Abraham Lincoln's Speech at the Flag-raising before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861

    Source citation
    Speech at the Flag-raising before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861, in Roy P. Basler, ed., The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (8 vols., New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1953), 4: 241-242, http://quod.lib.umich.edu/l/lincoln/.
    Original source
    Philadelphia (PA) Inquirer
    Type
    Speech
    Date Certainty
    Exact
    Transcriber
    Transcription adapted from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953), edited by Roy P. Basler
    Adapted by Don Sailer, Dickinson College
    The following transcript has been adapted from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln (1953).

    Speech at the Flag-raising before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    February 22, 1861

    FELLOW CITIZENS:---I am invited and called before you to participate in raising above Independence Hall the flag of our country, with an additional star upon it. (Cheers.) I propose now, in advance of performing this very pleasant and complimentary duty, to say a few words. I propose to say that when that flag was originally raised here it had but thirteen stars. I wish to call your attention to the fact, that, under the blessing of God, each additional star added to that flag has given additional prosperity and happiness to this country until it has advanced to its present condition; and its welfare in the future, as well as in the past, is in your hands. (Cheers.) Cultivating the spirit that animated our fathers, who gave renown and celebrity to this Hall, cherishing that fraternal feeling which has so long characterized us as a nation, excluding passion, ill-temper and precipitate action on all occasions, I think we may promise ourselves that not only the new star placed upon that flag shall be permitted to remain there to our permanent prosperity for years to come, but additional ones shall from time to time be placed there, until we shall number as was anticipated by the great historian, five hundred millions of happy and prosperous people. (Great applause.) With these few remarks, I proceed to the very agreeable duty assigned me.

    How to Cite This Page: "Abraham Lincoln's Speech at the Flag-raising before Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, February 22, 1861," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/index.php/node/25114.