anything for us if we will do nothing for them? If
they stake their lives for us they must be prompted by the strongest
motive, even the promise of freedom. And the promise being made, must
be kept.

The signs look better. The Father of Waters again goes unvexed to the
sea. Thanks to the great Northwest for it. Nor yet wholly to them.
Three hundred miles up they met New England, Empire, Keystone, and
Jersey, hewing their way right and left. The sunny South, too, in more
colors than one, also lent a hand. On the spot, their part of the
history was jotted down in black and white. The job was a great
national one, and let none be banned who bore an honorable part in it.
And while those who have cleared the great river may well be proud,
even that is not all. It is hard to say that anything has been more
bravely and well done than at Antietam, Murfreesboro, Gettysburg, and
on many fields of lesser note. Nor must Uncle Sam's webfeet be
forgotten. At all the watery margins they have been present. Not only
on the deep sea, the broad bay, and the rapid river, but also up the
narrow, muddy bayou, and wherever the ground was a little damp, they
have been and made their tracks. Thanks to all,--for the great
Republic, for the principle it lives by and keeps alive, for man's vast
future,--thanks to all.

Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will come soon,
and come to stay; and so come as to be worth the keeping in all future
time. It will then have been proved that among freemen there can be no
successful appeal from the ballot to the bullet, and that they who take
such appeal are sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And then
there will be some black men who can remember that with silent tongue,
and clenched teeth, and steady eye, and well-poised bayonet, they have
helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear there will
be some white ones unable to forget that with malignant heart and
deceitful speech they strove to hinder it.

Still, let us not be over-sanguine of a speedy, final triumph. Let us
be quite sober. Let us diligently apply the means, never doubting that
a just God, in His own good time, will give us the rightful result.

Yours very truly,

A. LINCOLN.

THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, NOV. 19, 1863

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the
proposition that all men are cr