Blood, much and precious, was expended to vindicate
and to establish community independence, and the great American
idea that all governments rest on the consent of the governed,
and that the people may at their will alter or abolish their
government, however or by whomsoever instituted.
"But our existing Government is not the less sacred to me
because it was not sealed with blood. I honor it the more
because it was the free-will offering of men who chose to live
together. It rooted in fraternity, and fraternity supported its
trunk and all its branches. Every bud and leaflet depends
entirely on the nurture it receives from fraternity as the root
of the tree. When that is destroyed, the trunk decays, and the
branches wither, and the leaves fall; and the shade it was
designed to give has passed away for ever. I cling not merely to
the name and form, but to the spirit and purpose of the Union
which our fathers made. It was for domestic tranquillity; not to
organize within one State lawless bands to commit raids upon
another. It was to provide for the common defense; not to
disband armies and navies, lest they should serve the protection
of one section of the country better than another. It was to
bring the forces of all the States together to achieve a common
object, upholding each the other in amity, and united to repel
exterior force.
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