Who said these words of Abraham Lincoln?

[David Lockmiller]

(08-10-2022 02:27 PM)Dave Bruce Wrote:  Thanks for saving me. I'm only an amateur and was fortunate enough to have remembered something I read lately concerning that remark by Speed.

Dave, I am also an amateur. I had recalled from long ago, in my distorted memory, that I had read somewhere that Lincoln had once said something to the effect: "Be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to give up, but that I never gave up at all."

The quote was recalled to mind from thinking about President Lincoln's "blind memorandum" of August 23, 1864 when he foresaw at the time only one opportunity remaining to save democracy for the United States if he should lose the presidential election. I did a Google books search on the quote above and added "Lincoln" to the search. That led me to the specifics of the speech containing the similar quote to which Roger makes his correct response: "Lincoln was speaking as a representative of the Whig Party which opposed the Democrats in 1840."

As an amateur Lincoln historian, I find following a string of thought to be an enjoyable exercise at times. On almost any Lincoln subject matter, Professor Michael Burlingame in his two-volume work Abraham Lincoln: A Life provides well-written and comprehensive material.

Confirming Roger's answer, Professor Burlingame writes: "The day after Christmas [1839], Lincoln gave such a powerful address that it became the Illinois Whig Party's textbook for 1840." (Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Vol. One, page 150.)

Abraham Lincoln stated in this sparsely-attended speech that day (Abraham Lincoln: A Life, Vol. One, page 151.):

"Many free countries have lost their liberty; and ours may lose hers; but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her. . . . The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."