‘Lincoln worshipped the Founding Fathers as apostles of liberty who’d begun an experiment in popular government on these shores, to show a doubting Europe that people could govern themselves without hereditary monarchs and aristocracies. And the foundation of the American experiment was the Declaration of Independence which in Lincoln’s view contained the highest political truths in human history: that all men are created equal and that all are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Which for Lincoln meant that men like him were not chained to the condition of their births, that they could better their station in life and harvest the fruits of their own talents and industry.’
- Stephen Oates
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