The "Little People's Petition" asked him "to free all the little slave children of this country."

Lincoln wrote, "Please tell these little people I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it."

Although Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation had declared freedom for all slaves held in areas "in rebellion" against the United States as of January 1, 1863, full abolition of slavery was not accomplished until adoption of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution late in 1865.