Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1884-01-02
BUTLER CITIZEN.
LincoIn's Phrases-The Source
of His Famous Expressions.

Probably no political phrase of mod
ern origin has passed into more
modern use than government OF the
people, by the people, for the people"
which is certainly the best definition
Of popular government extant. IL oc-
cnrs in President Lincoln's speech at
Gettysburg, Nov. 10, 1863, IN this con-
THAT this nation, under God, shall
have a new birth of freedom, and That
government Of the people, by the peo-
nle 3 for the people, shall not perish
from the earth"
Thus introduced it is not surprising
that the happy phrase should have
heen considered entirely original with
Lincoln. which it is not as the follow
inc extract shows. In speech dellv-
cred by Daniel Webster, January rs,
1880. we have precisely the same
idea:
aThe peoples government, made for
the people, made by the people, and
answerable to the people,"
In a speech delivered by Theodore
Parker, May 30, 1850, we have 1t
thus: 49,,
"There is what call the American
idea ** This idea demands,
MS the proximate organization thereof,
n democracy-that is, a government OF
all the people, by all the people, for all
the people; of course, government o.
the principles of eternal justice, the
uncbanging law Of God; for shortness
sake / will call it the idea of freedom. .
Parker undoubtedly. we think, took
the idea from Webster, and probably
Lincoln had the two in his mind whes
he wrote the Gettysburg address, for
he was a warm admirer and follower
of the great preacher, as well IS the
great statesman. Yet be improved
npon both in bis definition; it is clear.
er and more compact than either, and
therefore better fitted for public use'
In Lincoln's second inaugural is an,
other phrase equally ss felicitous, and
almost as frequently quotedl
nWith malice toward none, witfl
charity for all, with frmnes in the
right as God gives us to see the right.
The following from letter written
Dy John Quincy Adams July ~, 1883
to a gentleman in Massachusetts, &C
knowledging an invitation to attend
celebration of the final abolition OF sla'
very in the West Indies:
nIn charity with all mankind, bearing
no malice or ill will to any human
being, and even compassionating those
who hold in bondage their fellow men,
not knowing what they do"
1t is not likely that Lincoln ever
saw this letter, and if he did he has
improved the phraseology even more
than in the other case. Absolute orr
ginality in such matters is as difficult
as it is rare. For instance, when
Kossuth was in America soliciting aid
for the Hungarian revolutionists, he
often, in speaking of money, called it
the "sinews of war;" and many believ-
that the phrase was his own invention.
Yet, according to Bartlett, the identl-
cal words, in Greek, are used by Ii
banius, by the Scholiast on Pindar,
and Plularch, in his life of Cleomenes'
saws: "He who first called money the
sinews of state seems to have said this
with special reference to war" De-
mosthenes, allnding to an empty treas
nry, says: "Thc sinews of affairs are
cut" and Diogones Laertius repre-.
sents Bion as saying "that riches are
the sincws of business"-meaning pub
lie business. Lord Bacon uses the
phrase, "sinews Of war;" precisely as
Kossuth did, and the latter probably
borrowed it from the English philoso
phar 81 Toujs PenubIic0n