500 Little Known Facts

The Latter-day Saints had good reason perhaps to like Abraham Lincoln even before he, as President, enacted his three-word policy of “Let them alone.” In a rebuttal to a previous speech by Stephen A. Douglas, who appeared to support the extension of slavery under the guise of popular sovereignty, Lincoln addressed a large crowd in Springfield, Illinois in 1857. “There is nothing,” he said, “in the United States Constitution or law against polygamy; and why is it not a part of the Judge’s ’sacred right of self government’ for that people to have it, or rather to keep it, if they choose?” This did not mean Lincoln supported polygamy but merely that if popular sovereignty was desirable, the people in Utah should decide the issue.

Hubbard, George, Ul, “Abraham Lincoln As Seen By the Mormons,” Utah Historical Quarterly. Spring 1963, p. 96