DECEMBER 1, 1862:
President
Abraham Lincoln delivers his second State of the Union Address. Largely
concerned with remunerative emancipation, that is, a Federal Government mass
purchase and manumission of all slaves, it is a lengthy, technical speech, that
is nevertheless closed by some of the most ringing, eloquent phrases ever
penned by a President:
“I do not forget the
gravity which should characterize a paper addressed to the Congress of the
nation by the Chief Magistrate of the nation. Nor do I forget that some of you
are my seniors, nor that many of you have more experience than I, in the
conduct of public affairs. Yet I trust that in view of the great responsibility
resting upon me, you will perceive no want of respect yourselves, in any undue
earnestness I may seem to display.
Is it doubted, then,
that the plan I propose, if adopted, would shorten the war, and thus lessen its
expenditure of money and of blood? Is it doubted that it would restore the
national authority and national prosperity, and perpetuate both indefinitely?
Is it doubted that we here--Congress and Executive--can secure its adoption?
Will not the good people respond to a united, and earnest appeal from us? Can
we, can they, by any other means, so certainly, or so speedily, assure these
vital objects? We can succeed only by concert. It is not "can any of us
imagine better?" but, "can we all do better?" The dogmas of the
quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high
with difficulty, and we must rise -- with the occasion. As our case is new, so
we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we
shall save our country.
Fellow-citizens, we
cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this Administration, will be
remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance,
can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will
light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation. We say we are
for the Union. The world will not forget that we say this. We know how to save
the Union. The world knows we do know how to save it. We -- even we here --
hold the power, and bear the responsibility. In giving freedom to the slave, we
assure freedom to the free -- honorable alike in what we give, and what we
preserve. We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth.
Other means may succeed; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful,
generous, just -- a way which, if followed, the world will forever applaud, and
God must forever bless.”
