"The country knows not yet, or in the least part, how great a son it has lost."
As the Civil War ground on, and the fate of the young nation hung in the balance, Ralph Waldo Emerson argued vehemently for a federal emancipation of the slaves. "Morality," above all else, he asserted, "is the object of government." He lauded President Lincoln for his principled moves in that direction.
“Skill to do comes of doing; knowledge comes by eyes always open, and working hands; and there is no knowledge that is not power.”