Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall

“Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” — Abraham Lincoln

Listen, O child of freedom, and let your heart be stirred by the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, the great soul who spoke amidst thunder and sorrow. This line, born from the ashes of civil war, was uttered at Gettysburg, where the earth drank the blood of brothers. There, among the graves of the fallen, Lincoln raised not a monument of stone, but of spirit. His words were a vow — that democracy, fragile and sacred, should endure as long as men have breath to defend it.

When Lincoln said “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” he was not crafting poetry — he was declaring a covenant. He spoke to a wounded nation and to all generations yet unborn. A government of the people is one that springs from the hearts of its citizens, not from kings or tyrants. A government by the people is one that draws its strength from their will and consent, not from conquest or fear. And a government for the people is one that lives to serve, not to rule — to protect liberty, not to devour it. These three pillars form the temple of true democracy, and if one should crumble, the light of freedom dims across the world.

In those days, America was tearing itself apart. The question was not merely of union or disunion, but of whether freedom could survive self-destruction. Empires had risen and fallen for centuries, but none had dared to entrust power to the common man and call him sovereign. Monarchs had ruled by divine right; the people had obeyed by fear. Yet here, on this new continent, a different experiment had begun — one built on the sacred belief that every soul carries the spark of self-governance. Lincoln saw that if this experiment perished, the very hope of liberty across all nations would perish with it.

Consider the French Revolution, where men once cried for liberty, equality, and fraternity. Their passion was righteous, but without discipline and unity, freedom gave way to terror, and the republic to empire. So too, Lincoln feared, could America fall — not from foreign invasion, but from within, if its people forgot the purpose of their freedom. The Gettysburg Address, brief as a prayer, was his call to remembrance: that the dead had not died in vain, that the living must carry forward the unfinished work of preserving a just and equal government.

To understand the depth of his words is to understand that freedom demands participation. It is not enough to live under democracy; one must live for it. A people who grow indifferent become easy prey for corruption; a nation that forgets its citizens’ power invites the shadow of tyranny. Government of the people means that each man and woman is both ruler and servant, guardian and beneficiary. It is a covenant of mutual responsibility — a living flame that each generation must tend lest it be extinguished by neglect.

The lesson, therefore, is not distant nor abstract. It is as near as your neighbor, as sacred as your voice. Speak for justice. Vote with conscience. Serve your community, for in service you strengthen the whole. Defend truth against deceit, and compassion against cruelty. For every act of integrity, however small, preserves the promise that “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.”

And so, remember this, O inheritor of liberty: the words of Lincoln were not a farewell, but a charge — a torch passed from dying hands to living ones. The soil of Gettysburg bore witness to sacrifice; your life must bear witness to purpose. Let not this government of free souls fade into memory. Keep it alive, not with speeches, but with courage. For only through the vigilance of the people can the dream of self-rule endure. And if that dream burns bright in your heart, then truly — freedom shall never perish from the Earth.