User:Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James

Greetings, I am Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James.

My real life name is not Stephen nor Franklin nor Roger nor James, and this account is not shared by four people, which I think is against policy. No, "Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James" is a direct quote from one of Abrahmam Lincoln's speeches. It comes from his House Divided speech that he gave in 1858 when he was running for the U.S. Senate.

Below is the part of the speech from which this quote comes from. Lincoln is discussing how the pro-slavery politicians have constructed a web of slave laws to expand slavery into the territories. He compares what they have done to a group of men constructing a house:

"We cannot absolutely know that all these exact adaptations are the result of preconcert. But when we see a lot of framed timbers, different portions of which we know have been gotten out at different times and places, and by different workmen- Stephen, Franklin, Roger, and James, for instance-and when we see these timbers joined together, and see they exactly matte the frame of a house or a mill, all the tenons and mortices exactly fitting, and all the lengths and proportions of the different l pieces exactly adapted to their respective places, and not a piece. too many or too few,-not omitting even scaffolding-or, if a single piece be lacking, we see the place in the frame exactly fitted and prepared yet to bring such piece in-in such a case we find it impossible not to believe that Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James all understood one another from the beginning and all worked upon a common plan or draft drawn up before the first blow was struck."

So who are Stephen and Franklin and Roger and James?

They are:

• Stephen Douglas, incumbant U.S. Senator from Illinois, and Lincoln's opponent
• Franklin Pierce, the recent former President of the U.S.
• Roger Taney, Chief Justice of the U.S. and author of the Dred Scott decision
• James Buchanan, the current President of the U.S.