Rebel Slavery stood face to face in deadly conflict with the Declaration of Independence, when the President, with unconscious power, dealt another blow, second only to the Proclamation of Emancipation.

Thus he began: “Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a New Nation, conceived in Liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” How grandly, and yet simply, is the New Nation…

The truths of the Declaration, so often proclaimed by him, and for which he was willing to die, are inscribed on the altar of the slain, while the country is summoned to their support, that our duty may not be left undone.

It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.

That speech, uttered at the field of Gettysburg, and now sanctified by the martyrdom of its author, is a monumental act.

His reëlection was not only a personal triumph, but a triumph of the Republic.

In the midst of war, the people at the ballot-box deliberately selected the civilian.

Ye who doubt the destinies of the Republic, who fear the ambition of a military chief, or suspect the popular will, do not forget that at this moment, when the noise of battle filled the whole land, the country quietly appointed for its…

Without pomp or military escort, the President entered the Capital of the Rebellion, and walked its streets, from which Slavery had fled forever.

The country rose at once in agony of grief, and everywhere strong men wept.

Perhaps it was the sacrificial consecration of those primal truths embodied in the birthday Declaration of the Republic, which he had so often vindicated, and for which he had announced his willingness to die.

In death, as in life, he was still under the guardianship of that Divine Providence, which, taking him early by the hand, led him from obscurity to power and fame.

But his testimony lives, and will live forever, speaking by his life, speaking yet again by his death.

Invisible to mortal sight, and now above all human weakness, he is still champion, as in his early conflict, summoning his countrymen back to the truths in the Declaration of Independence.

In endeavor to estimate his character, we shall be nearer him in proportion as we cultivate the same spirit.

An integrity which has become a proverb belonged to the same quality.

The most perfect honesty must be the most perfect simplicity.

With him as President, the idea of Republican Institutions, where no place is too high for the humblest, was perpetually apparent; so that his simple presence was like a Proclamation of Human Equality.

No person, civil or military, complains that he appropriated to himself any honor belonging to another.

His humor, like his integrity, has become a proverb.

I know not how the indifference to Slavery exhibited by so many could be exposed more effectively than when he said of a political antagonist thus offending, “I suppose the institution of Slavery really looks small to him.

They have seen in his round, jolly, fruitful face post-offices, land-offices, marshalships and cabinet appointments, chargéships and foreign missions, bursting and sprouting out in wonderful exuberance, ready to be laid hold of by their…

How poor are kings’ speeches and Presidential messages by the side of such utterances, fit harbingers of the sublime era of Humanity!

He saw the certain greatness of the Republic, and was pleased in looking forward to that early day, when, according to assured calculation, its millions of people will count by the hundred; but this prodigious sway was commended to him…

Personal ambition at the expense of patriotism was as far removed from the simple purity of his nature as poison from a strawberry.