In 1864, the Democratic Party platform called for an end to the war, peace with the Confederacy and an acknowledgement of the right of the Southern States to retain slavery.

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Imagine if President Lincoln had listened to the mounting criticism against his administration and not held firm against the evil of slavery?  Imagine if Lincoln’s opponents had won the election of 1864 and acknowledged the independence of the Confederacy and resulted in two separate nations?

Fortunately for the United States and the cause of freedom, Lincoln was re-elected president on November 8, 1864. He won 55 percent of the popular vote and 212 of 233 electoral votes.  On April 9, 1865 the Confederacy surrendered with the cost to the Union Army of 390,000 dead and 280,000 wounded. 

History is a great teacher, but only if you read it.  Today, instead of "Lincoln’s War" some call the war in Iraq "Bush’s War."  Today they lambaste the President more vehemently than Lincoln was cursed in 1864.   

During the Civil War the Union Army fought to make men free.  As in 1861-1865, the United States military is doing the same thing today and has liberated millions of people from tyranny.  We and our Allies have brought hope to the people in Afghanistan and Iraq and provided the opportunity to allow freedom to grow. 

Liberation, however, does not solve all problems.  If it were that easy, there would be more democracies in the world today.  Equality, rule of law, and the establishment of democratic institutions take time and courage.  Developing democratic government is a continuous process.  It took over a century after the Civil War to bind the wounds of the nation and begin to realize the fruits of freedom.  For all our faults, most Americans realize that this Nation offers more political, religious and personal freedom than any other.  More importantly, if any citizen wishes to live anywhere else in the world, he or she is free to do so as there is no wall holding anyone in.  That said, the natural inclination for people to seek to live in democracies is transparent. The zero immigration rate for countries like Syria, North Korea and Iran, are a case in point.
 
The critical question facing Americans is whether we will have the courage in the days ahead to continue the struggle we have started after the attacks of 911.  On March 4, 1865 Abraham Lincoln gave his second inaugural address and said: "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations…." [8]

What Abraham Lincoln said on March 4, 1861 and what he said on March 4, 1865, rings true today.  We must heed Lincoln’s words and finish the work we are in.  Freedom is fragile and takes great effort to nurture, but once it takes root it is a powerful force.  As President Bush said recently: "We can be confident in our cause because we have seen freedom conquer tyranny and secure the peace before." [9]  

Personally, I stand with Lincoln, Bush and the men and women of our Armed Forces who believe that freedom is worth fighting for.  Not just our freedom, but the freedom of all mankind, and in the belief that in the end, that freedom can, as Lincoln believed, create a lasting peace with all nations.   

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[1] Resolution adopted by a Democratic meeting in New York City, September 1, 1864.
[2] Gov. Seymour, at Milwaukee, September 1, 1864.
[3] Attributed to The Chicago Times, following President Abraham Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg on November 19, 1863.-Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years, vol. 2, p. 472 (1939); no date of issue for the Times is given.
[4] From Lincoln’s December 1, 1862 Message to Congress
[5] From Lincoln’s 1861 inaugural address.
[6] Allentown, Pennsylvanian Democrat, a weekly newspaper, January 21, 1863
[7] Mr. Price at New York, October 10, 1864.
[8] Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address March 4, 1865.
[9] President George W. Bush’s Addresses to the American Legion, Washington, D.C. February 24, 2006

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