Posted by
Rob Beck on Thursday, January 18, 2007 9:27:10 PM
"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."
- Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address (1863)
I once heard this phrase was misquoted by a vast percentage of ivy school elites in the Elite College History Survey as having come from one of a number of documents besides the Gettsyburg Address, primarily the 43 percent that believed it originated from the Declaration of Independence. I thought, especially given this day and age, it was worth repeating and remembering.
It was that phrase of Lincoln's that I liked, even though I think the man himself left something to be desired. This speech actually embodied much of what his mentor Henry Clay's ideological nemesis John Calhoun stood for'; an ironic touch if there ever was on. In carrying on with such great statesmen, I too would not like to see such government pass from the earth, and this blog and its predecessor have been my very humble attempt to carry through with that. Enjoy.