“Maintenance of the principles promulgated in the Declaration of Independence“
—Republican Party Platform (1860)
“I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence”
—Abraham Lincoln (1863)
“Bring the world to a safer and happier condition”
—Eleanor Roosevelt (1940)
Background
“THE PROPOSITION that all men are created equal,” President Abraham Lincoln said was the reason that inspired the American forbears to declare independence four score and seven years earlier. His remarks on the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863 were attending the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery.1
“Now,” Lincoln said, raising his voice, “We are engaged in a great civil war, testing….” Two years later, in his second inaugural address, characterized as the only speech worthy of comparison to his address at Gettysburg, Lincoln famously admitted that the test of slavery was “the cause of the war.” 2
Ronald A. Grey 