I once had a social studies teacher at the high school where I teach come to me with this quote as a clear indication that Lincoln was a racist. I disagreed because the interpretation of this quote is ALWAYS based upon the core assumption that Lincoln MEANS the same thing as every other racist, myopic white man of his day. What he has done at the beginning of this quote is essentially say, "I am not willing to spend all of my time and energy arguing with every one of you listening about YOUR immutable views about the black person and their place in our supposedly whites-only society. Read the next passage as if you were able to hear Abe's thoughts about how IMPOSSIBLE it is for the white, supposedly "superior" race to accept others and it takes on a whole different meaning. Saying, "People can't get along" and thinking, "YOU will never get along with anyone else that YOU'VE deemed inferior, and unfortunately, YOU'VE deemed everyone else inferior" is NOT the same as embracing the general populace's narrow-minded point of view. "I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality (BECAUSE THE WHITE RACE WILL NEVER BE OPEN TO THIS POSSIBILITY - my insertion in defense of a man who openly opposed slavery). In a society which CANNOT accept equality, then "superior" and "inferior" become acceptable, but not righteous or accurate, terms. In this narrow-minded circumstance, to say that the blacks should be treated as the superior race would just be an invitation to homicide, so LIncoln, in my opinion, is merely mimicing his audience's expectations basically TO GET ON WITH THE DEBATE AND OFF OF THE TOPIC OF THE BLACK MAN, but even with this understanding, AFTER publicly presenting the attitude of the masses BACK at them, he is brave enough to suggest that the black race STILL DESERVES SOME RESPECT.