Abraham Lincoln - New England Speaking Tour - Railroad Hall - Providence, Rhode Island - Abraham Lincoln on Waymarking.com

A cast bronze plaque commemorating Abraham Lincoln's February 28, 1860, campaign stop in Providence, Rhode Island, is mounted on the U.S. Courthouse's Fulton Street wall. The marker includes a quote from his February 27, 1860, speech at Cooper Union in New York, in which he considered and concluded that the views of the majority of the 39 signers of the US Constitution believed that Congress should control slavery and not allow its expansion in new territories.

The 3- by 4-foot tablet includes a relief bust of Lincoln in its upper left quadrant. Of note, the artist's accurate portrayal is a clean-shaven Lincoln, who did not wear a beard until after he was elected President. Historical background in raised, block text is followed by Lincoln's quote in what looks to be a reproduction of his own script handwriting and signature. Altogether, the section reads:

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
ON FEBRUARY 28,
1860 SPOKE IN
RAILROAD HALL
LOCATED ON
THIS SITE.

The previous night he had delivered
his famous address at Cooper Union
in New York. To please New England
supporters and to visit his son
Robert at Phillips Exeter Academy,
He undertook a speaking tour, which
helped his party to win spring
elections in New England
and contributed to his election
as President in November.

Let us have faith that right makes might,
and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do
our duty as we understand it.
A. Lincoln
From the Cooper Union Address

The maker is inscribed at the bottom right corner in two lines; above, H. Ward, Designer and below, Allison Macomber, Sculptor.

Lincoln's remarks in the capitol city were reported in The Providence Journal and The Lehrman Institute's "Abraham Lincoln and Rhode Island" lesson describes the event:

Abraham Lincoln spent less than two days in Rhode Island. He first visited the state on February 28 and 29, 1860 – immediately after he delivered his famed Cooper Union speech. The morning after his Monday night speech in New York City, he took a train across Connecticut and arrived in Providence in time to have dinner at the home of John Eddy, where he would spend the night. That evening, he spoke at Railroad Hall on the second floor of the railroad station in Providence. The audience was swelled to 1500 by favorable reports of his speech the night before and his debates in Illinois two years before. Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer wrote: “Lincoln was cheered from the moment he appeared at the doorway of the auditorium, and earned another burst of loud applause when the evening’s chairman offered ‘stirring’ words to introduce ‘the orator of the occasion.'”[1] Former Governor William W. Hoppin presided. Republican politician Thomas A. Jenckes, who would serve in Congress during the Civil War, introduced the visiting speaker.

“Mr. Lincoln began by alluding good naturedly to some remarks of the Press and the Post, which he had read on his way hither in the cars. Having with characteristic humor and wit, made a few comments upon the words of the Press, he proposed to take as the main subject of his speech topics suggested which the Post made from one of his former speeches,” reported the Providence Journal. Mr. Lincoln then referred to the speech he had given in June 1858 when he accepted the Republican Senate nomination in Illinois. “He defended the position which he took in that speech, that this country cannot permanently endure half slave and half free. He gave the context in which his cited words were found, and discussed his subject with great fairness, earnestness and ability. He showed that he occupied only the ground which was taken by the founders of our government, and triumphantly vindicated himself and the Republican party against the false charges which are so unscrupulously brought against them.”[2] The Journal reported: “He abounds in good humor and pleasant satire, and often gives a witty thrust that cuts like a Damascus blade…But he does not aim chiefly at fun. He strives rather to show the plain, simple, cogent reasoning that his positions are impregnable, and he carried his audience with him, as he deserves to.”[3]

1. Harold Holzer, Lincoln at Cooper Union, p. 180.
2. Roy P. Basler, editor, Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Providence, Rhode Island, February 28, 1860, Volume III, pp. 550-551.
3. Harold Holzer, Lincoln at Cooper Union, p. 182.

Location Type: Building Property Type: Public Date of Event: February 28, 1860 Location Notes: This Federal Building U.S. Courthouse is in the center of Downtown Providence on Exchange Street between Washington and Fulton Streets at the northeast end of Kennedy Plaza and directly opposite City Hall. The plaque is mounted to the exterior wall on the southeast side of the building near the corner of Exchange and Fulton. URL for Additional Information: Not listed

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