Abraham Lincoln, First Inaugural Address (Monday March 4, 1861)
Abraham Lincoln (November 1863) Photo by Alexander Gardner
I am loath to close. We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.
Source and Complete Text: Avalon Project Yale Law School
Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809.
