In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Second Inaugural Address, March 4, 1865.Fondly do we hope - fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.” “Both parties deprecated war but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.” Reply to Members of the Presbyterian General Assembly, June 2, 1863.I saw that it involved the greatest difficulties, and would call forth all the powers of the whole country.” “The proportions of this rebellion were not for a long time understood. “In times like the present, men should utter nothing for which they would not willingly be responsible through time and eternity.” We must disentrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.” As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise - with the occasion. “The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. Letter to August Belmont, July 31, 1862.“Broken eggs cannot be mended but Louisiana has nothing to do now but take her place in the Union as it was, barring the already broken eggs.” “I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me.”
Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861.“The struggle of today, is not altogether for today – it is for a vast future also.” Special Message to Congress, July 4, 1861.“And having thus chosen our course, without guile, and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God, and go forward without fear, and with manly hearts.” On the side of the Union, it is a struggle for maintaining in the world, that form, and substance of government, whose leading object is, to elevate the condition of men - to lift artificial weights from all shoulders - to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all - to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.” Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address, March 4, 1861.You have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to ‘preserve, protect, and defend it’.” You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. Letter to Joseph Hooker, January 26, 1863.“You are ambitious, which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm.” “I say ‘try’ if we never try, we shall never succeed.” Letter to Quintin Campbell, June 28, 1862.On the contrary, if you falter, and give up, you will lose the power of keeping any resolution, and will regret it all your life.” “Adhere to your purpose and you will soon feel as well as you ever did. For instance, do you suppose that I should have ever got into notice if I had waited to be hunted up and pushed forward by older men?” You must not wait to be brought forward by the older men. Announcement for office, March 9, 1832.How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.” Whether it be true or not, I can say for one that I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. Speech to One Hundred Sixty-sixth Ohio Regiment, August 22, 1864.I am living witness that any one of your children may look to come here as my father’s child has.” “I happen temporarily to occupy this big White House. Ambition and Opportunity – Civil War and Secession – Constitution – Criticism – Declaration of Independence – Democracy – Determination and Discipline – Education and Self-Development – Equality – Ethics and Honesty – God and Prayer – Grief and Mourning – Labor and Work – Life – Patience and Perseverance – Public Opinion and Persuasion – Reason and Argument – Slavery and Freedom – United States and Union – War and Soldiers
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