Answer:
The phrase "soil was not ours" is from a speech given by Abraham Lincoln in 1858 during a debate with Stephen Douglas. In the speech, Lincoln was discussing the issue of slavery and its expansion into new territories of the United States. He argued that the country was founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and that slavery was a violation of that principle.
Step-by-step explanation:
When Lincoln said that the "soil was not ours," he was referring to the fact that the land on which slavery existed did not belong exclusively to the slaveholding states, but rather was part of the larger national territory that belonged to all Americans. Lincoln believed that the federal government had a responsibility to limit the expansion of slavery into new territories and eventually to abolish it altogether. By framing the issue in terms of the ownership of the soil, Lincoln was making the argument that slavery was not simply a local issue, but a national one that required a collective response.
Overall, Lincoln's statement reflects his belief that the United States was a nation founded on certain principles and values, and that the expansion of slavery threatened those principles and values. He believed that the government had a duty to ensure that those principles were upheld, even if it meant limiting the rights of individual states to own slaves.