How we cite our quotes: (Sentence)
Quote #1
Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. (1)
Straight from the Declaration of Independence, the idea that all men are created equal was a fairly obvious exaggeration in a society that kept millions in forced servitude. This seems to be a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that earlier the same year President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed slaves in territory conquered by the Union. Despite the tremendous boon to the abolitionist cause, it was still decades before America experienced a reasonable degree of equality. (Source)
Quote #2
[…] that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth. (10)
What could be more equal than a government of the people? Nothing, that's what. The American Revolution created a new type of democracy, with a level of equality not seen since Ancient Greece.
Sure, it was equal in that all white landowning men could vote…but that was still better than no vote at all. Following the Emancipation Proclamation (and later the 14th and 15th amendments) however, the idea of an American government founded on equality began to take shape in earnest. And as outlined in Lincoln's speech, this was an aim worth fighting for.