"I have never been more hopeful about our future."
~ U.S. President Barack Obama, speech November 6, 2012
Closing paragraph from The Audacity of Hope, Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream ~ 2006
"At night, the great shrine [the Lincoln Memorial] is lit but often empty. Standing between marble columns, I read the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address. I look out over the Reflecting Pool, imagining the crowd stilled by Dr. King's mighty cadence, and then beyond that, to the floodlit obelisk and shining Capitol dome.
And in that place, I think about America and those who built it. This nation's founders, who somehow rose above petty ambitions and narrow calculations to imagine a nation unfurling across a continent. And those like Lincoln and King, who ultimately laid down their lives in the service of perfecting an imperfect union. And all the faceless, nameless men and women, slaves and soldiers and tailors and butchers, constructing lives for themselves and their children and grandchildren, brick by brick, rail by rail, calloused hand by calloused hand, to fill in the landscape of our collective dreams.
It is that process I wish to be a part of.
My heart is filled with love for this country."
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty"
"WHAT the Declaration of Independence had proclaimed ~ the heady concept of a man's "unalienable" right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ~ the Constitution forged into reality. Independence had been won, and the government that followed had proved a rope of sand, when delegates from the floundering states met in Philadelphia's Independence Hall on May 25, 1787.
Remarkable men all ~ Jefferson called them an "assembly of demigods" ~ they came to amend weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that bound the Nation. But daringly they launched a new government, working behind guard doors, the cobbled streets outside earth-covered to muffle traffic noise. On September 17 their work was done: a document destined to "...secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity..."
"BUT first the infant Congress ~ to meet criticisms that the Constitution lacked clear-cut guarantees of freedom of speech, religion, and other vital rights ~ drafted 12 amendments. Ten were ratified by the states and became known as the Bill of Rights."
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." ~
Words at the doorway of a room housing the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. U.S.A. National Archives.
~ We, the People, United States Capitol, Historical Society, 1978.
"WHAT the Declaration of Independence had proclaimed ~ the heady concept of a man's "unalienable" right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" ~ the Constitution forged into reality. Independence had been won, and the government that followed had proved a rope of sand, when delegates from the floundering states met in Philadelphia's Independence Hall on May 25, 1787.
Remarkable men all ~ Jefferson called them an "assembly of demigods" ~ they came to amend weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation that bound the Nation. But daringly they launched a new government, working behind guard doors, the cobbled streets outside earth-covered to muffle traffic noise. On September 17 their work was done: a document destined to "...secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity..."
"BUT first the infant Congress ~ to meet criticisms that the Constitution lacked clear-cut guarantees of freedom of speech, religion, and other vital rights ~ drafted 12 amendments. Ten were ratified by the states and became known as the Bill of Rights."
"Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." ~
Words at the doorway of a room housing the Declaration, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. U.S.A. National Archives.
~ We, the People, United States Capitol, Historical Society, 1978.
"The sweetest creation of childlife yet written" ~ author Mark Twain.
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| Gift Shop Edition, 1998 |
A 1908, first-edition of Anne of Green Gables, just sold for ten thousand dollars. Shown here, the 1998 Green Gables Edition (produced exclusively for the Boutique Green Gable Gift Shop).
Canadian author, Lucy Maude Montgomery used the old family farmhouse in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island as the setting for Anne of Green Gables. The author is buried in nearby Cavendish Cemetery because she said, "it overlooked the spots I always loved, the pond, the shore, the sand dunes and the harbour."
(L.M.Montgomery ~ November 30, 1874 - April 24, 1942)
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