the Union.

It may be affirmed without extravagance that the free institutions we
enjoy have developed the powers and improved the condition of our whole
people beyond any example in the world. Of this we now have a striking
and an impressive illustration. So large an army as the Government has
now on foot was never before known without a soldier in it but who had
taken his place there of his own free choice. But more than this, there
are many single regiments whose members, one and another, possess full
practical knowledge of all the arts, sciences, professions, and whatever
else, whether useful or elegant, is known in the world; and there is
scarcely one from which there could not be selected a President, a
Cabinet, a Congress, and perhaps a court, abundantly competent to
administer the Government itself. Nor do I say this is not true also in
the army of our late friends, now adversaries in this contest; but if
it is, so much better the reason why the Government which has conferred
such benefits on both them and us should not be broken up. Whoever in
any section proposes to abandon such a government would do well to
consider in deference to what principle it is that he does it; what
better he is likely to get in its stead; whether the substitute will
give, or be intended to give, so much of good to the people. There are
some foreshadowings on this subject. Our adversaries have adopted some
declarations of independence in which, unlike the good old one penned by
Jefferson, they omit the words "all men are created equal." Why? They
have adopted a temporary national constitution, in the preamble of
which, unlike our good old one signed by Washington, they omit "We,
the people," and substitute "We, the deputies of the sovereign and
independent States." Why? Why this deliberate pressing out of view
the rights of men and the authority of the people?

This is essentially a people's contest. On the side of the Union it
is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form and substance of
government whose leading object is to elevate the condition of men;
to lift artificial weights from all shoulders; to clear the paths of
laudable pursuit for all; to afford all an unfettered start and a
fair chance in the race of life. Yielding to partial and temporary
departures, from necessity, this is the leading object of the Government
for whose existence we contend.

I am most happy to believe that the plain people understand and
ap