July 4th
“...We find a race of men living in that day whom we claim
as our fathers and grandfathers;they were iron men,
they fought for the principle that they were contending for;
and we understood that by what they then did it has
followed that the degree of prosperity that we now enjoy has come to us.
We hold this annual celebration to remind ourselves of all the good done
in this process of time of how it was done and who did it, and how we
are historically connected with it; and we go from these meetings
in better humor with ourselves---we feel more attached the one
to the other, and more firmly bound to the country we inhabit.
In every way we are better men in the age, and race, and country
in which we live for these celebrations...”
- Abraham Lincoln, Chicago, ILL., 10 July 1858.
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