I wish to see, in process of disappearing, that only thing which ever could bring this nation to civil war.
Abraham LincolnNeither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease.
Abraham LincolnAnd upon this act [Emancipation Proclamation]...I invoke...the gracious favor of Almighty God.
Abraham LincolnAs the chief speaker at the dedication of the national cemetery at the Gettysburg Battlefield, statesman Edward Everett wrote to Lincoln: I should be glad if I could flatter myself that I came as near to the central idea of the occasion in two hours as you did in two minutes.
Abraham Lincoln