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Quotes about freedom

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The Autocrat of all the Russias will resign his crown, and proclaim his subjects free republicans sooner than will our American masters voluntarily give up their slaves.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Letter to George Robertson (15 August 1855)
- Slavery
Without slavery the rebellion could never have existed; without slavery it could not continue.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress (1862)
- Slavery
- War & Peace
Must a government of necessity be too strong for the liberties of its own people, or too weak to maintain its own existence?
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Fourth of July Address to Congress (1861)
- Government
- Liberty
We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Lecture on Liberty: An Address in Baltimore, Maryland (18 April 1864)
- Liberty
You think slavery is right and should be extended; while we think slavery is wrong and ought to be restricted. That I suppose is the rub. It certainly is the only substantial difference between us.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Letter to Alexander H. Stephens (1860)
- Slavery
Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands, every where. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Speech at Edwardsville, Illinois (11 September 1858)
- Liberty
As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes.” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and catholics.”
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Letter to Joshua F. Speed (24 August 1855)
When I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Statement to an Indiana Regiment passing through Washington (17 March 1865)
- Clever Jabs
- Slavery
We have, as all will agree, a free Government, where every man has a right to be equal with every other man.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment, Washington, D.C. (18 August 1864)
- Government
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Gettysburg Address (1863)
- America
- Liberty
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Gettysburg Address (1863)
- Democracy
- Government
In giving freedom to the slave we assure freedom to the free — honorable alike in what we give and what we preserve. We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of earth.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865Lincoln’s Second Annual Message to Congress (1862)
- America
- Slavery
I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)In context
- Slavery
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
Abraham Lincoln1809–1865The Emancipation Proclamation (1863)In context
In a free society the state does not administer the affairs of men. It administers justice among men who conduct their own affairs.
Walter Lippmann1889–1974The Good Society (1937), Ch. XII: “The Political Principles of Liberalism”, §6, p. 267
- Government
- Justice