Thursday, September 18, 2008

"As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide"


From a speech by the very young Abraham Lincoln delivered January 27, 1838 to the Young Men's Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois:

Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a blow? Never!--All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.
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2 comments:

  1. DavisSeptember 18, 2008 at 1:15 PM

    Sadly, I fear the suicide to be the likely outcome of a people who fear change.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownOctober 25, 2013 at 11:57 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete

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