The Cass County Republican. [volume] (Dowagiac, Mich.) 18??-1880, 1860-08-02

sW The following eloquent tribute
to the Declaration of Independence il
taken from one of the speeches of the
Hon. Abraham Lincoln, made during
his exciting and gallant contest for the
Senatorship in 1858:
These communities (the thirteen col
onies), by their representatives in old
Independence Hall, said to the world
of men: "We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are born equal:
that they are endowed by their Creator
with inalienablc rights; that among
these are life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness" This was their maies-
tic Interpretation of the economy of
the universe. This was their lofty and
wise and noble understanding of the
Justice of the Creator to His creatures.
Yes, gentlemen, to all His creatures, to
the whole great family of man. In
their enlightened belief, nothing stamp
ed with the Divine image and likeness
was sent into the world to he trodden
on, and degraded, and imbruted by its
fellows. They grasped not only the
race Of men then living, but they
reached forward and seized upon the
furthest posterity. They created a
beacon to guide their children and their
chidren's children, and the countless
myriads who should inhabit the earth
in other ages. Wise statesmen as they
were, they knew the tendency of pros
perity to breed tyrants, and so they
established these great sclf-evident
truths that when, in the distant future,
some man, some faction, some interest,
should set up the doctrine that none
but rich men, or none but white men,
or none but Anglo Saxon white men,
were entitled to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness, their posterity
might look up again to the Declaration
of independence, and take courage to
renew the battle which their fathers
began, so that truth, and justice, and
mercy, and all the. humane and Chris
tian virtues, might not he extinguis',e ed
from the land; so that no man would
hereafter dare to limit and cireumscribe
the great principles on which the tenn
pie of liberty was being built.
Now, my countrymen, if you have
been taught doctrines conflicting with
the great landmarks Of the Declaration
of Independence; if you have listened
to suggestions which would take away
from its grandeur, and mutilate the fair
symmetry of its .proporti ons; if you
have been inclined to believe that all
men are not. created equal in those
inalienable rights enumerated by onr
chart of liberty, let me entreat you to
come back-return to the fountain
whose waters spring close by the blood
of the Revolution. Think nothing OF
me-take no thought for the political
fate of any man whomsoever-bul
come back to the truths that are in the
Declaration of Independence.
You may do anything with me you
choose, if you will but heed these sa
cred principles. You may not onl,
defeat me for the Senate, but you may
take me and put me to death. While
pretending no indifference to earthly
honors, ] do claim to be actuated il
this contest by something higher thar
an anxiety for Office. l charge You t.
drop every pal,ry and insi@nifcan
thought for any mans success. 1t i
nothing; | am nothing; Judge Dougla
is nothing. But do not destroy thd
Immortal emblem Of hasmanity-th
Declaration Of american I'adepe'a
dence.