declared also that, if slavery were kept out of the Territories during
their territorial existence, as it should be, and if then the people of
any Territory, having a fair chance and a clear field, should do such an
extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, uninfluenced by the
actual presence of the institution among them, he saw no alternative but
to admit such a Territory into the Union. He declared further that,
while he should be exceedingly glad to see slavery abolished in the
District of Columbia, he would, as a member of Congress, with his present
views, not endeavor to bring on that abolition except on condition that
emancipation be gradual, that it be approved by the decision of a
majority of voters in the District, and that compensation be made to
unwilling owners. On every available occasion, he pronounced himself in
favor of the deportation and colonization of the blacks, of course with
their consent. He repeatedly disavowed any wish on his part to have
social and political equality established between whites and blacks. On
this point he summed up his views in a reply to Douglas's assertion that
the Declaration of Independence, in speaking of all men as being created
equal, did not include the negroes, saying: "I do not understand the
Declaration of Independence to mean that all men were created equal in
all respects. They are not equal in color. But I believe that it does
mean to declare that all men are equal in some respects; they are equal
in their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."

With regard to some of these subjects Lincoln modified his position at a
later period, and it has been suggested that he would have professed more
advanced principles in his debates with Douglas, had he not feared
thereby to lose votes. This view can hardly be sustained. Lincoln had
the courage of his opinions, but he was not a radical. The man who
risked his election by delivering, against the urgent protest of his
friends, the speech about "the house divided against itself" would not