“He who would be no slave, must consent to have no slave. Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.” —Abraham Lincoln

Today [last week on 2/12] in 1809, in a poor log cabin in the frontier of Kentucky, a baby named Abraham Lincoln was born. He rose from poverty to the presidency and saved his country from the two scourges of civil war and slavery.

Lincoln gave us such wise sayings as “Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally;” and “My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right;” and “With malice toward none, with charity for all.” Not to mention such jokes as, “I’m a success today because I had a friend who believed in me and I didn’t have the heart to let him down.” It would be well if we now heed his advice, “If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

Lincoln guided us through the greatest crisis of American history till that point; he ended slavery, saved the Union, and was assassinated because he had come to support full civil rights for all Americans, regardless of race. Lincoln was a man great enough both to do the right thing when everyone told him not to do it and to admit when he had been wrong.

Happy birthday to the US President second only to George Washington in greatness, Abraham Lincoln.

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This article was published by Pro Deo et Libertate and is reproduced with permission.