File:The speeches of Abraham Lincoln - including inaugurals and proclamations; with biographical introductions and prefatory notes (1908) (14597204490).jpg

Identifier: speechesofabraha00linc (find matches)
Title: The speeches of Abraham Lincoln : including inaugurals and proclamations ; with biographical introductions and prefatory notes
Year: 1908 (1900s)
Authors: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 Lincoln Centenary Association (New York, N.Y.)
Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865
Publisher: New York : Lincoln Centenary Association
Contributing Library: Lincoln Financial Foundation Collection
Digitizing Sponsor: The Institute of Museum and Library Services through an Indiana State Library LSTA Grant

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fleeting hour; then to sink and be forgotten.They succeeded. The experiment is successful, andthousands have won their deathless names in makingit so. But the game is caught; and I believe it is truethat with the catching end the pleasures of the chase.This field of glory is harvested, and the crop is alreadyappropriated. But new reapers will arise, and they toowill seek a field. It is to deny what the history of theworld tells us is true, to suppose that men of ambitionand talents will not continue to spring up amongstus. And when they do, they will as naturally seek thegratification of their ruling passion as others havedone before them. The question then is, Can that grati-fication be found in supporting and maintaining anedifice that has been erected by others? Most certainlyit cannot. Many great and good men, sufficientlyqualified for any task they should undertake, may everbe found whose ambition would aspire to nothing be-yond a seat in Congress, a gubernatorial or a presiden-
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SPEECHES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 9 tial chair; but such belong not to the family of the lion,or the tribe of the eagle. What! think you these placeswould satisfy an Alexander, a Caesar, or a Napoleon?Never! Towering genius disdains a beaten path. Itseeks regions hitherto unexplored. It sees no distinc-tion in adding story to story upon the monuments offame erected to the memory of others. It denies thatit is glory enough to serve under any chief. It scornsto tread in the footsteps of any predecessor, howeverillustrious. It thirsts and burns for distinction; andif possible, it will have it, whether at the expense ofemancipating slaves or enslaving freemen. Is it un-reasonable, then, to expect that some man possessed ofthe loftiest genius, coupled with ambition sufficient topush it to its utmost stretch, will at some time springup among us? And when such an one does, it will re-quire the people to be united with each other, attachedto the government and laws, and generally intelli-gent, to

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