Abe Lincoln on Workers and Capital

''Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.''



- Lincoln's First Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.

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''And I am glad to know that there is a system of labor -> where the laborer can strike if he wants to! I would to God that such a system prevailed all over the world.''

- The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln edited by Roy P. Basler, Volume IV, ''Speech at Hartford, Connecticut'' (March 5, 1860), p. 7.