[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 115 (Thursday, July 28, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H5677-H5678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LINCOLN'S WARNING STILL STANDS

  (Mr. QUIGLEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. QUIGLEY. ``Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history,'' said 
Lincoln in an address to Congress in 1862. ``We of this Congress and 
this administration, we will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No 
personal significance or insignificance can spare one or another

[[Page H5678]]

of us. We, even we here, hold the power and bear the responsibility.''
  Lincoln didn't say that on one side of the battle lay a Democratic 
victory, and on the other side a Republican defeat, or vice versa. 
Lincoln didn't say that this was a victory achieved without great 
compromise. Lincoln didn't say, if you do things my way, with my party, 
we'll win this one. He told the story of a Nation that faced terrible 
consequences and yet still had the extraordinary foresight and 
fortitude to charge ahead toward a victory that included compromise.
  ``We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of Earth.'' 
His warning stands today.

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