In a letter to his friend Joshua F. Speed in 1855 Lincoln wrote in 1855:

Our progress to degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a Nation we began by declaring that “all men are created equal, except Negroes.” When the know-nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal except Negroes and foreigners and Catholics.” When it comes to this, I shall prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty.