“You consider yourselves a reasonable and a just people; and I consider that in the general qualities of reason and justice you are not inferior to any other people. Still, when you speak of us Republicans, you do so only to denounce us as reptiles, or, at the best, as no better than outlaws. You will grant a hearing to pirates or murderers, but nothing like it to ‘Black Republicans.’ ” Such language poisoned political discourse, Lincoln said, and jeopardized the interests of the South as well as the North. He made a modest request: “Bring forward your charges and specifications, and then be
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