Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-12
Lincoln S Faith

FEW DAYS after his fifty-second birthday. Abraham
~ Lincoln left his home in Illinois for Washington to
be naugurated president and en- route he stopped IN
Trenton n j. address the members of the Senate OF
that state
Mr. Lincoln knew there was going to be war be-
tween the states with preservation destruction of the
Union the issue.
The Confederacy had been organized on February
at Montgomery Ala with six seeding from the
Union jefferson Davis had been elected president of
the Confederacy and a constitution drawn
MIR LINCOLN took advantage of his brief stop at
wi Trenton on February p to make it clear to his
counrymen what he proposed to do in this situation
He recalled that his earliest reading boy had
laugh; him merely how the United States was founded
puJ ws.i.
He said it was not the hardships and herosm of the
American revoutionaries that impressed him, but the
Something more than that these men struggled
for"
He expressed the conviction that the thing accom-
plished by the American Revolution held out great
promise to all the people of the world for all time to
come
Whereupon, Mr. Lincoln said:
IL am exceedingly anxious that this Union, THE
CONSTITUTION AND ALL THE LIBERTIES OF THE
PEOPLE, shall be perpetuated IN ACCORDANCE WITH
THE ORIGINAL IDEA for which that struggle
made and shall be most happy indeed If shall be
humble instrument in the hands of the Almighty and of
His almost chosen people for perpetuatng the object of
that great struggle"
THAT the purpose and pledge of Abraham Lincoln
on the of war-to preserve America according to
the ORIGINAL IDEA.
Let us reflect upon that for moment with
present situation in mind
Here Mr. Lincoln accepting leadership of nation
not simply at war but divided within itself
He did not reason, did many people of his time,
that nation brought to such crisis must have insecure
foundations.
He did not say that since the American system had
fallen upon such unhappy time it failure.
He did not look elsewhere for better system,
seek to conjure a better system of his design.
Instead, Mr.. Lincoln had mistaken faith in "the
original idea"
He proposed to make it work
He determined to preserve and perpetuate it.
And the Civil War fought according to that con-
cept, and won, and the Union saved
TODAY, we have another great in progress with
i fundamentally the ISSUE although, of course,
with danger and menace from different
In the present war, America is not divided within
itself but is unified and strong
But there are people today who say, as did people
In Mr.. Lincon's time, that nation brought to such q
crisis have insecure foundations and that the
American system had not prevented such unhappy
thing it must be failure.
These people are skeptical about 'the something
than common" for which the American Revolution
fought.
They forget the great promise held out ito all the
people Of the world for all time to come"
They ready and willing to look elsewhere for a
better system of government, and eager and
ambitious to conjure system of their design,
embodyng abandonment of the original AMERICAN idea.
THE American people must have the faith and
purpose in this that Mr.. Lincoln had in the hour
of his acceptance of fateful responsibility.
The American people must have leaders imbued with
his faith.
The Union, the Constitution and all the liberties of
the people will only be perpetuated Abraham Lincoln
said long they preserved in accordance with the
original idea for which the first struggle made
n "a p