Library in 1928. It was originally cataloged and held within the Lincoln Room (Q. 973.7 L63N1856sfacsim.cabinet) but was removed from the Lincoln Room’s cataloged materials for manuscript processing.