Joshua Chamberlain Quotes
… the cause for which we fought was higher; our thought wider... That thought was our power
Joshua Chamberlain, 1828-1914, Governor of Maine, President of Bowdoin College, Union Civil War Colonel, Bayonet! Forward: My Civil War Reminiscences
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
This line was used in the WPA Federal Theater Project. The play was closed down, because the State Department was distressed that the Federal Theater quoting heads of State might be insulting to the world leaders. Mussolini was another character in the play and he was depicted as the boorish thug that he turned out to be. It was that which offended the government officials who closed the show before it could open. FDR used a similar line 6 years later. See {32529} . Dolores Ibarruri in the Spanish Civil War is quoted with a similar phrase at about the same time. See {604321}
While Douglas and Lincoln were political opponents with little love lost between them, both were patriots. And Douglas was committed to seeing that Lincoln was inaugurated and the Union preserved, if Lincoln won the election. When Lincoln did so, Douglas traveled throughout the South trying to persuade Southerners to stay in the Union. See {584870}.
Federal authorities had jailed Glover pending his return to his Missouri owner. A local Wisconsin judge issued an order for Glover’s release on the grounds that slavery was illegal in Wisconsin and he was entitled to freedom. The Federal authorities refused to release the escapee. The Wisconsin mob then stormed the jail and broke Glover out. Glover was helped to get to Canada and final freedom by the people of Wisconsin, but Booth was prosecuted and convicted under the Fugitive Slave Act. He was later pardoned. See {587921}.
Garrison and some of the other radical abolitionists actually argued for dissolution of the Union as a means to end slavery. These abolitionists were convinced that if the United States split in two, slavery would end. See {613764} & {613626} for a description of the logic.
Joseph Addison had earlier written of such a situation. Recent research has strongly suggested that Hale may never have said these words. The American patriots wanted to have heroes and may not have been too worried about the documentation and historical research. See {621112}
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain was an American college professor from Maine who volunteered during the American Civil War to join the Union Army. He became a highly respected and decorated Union officer, reaching the rank of brigadier general (and brevet major general). He is best known for his gallantry at the Battle of Gettysburg, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Following the war, he served as Governor of Maine, and the President of Bowdoin College.
