Why does Lincoln still matter?

[LincolnMan]

Reading from an Address given by the Hon. Edward L. Hamilton, on the occasion of the unveiling and reception of a statue of Zachariah Chandler at Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, I found interesting words regarding the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln. Mr. Hamilton mentioned that there was at that time "in the minds of men the eternal, daily question of human rights" that could not be quieted. He went on to say:

"The spirit that inspired that question was in the air. It sat down at every council board. It entered into and took possession of men, and took unto itself such names as Phillips, Lovejoy, Garrison, and John Brown. It would not down.

It teased men till they invented sophisms to refute it. It set families at variance. It set pulpits at variance. It lighted camp fires of armies, whole contentions shook the continent.

It mowed men down with the level hail of death.
It added to the vocabulary of war such names as Donelson, Shiloh, Gettysburg, and the Wilderness.

Long before it had sought out a lonely frontier cabin and presided at the birth of Abraham Lincoln. It made him its instrument; and five days after Appomattox his spirit, liberated by the hand of an assassin from its thrall of tremendous responsibilty, took flight in the golden dawn of a new day, and his fame passed into immortality."


Yes, Lincoln still matters!