Landmarks of Liberty: The Growth of American Political Ideals as Recorded in Speeches from Otis to Hughes, Ed. with Introduction and Notes |
What people are saying - Write a review
We haven't found any reviews in the usual places.
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
accept action American appeal argument arms army attempt authority battle better Britain British called carried cause citizens Civil colonies common conference Congress consider Constitution course court democracy desire duty effect empire England English experience fact feeling fight followed force foreign France freedom German give given grant hands honor hope House human ideas important interest Italy justice land less liberty limitation live look Lord means ment military millions mind nation natural never North object opinion Parliament passed peace political present President principles proper proposed question reason resolution respect secure seemed Senate ships slavery slaves South speak speech spirit stand struggle success taken things thought tion trade true Union United whole wish
Popular passages
Page 204 - Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, " The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.
Page 115 - If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation ; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.
Page 205 - With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among...
Page 120 - ... infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But in my opinion it is unnecessary, and would be unwise to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.
Page 200 - Now we are engaged in a great civil war testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
Page 147 - It is, sir, the people's constitution, the people's government; made for the people; made by the people ; and answerable to the people.
Page 112 - However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the Power of the People and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government ; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.
Page 248 - ... for the ultimate peace of the world and for the liberation of its peoples, the German peoples included: for the rights of nations great and small and the privilege of men everywhere to choose their way of life and of obedience. The world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace must be planted upon the tested foundations of political liberty.
Page 97 - ... if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained, we must fight ; I repeat it. sir, we must fight ! An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, is all that is left us ! They tell us, sir, that we are weak, unable to cope with so formidable an adversary.
Page 105 - In the discharge of this trust I will only say, that I have with good intentions contributed towards the organization and administration of the government, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience, in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself...