Democracy: Lincoln's Interpretation

In a speech shortly before the Lincoln-Douglas debates began Lincoln pointed out that we are certainly not all equal in education, in accomplishments, in color or in many other aspects of our human nature. The question he then asked was "If we are not equal in these things, then in what way are we all equal?" Then it came. It was only one sentence in an otherwise little noted speech. He said, "All men are equal in their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The principle of equal rights for all. The principle that we are all created with equal rights.

That principle remains today as the foundational doctrine for free societies everywhere in the world. His interpretation became and still is the most basic principle of the democratic philosophy the world over. The one principle powerful enough to destroy all contrary principles and doctrines. The single most important principle of all the political principles and doctrines that ever existed.

Had the North been defeated in the Civil War, the principle of equal rights for all would have been suppressed. Confederate troops would have occupied the North and equal rights for all would not see the light of day. We would have lost our democracy. Instead the principle of equal rights dislodged the principle of unequal rights. Democracy and the democratic world movement moved forward into new territory.

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