In 1838, nearly 15 years prior to the start of the American Civil War, Abraham Lincoln delivered his now-famous Lyceum Address. This speech was written to bring attention to the current threat to the American government – the inner division within America.

While the entire speech by the 16th President of the United States is worth reading, the following excerpt sums up Lincoln’s thoughts:

“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest, with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer. If it ever reach[es] us it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time or die by suicide.”

While this may seem like a morbid ending to a picture of America’s strength, it is anything but. Here, Abraham Lincoln is expressing the only true threat to America’s longevity: itself. He makes it clear that no foreign force could ever conquer America when we stand united, but when we are divided – much as we are now – we will be our own ‘author and finisher [of destruction].

As we all know, the division got to a point that caused the American Civil War and subsequently, over 615,000 American lives. But it did result in a stronger United States. We must learn from our history as a nation and come together to heal from the division that currently exists. When we stand together with God at our center, no enemy that can come against us!