“God created all men free, giving to each the same rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

—  Abraham Lincoln

In Richmond, Virginia (April 4, 1865), as quoted in Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln http://web.archive.org/web/20130517052731/http://mrlincolnandfreedom.org/inside.asp?ID=84&subjectID=3 (1996), by Don Edward Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher, editor, p. 257
1860s, Tour of Richmond (1865)
Context: In reference to you, colored people, let me say God has made you free. Although you have been deprived of your God-given rights by your so-called masters, you are now as free as I am, and if those that claim to be your superiors do not know that you are free, take the sword and bayonet and teach them that you are; for God created all men free, giving to each the same rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

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Abraham Lincoln 618
16th President of the United States 1809–1865

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