Political Quotes

“Today, as we all know, if we read the papers, we celebrated the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Our Nation's 16th President is remembered and celebrated, of course, for his many accomplishments that shaped our Nation. Most of us recall hearing about the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, a series of debates between the two Senate candidates over the issues of slavery, and how that led to the 1860 Presidential election. President Lincoln is celebrated for signing the Emancipation Proclamation, the beginning of the end to slavery. All of us remember learning in grade school, some of us failing to perhaps memorize it, but learning of the Gettysburg Address, the prophetic words to a nation in turmoil that a 'government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.' One of the great places to go in Washington, DC, on a hot summer night is to sit on the marble floor at the Lincoln Memorial and read the Gettysburg Address on one side, then turn around and walk over and read perhaps Lincoln's greatest speech, in my opinion, the second inaugural address: With charity for all, with malice toward none, and all that he said in the second inaugural. We often remember elements of his legacy but sometimes forget the world view that drove his actions. Lincoln's fight for social and economic justice changed the face of our Nation forever.”