Speak To Me Mr. President

usfman

February 1

What former American President's words most captures your attention in modern times now?

"Evil acts of the past are never rectified by evil acts of the present." (Lyndon B. Johnson)

A young lawyer of twenty eight years old who'd recently moved from a small countryside village to a growing capitol city saw his first opportunity to act upon his passions. For he sensed the country was moving in the wrong direction and had decided to speak publicly about his concerns. So he chose to warn a gathering of young men at a debating society in Springfield, Illinois about the dangers of those who advocated slave whippings, lynchings and other forms of mob violence in a nation deeply divided by slavery. In doing so, he seemed willing to embrace this Lyceum movement which reached its peak during the antebellum era before the Civil War and was characterized by high interest in social and cultural reforms.

Know then it's important for all Americans to seriously ponder the contemporary importance of Abraham Lincoln' s words in this famous Lyceum Address delivered on January 27, 1838. For in this speech, he focused on the critical need to maintain our Democracy's system of "checks and balances" in pursuit of lawful action and respect for human rights. How relevant these issues thus foreshadow what's at stake in this country's current political crisis now, For consider the consequences if a similarly ominous scenario of fractured ideals that happened during Lincoln's time reappeared due to MAGA" takeovers with "Fascist" political intentions. Would such extremists obtain power to rule local, federal and state government operations uncontrollably at will. Would such new leaders thus be considered above the law? While under such conditions of tyranny's presence, what groups of people would be persecuted with such fair and equal application of the law lacking?

I thus invite you to carefully read a one paragraph excerpt below from that historic talk which revealed Lincoln's timely advice about what American Democracy should mean for "ALL" in future generations.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S LYCEUM SPEECH WORDS

"Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution, never to violate in the least particular, the laws of the country; and never to tolerate their violation by others. As the patriots of seventy -six did to the support of the Declaration of Independence, so to the support of the Constitution and Laws, let every American pledge his life, his property, and his sacred honor;--let every man remember that to violate the law, is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the character of his own, and his children's liberty."

So in this critical election time, a "trillion dollar" question emerges. Are Americans willing to preserve democracy in 2024 in the face of rising threats to our longstanding Constitutional framework? Click on the link below to obtain a more extensive discussion of this important topic. Take a look as well at some authentic newspaper clipping at the end of this blog which depict realistic scenes of slavery's stain on American values from which Mr. Lincoln addressed about on that historic day.

BLOG SOURCE

https://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/lyceum.htm

HISTORIC NEWSPAPER CLIPPINGS