Abraham Lincoln on Re-Adopting the Declaration of Independence

"Our republican robe is soiled, and trailed in the dust. Let us repurify it. Let us turn and wash it white, in the spirit, if not the blood, of the Revolution. . . . Let us re-adopt the Declaration of Independence, and with it, the practices, and policy, which harmonize with it. Let north and south—let all Americans—let all lovers of liberty everywhere—join in the great and good work. If we do this, we shall not only have saved the Union; but we shall have so saved it, as to make, and to keep it, forever worthy of the saving. We shall have so saved it, that the succeeding millions of free happy people, the world over, shall rise up, and call us blessed, to the latest generations."

Abraham Lincoln. "Speech at Peoria, Illinois." October 16, 1854. Lincoln Speeches, edited by Allen C. Guelzo. New York: Penguin Books, 2012. 54, available at https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/peoriaspeech.htm.