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On this day in 1854, Abraham Lincoln, as a congressional candidate from Illinois, spoke out against the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which Congress had passed five months earlier. In his speech, the future president outlined his views on slavery, which he called “immoral.”

The Planters Hotel in Leavenworth, Kansas, where Abraham Lincoln gave a speech denouncing slavery and popular sovereignty. Courtesy of the Kansas Historical Society. Lincoln Visits Kansas - Civil War on the Western Border civilwaronthewesternborder.org https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org › timeline › lincol... civilwaronthewesternborder.org https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org › timeline › lincol...

The Document: Three weeks after his 1854 election, Lincoln declined to serve as state representative in order to run for the U. S. Senate. This terse document is the official notification, from Sangamon County Clerk N. W. Matheny, of Lincoln's decision.

Historians credit Brown, his raid, and the public debates surrounding his trial and legacy with hastening Southern secession and the Civil War. Brown became convinced that only violence was sufficient to quell the proslavery faction and bring Kansas into the Union as a free state.

Lincoln began his public career by claiming that he was "antislavery" -- against slavery's expansion, but not calling for immediate emancipation. However, the man who began as "antislavery" eventually issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in those states that were in rebellion.

I do oppose the extension of slavery, because my judgment and feelings so prompt me; and I am under no obligation to the contrary. In this speech at Chicago, Lincoln reiterated his hatred of slavery and also his belief that it should not be touched where it then existed.

John Brown was a leading figure in the abolitionist movement in the pre-Civil War United States. Unlike many anti-slavery activists, he was not a pacifist and believed in aggressive action against slaveholders and any government officials who enabled them.

On April 16, Lincoln signed the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, which abolished slavery in Washington, D.C. Two months later, on June 19, Congress banned slavery in all federal territories, fulfilling Lincoln's 1860 campaign promise to ban the expansion of slavery.

In this speech Abraham Lincoln explained his objections to the Kansas-Nebraska Act and resurrected his political career. In the speech Lincoln criticized popular sovereignty. Questioned how popular sovereignty could supersede the Northwest Ordinance and the Missouri Compromise.