“It was that which gave promise that in due time the weight should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that all should have an equal chance.”
Mark, if you please, the simplicity of this utterance. All are to have “an equal chance”; and this, he said, “is the sentiment embodied in the Declaration of Independence.” Then, in reply to Jefferson Davis, he proceeded:—
“Now, my friends, can this country be saved upon that basis? If it can, I shall consider myself one of the happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. If it cannot be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. But if this country cannot be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it.”
Giving these words still further solemnity, he added:
“I have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, if it be the pleasure of Almighty God, to die by.”
And then, before raising the national banner over the historic Hall, he said:—
“It is on such an occasion as this that we can reason together, and reaffirm our devotion to the country and the principles of the Declaration of Independence.”[177]
Thus the gauntlet flung down by Jefferson Davis was taken up by Abraham Lincoln, who never forgot the issue.
The rejoinder was made by Alexander H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Rebellion, in a not-to-be forgotten speech at Savannah, March 21, 1861, when he did not hesitate to declare of the pretended Government, that—