You Know You've Reached Middle Age When

We Must Ask Where We Are And Whither We Are Tending.

If There Is Anything Which It Is The Duty Of The Whole People To Never Entrust To Any Hands But Their Own, That Thing Is The Preservation And Perpetuity Of Their Own Liberties And Institutions.

Fellow-citizens, We Cannot Escape History. We Of This Congress And This Administration, Will Be Remembered In Spite Of Ourselves. No Personal Significance, Or Insignificance, Can Spare One Or Another Of Us. The Fiery Trial Through Which We Pass, Will Light Us Down, In Honor Or Dishonor, To The Latest Generation.

But The Proclamation, As Law, Either Is Valid, Or Is Not Valid. If It Is Not Valid, It Needs No Retraction. If It Is Valid, It Can Not Be Retracted, Any More Than The Dead Can Be Brought To Life.

The People Know Their Rights, And They Are Never Slow To Assert And Maintain Them, When They Are Invaded.