In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

32 LINCOLN ON DEMOCRACY or either shall think fit to drop me a line, I shall be pleased. Yours with respect A. LINCOLN "USELESS LABOUR Is ... THE SAME AS IDLENESS" Fragments on Labor and the Tariff Issue [DECEMBER 1847?] Lincoln was a doctrinaire Whig on the tariff issue. He believed that protection would spur the young nation's economic growth, and that encouraging opportunity would validate and perpetuate the American experiment in democracy. In these extensive fragments he equated tariffs with theperpetuation of"useful labour"as necessary ingredients to maintain prosperity. In the early days of the world, the Almighty said to the first of our race "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"; and since then, if we except the light and the air of heaven, no good thing has been, or can be enjoyed by us, without having first cost labour. And, inasmuch [as] most good things are produced by labour, it follows that [all] such things of right belong to those whose labour has produced them. But it has so happened in all ages of the world, that some have laboured, and others have, without labour, enjoyed a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should not continue. To [secure] to each labourer the whole product of his labour, or as nearly as possible, is a most worthy object of any good government. But then the question arises, how can a government best, effect this? In our own country, in it's present condition, will the protective principle advance or retard this object? Upon this subject, the habits of our whole species fall into Lincoln and the American Dream, 1832-1852 33 three great classes-useful labour, useless labour and idleness. Of these the first only is meritorious; and to it all the products of labour rightfully belong; but the two latter, while they exist, are heavy pensioners upon the first, robbing it of a large portion of it's just rights. The only remedy for this is to, as far as possible, drive useless labour and idleness out of existence. If at any time all labour should cease, and all existing provisions be equally divided among the people, at the end ofa single year there could scarcely be one human being left alive-all would have perished by want of subsistence. So again, if upon such division, all that sort of labour, which produces provisions, should cease, and each individual should take up so much of his share as he could, and carry it continually around his habitation, although in this carrying, the amount of labour going on might be as great as ever, so long as it could last, at the end of the year the result would be precisely the same-that is, none would be left living. The first of these propositions shows, that universal idleness would speedily result in universal ruin; and the second shows, that useless labour is, in this respect, the same as idleness. I submit, then, whether it does not follow, that partial idleness, and partial useless labour, would, in the proportion of their extent, in like manner result, in partial ruin-whether, if all should subsist upon the labour that one half should perform, it would not result in very scanty allowance to the whole. Believing that these propositions, and the [conclusions] I draw from them can not be successfully controverted, I, for the present, assume their correctness, and proceed to try to show, that the abandonment of the protective [tariff-eds.] policy by the American Government, must result in the increase of both useless labour, and idleness; and so, in pro[por]tion, must produce want and ruin among our people. ...

Share