![]() Hence we behold the processes by which thousands are daily passing from under the yoke of bondage, hailed by some as the advance of liberty, and bewailed by others as the destruction of all liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty and precisely the same difference prevails today among us human creatures, even in the North, and all professing to love liberty. The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep’s throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as a liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act as the destroyer of liberty, especially as the sheep was a black one. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective parties, called by two different and incompatable names-liberty and tyranny. Here are two, not only different, but incompatable things, called by the same name-liberty. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and the product of his labor while with others the same word may mean for some men to do as they please with other men, and the product of other men’s labor. We all declare for liberty but in using the same word we do not all mean the same thing. ![]() The world has never had a good definition of the word liberty, and the American people, just now, are much in want of one. So true is it that man proposes, and God disposes.īut we can see the past, though we may not claim to have directed it and seeing it, in this case, we feel more hopeful and confident for the future. But here we are the war has not ended, and slavery has been much affected-how much needs not now to be recounted. Neither did any anticipate that domestic slavery would be much affected by the war. Each looked for the end, in some way, long today. ![]() ![]() When the war began, three years ago, neither party, nor any man, expected it would last till now. The change within Baltimore is part only of a far wider change. Blessings on the brave men who have wrought the change, and the fair women who strive to reward them for it.īut Baltimore suggests more than could happen within Baltimore. The change from then till now, is both great, and gratifying. Looking upon these many people, assembled here, to serve, as they best may, the soldiers of the Union, it occurs at once that three years ago, the same soldiers could not so much as pass through Baltimore. Ladies and Gentlemen-Calling to mind that we are in Baltimore, we can not fail to note that the world moves. He also used the speech to publicly address for the first time the recent massacre of black and white Union soldiers at Fort Pillow, Tennessee. He reminded his audience that while both those who sought to free the slaves and those who wanted to keep them in bondage, used the word “liberty” to define their efforts, their understanding of the word itself and the outcomes they sought were radically different. The President noted that already one of the unintended consequences of the Civil War was the liberation of millions of slaves. President Abraham Lincoln addressed one such fair in Baltimore, Maryland on April 18, 1864. During the Civil War Northerners organized sanitary fairs to raise funds on behalf of the United States Sanitary Commission, a charitable relief organization which promoted the welfare of Union Soldiers.
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