Often quoted out of context as evidence that a race of giants recently lived in North America, is this quote from Lincoln:
For example, it occupies pride of place as the epigraph of Richard Dewhurst's book: The Ancient Giants Who Ruled America:
It is variously reported as being from a speech he gave, or even something he said before congress. However the actual quote simply comes from some unfinished rambling notes that that Lincoln wrote after visiting Niagara, and the quote about "extinct giants" may simply be about mammoths. Here's the full quote in context
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
The note on this from the Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln say:
Example misleading usages:
http://tnephilim.blogspot.com/2013/10/abraham-lincolns-quote-about-ancient.html
[bunk]
Abraham Lincoln, is quoted as saying before Congress in 1848
“The eyes of that species of extinct giant, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara as our eyes do now.”
[/bunk]
http://bearfabrique.org/History/giants.htm
[bunk]It was common knowledge in the United States in the 1800s that there were burial mounds at numerous sites containing the bones of giant humans, and even Abraham Lincoln mentioned this once in a speech given at Niagara Falls[/bunk]
But did Lincoln actually mean humanoid giants? Arguably so, as Geoffrey Sea discusses:
http://portcitiesreview.com/lincolns-mystery-mound-tour-by-geoffrey-sea/

It is variously reported as being from a speech he gave, or even something he said before congress. However the actual quote simply comes from some unfinished rambling notes that that Lincoln wrote after visiting Niagara, and the quote about "extinct giants" may simply be about mammoths. Here's the full quote in context
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/lincoln2/1:6?rgn=div1;view=fulltext
http://tnephilim.blogspot.com/2013/10/abraham-lincolns-quote-about-ancient.html
[bunk]
Abraham Lincoln, is quoted as saying before Congress in 1848
“The eyes of that species of extinct giant, whose bones fill the mounds of America, have gazed on Niagara as our eyes do now.”
[/bunk]
http://bearfabrique.org/History/giants.htm
[bunk]It was common knowledge in the United States in the 1800s that there were burial mounds at numerous sites containing the bones of giant humans, and even Abraham Lincoln mentioned this once in a speech given at Niagara Falls[/bunk]
But did Lincoln actually mean humanoid giants? Arguably so, as Geoffrey Sea discusses:
http://portcitiesreview.com/lincolns-mystery-mound-tour-by-geoffrey-sea/