have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” He merely hoped to set slavery on the path of ultimate extinction through a policy of containment, by blocking its spread to new territories, and by asserting from the highest office in the land that this institution, though deeply embedded in American culture, was morally unjust.
