Distinction will be his paramount object, and although he would as willingly, perhaps more so, acquire it by doing good as harm, yet that opportunity being passed, and nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would sit down boldly to the task of pulling down.
From his Lyceum Address, Lincoln describes how an ambitious individual, unable to achieve distinction through creation, might turn to destruction.
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Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Second. That the flag, when raised, be saluted by one hundred guns from Fort Sumter and by a national salute from every fort and rebel battery that fired upon Fort Sumter.
Now, therefore, be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim and direct that all persons detected in that nefarious traffic shall be arrested and tried by court-martial at the nearest…
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