We have been invaded and Abraham
Lincoln predicted it. We have been invaded by both radical left wing
socialist and Muslims, tomorrow our children and our children’s children
will be enslaved.
~ Abraham Lincoln, October 16th, 1854
All the armies of
Europe, Asia, and
Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the
Ohio or make a track on the
Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is
the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, [that] if it ever reach
us, it must spring [from] amongst us; it cannot come from abroad.
If destruction be our lot, we [ourselves must] be [the] author[s] and finisher[s].
As a nation of free men, we must live through all time[s], or die by suicide.[10]
~ Abraham Lincoln
The world has never had a
good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now,
are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty; but in using the
same
word we do not all mean the same thing.[8]
What constitutes the
bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning
embattlements, our bristling sea coasts. These are not our reliance
against tyranny. 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.[9]
At what point shall we
expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against
it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the ocean
and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies
of Europe,
Asia, and Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the
Ohio or make a track on the
Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is
the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, [that] if it ever reach
us, it must spring [from] amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If
destruction be our lot, we [ourselves must]
be [the] author[s] and finisher[s]. As a nation of free men, we must
live through all time[s], or die by suicide.[10]
Let reverence for the
[law] be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that
prattles on her lap; let it be taught in schools, in seminaries, and in
colleges; let it be written in primers, [in] spelling-books,
and almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in
legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let
it become the political religion of the nation; and let the old and the
young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the
gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice
unceasingly [at] its altars.[B][10]
[And] let us strive to
deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine Providence,
trusting that, in future national emergencies, He will not fail to
provide us the instruments of safety and security.[B][11]
Neither let us be
slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened
from it by [the] menaces of destruction to the Government nor of
dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes
might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we
understand it.[12]
—Abraham Lincoln
