Is this analysis still true of the United States’
experiment with self-government?
‘At what
point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify
against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step across
the Ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and
Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their
military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a
drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a
thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?
I answer, if it ever reaches us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come
from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and
finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by
suicide.'
- Abraham Lincoln
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