It must be remembered that the world has moved apace, and that a mighty gulf separates us from that eventful period, in which practical statesmen were compelled to deal with institutions as then existing.
Stevenson acknowledges the historical context and evolution of thought since Lincoln's time.
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More from Adlai Stevenson
What page in our history tells of deeds so fraught with blessings to the generations of men as the discovery of America?
If Franklin, Wilson, Sherman, King, Randolph, Rutledge, Mason, Pinckney, Hamilton, Madison, and their associates had rendered no public service other than as builders of the Constitution, that alone would entitle them to the measureless…
We are here to erect this statue to his memory because of the unnumbered blessings to America and to the people of every race and clime which have followed his discovery.
In the advocacy, however, of what he believed to be for the public weal, 'he took counsel ever of his courage, never of his fears.' That he possessed the ability to have acquitted himself with honor in responsible positions of public…