What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning
battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or
the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our
reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those
may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or
stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which
God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the
spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands,
everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of
despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains
of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed
to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius
of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first
cunning tyrant who rises.
A. Lincoln Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois (September 11, 1858)
What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence? It is not our frowning
battlements, our bristling sea coasts, the guns of our war steamers, or
the strength our gallant and disciplined army? These are not our
reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All of those
may be turned against our liberties, without making us weaker or
stronger for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty which
God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the
spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands,
everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of
despotism around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains
of bondage and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed
to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius
of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first
cunning tyrant who rises.
A. Lincoln Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois (September 11, 1858)