Political Quotes

“our greatest Republican President, Abraham Lincoln, in his drive to end slavery, said ``a house divided against itself cannot stand.'' With these few words, Lincoln is calling to us through the echoing halls of history. He is calling for us to put aside our differences and to become unified into one people, one Nation, one common purpose. Mr. Lincoln recognized that the issue of slavery was tearing this great Nation apart and that it could not survive half slave and half free. Slavery was the great unfinished business of our Founders. The institution of slavery was so ingrained in the infant country's past and future that even Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Franklin could not disentangle it. I am not trying to equate carrying too much debt with slavery, please understand that, but the truth remains. A house divided against itself cannot stand. This house, this Nation, this Republic, is divided against itself. Our Founders called their effort at establishing a new Nation ``a great experiment''--and it has been. Nothing like it had ever been tried and America has been the unequaled success in all of world history. Truly, we are the envy of the world. We began as 13 weak and barely united States but quickly became the strongest country in the Western Hemisphere. About 70 years after we adopted the Constitution, we survived a deadly Civil War. All the while we grew in stature and in favor with other nations. Our economic power grew rapidly.…”