Lincoln’s clarity on slavery.

[David Lockmiller]

Footnotes to history:

Lincoln was one of many speakers in the park that summer day. His 2,781 word speech (about 16.5 minutes long) was given in front of thousands of people and was recorded, by hand, by a newspaper reporter from Detroit. The speech was discovered in 1930 and published in 1941. He came to Kalamazoo on August 27, 1856 on the invitation of Kalamazoo attorney, Hezekiah G. Wells.

The Kalamazoo Gazette reported the rally, but the text of the speech appeared in the Detroit Daily Advertiser. This was the only time that Lincoln addressed an audience in Michigan.