Lincoln on Democracy

"THE TUG HAS TO COME"

180 LINCOLN ON DEMOCRACY "THE TUG HAS TO COME" Letter to Senator Lyman Trumbull [DECEMBER 10, 1860] South Carolina would secede from the Union on December 20, barely a month after Lincoln's election to the presidency. In this letter to one of his closest political associates ten days earlier, Lincoln made clear he would not yield on the slavery issue, no matter what the consequences. Private, & confidential Springfield, Ills. Dec. 10. 1860 Hon. L. Trumbull. My dear Sir: Let there be no compromise on the question of extending slavery. If there be, all our labor is lost, and, ere long, must be done again. The dangerous ground-that into which some of our friends have a hankering to run-is Pop[ular]. Sov[ereignty]. Have none ofit. Stand firm. The tug has to come, & better now, than any time hereafter. Yours as ever A. LINCOLN. ...