Inductee: Abraham Lincoln (born 1809).

(The monologue takes place on October 7, 1858; after the debate held at Knox College,
Galesburg IL. ABRAHAM addresses a small group of people.)

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Are you from Galesburg? It’s so nice to be in a city where its people are in agreement with me:

the abolition of slavery. The debates between Stephen Douglas and myself have taken me all around

this state. Although the state is the same, the sentiment on this particular subject differs greatly

wherever I go. Have any of you been to the previous debates? The senator’s speeches are substantially

one and the same, if you can even hear the little bulldog! This campaign has not only made him lose

his stamina, but also his voice. The fundamental issue of this campaign is the difference between the

men who think slavery a wrong and those who do not think it wrong. Friends, I believe it a moral, a

social and a political wrong, and I am overjoyed that the large crowd over at Knox College shared

these views with me. This issue of slavery reminds me of a case I defended in this region a few years

back. A certain steamboat hit a bridge spanning the great Mississippi River. The vessel went up in

flames and the Rock Island Railroad was sued by the very owner of the steamboat. Well, I figured a

person has about the same right to cross a river as they do to go up and down it, don’t you? Just as

railroading is important to the citizens of this town, slavery and its abolition are important to these

United States. I am glad to be in Galesburg today, with such loving people as yourselves. The fight

must go on, though. The cause of civil liberty must not be surrendered at the end of one, or even, one

hundred defeats. The fight must go on.

(ABRAHAM looks at his pocket watch.)

I’m afraid my time here has come to an end, friends. I have a train to catch.

(ABRAHAM exits.)