,lincoln1 ,the ,american                
by                                      
,,frank ,o4 ,,lowden                    
,governor of ,illinois                  
,boston1 ,mass4                         
,february #ab1 #aiai                    
,printed by authority of the ,state of  
,illinois4                              
,illustration3 colophon                 
,,springfield1 ,,ill4                   
,,illinois ,,state ,,journal ,,co41     
,,state ,,printers                      
#aiai                                   
#aegic--a,m           ,governor ,frank  
,o4 ,lowden of ,illinois delivered the  
following          address before the   
,middlesex ,club at the ,hotel ,somerset
               in ,boston1 ,mass41      
,wednesday evening ,february            
#ab1 #aiai3    ,principles rather than  
policies appealed to ,abraham ,lincoln4 
,all great  questions seemed to him to  
involve some moral quality4 ,it was his 
habit1  therefore1 to resolve them into 
their simple fundamentals4 ,it thus     

happens that many of his words are as   
apt and forceful to-day as when  they   
were first spoken by him4 ,your ,club   
has recognized this fact and  has made  
8,lincoln1 the ,american10 the theme of 
the evening4 ,in harmony  with this     
thought1 ,i shall try to put before you 
some of the things for  which ,lincoln  
stood1 which directly apply1 as it seems
 to me1 to the  grave problems with     
which we and all the world with us are  
now  confronted4    ,a hundred and ten  
years ago to-day1 two men were born4    
,both have been  dust for many years4   
,yet each played a large part in the    
,great ,world ,war  that we hope has    
reached its close4 ,these men were      
,charles ,darwin and  ,abraham ,lincoln4
 ,darwin devoted his life to the study  
of material  things4 ,in that world in  
which he lived he found heredity and    
environment to be the controlling facts4
 ,out of his study came the  doctrine of
 the survival of the fittest4 ,the      
savants of ,germany made  that doctrine 

the corner-stone of a new philosophy    
which they called  ,kultur4             
,according to ,kultur1 the world        
belonged to the strong and to the strong
  alone4 ,might was right1 and the world
 was in the relentless grip of  physical
 force4 ,justice1 gentleness1           
righteousness were words invented  by   
the weak to protect themselves against  
the strong4 ,to pity a foe was          
weakness2 to spare him was a crime4     
,kultur was a denial of the moral  law2 
was a blind faith in the power of the   
laws of life which ,darwin had          
declared4    ,on the same day1 in a     
cabin in ,kentucky1 ,abraham ,lincoln   
was born4 ,if  heredity and environment 
had been all there was in human life1 we
 never  should have heard his name4     
,while ,darwin delved in rocks to find  
vanished forms of life1 ,lincoln studied
 men4 ,he learned to know men4 ,by  them
 his sympathies were quickened2 the     
moral depths of his being were  stirred2
 the right and wrong of human conduct   

engaged his deepest  thought4 ,just as  
the laws of physical being unfolded     
under the eye of  the great scientist1  
so the laws of the moral universe       
disclosed  themselves to the great man4 
,it was said that ,darwin could take a  
single  bone of some extinct and unknown
 animal and reconstruct that animal     
perfectly4 ,lincoln at the same time    
could take a single wrong to society    
and reconstruct society1 to the         
everlasting benefit of all4 ,lincoln    
never read ,the ,origin of ,species1 but
 he knew that1 under the moral law1  an 
injury by a superior race to an inferior
 reacted upon itself4 ,he  said--8,this 
is a world of compensation and he who   
would be no slave must  consent to have 
no slave4 ,and those who deny freedom to
 others deserve  it not for themselves  
and under a just ,god cannot long retain
 it40  ,unconsciously1 ,lincoln became  
the interpreter of the moral laws of    
society1 just as ,darwin became the     
interpreter of the physical laws of     

life4 ,therefore1 to ,lincoln all men   
had the inalienable right to 8life1     
liberty and the pursuit of happiness40  
,lincoln was as much at home  amidst the
 play of moral and spiritual forces as  
was ,darwin in the realm  of mere       
matter4 ,it was this moral grandeur to  
which ,lincoln attained  that made him  
the wisest of all men4 ,for1 after all1 
wisdom is largely a  product of         
character4 ,men may be intellectually   
brilliant1 indeed  brilliant beyond     
compare1 and yet be utterly lacking in  
wisdom4 ,where  other men had views1    
,lincoln had convictions4 ,convictions  
come from the  heart and not from the   
brain4 ,and so if there comes a question
 of human  liberty1 of human rights1 one
 may turn to ,lincoln for an answer     
without  inquiring as to the particular 
year in which he wrote4 ,there is a     
perfect harmony running through all his 
utterances4    ,it is not strange that  
as ,kultur was partially founded upon   
the doctrine  of ,darwin1 so the ,allies

 found their chief inspiration in the   
life of  ,abraham ,lincoln4 ,for this   
great contest was a war between the     
material  forces of the world1 upon the 
one hand1 and the spiritual forces on   
the  other4 ,where the ,central ,empires
 found comfort in ,the ,origin of       
,species1  the statesmen of ,england and
 ,france1 and of ,italy and the ,united 
,states  read the ,gettysburg speech and
 the ,second ,inaugural1 and so they    
renewed  their faith and refreshed their
 courage4    ,darwin and ,lincoln6      
,darwin announcing the survival of the  
strong6  ,lincoln declaring that when   
being mounted up to man1 love also came 
into  the universe to shield the weak6  
,lincoln insisting that when the laws of
  the physical universe and of the moral
 universe clash1 those of the  moral    
universe will prevail6 ,thank ,god1 our 
soldiers1 on a score of  immortal       
battlefields in the last two years1 have
 proven that ,lincoln  was right4 ,the  
victory which we celebrate is the       

victory of spiritual  forces over the   
things of earth4    ,lincoln truly      
served mankind because he loved mankind4
 ,genuine service  must always spring   
from the promptings of the heart1 and is
 never a  product of the will alone4 ,it
 was your own poet ,lowell who said3    
8,how beautiful to see       ,once more 
a shepherd of mankind indeed1       ,who
 loved his charge1 but never loved to   
lead40    ,and so he couldn't help      
giving his tenderest thought to the     
working man4  ,he cared for him because 
he cared for all men4 ,all are familiar 
with his  significant saying that the   
,lord loves plain people because ,he    
made so  many of them4    ,with         
reference to the age-old question of    
labor and capital1 he  declared--8,labor
 is prior to and independent of capital4
 ,capital is only  the fruit of labor   
and could never have existed if labor   
had not first  existed4 ,labor is the   
superior of capital and deserves much   
the highest  consideration40 ,this is   

but another way of saying that society  
should  chiefly concern itself with the 
lot in life of the average man4 ,and    
this  is but saying1 in another form1   
that ,lincoln was a lover of humanity4  
,the ,declaration of ,independence1 to  
which1 again and again1 he turned in    
his thinking1 included not only the     
right to life and liberty1 but the      
right to the pursuit of happiness as    
well4 ,and it is interesting to note    
that though ,lincoln emphasized the     
right to liberty--for slavery was the   
dominant issue at the time--he never    
referred to the ,declaration1 so far  as
 ,i can find1 without coupling with the 
right to liberty1 the right to  the     
pursuit of happiness4 ,life means much2 
liberty means much2 but both  fail      
unless life can be lived and liberty    
enjoyed under conditions of  well-being4
 ,any form of government is but a means 
to an end1 and that  end is the         
happiness of the individual4 ,i am sure 
that in our almost a  century and a half

 of existence1 since that great day of  
,independence1  more men have lived     
happy lives in our country and under our
 form of  government than in any other  
in all the history of the world4    ,but
 the happiness and well-being of the    
average man and woman must be  steadily 
advanced if our institutions are to     
endure4 ,the economists may  explain1   
the statesmen may excuse our failure to 
accomplish this1 but  the fact remains  
that our civilization will fail if the  
well-being of  the men and women and    
children of ,america shall not          
continuously  improve4    ,this cannot  
be1 however1 in my opinion1 if we       
destroy private initiative  in industry4
 ,for every invention1 for every        
improved process made under  the        
stimulus of private initiative1 though  
the inventor may profit1  society       
profits immeasurably more4 ,a steadily  
reducing amount of human  labor is all  
the time required to produce the        
necessities of life4 ,if we  shall      

abandon the ancient landmarks and       
substitute for private  initiative and  
private industry a socialistic state1   
the progress of  mankind will be        
arrested and retrogression will set in4 
,again ,lincoln  speaks to us3 it is a  
message for to-day--8,the legitimate    
object of  government is to do for a    
community of people whatever they need  
to  have done but cannot do at all or   
cannot so well do for themselves in     
their separate and individual           
capacities4 ,in all that the people can 
individually do as well for themselves1 
government ought not to  interfere40 ,he
 also warns us--8let not him who is     
houseless pull down  the house of       
another1 but let him labor diligently   
and build one for  himself1 thus by     
example assuring that his own shall be  
safe from  violence when built40        
,lincoln was above all a great          
,american4 ,indeed1 it was that same    
poet of  yours1 whom ,i have already    
quoted1 who said of him--8new birth of  

our  new soil1 the first ,american40    
,all his life he hated slavery1 but he  
loved his country more4 ,he  accepted   
battle not to free the slave but to save
 the ,union4 ,with sad  heart1 but with 
steadfast courage1 he faced the greatest
 war the world  had ever seen to keep   
the flag of his country--and not of the 
world--flying in the sky4    ,there are 
those who believe they can see somewhere
 high in the sky a  shadowy banner1 upon
 which is written the word              
8internationalism40 ,to  some this      
far-away flag seems white and to others 
red4 ,they believe1  that this flag is  
to supersede the flag of all the nations
 of the earth4  ,that time may come1 but
 it will come only when men shall cease 
to love  their own1 when they shall care
 for others' families equally with their
  own4 ,in the meantime we can serve    
humanity best by serving our own        
country first4    ,lincoln said3 8,i do 
not mean to say that this general       
government is  charged with the duty of 

redressing or preventing all the wrongs 
in the  world2 but ,i do think that it  
is charged with preventing and          
redressing  all wrongs which are wrongs 
to itself40 ,these words might indicate 
that  ,lincoln was not interested in    
humanity beyond our own borders4 ,this  
is  not so4 ,all through his writings   
runs the thought that our cause was the 
cause of humanity4 ,in his speech at    
,gettysburg1 he did not say--8,let us   
highly resolve that these dead shall not
 have died in vain2 that this  ,nation1 
under ,god1 shall have a new birth of   
freedom1 and that  government of the    
people1 by the people1 for the people   
shall not  perish0 from the ,united     
,states1 but 8from the earth40 ,his     
vision  circled all the globe4 ,his     
great heart was beating in sympathy with
  mankind everywhere4 ,but he knew that 
the surest way to help the world  was to
 cherish our priceless heritage at home4
 ,he knew that if we could  preserve    
intact the liberties and institutions   

which we called our own1  that was the  
greatest service we could render to     
mankind4    ,how well he wrought ,i     
doubt if even he himself could fully    
understand4  ,the condition of mankind  
the world over has been constantly      
improving1  due to our influence and our
 example4 ,the ,american ,republic has  
been an  inspiration to the lovers of   
liberty everywhere4 ,it is the last and 
best  hope of the world and he who would
 imperil its future by excess of love   
for other peoples and other lands is    
recreant not only to his country1  but  
to mankind everywhere4 ,the ,republic1  
during its almost a century and  a half 
of existence1 has had a mighty influence
 throughout the world4  ,its power has  
come from its success as a              
self-governing nation4 ,our  influence  
has run around the globe because we have
 contented ourselves  with being an     
exemplar to1 rather than a ruler of     
mankind4    ,lincoln did preserve the   
,union and free the slaves4 ,that       

,nation which he  saved had grown so    
powerful in a little more than fifty    
years that it  was able1 in the supreme 
crisis of civilization1 to turn the tide
 of the  great world conflict4 ,and as  
he prayed1 so now we may have faith to  
believe that 8government of the people1 
by the people1 for the people  shall not
 perish from the earth40