The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—PoliticalIngersoll, Robert Green
History
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Vol. 09 (of 12): Dresden Edition—Political
Ingersoll, Robert Green
Free thought
I HAVE the honor to belong to the Republican party; the grandest, the
sublimest party in the history of the world. This grand party is not
only in favor of the liberty of the body, but also the liberty of the
soul. This sublime party gives to all the labor of their hands and of
their brains. This party allows every person to think for himself and
to express his thoughts. The Republican party forges no chains for the
mind, no fetters for the souls of men. It declares that the intellectual
domain shall be forever free. In the free air there is room for every
wing. The Republican party endeavors to remove all obstructions on the
highway of progress. In this sublime undertaking it asks the assistance
of all. Its platform is Continental. Upon it there is room for
the Methodist, the Baptist, the Catholic, the Universalist, the
Presbyterian, and the Freethinker. There is room for all who are in
favor of the preservation of the sacred rights of men.
I am going to give you a few reasons for voting the Republican ticket.
The Republican party depends upon reason, upon argument, upon education,
upon intelligence and upon patriotism. The Republican party makes no
appeal to ignorance and prejudice. It wishes to destroy both.
It is the party of humanity, the party that hates caste, that honors
labor, that rewards toil, that believes in justice. It appeals to all
that is elevated and noble in man, to the higher instincts, to the
nobler aspirations. It has accomplished grand things.
The horizon of the past is filled with the glory of Republican
achievement. The monuments of its wisdom, its power and patriotism crowd
all the fields of conflict. Upon the Constitution this party wrote
equal rights for all; upon every statute book, humanity; upon the flag,
liberty. The Republican party of the United States is the conscience of
the nineteenth century. It is the justice of this age, the embodiment
of social progress and honor. It has no knee for the past. Its face is
toward the future. It is the party of advancement, of the dawn, of the
sunrise.
The Republican party commenced its grand career by saying that the
institution of human slavery had cursed enough American soil; that the
territories should not be damned with that most infamous thing; that
this country was sacred to freedom; that slavery had gone far enough.
Upon that issue the great campaign of 1860 was fought and won. The
Republican party was born of wisdom and conscience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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