[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12337]
[From the U.S. 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 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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