The Gettysburg Address

Abraham Lincoln was not our best president. In terms of job performance he did a very poor job. Keep in mind that the president's job is to uphold the constitution. In this regard, Lincoln did a very similar job to George W. Bush. He was faced with a new era, a situation outside of his control, and he was willing to throw away decades of individual freedom to do what he thought would save his country, even if it meant destroying half of the United States.

That being said, the Gettysburg Address was a great speech, one that I had to memorize in school, and there are a few lines that always manage to move me:

"The brave men, living and dead, who struggled, here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but can never forget what they did here."

"...this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."