Lincon's Second Inaugural Address

Of late I've studied some of the philosophies undergirding war and warring nations: economics, greed, human liberation, etc. I was reminded of President Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural speech, delivered 4 March 1865 to his fellow countrymen in Washington DC. Preluding the section included below, he spoke of the Union and insurgents, "Both parties deprecated war; but on of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish. And the war came."

"Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

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"