A quotation from Lincoln
In ‘your’ hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in ‘mine’, is the momentous issue of civil war. The Government will not assail ‘you’. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. ‘You’ have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the Government, while I shall have the most solemn one to “preserve, protect, and defend it.”
Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1861-03-04), Inaugural Address, Washington, D. C.
Sourcing, notes: wist.info/lincoln-abraham/7544…
#quote #quotes #quotation #aggression #civilwar #firststrike #peace #peacemaker #presidency #secession #responsibility #accountability