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heights of Arlington with the eloquence of eulogy and the sublime enthusiasm of poetry and song; a sentiment which can never die while the Republic lives.  For the first time in the history of our people, and in the history of the whole American people, we join in this high worship and march conspicuously in the line of this time-honored custom.  First things are always interesting, and this is one of our first things.  It is the first time that, in this form and manner, we have sought to do honor to any American great man, however deserving and illustrious.  I commend the fact to notice.  Let it be told in every part of the Republic; let men of all parties and opinions hear it; let those who despise us, not less than those who respect us, know that now and here, in the spirit of liberty, loyalty, and gratitude, let it be known everywhere and by everybody who takes an interest in human progress and in the amelioration of the condition of mankind, that in the presence and with the approval of the members of the American House of Representatives, reflecting the general sentiment of the country; that in the present of that august body, the American Senate, representing the highest intelligence and the calmest judgement of the country; in presence of the Supreme Court and Chief Justice of the United States, we, the colored people, newly emancipated and rejoicing in our blood-bought freedom, near the close of the first century in the life of this Republic, have now and here unveiled, set apart, and dedicated a monument of enduring granite, and bronze, in every line, feature, and figure of which the men of this generation may read--and those of after-coming generations may read--something of the exalted character and great works of Abraham Lincoln, the first martyr President of the United States.
  Fellow-citizens: In what we have said and done to-day, and in what we may say and do hereafter, we disclaim everything like arrogance and assumption.  We claim for ourselves no superior devotion to the character, history and memory of the illustrious name who monument we have here dedicated to-day.  We fully comprehend the relation of Abraham Lincoln, both to ourselves and the white people of the United States.  Truth is proper and beautiful in any case than when speaking of a great public man whose example is likely to be commended for honor and imitation long after his departure to the solemn shades, the silent continents of eternity.  It must be admitted,


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truth compels me to admit, even here in the presence of the monument we have erected to his memory.  Abraham Lincoln was not, in the fullest sense of the word, either our man or our model.  In his interests, in his associations, in his habits of thought, and in his prejudices, he was a white man.  He was pre-eminently the white man's President, entirely devoted to the welfare of white men.  He was ready and willing at any time during the first years of his administration to deny, postpone and sacrifice the rights of humanity in the colored people, to promote the welfare of the white people of this country.  In all his education of feelings he was an American of the Americans.
  He came into the Presidential chair upon one principle alone, namely, opposition to the extension of slavery.  His arguments in furtherance of this policy had their motive and mainspring to his patriotic devotion to the interests of his own race.  To protect, defend and perpetuate slavery in the States where it existed, Abraham Lincoln was not less ready than any other President to draw the sword of the nation.  He was ready to execute all the supposed constitutional guarantees of the Constitution in favor of the slave system anywhere inside the Slave States.  He was willing to pursue, recapture and send back the fugitive slave to his master, and to suppress a slave rising for liberty, though his guilty master were already in arms against the Government.  The race to which we belong were not the special objects of his consideration.  Knowing this, I concede to you, my white fellow-citizens, a pre-eminence in this worship at once full and supreme.  First, midst and last you and yours were the object of his deepest affection and his most earnest solicitude.  You are the children of Abraham Lincoln.  We are at best only his step-children, children by adoption, children by force of circumstances and necessity.  To you it especially belongs to sound his praises, to preserve and perpetuate his memory, to multiply his statues, to hand his pictures on your walls, and commend his example, for to you he was a great and glorious friend and benefactor.  Instead of supplanting you at this altar we would exhort you to build high his monuments; let their forms be symmetrical, beautiful and perfect; let their bases be upon solid rocks, and their summits lean against the unchanging blue overhanging sky, and let them endure forever!  But while in the abundance of your wealth and in the fullness of your just and patriotic devotion you do all this, we entreat you to despise not the humble offering we this