The quote was made in response to Douglas baiting Lincoln as a "nigger lover." Lincoln was back-pedaling no doubt but this quote was from 1858. By the time he had been President 4 years his views had changed. Evidence of that? How about Frederick Douglass, the ardent black abolitionist and editor of the "North Star" an abolitionist paper, saying that Lincoln was the "only" white man to treat him as an equal. Many of the comments here do not reflect high level thinking skills or knowledge of the context.