In the spring of 1859, Abraham Lincoln wasn't president yet. He was a lawyer in Springfield, Illinois, and he'd just lost a Senate race to Stephen Douglas. That April, a group in Boston invited him to a dinner celebrating Thomas Jefferson's birthday. Lincoln couldn't make the trip, so he sent a letter instead.
Tucked near the end of that letter is a line people still quote more than 160 years later:
"Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it."
Most people know the first half. It's the part printed on our Lincoln shirt, and it's the part that sticks.
A Quick Refresher on Lincoln
Lincoln became the 16th President of the United States in 1861. A few weeks later, the Civil War began. He led the country through four brutal years of fighting, signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and pushed for the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery in the U.S.
He didn't live to see the country fully heal. He was assassinated in April 1865, just days after the war ended. But his words have outlasted him by a long way.
What He Meant
The letter was about slavery. At the time, plenty of Americans talked proudly about liberty while still defending the right to own other people. Lincoln thought that made no sense.
His point was pretty simple. If you believe freedom is your right, you can't turn around and deny it to someone else. You don't get to keep it just for yourself. And he warned that people who try won't hold onto it for long.
Why People Still Share It
A lot has changed since 1859. But people still argue about rights, fairness, free speech, and who gets a say. That's true in pretty much every country.
The quote works because it doesn't pick a side in today's fights. It just asks you to be fair. You can agree with it whatever your politics are, and that's probably why it keeps showing up in classrooms, history books, and social media feeds.
A Quieter Way to Say Something
Not everyone wants a shirt that shouts. Big slogans can start arguments before anyone's said a word.
A quote from Lincoln is different. It's calm. It's thoughtful. People tend to read it, stop for a second, and think. If someone asks about it, you've got a good story to tell them about a letter written to a dinner party in Boston.
Get the Lincoln Design at Expressionize
If this quote means something to you, you'll find it in our store along with plenty of other historical and inspirational quotes.
Just type "Lincoln" into the search bar at the top of the Expressionize site. You'll see the styles and colors we offer. Every design comes in eight sizes, S–5XL, and there's a good range of shirt colors to pick from.
How We Print It
We use Direct-to-Garment printing, usually called DTG. It works a lot like an inkjet printer, except it prints straight onto the fabric.
That matters for a quote shirt. Text needs clean, sharp edges, and DTG handles fine lettering really well. The ink soaks into the fabric instead of sitting on top like a thick plastic layer, so the print feels soft and moves with the shirt. And because there's no big setup cost, we can print one shirt just as easily as a hundred, with the same quality every time.
Made When You Order It
We don't print piles of shirts and hope they sell. Each one is made after you place your order.
That means no warehouse full of unsold stock and a lot less waste. It also helps us keep our prices down, which is a nice bonus for everyone.
One Last Thing
Lincoln wrote that line in a letter he probably didn't think much about at the time. He was busy, he was turning down an invitation, and he was being polite. Yet it's one of the clearest things anyone has said about freedom: it only counts if it's for everyone.
Want to wear it? Head to Expressionize and search "Lincoln" to see the full design range.
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