"Nearly eighty years ago we began by declaring that all men are created equal; but now from that beginning we have run down to the other declaration, that for some men to enslave others is a "sacred right of self-government." These principles cannot stand together. They are as opposite as God and Mammon; and whoever holds to the one must despise the other. ... Our republican robe is soiled and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. ... Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. ... If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union: but we shall have saved it, as to make, and keep it, forever worthy of the saving."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
1776Founding Fathers of the United States of AmericaHistorical documentsUnited Kingdom–United States relations
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Abraham Lincoln, in a speech in Peoria (16 October 1854), cited in Abraham Lincoln and the Second American Revolution (1991) by James McPherson, pp. 126–127
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
United States Declaration of Independence
62 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by United States Declaration of Independence →
Related Quotes
"When the decision was finally made to accept blacks as full citizens, the founders' principles provided the theoretic…"
"My own nation’s story began with simple words: All men are created equal, and endowed by our Creator with certain una…"
"The virtually official reply to the Declaration was written by the barrister John Lind, who largely devoted himself t…"
"The growing openness to members of all the world's races was always possible under the terms of the Declaration of In…"
"At the time of America's Declaration of Independence, when preparing to separate from England, a remarkable incident …"
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually ple…"
"We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the …"
"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have co…"
"Flights of oratory... especially that concerning Negro slavery, which, though I knew his Southern brethren would neve…"
"We must, therefore,…hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends."