September 30, 2016

Lincoln: "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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And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. -- Matthew 16:18

[Emphasis Added] In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American people, find our account running under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. We find ourselves in the peaceful possession of the fairest portion of the earth as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate.

We find ourselves under the government of a system of political institutions conducing more essentially to the ends of civil and religious liberty than any of which the history of former times tells us.

We, when mounting the stage of existence, found ourselves the legal inheritors of these fundamental blessings. We toiled not in the acquirement or establishment of them; they are a legacy bequeathed us by a once hardy, brave, and patriotic, but now lamented and departed, race of ancestors. Theirs was the task (and nobly they performed it) to possess themselves, and through themselves us, of this goodly land, and to uprear upon its hills and its valleys a political edifice of liberty and equal rights; 'tis ours only to transmit these—the former unprofaned by the foot of an invader, the latter undecayed by the lapse of time and untorn by usurpation—to the latest generation that fate shall permit the world to know. This task gratitude to our fathers, justice to ourselves, duty to posterity, and love for our species in general, all imperatively require us faithfully to perform.

How then shall we perform it? At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? 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 Bonaparte 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.

....I know the American people are much attached to their government; I know they would suffer much for its sake; I know they would endure evils long and patiently before they would ever think of exchanging it for another,—yet, notwithstanding all this, if the laws be continually despised and disregarded, if their rights to be secure in their persons and property are held by no better tenure than the caprice of a mob, the alienation of their affections from the government is the natural consequence; and to that, sooner or later, it must come.

.... There are now, and will hereafter be, many causes, dangerous in their tendency, which have not existed heretofore, and which are not too insignificant to merit attention. That our government should have been maintained in its original form, from its establishment until now, is not much to be wondered at.

It had many props to support it through that period, which now are decayed and crumbled away. ....

But those histories are gone. They can be read no more forever. They were a fortress of strength; but what invading foeman could never do, the silent artillery of time has done—the leveling of its walls..... They were pillars of the temple of liberty; and now that they have crumbled away that temple must fall unless we, their descendants, supply their places with other pillars, hewn from the solid quarry of sober reason.

Passion has helped us, but can do so no more. It will in future be our enemy. Reason—cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason—must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense. Let those materials be molded into general intelligence, sound morality, and, in particular, a reverence for the Constitution and laws; and that we improved to the last, that we remained free to the last, that we revered his name to the last, that during his long sleep we permitted no hostile foot to pass over or desecrate his resting place, shall be that which to learn the last trump shall awaken our Washington.

Upon these let the proud fabric of freedom rest, as the rock of its basis; and as truly as has been said of the only greater institution, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." -- Abraham Lincoln -- The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions 1837

Posted by gerardvanderleun at September 30, 2016 1:35 AM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

Here's a Lincoln quote for you:


"Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better. This is a most valuable,-- most sacred right--a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world. Nor is this right confined to cases in which the whole people of an existing government, may choose to exercise it. Any portion of such people that can, may revolutionize, and make their own, of so much of the teritory as they inhabit. "


Abraham Lincoln, January 12, 1848


He was in favor of Independence for Texas when they were leaving Mexico, but against it when they were leaving Him.

Posted by: DiogenesLamp at September 30, 2016 12:43 PM

We live in an imperfect world along with pimps, poltroons, pietistic politicians, and yeoman proud.
Join with those you prefer, beware the fakers and traitors, and go forth kicking butt cheerfully.
If we are not perfect, let us at least be excellent.

Posted by: Howard Nelson at September 30, 2016 1:53 PM

"Reason—cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason—must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense."

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These words are sacred, inviolate, but now they are like poison to most - like children taking prescription cough syrup.

Posted by: ghostsniper at September 30, 2016 2:44 PM

Lincoln was despicable. He violated the Constitution in many ways including imprisoning Baltimore newspaper editors because they disagreed with him. He was responsible for Sherman waging war on women and children.

Posted by: bgarrett at October 1, 2016 2:51 AM

Words of wisdom from a President who would make the decisions that killed 700,000+ American Soldiers and Civilians.

Posted by: H. Jones at October 1, 2016 7:50 AM

"Reason—cold, calculating, unimpassioned reason—must furnish all the materials for our future support and defense."

Marx, or Lenin?

Posted by: james wilson at October 1, 2016 1:55 PM

jw, you beheaded the paragraph which it leads, but not killed the meaning intended as explained in the body and soul of the remaining paragraph.
What is your motive? Denigration of Lincoln for being in the cohort of Burke, Locke, Franklin, Madison, Adams, and other intellectual promoters of reasoned liberty?
That Lincoln prioritized/violated aspects of the Constitution justifiably to preserve the Constitution, is worth debating thoroughly.
What will we permit or applaud Clinton or Trump doing in the name or shame of preserving constitutional America?

Posted by: Howard Nelson at October 1, 2016 6:37 PM

Every man loves his own reasons, and "Reason Inc." in its ivory tower cannot assail that bastion of self-interest where it sits in the mind of powerful people. Nor can it resist that mob of "Rabble Inc." when the misery index forces action. It must take its comforts where it can.

Posted by: JoanOfArgghh at October 2, 2016 8:35 AM