The Capitol Address

Four years ago our brothers and sisters descended on our Capitol, deceived by a libertine who stands dedicated to the proposition that no man is created equal to him.

Now we are enraged by this uncivil war, asking whether this nation, so desecrated and so aggrieved, can long survive. We are beset with battle scars we can ill afford to ignore. We must dedicate our portion to recalling that field, and provide it a final resting place, giving of ourselves so that this nation may once again live. It is our calling and our obligation that we do that which is required, which is demanded of each of us.

But, in a greater sense, we can never wholly undo the destruction that has been done to our democracy on this hallowed ground. The men and women who trampled upon our fundamental precepts and beliefs, have gravely injured our nation. The world will little note nor long remember what is said here, but the echoes and tremors of those who have lessened us will remain when we are long gone. Let it serve forever to remind those who come in our place of the fragility of what we have, of what we think we possess. It is our burden, our task, not to let those who contemplate our undoing to complete the destruction and the decimation they consider. From the remains of those lost on this field of battle, let us rise to honor them and to rededicate ourselves in their names, for their cause. We shall resolve that those who gave their lives shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall not allow our freedom to be cast asunder and that our government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from this earth.